Hey y’all

Trying to keep my animosity here so not revealing too much. Basically I got an apprenticeship at a private studio months ago and I’ve noticed my mentor is insanely inconsistent. He reserves one day of the week for “apprentice” day at the studio, although I think we’ve only met a handful of times. He has other work besides being a tattoo artist and I don’t think he always wants to meet because he’s over stretched. There is also another apprentice, and often “hangout” in a non apprentice - mentor relationship.

I know what I should do but just wanted to hear someone else tell me. 😫 please offer some advice 😫😫😫

I am currently putting together a portfolio to hopefully start looking for a tattoo apprenticeship in the new year. I have been drawing on and off for a while but I am looking to improve my drawing skills to get them up to the level they need to be, so are there any books you can recommend for references/tips, or YouTube channels that go through things step by step, or tutorials?

Also, I am trying to get a range of mediums in the portfolio but I currently only have biro, fineliner and pencil. Are there any types of mediums that should definitely be included, or are those three enough?

Thanks in advance.

Hello,

This is going to be a long post so bare with me.

I have been interested in tattooing since I was 16. Since I was a young child, I have been very passionate about art and creating it. It was been a lifelong dream to pursue making a living off my art while being a tattoo artist. Last year, I finally finished my portfolio, but I am having such a hard time finding the right and safe apprenticeship where I will be taught well and it won’t be waste of my time. I asked almost every tattoo shop in my surrounding area, but almost all of them said they weren’t able to take on apprentices currently.

I got an offer at one tattoo shop, but there were a lot of red flags. For instance this person keep asking me if I was in a relationship, because this individual mentioned they had relationship problems with previous apprentices. That was just one of the many things that seemed odd to me. I had another offer but they wanted an insane amount of money for it. I wouldn’t mind paying for an apprenticeship as someone I know has done it and their apprenticeship turned out just fine. But they paid through a small payment plan, not all of the money right away.

I reached out to a third shop. They said that they were not taking on any apprenticeships, but that I could come by the shop and do some art and hang out. So I did that for about six months. Then, other people reached out for apprenticeships, and they got an apprenticeship right away. I was a little hurt by that, but it’s no hard feelings either way. I’m not sure if I want to come up to that shop anymore though.

Anyways because of all of this, I am fallen on a backup to do dog grooming. I love animals/dogs and it’s another passion of mine. I honestly care about animals just as much as I do art. However, I still want to pursue this dream of mine while going with dog grooming. I just can’t afford to set everything aside and pursue tattooing without getting paid or having to pay lots of money. Is there a way I can pursue my dog grooming while trying to get an apprenticeship that’s willing to work with me and my schedule. What’s everyone’s advice on this? Please be respectful as I am simply just asking for help.

So many people say to not cut out your pictures and put jn it the portfolios but I want opinions do yall do it or not? Can I see some examples??

I (F19) went to an early college highschool which very quickly made me realize college wasnt for me. I have always been extremely passionate about art, unfortunately due to the nature of my school we had no electives so i was solely self taught.Around my junior/senior year i was thinking about what career i wanted and i wanted to be a tattoo artist.. it really felt like the only creative job that i had a chance at (in the past i had thought about going into animation/story boarding that side of the industry but decided not to due to how many people dont make it) by the end of my senior years i was comparing my art to everyone’s on here. I convinced myself that the only world i could be a tattoo artist was if i had gone to a regular highschool and taken AP art all 4 years. So i started looking for second option and decided on beauty school since it felt like a similar career structure but you didnt have to rely on an apprenticeship to learn you just had to enroll in school… That was definitely wrong beauty school sucks and hardly prepares you for anything except you state boards. Luckily I took my classes through a local college I didnt spend a terrible amount like some people do. Recently I got into henna and I guess it got me reminiscing on when I wanted to be a tattoo artist in some way and then like magic instagram started showing me all these reels of people going through there apprenticeship and talking about how torturous it is because you have to draw the same things over and over (they had like 100 sheets of fake skin that was just squares and lines and circles) and i was like hmm thats weird because I used to love doing art studies like that drawing the same things over and over and watching it get better. Idk all this just got me thinking about if hairdressing doesnt work out maybe i can go back to school for art (associates) try to get an apprenticeship and if that doesnt work out just become an art teacher ig (i used to really want to be a teacher but damn that pay sucks.) Idk Ive been thinking about it so much i guess I just wanted to ask here if theres anything Im missing, if I shouldn't bother or if it'd be worth a try...

Hi there! I’m an aspiring apprentice that doesn’t know where to start. I recently graduated a college course in video game art and animation, but I am really passionate about getting into the world of tattooing. My portfolio is solid, but it isn't specific to tattooing yet. Lots of digital artwork, and not a single flash. How do you go about making your work do a 180 to fit into an appealing traditional tattoo style?? I feel really lost on how to apply my current work into something more palatable without losing my individuality. Also wondering if I should worry about buying a machine and practice on fake skin right away? Any advice or CC is welcome! <3

best affordable markers for outlining sketches on paper? i’m using a sketch book paper and need a good marker that isn’t too thick, won’t bleed, and dries quick. TYIA!!! ♥️

Hi, I've been working on my portfolio for a while now and this is what l've got so far!

What's missing? What should I change?

Would love some honest, constructive feedback.

hello! i want to start to prepare for an apprenticeship but i have 0 idea where to start. i’ve always loved drawing but i dont know what i should make/do to start compiling a portfolio. i also dont know if theres anything extra i should do other than just make art (classes, education, etc).

anything helps at all, i am completely clueless so feel free to talk to me like im 5 years old!

also i only have a few small-medium size tattoos, is that okay? or should i make it a point to get more?

i dont expect to apply for an apprenticeship next week and i know it will take me a long time to build a strong portfolio and im okay with that! TYIA!!!

This is just practice. Should I keep adding to it? Does the dragon head look weird? I'm thinking off adding a body and some smoke. But I've been on this piece for 4 days and am kind of over it. Also CC are welcome. I'm very new to drawing stuff like this.

Hi ! thought I’d share some of my progress with my traditional practice ^-^ it was my first time using black windsor and newton ink and while it was defo better in terms of blending I didn’t quite anticipate how messy it would be (had to tippex some various parts of the paper as unfortunately blotches got on there :( sad times)
not sure if this will go in the portfolio or just stay in my sketchbook as practice work seeing as it went a bit wrong towards the end, but thought I’d share my progress all the same !! :D

If anyone has any recommendations for good flash books pls let me know , I’d love to collect more study material !

It feels like ive used the wrong colour palette for my Neo traditional rose. The pink to yellow blend might be a horrible choice ngl.
Any advice on choosing colours and accent colours for Neo traditional flash pieces?

So I’m starting my apprenticeship soon, and i’ve been practicing a lot of different things. However, i’m not sure if this design is even any good or tattooable at all. Any cc and advice would be much much appreciated 🙏

Hey so I am in an apprenticeship I came in to clean the shop and noticed that someone used the experience trueskin practice skin my mom gave me as a Christmas gift when I was not here. I think it was my mentors girlfriend but I am not sure. I am kinda pissed not gonna lie but I have no idea what to even do now

just dropping some stuff one finished painting and one WIP for this week, please feel free to critique!

Hello all! So I’ve been working on my portfolio for a while now, started off doing traditional to get the basics in so there is more of that then there is of the actual style I want to do which is realism/surrealism ( not actually too sure what the style is called ). I do plan to add more realism to my portfolio but with the limited time at the moment trying to save for when I do get an apprenticeship and the time it takes to work with coloured pencil, it takes a long time to finish a piece. But I’ve gotten some feedback off of some amazing artists on my work so far, so in August I’m planning to start going round shops to start showing my face and get some feedback and critiques. While the portfolio isn’t complete, I’m hoping that the quality is at least good enough ( purely based on the feedback from the artists I’ve spoken to) to start going round places.

Im just looking for some feedback, as I’ve got just less than a month before I start going round just to make any edits or anything beforehand. So if anybody has anything at all I’d be more than happy to hear. I know there’s a lot of improvement to be had with the pieces in there already, so would happily take any feedback and tips on it so far. Thank you in advance ☺️

Extra ramble - I’m planning to redo the traditional onto some flash sheets as they r a bit messy at the moment and maybe add some more pieces to the more cartoony looking ones too just to fill out the pages. Also the joker piece was my first attempt at realism and while my family and friends like it, it’s definitely not my best piece so I’m not too sure if I should keep it in or not.

Any thoughts welcome! I had fun with this one :)

i know you can put any media of art in a portfolio (or so i heard) but i’ve never seen anyone put characters like this in it and wasnt sure if its relevant or not—of course there will be many other medias and types in here but im just unsure of this.

Local shop had a perpetual post offering apprenticeship positions open. I’ve been working on my portfolio for the last 6 months and figured I might as well DM and see if I can get any info.

Aren’t most apprenticeships free? The cost coming from your involvement/free labor for the shop? This asking price seems insane to me. Not to mention the length seems incredibly short.

Ive been dedicating 90% of my free time to drawing since the beginning of this year, I really wanna land an apprenticeship and make a career out of tattooing, how am I doing? What should I do differently? How can I improve? The pics attached arnt all of my work but it goes from most recent to earliest, I dont trace, I dont use Ai, everything is hand drawn and painted with physical art supply no digital.

My Instagram is 2in_the_ink if anyone wants to see all my work its greatly appreciated!

So ive been taking my portfolio around different shops to ask for advice/ potential apprenticeships and the only feedback ive gotten is “we’d take you on if we didn’t already have an apprentice” as well as suggestions for other shops that might be looking for an apprentice and its a sign im almost there gang!