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stink · Tattoo lover Joined: 30 Jun 2008 Posts: 9

what is the best way?

I am confident in my at skills and feel I have a strong portfolio along with my own style and feel to my pictures,

i guess its just a case of being noticd by the right person at the right time

comments welome

cheers

Bren · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 11:05 pm Post subject:

Hi Mate. Good on you. Take your portfolio around to places where you think you would like to work? I dont know where you are in the world? But i have seen afew studios in Washington Dc in the USA are looking. Good luck with your goal bud Wink

Sylvias · Tattoo lover Joined: 23 Jun 2008 Posts: 46

yep thats what i did, go around with your work and show it to artists asking if they are looking for an apprentice....
but incase your younger like me....be ready for rejection,,,
i was SO MAD when the guy told me he liked my stuff and wanted an apprentice...and then found out i wasnt 18 so it was all called off >: (

stink · Tattoo lover Joined: 30 Jun 2008 Posts: 9

im in the Uk - Bristol, yeah well there is a tattoo academy that one of the Holey skin studios run which coukld be a good start just need to find out how much they charge for that 6 wks training etc, but im goign to try and get my portfolio up together first and then speak to my tattooist for some of his advice and then try and show my work off at a convention and show my work to everyone!

Bren · Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 5:08 am Post subject:

Honestly mate. A tattoo academy cannot teach you how to master the art in 6weeks? And expect to go tattoo at a convention?
Bit of a rip off in my opinion. It takes years of carefull training to be a good adaptable tattooist, and even then you never stop learning.
Buy yourself some quality gear and start on some skins.
There are heaps of helpfull sites online at your fingertips too.
Best o luck.

stink · Tattoo lover Joined: 30 Jun 2008 Posts: 9

prob my fault crossed wires, one of the options is the tattoo accademy, the otherwas to build up my portfolio of designs / art work and show them to people, i know in 6 wks you will never master the art of tattooing thats just crazy,

Sylvias · Tattoo lover Joined: 23 Jun 2008 Posts: 46

I agree with bren, buy yourself some good materils and teach yourself, that is what i am doing now. however do not start right away on peoples bodies, there are lots of things you can practice on, most of the stuff we use here are citruses, mostly grapefruits...and pigskin, should be able to get that at a butcher or something.

stink · Tattoo lover Joined: 30 Jun 2008 Posts: 9

yeah my friend has a lot of tattoo gear and i can get some pig skin easy to have a go, the tattoo academy is run by a tattoist called Kouri Montana im going down to have a chat with him on sat and get some advise from him really at present im drawing designs for lots of people and always have people asking me to do work for them so i should be able to make some money from my designs going to start work on big flash pieces etc

Garyzda1 · Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:32 pm Post subject:

........................

stink · Tattoo lover Joined: 30 Jun 2008 Posts: 9

cheers for all the advice and tips, need all the help i can get Smile

well ill let you know if there is any progress, im starting to desgn some flash work for a tattoo design site whch is a good start get a bit of money and more importantly get my designs be seen by more people

Bren · Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 7:33 pm Post subject:

Yeah be wary of where you spend those dollars mate. Huck Spaulding has a good a-z guide for newcomers to the art. There is also the sterilisation side to this trade which must be followed to the srictest of guidelines.
Alot to learn bud. Wink

blamski · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:47 am Post subject:

to be honest, looking at the tattoo academy's website - www holeyskin.com / academy - it looks to cover all the important stuff including equipment set up and hygiene. there's a lot of stuff to cover in 6 weeks though and there will be little one to one time with the teachers. if i was young, madly impatient to get started as a tattooist and had the spare cash i would probably be tempted to go for it. i would also hope to be aware that its going to be no substitute or even shortcut for a proper long apprenticeship.

they mention that 'candidates who excel' will be offered apprenticeships in one of their 4 studios. it all makes me wonder if they are thinking about how much money they can make out of people while saving on the task of having to interview potential trainees individually. i'm sure there will be more cropping up while the industry enjoys the boom.

mommabird · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:12 am Post subject:

Blamski, I agree - I had gone to the website and it appears to be a good "introduction" course - sounds like they are covering the basics of what you know to get started. I would imagine that if someone took the course they might be considered a better choice/risk if they go apply to apprentice somewhere - but I'm not in that part of the tattoo scene, so I don't know what the attitudes are like concerning this.

Also, I looked up Kouri's gallery on this site, as well as finding some on other sites and he seems to do a nice job. I did find the following post on a forum from 2005, which might explain why he's venturing more in this direction, as it talks about his health not being great: (remove the spaces).

http : // groups.yahoo . com/group/tcgb/message/383

Not giving an opinion either way, as I'm not an artist and am not educated on these topics - just wanted to share what I found.
Smile

devilduckie523 · Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 3:27 pm Post subject:

I think a regular 3 - 5 year apprenticeship is the best way to go...

The tattoo academy may be a good start but i doubt there doing to be able to teach you and have you learn everything in 6 months...it took me 2 years of cleaning and setting up and drawing and watching and practicing on chicken Confused

before I was even able to touch a machine and set it up let alone tattoo someone