I have been a tattoo artist for nearly 25 years, and I have come across a ton of sources that attempt to explain how to get a tattoo apprenticeship and become a tattoo artist. Unfortunately, most of them are inaccurate.
Getting a tattoo apprenticeship requires complete dedication to the process of learning about the world of tattooing, meeting and making friends with tattoo artists, and developing your artistic skills.
Despite what you may read online, it is not always as simple as walking in with your portfolio and asking for an apprenticeship. This has happened before, but it's not the optimal way. The biggest drawback to this is that there is no established trust on either side. In this article, I will go into detail about what will make you an ideal candidate for an apprenticeship.
Events For April 21, 2023
An apprenticeship will carry slightly from shop to shop but each one will share a few key topics that are essential to the development of a safe and long-lasting tattoo career.
A tattoo apprenticeship is a period of study and learning under the guidance of an experienced tattoo artist in a reputable shop. During this time, you are a student and assistant, learning the technical aspects of tattooing, health and safety concerns, and the business of being a tattoo artist.
This relationship is very intimate and so it must be built on trust between both the mentor and the mentee. For this reason, I strongly advise against the decision to walk into a tattoo shop and outrightly ask for an apprenticeship. This approach may seem tempting because it gives instant gratification but in the big picture it is actually counterproductive.
How To Get A Tattoo Apprenticeship — Joby Dorr
You are going to spend a lot of time working very closely with the person you will be learning from so you need to be sure this will be a good relationship.
There are many reasons a tattoo apprenticeship is so important, but the primary concerns are for health and safety. Teaching yourself involves
The onlysafeway to get get the necessary hands-on experience is under the guidance of an experienced professional standing by you, teaching you as you go.There are no SAFE methods to learn tattooing at home, by yourself.
Tattoo Apprenticeships: How To Get Into The Industry
There are no tattoo artist education courses that are worth it. There are no good ways to learn to tattoo online. You can find self-taught tattoo artists. I'm not saying it has never happened, but the question remains:
Even if you proceed despite the health risks, you will eventually have to unlearn many bad habits and acquire more effective techniques.
Finding a tattoo apprenticeship will require a lot of hard work. It’s best to not have assumptions about how long it should or shouldn’t take but there certainly are ways to make the process faster and more efficient.
Tattoo Apprenticeship: How And Why Should You Get Them?
The only thing that can limit your ability to get a tattoo apprenticeship is your own dedication and determination. Every obstacle you will encounter can be worked around if you keep moving forward.
The best plan is to treat the process of finding a tattoo apprenticeship as a series of short-term or mid-term goals rather than one goal you must accomplish. Take each step as its own focus, put all your effort into that phase and move on when you are ready. That way its just a series of little projects rather than one gigantic, overwhelming project
The thing that people are usually most surprised by is how much work it is being an apprentice in a tattoo shop. Apprenticeships are full-time commitments and will require the largest share of your schedule.
Apprenticeships In The Tattoo Industry
The best way to prepare for a tattoo apprenticeship is to treat it the same as if you were going to college or vocational school. For the best results, you should start planning months or years in advance.
Most likely you will be working long hours, during the day and studying or working on your art skills in the evenings. With that in mind there are a few things you can do to be prepared and make the workload feel less of a burden.
Start saving money. Before putting your full effort into finding an apprenticeship, it is worth spending at least a year, preferably 2 years saving money. Having a sizeable nest egg will give you the freedom of time to commit everything to your work as an apprentice. This will ensure you are able to complete the learning experience as fast and as effectively as possible.
Tattoo Apprentice Archives
Reduce your living expenses. As part of the money-saving process, you should be looking for all the ways you can reduce your living expenses. Ideally, you can lower them to the absolute bare minimum. Be brutally honest with yourself about the most essential necessities you need to live and try and eliminate everything else. This will allow you to save money faster while preparing for finding an apprenticeship and will make your time as an apprentice much easier.
Build a support network. If you are lucky enough to have supportive friends and family, talk to them about your goals. Good family and good friends will want to help! If it is feasible, you may even consider living with a family member or a friend who has enough space to host you. If you have friends and family in other cities this may even be an option to explore sooner than later if you already know your area does not have many opportunities for finding a tattoo apprenticeship. We will talk more about moving to other cities later.
Start working on art skills ASAP. No one will be expecting you to have advanced art skills but the more effort you put into developing your artistic abilities prior to seeking a tattoo apprenticeship the more likely it will be that potential mentors will consider you a good candidate. This process is important enough that I have given it a separate section below.
Events For April 29, 2023
You don’t have to be a master artist to get an apprenticeship but the sooner you start the effort of building strong art skills, the faster your entire career will advance.
Throughout your art career, the things that will help you improve the most is focused study and feedback. This is as an ongoing process rather than a destination you will eventually arrive at.
A fully detailed curriculum for learning strong art skills is beyond the scope of this article but there are some essential things you will need to focus on when developing and advancing your art skills. at the end of this list, I will link to a few articles I have written that give in-depth instruction for learning strong art skills.
Tattoo Apprenticeships: How To Get One? Are They Paid? How Do You Pick A Mentor?
Art that will make good tattoo designs. Above I mentioned studying tattoo art as part of your practice developing art skills. This might seem obvious but many times I have seen portfolios with no images in it that showed any study of actual tattoo designs. Studying and trying to learn what makes a good tattoo design will show that you are serious about tattooing and can take the initiative.
Don’t expect to share your Instagram. Even though everyone has an Instagram and its very common for IG to be an easy way to share your art, it is not the best option for showing your best body of work to potential mentors. IG will not showcase your best work upfront and because the images are so small, it will be hard to get a good look at their quality.
Professional presentation. The presentation of your art is very nearly as important as showing the art itself. Maybe even more-so. No one will expect you to be a master artist but they will expect you to conduct yourself like a professional who takes the art seriously. Here are some great ways to present your portfolio
Tattoo Apprentices Wanted! Tattoo Shops Seeking Apprenticeships
Present your best works. Your portfolio should be full of pieces that really show your full range of skills and strengths. This is also an important place to get feedback. Sometimes, the things we think are our strongest pieces are actually not the best options for showing off our full potential.
Show that you are studying tattoos. Tattooing is its own unique medium with its own set of rules making good designs. The more that you can show you are studying the elements of great tattoo designs, and incorporating what you have learned into your own designs, the more impressive your portfolio will be.
Show some variety. Don’t get stuck on one theme or one style. Show that you can handle a variety of styles, subject matter, and compositions. It’s good to know a little about traditional Americana, Japanese styles, realism, and others.
July/august 2014 By Rochester Women Magazine
You will greatly increase your chances of finding the best opportunities if you spend the time connecting yourself to the tattoo world, making friends and building relationships.
You may also find tattoo shops that hire apprentices often and regularly, sometimes having several working at one time.This is a sure sign that the shop is unscrupulous about its methods and does not have the mentees' best interest in mind.
It could be that your area doe not have a good option for you to find a tattoo apprenticeship.
0 comments
Post a Comment