This fake skin slab houses the first tattoos I've ever attempted. I started with the peace sign, the cube, the cylinder, and then finally the sparrow. I had the priviledge to learn on my 25th birthday, and was taught at first to set up and use a coil machine, then I switched to a rotary pen once I started needing more needle groupings. 

In my first attempts at tattooing, my main focuses were learning basic motions in lining, smooth shading, and packing black. I ended up doing most of the shading first, before going back in to sharpen and darken several areas of the bird. Below shows the gradual progression of this fake skin slab up until the stencil was bleached off, and to the right is the final product.