I just jumped into the rotary fold and figured I'd share my two cents insofar.

I picked up one of the RCA jack standard stroke Neotats that Eikon has just begun to stock. I considered a whole lot of rotaries, but this one just seemed to have the simplest no-hassle design compared to many.

I'm still getting hang of sticking an outline with it. I tend to lean forward into my lines pretty hard, and especially at extreme angles and when whipping out the tips of lines, I have a bit of trouble with the machine snagging up in the skin. This was never once a problem with any of my coil machines.

Colouring is another story. Packing solid colour is a little slower than with my Micky Sharpz, but I feel the skin responds more favourably to the Neotat. Less bleeding, swelling, and pain. I've been setting my needle depth a wee bit more shallow with the neotat to compensate for the lack of coil "give". The only issue I'm getting used to is colouring in tricky little sections (e.g., black section around celtic knotwork) solidly and quickly with my needles hanging out a bit more, as I feel this machine doesn't drop it in as well. Big fields of black or colour however, no problem at all.

This machine SHINES when it comes to long blends, layering colour, and overall pace of working on a larger scale. I have so much control over my gradients that I've been doing pieces that would normally call for a cap or two of graywash, in JUST black with nice long whips and sweeps.

I really enjoy this machine. It's built super well, runs smoother than the smoothest old time iron, and feels like it won't give up any time soon.

Thanks for reading!
Devin Cardosi
Chicago, Ill