This post is also on my Studio Practice blog, but I felt it was relevant to post here too as it is what I am working on for June, when I officially start my apprenticeship.

This weekend I learnt the technical details to colour and shading skin, the way it was described helped me think about how I colour paintings and flash that I am currently working on.
I've started taking notes and trying to absorb everything sponge-like as much as possible.

Packing
- Small circular motions
- Similar to colouring pencil
- Good for solid areas of colour but creates more "cuts" and trauma to the skin, so can be harder to heal.

Scrubbing
- Back and forth movement
- Heals better than packing
- Can be less coverage/solid
- More suitable for smaller areas of solid colour

Wip Shading
- Upwards movement
- Creates gradient.
- Into the skin then pull outwards and upwards onto the surface.

Long Lines
If you can't make the full line without replenishing ink, arc in and out.
Softly into the skin, pull upwards to the surface layer, fill the ink, start the next line about a cm from the end of the last and do the same again until you reach the end. This stops the line looking disjointed and causing big areas of ink and each end, this allows more flow and a smoother finish.

If you struggle putting in a line, stretch the skin to the point where you feel vibrations from the machine in the thumb and index finger of your stretching hand.

I was given a grip, the thing that holds the needle tip onto the machine, and put it on a pencil to practice the weight of drawing with it. It's really strange, the weight coupled with the width is something i'm going to have to get used to.