Online Training
Tattoo Lining
Sample from the In-Person Course
TATTOO LINING SKILLS: FROM ZERO TO PRO

Get ready to start!
Whether you are looking to begin your tattoo career or hone your skills as an experienced artist, our online course by Lead Artist Jingxi Gu is designed to help you become a top artist.
Unlike other online courses, this online course is developed from our actual apprenticeship program in Los Angeles which is more comprehensive and contains in-person training in 4 skill areas: a) fundamentals, b) lining, c) shading, and d) color. All of these concepts build upon each other and must be done in sequence to move onto the next skillset.
Here are a few examples of our apprentices' first tattoos:
At the end of the
in-person tattoo training course, students are asked to complete a final project using the skills they've learned from the course:
From the above examples, almost all students had no experience touching a tattoo machine and half had zero formal art education. The exceptional results from both fake skin and real skin work come from Jingxi's deep understanding of tattooing and her effective teaching methods. It is also coming from the perspective of working closely with students and apprentices, analyzing their struggles, and teaching them how to overcome their shortcomings.
Demand from both aspiring and current tattoo artists to join the in-person course is extremely high and due to limited seats per year, we aren't able to accommodate the vast majority of applicants. Many students also aren't able to travel to our beautiful Los Angeles studio for several weeks and some can only join on weekends or nights.
Therefore, this introductory online course was born from countless requests to release a class that has no limits on spots and can be attended from across the world at any time. In this online course, we provide the same content as the fundamental and lining training (2 of 4 skill areas) we give our apprentices and students. Step by step, you'll be guided from knowing nothing about tattooing to creating perfect lines and whip shading with a liner.
For experienced artists, there are no shortcuts, but we will get you back on track. This online course has key concepts that must be mastered into muscle memory in order to appropriately move onto advanced topics like mag shading and color.
To get there, we will work on fake skin again just like what Jingxi has done multiple times even after many years of tattooing. We know that 90% of tattoo techniques can be taught on fake skin. The remaining 10% is focused on skin depth which should be introduced to students after 90% of tattoo skills are obtained. Most tattoo apprenticeship programs rush into real skin work and do a poor job teaching the important 90%. This causes many tattoo artists to be confused or misinformed about voltage, speed, what machine is the best, etc. It is troubling to see foundational skills being left for tattoo artists to figure out on their own by making mistakes on their clients.
Overall, our program isn't designed for artists to find a few tips here and there. Our mission is developing top artists and we don't sugarcoat reality like other online courses do. Becoming a top artist needs both solid education and hard work. This will require upcoming tattoo artists to start with this online course and current tattoo artists to go back to the basics.
If you closely follow our comprehensive tattoo trainings and practice enough, you will build a very strong foundation. Your first tattoos can look just as clean and professional as our apprentices and students.
What sets our training course apart from the others:
| Patch Tattoo Course | Other Online Courses | |
|---|---|---|
| Teacher | Has deep experience training actual apprentices, reviewing their common problems, and is a successful tattoo artist with a 1+ year long waitlist. | No evidence of mentoring apprentices and analyzing their struggles. Many courses are run by teachers with mediocre skills and no track record of success. |
| Curriculum | Very constructive and detailed guiding you step by step | Roughly explains what to learn and practice, not constructive |
| Practices | Specifically designed small practices every week, each designed to solve a specific problem | Simple tasks, everything mixed together, makes it hard to know what needs to be improved |
| Teaching Style | Straight forward and real discussions only. Analyzes, shows and explains actual techniques including "how and why we do it" | Example driven with limited explanation and out of sequence |
| Depth of Content | "Why are we doing this" are explained down to a physics and biology level so that students will truly understand | Not enough. Students still don't quite understand why, when, and how to apply techniques. |
| Examples | Provides examples of common mistakes, a comparison of Dos and Don'ts, and how to properly execute techniques | Typically provides examples of "This is how we do it" without deep explanation |
| Pace | Every tattoo technique is broken down into multiple small pieces and taught individually. Then everything is brought together. | Long content with shallow analysis or short content and not enough information |
Your Mentor Jingxi Gu
Hi I'm Jing!
As an experienced tattoo artist for 8 years, I started my tattoo career with a traditional tattoo apprenticeship. This involved tons of shop cleaning, instructions on how to set up a coil machine, and I was frustratingly left with the typical "go figure it out yourself" guidelines.
I then spent 4 years seeking tattoo knowledge everywhere. I learned tattoo skills from everyone I could possibly reach out to and joined multiple online and offline tattoo training programs with a variety of tattoo artists. I've paid many thousands of dollars for tattoo training and often traveled to different cities for a few days just to learn a very small skill. In total, I've been taught by multiple highly skilled tattoo artists, went through many types of tattoo trainings myself, and mastered the most difficult tattooing techniques on real skin.
I have extensive tattoo experience in several styles including Geometric, Realism, Asian style, etc. and currently have 120k+ followers on IG as an established artist in my own style. Every year I only open my books once for 24 hours and receive over 1000 requests. After selecting my tattoo projects for the upcoming year, more than 80% of my clients fly to me from out of state or country and always leave the studio very happy.
The best part is that I get to pick the projects I want to work on, set fair prices for my time, and choose when I want to work. Although this is a great situation now, the painful truth is that in my 8 years of tattooing, 5 years were spent putting the puzzle pieces together. If I had the opportunity to train myself in the way I train my students, I would have achieved the same success in only 3 years.
My tough learning path has made me very understanding of what kind of guidance you need to be a great tattoo artist. I've put in many years of exploration, discovery, and analysis so that you don't have to. I clearly explain the Whys, Dos and Don'ts, and provide a step by step constructive learning model to ensure you deeply understand.
What to expect from our Curriculum:
Introduction to Tattooing
- About your mentor and this online course
- A brief history of modern tattooing
- Overview of 18 different tattoo styles (traditional, realism, watercolor, etc.)
- Health and safety protocols in tattooing and shop sanitization standards
- How to get your tattoo license
- Introduction to tattoo equipment and a list of tattoo supplies to buy
- Introduction to tattoo machines and what is a good beginner machine
- Introduction to the whole tattoo process
Prepare to Tattoo: Station Setup and Stenciling
- How to trace a stencil
- 4 ways to apply a stencil
- Setup a practice station
- Proper handling and care of tattoo equipment
- How to keep the fake skin clean
Health, Skin Anatomy and Physiology
- Understanding human skin: skin layers and needle depth
- What is a blowout
- What is overworking
- How to stretch skin
- Healing process and aftercare instructions for clients
- Health conditions that shouldn't be tattooed
Machine and Cartridge Fundamentals
- How to wrap up a machine and insert a cartridge
- How to hold a machine and machine angling
- Correct needle length
- How to clean the cartridge
- What is a good cartridge to buy
Tattooing Fundamentals
- Hand speed check: the most important foundation
- Hand pressure and skin depth
- Voltage control: When and how to adjust the voltage
- Cartridge sizes and understanding skin resistance
Mastering a Liner
- Lining directions: Pull and Push
- Solid lining
- 2 ways of lining: hanging needle and ride the tube
- Blood lining
- Solid blackwork with liner
- Stipple and whip shading artwork compare
- Stippling technique
- Whip Shading technique
- Smooth in & Smooth out: the 2nd important foundation
- Connecting/ Expanding lines
Examples of Whipshading / Stipple Techniques:
Course Pace
Welcome to sign up today! This course is open for enrollment and there is no deadline on signing up. Since we are developing the course over time, starting from October 12, 2023, we will release 1 video lesson per week every Thursday at 8:30pm Pacific Time until all content is well covered and assign a weekly practice assignment. Currently there is no estimate on the number of video lessons and it will likely take a few months to release all the video content. We will be reviewing content, improving, updating, and adding videos over time as we receive more feedback.
We will also have ongoing Q&A sessions. Over time as we receive important questions in the VIP Support Group and Community, we will release more live Q&A sessions. This is your chance to get additional guidance you need. Given the high number of students joining the course, we will be gathering and answering the most frequently asked questions.
In addition, for students who have specific questions about lessons and want technical feedback on their fake skin practice, we have VIP Support Service for an additional fee to provide direct support.
Every video will be posted on our education platform so if you join the course at a later date or can't make the Q&A that day, you can still all content including lessons and Q&A.
You will also have access to the Patch Tattoo Therapy Training Community website where you can create posts, share work, comment, and interact with other community members.
Unlike the in-person course, there isn't a good way for us to provide all attendees tattoo supplies. We do have a list of supplies that Jingxi likes and students successfully used these products for the in-person training. This list will be provided during the 1st lesson of the course. Please hold on purchasing supplies until you've watched the lesson.
Shading, Color and more Advanced Topics
This Tattoo Lining Skills course is all about the core foundations of tattooing: understanding your machine, voltage, hand postures, etc. and all the skills you could achieve with a liner. Whip Shading and Stipple work are included in this course, but mastering a Shader with a Mag and Tattoo Coloring are more complex topics that will each require another course.
There are a number of artists that believe shading and coloring skills are the only aspects of tattooing preventing them from getting to the next level, but in real life, most artists did not receive proper training and are still puzzled by hand speed, voltage, hand pressure, needle length, machine angling, etc. that are essential to learning how to shade and color better. Sometimes artists think they understand, but they were actually misled and made wrong assumptions that are creating obstacles and roadblocks. During our in-person advanced shading class for experienced tattoo artists only, we discovered that all artists did not receive proper training, misinformed about certain concepts, and lacked some of the correct muscle memory required to excel in more complex techniques. They all needed to take the fundamental course first and spend significant time going through basic tattoo concepts the right way.
Since it is critical to build a solid understanding of the core foundations before learning more advanced skills, this course is highly recommended before taking the higher level online or in-person courses we will release in the future.
Once you nail down tattooing fundamentals and lining skills, you will be ready to take the next courses.
Ready to Dive In? We've cut the price by more than 60% to give more artists an opportunity learn. Get ready for a few months of practice and growth. Enroll now and let's kickstart your tattooing journey!
Click
here to sign up!
We look forward to guiding you through this journey!
If you have any questions, please review the FAQ below first and email training@patchtattootherapy.com if your question has not been answered.
Frequently Asked Questions