When welding with an electrode, you need to understand where the slag is, and where the metal melts. A beginner to get acquainted with manual arc welding is incomprehensible, the electrode burns, everything rages with one mass.
Normal seams will begin to be obtained if through the mask you constantly see the boundary of the metal and slag and control it. I'll show you with a simple example.
I drew about what happens when welding. The electrode burns, melts the metal and forms a weld pool, it has the shape of an egg. The surface of the weld pool is covered with liquid slag, it is more mobile than molten metal and travels in a wave slightly behind the welding arc.
In our example, I took a piece of pipe as an electrode. This is how we look when welding as in the photo, from above and slightly from the side of the burning electrode. Who just started welding just need to look a little differently.
Look so that the electrode is burning at eye level. So you will see everything you need. The welding arc, the weld pool and this wave itself, the boundary of metal and slag, will become visible.
Welders often argue that slag or metal is darker, it's just that the glasses on the masks are different and therefore people see this process differently. And here you will see all this through your mask and for yourself you will understand what is what color.
Take a piece of thick metal, at least 3 or 4 mm, put it at 100 amperes, light the electrode and watch the combustion process at eye level. So you will immediately understand everything. Now you need to practice a lot, but having understood how to see this wave, you will gain experience much more consciously.
Friends, I shot a video where I told everything in detail, maybe not everything is clear in the article, look for a full picture.