So they say the only dumb questions are the ones left unasked. So here goes…I have a lot probably because I overthink. 

Preface - I’m left handed - normally working wormhole tattoo pen which runs about a 3.3mm stroke (yes I know not the best but it’s what I could afford at the time I will upgrade as soon as I can) with Stigma 1003rl at 7v Dynamic ink for fine line. 1203/1205rl at 7v same ink for thicker lines (although I don’t see much difference). Still working on learning shading that I wanted to do later once my lines are looking better. 

1) Is my work decent for one week in?

2) Is it normal to want to lock my elbow at my ribs for better stabilization? I find when I do I get better lines BUT then I struggle on long lines then needing to taper out and back in to finish a line. 

3) no matter my needles or voltage I still feel a click or valley on every line even with my depth set correctly. Is this normal on fake skin or is it me? The bear in this photo doesn’t have them but I feel it because I wasn’t going in the required 2mm depth on 3mm fake skin. Anything darker required more depth and causes the valleys/clicks. 

4) how does everyone’s tattoos on fake skin look printed on vs actually tattooed on like mine? Better needles/skin or less pressure/depth for fake skin? I’m afraid that if I go too light on real skin it will fade out or disappear and afraid to go too deep for a blowout. 

5) I can do stencils and fine line work but if I try to just tattoo lines and boxes or circles they look horrible? (See photo trying to use others techniques of sliding my hand from elbow and shoulder vs the triangles at the bottom are from me locking my arm to elbow.) 

6) I have Stigma 1203/1205 rl I bought to do thicker more traditional tattoos, but I don’t get anywhere near as thick lines as everyone else is on videos. Any ideas on why? I feel all my lines are still the same thickness from 1003-1203.

7) is it normal to have beginner fear of actually tattooing on normal skin? I’d love to practice on myself “eventually” that way I can feel how I tattoo first (even though pain is subjective but more so heavy hand vs light hand) and if I blowout for some reason or don’t go heavy enough I didn’t mess up someone else. Do people find real skin easier than fake?

I’ll leave it here for now but will take all the CC (constructive criticism) I can get respectfully. Thanks for taking the time to look and read/answer. 

Potential?