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moondog

i love to draw, i tattoo only myself. i am disabled, and have a fucking hard time travelling. i cant afford tattoo shop work. everybody i know tells me my art is great. so zap why do you hate me, and the others who are trying to learn. i havent paid my due's. but i put off buying tattoo machines for a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time. so people wouldnt ask me to tattoo them. i dont understand.

ink king · Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 1:50 am Post subject:

dont worry about it moondog you will find the same problem with a lot of people. about 80% of tattooist i know started from home 19% of them fell into it acidently and there is only one tattooist i know of today who actuly went looking for an apprentiship and got one. the truth is that there is no right or wrong way. just aslong you work hard and try and better yourself every day (bascly it dosnt matter were ya want to be in life ya gotta work hard and try to better your self). i think a lot of tattooist just try to make them selfs sound good by bad mothing others. its sad walk into any tattooist and ask them a bout the tattooist down the road and see what they say

zapzapzap · Tattoo lover Joined: 17 Oct 2009 Posts: 45

You want to know why.... read this whole thing.

Why didn't you take the money you spent on a starter kit and get one nice tattoo done? Then save for your next one.

If you want to fuck yourself up all day go for it. I don't know what type of disability would prevent you from learning to tattoo a proper way, unless you are a double amputee or you are paralyzed or something. Almost anything else can be worked around.

Sometimes things are fucking hard. So what, your disabled, who cares? My whole life I have had the whole people with disabilities are just as good as anyone else, they can do anything a normal person can do, blah blah blah thing crammed down my throat.

I have seen plenty of disabled people working through whatever their misfortune. I just saw a write up in the weekly art section of the local paper here about a woman with no arms, painting with her feet. She was good, not like hey look at the cripple fingerpaint with her toes good, like wow, look how she manipulates her brushes with her toes while painting fine art landscapes and portraits good.

I saw some news segment of a high school kid with both legs amputated just above the knee... running around and playing foot ball. Do I think thats a good Idea for him? No not really... because I don't think its possible for him to play in a normal league without getting injured, or without getting special treatment. But he is out there loving it and doing it.

You think that ***** is easy for them? Fuck your disability. So many inspiring stories out there, and so much anti discrimination talk, you don't get to pull that card anymore.

Keep doing art! Develop as an artist! Enjoy it, I will never tell you that you are wrong! Until you put needle to skin that is.

You guys have a hard time understanding why I have a problem with you getting these ***** starter kits and going to town on yourself or your buddies or working out of your house. It's because it cheapens everything I busted my ass for.

This may not make a lot of sense, but its the best analogy I can make.

Lets say you just busted your ass to get through culinary school, you work in a few high end restaurants learning the ropes in the field and after a few years you finally open your own. Some guy sees all the money you are making and decides its really cool and he thinks its going to be so easy. He starts shitting in hot dog buns and selling it as food across the street. You wonder what the fuck is wrong with people who are eating shitdogs... You find out he is charging 20% of what you would charge for a gourmet hotdog, his customers put up with the horrible taste because it fills them up and they think just because he is calling it the best food in town its true. They probably never had a meal prepared by a real chef to judge it by anyway.

I have to use shitdogs in the analogy because the difference between a boiled hot dog and a gourmet dog isn't large enough.

If my car is broken, I take it to a mechanic. I suppose I could look up instructions, order the cheapest parts available then go try to do the job myself but I don't know ***** about cars, I don't have the proper equipment to work on them and I know that I would do more harm than good. I am going to find the most reputable mechanic around, ask everyone I see who the best is and why. Maybe find tips on picking a good mechanic online. Do some research and take it to who I believe will do the best job and use the right parts and tools and stand behind the job he does. Then I will pay him what he asks and thank him for the service, because that dude put a lot of effort into getting to where he is.

Buying a tattoo is pretty unique. You are not just buying a service, you are also buying a piece of artwork, one that will be with you for the rest of your life (might not be all that much longer if you don't figure out that sterilization thing Rolling Eyes

). Why wouldn't you want to find the best artist who works in the style you want and then pay them what they ask.

I don't hate you, or anyone else here for that matter. I'm actually a pretty damn nice guy. I do hate what you guys are doing and what you think is acceptable.

I know I am not going to change any minds here, I knew that before I even posted.

I am not here to help anyone who is trying to learn to tattoo that is for damn sure. I came here to give you a hard time. I came here because what you are doing is bad for my profession in general and I want to make sure you know that.

I came here because you all only want to take from tattooing. You want to take the watered down info you find on the net, crank out shitty tattoos, weather its on yourself or your friends, free or you charge and give NOTHING in return except for a couple hundred bucks to a company located on the opposite side of the world that is ripping off the innovators in your own country.

It seems like everyone working out of their house has a similar story about how they always wanted to tattoo and people/circumstances kept holding them back.

In reality the things holding back you scratchers are your own lazyness, lack of determination, desire for instant gratification, lack of artistic ability, ect.... mix and match, pick and choose.

If something is worth doing, it is worth doing right. If you want it bad enough you will make it happen.

Or you will wait for the fucking watered down Chinese knockoff to become available everywhere.

Like I said earlier, I don't hate you guys. I hate what you are doing.

zapzapzap · Tattoo lover Joined: 17 Oct 2009 Posts: 45

[quote="ink king"]dont worry about it moondog you will find the same problem with a lot of people. about 80% of tattooist i know started from home 19% of them fell into it acidently and there is only one tattooist i know of today who actuly went looking for an apprentiship and got one. the truth is that there is no right or wrong way. just aslong you work hard and try and better yourself every day (bascly it dosnt matter were ya want to be in life ya gotta work hard and try to better your self). i think a lot of tattooist just try to make them selfs sound good by bad mothing others. its sad walk into any tattooist and ask them a bout the tattooist down the road and see what they say[/quote]

You know what man, you are just too nice. Honestly you are fucking soft. Thats how you can tell you are not a pro, and you do not work in a shop.

Why keep spouting off this feelgood your trying your best bullshit?

There is no right or wrong way???? You are talking outa your ass man. There is more than one right way, and there are a fuck ton of wrong ways but to compare this to some elementary school finger painting is bullshit.

It depends what shop you ask me about, I am friends with a few other guys around town. Ask me about them and I will tell you they are nice guys. The people I don't know, or even the people who suck but are in shops I wont badmouth. I will just say I don't know anything about them, or I hadn't seen any of their work recently

If they tell me about their buddy who tattoos outa their house I just laugh and say "oh yeah? hows that workin out". Chances are they know its bad news, because after all, they are coming to me.

I am pretty dismissive about the topic in general, I want them thinking about the sweet tattoo they are about to get. Not another shop or some scratcher.

I try to be pretty direct and honest most of the time though.

ink king · Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 3:18 am Post subject:

like i said before your better of helping people and trying to get them down the right path than to bad mouth them and insult them it only makes people want to proove you wrong and THEY WILL go about the wrong way about it.

eg. you made a cake and i ate some and said it taste like crap. are you going to stop makeing cake or are ya going to try again and do it better with little or no knowlage?

were as if i ate the cake then said it tasted to sweet and was crumberly, then i said less sugar and more butter. you will stop and go mmmmmmmmmmmm i think i need some more help with this and proberly take a cooking class or try and find the right way of doing it

I would love to hear what you think is the best way of learning the art of tattoo and how ya got into the trade it might help people to chose the right path.

I dont care if ya think im full of it as im starting to think the same about you. the only reson im beeing nice is its the forum rules if i had my way i would i would love to reach through my modem and goudge your eyes out cut of ya fingers and shove them up your ass while kicking you to the tune of god save the queen as i hate arigant people

zapzapzap · Tattoo lover Joined: 17 Oct 2009 Posts: 45

They are already doing it the wrong way. If it provokes them it doesn't change anything.

If I baked a cake and you said it was shitty, I would throw it away and take a fucking class if it was that important I make a cake.

If you gave me some watered down advice on how to make my shitty cake a little less shitty, I suppose we could enjoy some almost passable cake.

Oh wait, I just made all this money layin down some sweet tattoos! Lets goto the bakery and get some bad ass cake!

You want to know how I got into it?

I turned 18 and started getting tattooed every other week, whenever I got paid. After a few months became pretty good friends with the artist working on me. A few months after that I was hangin out at the shop answering phones and cleaning and helping out in general when they were short handed. My buddy started helping me draw better, because I wanted to draw, not because I was looking to tattoo. A couple months later he offered me an apprenticeship.

I quit the job I had and started showing up at the shop from 10am-8pm monday-saturday. I had to work an over night job at a gas station to pay my bills so that was 10pm - 6am 5 days a week. I would get home, crash for 3 hours, then goto the shop on the days I worked at both.

When I was at the shop I was allowed to do 4 things, answer the phone, draw, watch my boss tattoo or clean. After a couple months I started learning the technical side of things. I think about 8 months into my apprenticeship is when I did my first tattoo. I think at about a year I had quit my other job and was surviving on walkins.