First thing: if when you’re talking about an apprenticeship with an artist and he or she starts talking $$$ pretty quickly then run. He or she is more interested in your wallet than teaching you anything. Most of your costs can be made up in sweat equity around their studio.
Don’t let not getting an apprenticeship slow you down…but at the same time, DON’T put needle to skin until you know basic sterilization and have practiced on fake skin, pig skin, fruit and/or your own skin.
Draw every day and take art classes. Read everything and watch every video you can on tattooing – not just techniques but also machine tuning, pigments, etc. (You can PM me for a GREAT public domain book by MadHatter)
Organize your BEST artwork into a portfolio – but if you’re trying to get an apprenticeship then don’t include any tats that you’ve done.
Take a BBP/CC course and get certified.
Learn how your machines work on practice surfaces; the different effects that you can get them to do and so on – while practicing sterile techniques.
Get critiques of some of your practice tattoos from artists who are willing to help – not all of us consider ourselves demigods who charge 10K to teach someone or are afraid of competition.
When you feel confident in your abilities with your equipment and talent, and have gotten some good comments on your practice pieces then put ink into anyone and everyone who will let you. Get some copies (never original pics) of your best work organized into a portfolio, along with a resume or list of references and you can possibly get a chair in a shop without having apprenticed anywhere.
Yeah, it sounds like it’ll take a long time, and it will. But when is anything worthwhile every truly free?
Remember this: most of the artists who are making scratcher comments originally started as a scratcher themselves.
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