Apprenticeship portfolio?

hey guys,
I work in a shit job in Scotland and im sick of it and i realy need to get a decent job.
I realy like art and drawing, i do it all the time at my work, Im ok at it, not the greatest, but when i sit down any put some effort into it I can draw most things to a good standard but mostly i like to draw my own kinda style of things which i think look quite cool.
Anyway I realy like tattoos, i have quite a few and i think there realy cool and so are tattoo artists and i know its a job id love. I thought about buying a machine from the internet but i dont wanna be an outcast who tattoos from home, i want to work in a proper shop and have some kinda credibility, so ive started to construct a portfolio in an attempt to acquire an apprenticeship. Any hints as to what a good portfolio should contain and how to present myself to artists so they no im serious and want to learn?

[canvasyou]

Any hints as to what a good portfolio should contain and how to present myself to artists so they no im serious and want to learn?

I would say to show diverse styles - show realism, and show clean. Show lettering and tribal - show original stuff.
Also show some duplicate of flash style.

Just be brave going in there - you might get turned down 100 times before you get a "yes" - hang in there - do you have the book? Basic Fundamentals of Modern Tattoo?

yes i do have the book, it is realy good.

any idea of the numbers of drawings a portfolio should include

i.e. about 10 tribal, 10 different lettering styles or more of everything?

and what is the proper etiquette for asking for an apprenticeship. should you just walk straight in and ask?

For what it's worth I have a dozen people ask me about apprenticeships every week. First, have as many drawings as you can fit in a 3" Three ring binder. Use tabs in the binder to separate realist, tribal, portraits, traditional, etc. You should approach the subject by talking with the artist and possibly having work done by the artist. Walking in and saying, "I want to apprentice with you" normally gets a bad response. Develop a relationship with an artist, you'll be playing maid servant for years to this person, it would be in your best interest to find out if you can tolerate their personality before committing to them. Once you've developed the relationship, ask them to critique your work. If they like your work, the rest should be relatively easy. Once you have your apprenticeship, then work hard, ask questions, try to think two steps ahead and draw, draw, draw. Good Luck.

[canvasyou]

14 piece of flash.

Strive for 14 pieces of larger 11x17 flash.

If you can get 14 peice of custom - 1 of a kind flash drawn up - then you will have a nice portfolio...

This means you should split it up - and be diverse
show all of yoru skills in those 14 pages
14 seems like a lot - but it really isnt...

You dont want to bring in 100 pages of art..
And by making it Flash - you show your ability to use the whole canvas and generate 5 or 6 themed ideas for tattoo designs on one page that flows w/ a background...

keep all your pages the same size - so your portfolio looks nice-
you can scan and print the pages - dont have to be originals in portfolio.


Just some suggestions.

[xDreamerx]

...speaking of flash and art work.......Canvas....feel free to post any of your flash I'm just curious now.

[canvasyou]

I will def have to post my old flash! Its not possible from Afghan though - internet way too slow take me like 10 mins just to load a page on this forum!
: )