Starting young

[mdwiseone]

Hey forum, I’m currently a junior in high school and I want to learn the art of tattooing with the hopes of becoming an apprentice. I love art and my primary medium is pen and ink, so naturally tattooing is an interest of mine. I’m looking at applying to VCU’s art school, and Richmond happens to be the 3rd most tattooed city in the US! With any luck I’ll be able to work as a tattoo artist during my college years and possibly peruse a career in the field. Who knows what could happen, but all the better to start learning now!

[Infamous]

Sometimes I think it would’ve been better to have started out a little younger. Less is expected of you. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try twice as hard as anyone else though! If Richmond is already saturated with artists, its going to be hard to find new clients who don’t already have an artist they love. There should be plenty of shops to try to get an apprenticeship at though.

But you still need to be able to run with the big boys before becoming a tattooer. Pen and paper is a good starting point :)
I’d like to see what you can do with it.

My best advice would be to take your favorite art style and draw about 20-30 things and put that in your portfolio, then have a drawing or two of the other most popular tattooing styles like traditional, neo-traditional, bio-mech, water-color, realism, etc.

And of course, if your going to use a design the artist has seen a billion times you’d better put a new twist on it he hasn’t seen before. The goal is to impress the artist, and if you can show him something that inspires him to draw something different.. Well that’s not such a bad thing.

I wish you the best of luck!

[Ramenuzumaki]

20-30 is way too much
you only need 18-21 items in you portfolio. You also wont be accepted as an apprentice until you’re 18 as the legal age to get a tattoo is 18.

Also you want to have a MIX of styles in your portfolio to show you are versatile. If the artist you go to is a traditional artist and you bring him traditional work, and nothing else the chances of you getting in a lower, as they want to hire people who do stuff OTHER than what they want. That’s one the ways I got my apprenticeship. I had some manga in my portfolio, and a lot of people these days are getting it, but he couldn’t draw it.

You also want to keep your stuff organized. So put all your traditional together, all your neo-traditional, new school, portraits, etc. Or go in order of subject: flowers, skulls, koi, traditional, etc. That’s how mine is set up.

If he tells you no, just try again. Most of the time they are testing you to see if you’re committed to the industry. The biggest thing is your age. If you aren’t 18 you arent going to get into a shop.

[Infamous]

I don’t know how old you are but if its still going to be a while before you turn 18 it wouldn’t hurt to get in contact with the artist you want to apprentice under and express your interest.

[mdwiseone]

Well I’ve still got a year until I turn 18, but I’d like to work on the styles and mechanics needed to become a tattoo artist an that’s why I came here!

[Author]

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