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How do I become a Tattoo Artist?
October 27th, 2007
According to a Pew Research Center survey more than 33% of 18-40 yr olds in the USA have a tattoo. For something that used to be fairly taboo (except amongst convicts) when I was a child that figure shows quite an increase in popularity, which can only be good news for tattoo artists.
Tattooing techniques have greatly improved over the years but still not sufficiently to tempt me. I am one of the 66% that doesn’t have one and most likely never will. From anything but an indecent body distance, most tattoo’s to me look like green blobs, and if you have to ask someone what their tattoo is then it’s failed to impress!
But I have seen some that are real living walking pieces of art, created by masters and I hope they don’t fade into oblivion.
If you want to be a tattoo artist, you need natural artistic talent and good people skills as you need to be able to translate the clients needs into what will be a permanent piece of art on their body. That is a big responsibility. If they don’t like it, unless they have painful surgery, they are stuck with it.
Meanwhile the only real way to get into this industry is via an apprenticeship, which can last anything from 1-5yrs. You can find apprenticeships by approaching your local tattoo artist, but you may find you are paying them to teach you rather than the other way around. You will need a portfolio of your art work. Something to show the tattooist that you can draw and what your style is.
All tattoo artists need to be registered and there are strict operational guidelines, tattooing your pals at home is likely to be illegal! Ask your local Tattoo Artist for more details on how to get started.
Photo Credit: danflo
2 Responses to “How do I become a Tattoo Artist?”
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November 30th, 1999 at 12:00 am
There are a number of good friends of mine who have succeeded in this profession and are quite happy. One is in Utah, and I am one of her firsts, walking around with a band of fire on my arm and also a nautical star that I managed to acquire one night on a whim. While the fire one can be a bit of a problem at work ( my shirts must have appropriate length sleeves to fully cover), there’s no reason anybody should ever see my star unless a new trend develops to walk around sans pants. I cannot get over how many professionally dressed people have a tattoo peeking here or there, and I thought mine was significant but it really is not so dramatic after all. Yes, definitely increasingly common.
December 6th, 2007 at 6:01 am
This job also has it’s perks. You meet a lot of interesting people on the job. People with tattos always look like they have a story to tell!