i word of advise about tattooing... (my best friend of 25 years is a tattooist.... if you cant draw it free hand with a pencil and paper you WONT be able to tattoo it even on fake skin...
pen and paper is easy.... where as tattoo gun and skin is tricky the tattoo gun is heavy and vibrates skin is soft and stretchy..... see what im saying....
i would personally if i was you..... just practise drawing you own designs out first ..... get better at standard art before u even pick up ur gun.... and then before using the gun learn about it ie. how to set it up how to adjust it, what type of needle's are best for what type of line or shading.....
my mate who is a tattoist has always bin top of the class at art in school.... and has nearly always wanted to be a tattooist... but he didnt jump straight in he spent years practising drawing and shadding with pen and pad..... then finally about 2 year ago he got his first tattoo gun and went at it...
and now after only 2 years tattooing experiance he's kicking out work like this
its all about practice and leanring the technipue before u even touch a gun.....
i was the first person he tattoo'd he did a cover up on me and for his first person (other then himself) he did a amazing job
it's still not finshed he's got some on my chest to do yet.... and its bin about 8 sessions of cover up work so far maybe 15-20 hours... he was very slow when he first started but now after 2 years has sped up a bit.. and not lost any quality in his work....