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Best Tattoo Machines For Beginners Reviews With Buying Guide
Best tattoo machines for beginners is very essential for tattoo artists. If you are a tattoo lover or want to get into the professional tattoo business.
Even if you are simply looking to just want to do tattoos on yourself to show them off to your friends and family.
Recommended for you: best tattoo power supply
There are loads of great machines for beginners that are affordable, convenient, and professional that you can choose from.
These machines are quite different from each other in various terms. If you buy a quality machine, it will produce great tattoos for you.
To get you one of the best tattoo machines for beginners, here we have suggested some great tattooing machines that you can choose from.
There is a buying guide as well that you can read before buying the machine.
To buy the best tattoo machine for beginners, first, you need to learn what a tattoo machine is.
In this way, you will be able to buy the best tattoo machine for yourself that you, as a beginner, can easily operate to produce amazing tattoos on your as well as your friend’s skin.
What is a tattoo machine?
A tattoo machine is a handheld machine shaped like a gun that is used to drive permanent tattoo ink on flesh.
It is so gentle that it allows tattoo artists to create professional tattoos even on the face of their customers.
A tattoo machine is also known as a tattoo gun in Europe but in the United States, it is generally referred to as a tattoo machine.
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5 Best Tattoo Machines Starter Kits for Beginners Reviews:
In the tattoo industry it a very common quarry that is the best tattoo machine for beginners.
Every tattoo artist has faced difficulties before choosing their tattoo machine starter kits.
To solve this issue I researched the tattoo industry and found a few solutions.
Here I am going to review 5 best tattoo machines for beginners.
Let’s Dive in!!
1. The Dragonhawk Mast rotary Tattoo Machine (Best tattoo machine brands)
Dragonhawk Mast is a pen styled rotary tattoo machine that you can use for the lining as well as shading.
The kit includes almost everything that you will be needing except ink.
This product is one of the best tattoo machines for beginners and experts can benefit from it as well.
The main quality of Dragonhawk Mast is that it is extremely lightweight.
While tattooing, you will feel like you are holding an ink pen rather than a tattooing machine.
Hence, if you were a user of a coil tattoo machine then you will surely take some time to adjust with this rotary pen tattoo machine.
A downfall regarding this machine is that after about 1 hour of usage, it starts to heat up.
Hence, you can’t use it continuously for long durations. You have to give it some rest from time to time.
See the video:
Pros
- Quite lightweight and easy to use and understand the mechanism
- No vibration at all. Quiet.
- Great for lining as well as shading
- Loads of items included in the kit
- Easily affordable
- Cheap replacement parts
Cons
- The device slips through the hand hence you need some grip tape to hold it in place
- Ink not included with the purchase
2. The Dragonhawk Complete Tattoo Kit (Best tattoo machine kits)
This is so far the king of tattoo kits because it comes with each and everything that is needed for making brilliant quality tattoos.
The kit includes 3 machines for lining while 3 more for shading as well.
In addition to this, the kit includes practice skin, needles, 10 color inks, and all other stuff that a beginner needs to start the tattooing business.
The downfall of this kit is the low-quality ink though.
This isn’t just in this kit.
Almost every tattoo kit comes with such terrible ink that it is only suitable for practice skin.
Otherwise, the kit is great and extremely affordable for newbies.
The kit also has quite high ratings from top and professional tattoo artists from all around the globe.
So you don’t have to hesitate to spend your money on this one.
Useful video for you:
Pros
- The kit has a lot of stuff included in a cheap price
- The kit has free shipping
- Termed as the highest quality starter kit
- Comes with practice skin for beginners
- Has the best reviews and ratings by top tattoo professionals
Cons
- The ink included in the package isn’t good
- The kit comes without any free E-books or DVDs.
3. The Dragonhawk Complete Tattoo Kit with Case (Good tattoo machine for beginners)
The Dragonhawk complete tattoo kit with case is a quite affordable kit for starters in the tattooing game.
The kit is the best and suitable kit for beginners and newbies and it is cheap too.
The kit has almost everything that you might need as a starter but you should keep it in mind that some of the products included in the kit aren’t the highest quality.
The ink isn’t as good as always.
You should better buy separate high-quality ink after buying this kit.
But when it comes to the price, the deal is pretty much worth it.
The Dragonhawk complete tattoo kit with case is one of the best kits for beginners available in the market.
Watch this video:
Pros
- The kit gets delivered fast with no shipping charges
- Comes with everything you need for starting tattooing
- The kit includes both shader and liner machines
- Works smoothly with a little vibration
- Lightweight
- Practice skin is included in the kit for starters
- Quite affordable
- Quite affordable
Cons
- Ink is in bad quality
- Machines are not professional quality (but still are great for beginners)
4. The Dragonhawk Raven Rotary Tattoo Machine (Best rotary tattoo machine for beginners)
The Dragonhawk Raven is the machine for professionals who usually have to line perfectly on difficult areas of the skin.
The professional-grade design of the Dragonhawk Raven allows a brilliant tattoo artist to draw precise lines easily and pack solid colors like never before.
The Dragonhawk Raven Rotary Tattoo Machine is liked by major tattoo artists around the world and is being used by many.
The machine’s black and grey ink make the tattoos of your dreams on your customer’s skin to get you the appreciation and bucks you always wanted.
The Dragonhawk Raven is great when used with needles and cartridge to make traditional tattoos.
The machine is lightweight and quiet with great build quality.
See the video Review:
Pros
- The machine is lightweight and easy to hold for long term usage
- Comes with a one-touch adjuster knob that can adjust the voltage
- The motor of the Raven is coreless which means more torque with less voltage
- Build quality of the machine is remarkable
- Works flawlessly
- The best tattooing machine under $150
- The machine can be conveniently connected to a power supply with the help of an RCA or clip cord
- Comes with a great IC chip that controls the size of needles
Cons
- The package does not include ink
5. The Dragonhawk Craft Hand Made Liner Tattoo Machine (Best tattoo machine for lining)
The unique feature of the Dragonhawk craft is that it comes with a frame that is hand made.
It is a great all-around liner.
The Dragonhawk Craft is considered to be one of the best tattoo machines for beginners available by the users on the online shopping website Amazon.
The machine is a little heavier than some of the machines by Dragonhawk.
But the reason is that it has great build quality. The liner of the machine runs quite well and fast.
The shader is also nice and is suitable for cool pepper shading.
Overall, the machine is great for beginners who like to take the tattooing game seriously.
The machine comes with a money-back guarantee.
If you don’t find good results, you can always refund it and get back your money from Dragonhawk without any hassle.
So, it won’t be inaccurate to say that it’s worth a try.
Video review here:
Pros
- Great build quality with an iron frame finished with brass
- Has medium running speed along with long throw
- Quiet
- Runs smoothly
- Preassembled
Cons
- The machine needs to be adjusted constantly
Know The Types of tattoo machines
Before buying a tattoo machine, you should know that there are two types of tattoo machines available in the market.
One is called the rotary tattoo machine while the other is called the coil tattoo machine.
Before you buy, it is better to analyze the features of both of them.
After that, you will be able to select the most suitable tattoo machine for yourself.
1. Coil tattoo machine
Coil tattoo machines use a coil through which current passes and drives the armature bar to which the needles are attached.
Hence, needles inject and retract on the flesh of the customer.
Coil machines produce a lot of sounds and vibrate a lot.
If you ever happened to walk past a tattoo shop, all that noise coming from the inside is from a traditional coil tattoo machine.
Coil machines generally have 1, 2 or 3 coils in them. The standard coil machine has 2 coils in it through which the current passes for the machine to operate.
These two coils make the machine a bit heavy because of the abundance of metal.
This leads to a heavier machine and difficulty in using it for long durations.
Coil tattoo machines hit hard on the customer’s skin but aren’t much error-prone.
Hence, they are suitable for beginners.
They can be easily tuned and adjusted according to your requirements.
The drawback of coil machines is that they cannot be used for lining and shading simultaneously.
These machines are perfect to build greys and are quite effective with big needles.
2. Rotary tattoo machine
Rotary tattoo machines use a small electric motor that is directly attached to the needles. The motor helps to move the needles up and down constantly.
The great thing about rotary machines is that they are quiet and less vibrating than the traditional coil tattoo machines.
The rotary tattoo machines are faster and smoother as compared to the coil ones.
They are lightweight and easy to use hence they can be used for longer durations.
The plus point of these machines is that they hit the skin of the customer softer than the coil machines.
But as the rotary tattoo machines are fast, they are also more error-prone as compared to the traditional coil tattoo machines.
An experienced person can use the rotary tattoo machines to produce great quality tattoos on the skin of their customers quickly.
But if a beginner uses them, chances are that he might end up with a lot of errors due to them being fast.
While lots of practice can surely allow anyone to create nice tattoos using rotary tattoo machines.
A rotary machine can be used for lining as well as shading.
All you need to do is to change the needle to switch from lining to shading and vice versa.
Learn The Difference between coil tattoo machines and rotary tattoo machines
There are some major differences between coil tattoo machines and rotary tattoo machines that you should consider to determine which technology will be most suitable for you if you are a beginner.
Here are the differences between these two types of machines.
Error chances
The traditional coil tattoo machines are less error-prone than modern rotary tattoo machines.
This is mainly because of the slow speed of the coil tattoo machines and the fast speed of the rotary tattoo machines.
Noise and vibrating
The coil tattoo machines are much noisy and they vibrate a lot.
While if we look at the modern rotary tattoo machines, they produce a hell lot of less sound than the coil ones and they almost don’t vibrate.
Hitting the skin
The coil tattoo machines hit the skin harder which hurts the customer’s skin.
Whereas, if we look at the rotary tattoo machines, they hit the skin softer and run smoothly even across the face of the customer.
Weight
The coil tattoo machines are heavy and are difficult to carry while the rotary machines are lightweight and easier to carry than the coil ones.
What is The difference between Liner & Shader Tattoo Machine?
See the video to understand the difference between liner and shader tattoo machine. Hope this will be helpful for you.
Tattoo machine buying guide for beginners
If you are a beginner and know nothing about tattoo machines, don’t worry we’ve got you covered.
You need to consider some aspects before buying one of the best tattoo machines for beginners to get things started.
Here are those aspects that you need to consider.
Know the kinds
There are four different types of tattoo machines that are available in the market.
Each one has its features and functions.
You should know all four types before going to buy one.
Because, if you know the details about all types of tattoo machines, you will be able to distinguish between them and finally choose the most suitable one for yourself.
Here is a brief introduction to the four different kinds of tattoo machines.
Coil tattoo machine
These are cheap and perfect for beginners because they are slow which makes them less prone to errors. They are a great choice for starters.
Rotary tattoo machine
These tattoo machines run on electric motors and are lighter in weight than the coil ones.
They are quick and smooth along with being softer to the skin.
Beginners can also use these without any problem.
Pneumatic tattoo machine
These machines are quite expensive because they are the most luxurious tattoo machines available at the moment.
These are suggested for the professional people who have been tattooing for a long time now.
Liner tattoo machine
These are also affordable and great for beginners. These are used for small liner tattoos that are easy to make.
Buy from a reliable dealer
Whether you want to buy online or offline, it is always advised to buy the machine from a reliable dealer so that you won’t end up with the wrong kit.
Check the reviews and ratings of the dealer before placing your order. If you find the dealer positive, only then place your order.
Determine and choose the required size and shape
Another thing that you need to consider is to get the machine that is appropriate for you.
Don’t go for the bigger ones as you are a beginner and you’ll only waste your money by doing that.
Determine the size and shape of the machine and then judge whether it will be okay for you if not, check out tons of other machines available in the market.
Get the best quality possible
Tattoo machines are expensive hence if you are spending that much amount on it, make sure the product you are buying is great when it comes to quality.
Focus on the build quality and the material used in the machine.
Check whether it will last for long or not.
You can buy a machine made up of iron, brass or copper because they can be relied upon when it comes to long term usage.
Do a thorough research
Before buying a tattoo machine, make sure to conduct thorough research regarding the prices and other aspects of the machines you are planning to buy.
To get one of the best tattoo machines for beginners, you need to do some research for yourself rather than just relying on the suggestions of your friends.
Compare the prices of the online stores and check the review and ratings of the machine.
Check out the features you are getting at that price and compare them with other machines at the same price.
Never compromise on quality but don’t pay a hell lot of money for nothing.
Tattoo terminology
Lining: Outline that makes the beginning structure of the tattoo.
Shading: Shading determines the tone, texture, dimension, realism, and shape of the tattoo.
Filling: Filling or coloring refers to the action of filling the tattoo with color after the design has been created.
Lettering: Putting words in tattoos is known as lettering.
Know The Basic tattooing techniques
There are several techniques for beginners to get the most out of tattooing after they buy their new tattoo machine.
Here are the basic tattoo techniques that will help you to achieve your tattooing goals.
Things to know before you start
There are certain risks involved in tattooing that you need to know. Before you start making tattoos, make sure all the tattooing equipment is sterilized.
You should also choose the right speed during that tattooing process otherwise the customer will experience a lot of pain.
Prepare the tattoo
To make a tattoo on your customer, you need to put high-quality ink in your tattoo machine.
The ink that comes with the tattoo machine kits isn’t good quality.
You need to buy ink separately to get things working.
Once you have all the necessary equipment, you can start preparing your first tattoo.
Learn to do multiple designs
You can always check out some great designs on the internet and then try them out on practice skin.
As you are a beginner, it is recommended to do the newly learned designs on fake skin rather than your customers.
Once you learn the new design accurately, you are welcome to do it on your customer.
Prepare the area of the customer’s body
Make sure that the person you are tattooing hasn’t drunk alcohol for at least a day and they haven’t taken any painkillers either.
After that, you need to prepare a particular area.
You can shave the area with the help of a fresh blade. This will make it easier for you to tattoo.
FAQ For Best Tattoo Machines for Beginners
Q: Is it good to buy a tattoo machine online?
Ans: Yes, you can buy a tattoo machine online at a great price. All you need to do is to check the reviews and ratings of the supplier before you place your order.
Also, compare the price of the product on multiple sites and always buy from a reputed dealer.
Q: Can I, as a beginner, go for a rotary tattoo machine?
Ans: Yes, rotary tattoo machines will be a good option as a beginner because the coil tattoo machines are heavier difficult to operate.
Rotary tattoo machines are lightweight and they work smoothly.
Q: Are error chances more with rotary tattoo machines?
Ans: If we compare the rotary tattoo machines with the coil tattoo machines, certainly there are more error chances in the rotary ones because they work fast which is great for experts but not much good for beginners.
Conclusion
When buying a tattoo machine, always determine your requirements and your budget before shortlisting any product.
Determine your need and then go for the machine.
Only by doing this as a starter, you will be able to buy one of the best tattoo machines for beginners.
whoever wrote this has great idea about what they are talking about…all are correct information about tattoo machine. Author obviously has tattooed before.