JUNKYARD ink

Tattooists have ALWAYS been inundated by people asking for apprenticeships. Here's what most people asking for an apprenticeship do NOT consider:

-          Everything an apprentice does affect the Mentor, his or her reputation, and his or her ability to earn a living.  An apprentice needs to be someone the Mentor can trust, whose behavior in and out of the shop is compatible with the Mentor's life, and who can be counted on to be as committed as the Mentor.  Unfortunately- MANY wannabe apprentices think that after three or four months, they've "already learned enough".

-          The apprentice must be someone that the Mentor LIKES as a person, since he or she will be there EVERY DAY FOR SEVERAL YEARS.

-          Most people asking for an apprenticeship "want to be a tattooist", but don't do anything about "being an artist".  A good apprentice will already be an accomplished artist and will spend part of EVERY DAY drawing.   The idea of “don't stop drawing" is the most important one. A good tattooist will use other media as well, pen & ink, watercolor, paints, sculpture, pencil, color pencils, etc.  An "artist" is not going to need to be told to "draw every day". An "artist" lives to create art and that will be apparent. Someone who "wants to be a tattooist", but who has never considered the commitment an Artist makes to Art, is not going to likely impress a Mentor who is also an artist. - Tattooing is a BUSINESS and it takes interpersonal skills, retail skills, and customer service skills. 

-          Any Mentor teaching an apprentice is taking time from his/her own life and should be compensated. Most apprenticeships cost $5,000-$10,000.  Some are not based on cash, but in labor, to pay this cost.   Most people only apprentice people they're friends with; someone who (here's where the tattoo shop owner makes his/her money for the time spent teaching) is WILLING TO STAY FOR SEVERAL YEARS AFTER THE APPRENTICESHIP IS OVER.  In other words, be committed to the shop, the Mentor and to remaining at your Mentors shop after the apprenticeship is over.  The Mentor's "investment" of time, knowledge and reputation" will be returned by the new tattooist earning money for the shop for several years into the future.

Tattooing for a living is a lifetime and lifestyle and, by teaching someone the right skill set, the Mentor is giving them the ability to earn a GOOD living doing gratifying work.  That education is going to be something that the Mentor will consider valuable, and the apprentice MUST treat as something worth committing MANY YEARS to; particularly, years working for the Mentor who teaches him/her. That apprentice may merely be learning the skills of tattooing and machine maintenance, but typically, a good Mentor will be teaching the apprentice ALL aspects of tattooing as a business and as an art form.

If there is a separate "shop guy/gal" to handle counter work, customer service and handle the phones, that's great.  But most often, these duties are the job of the main apprentice.  Also, an apprentice is not just "someone who is learning to tattoo", but also someone who is part of the business, someone the Mentor can count on to take up the slack, and someone who becomes the "public face" of the tattoo shop since the other tattooist are busy tattooing where the public doesn't see them.

Finding a Mentor isn’t easy.  Rather than walking the door, introducing yourself and asking for an apprenticeship... consider hanging around a shop, spending thousands of dollars on ink (as a customer), and getting to know the tattooist and/or shop owner well?  The "I keep getting told NO when I ask for an apprenticeship" responses heard often generally make NO mention of "getting tattooed", "getting to know the tattooist", or "liking a tattooist enough to know that's who you want to teach you to tattoo". This might be a good place to look at your plan and see where it is going wrong.

Once you do find a Mentor – you wonder what would be an apprentice duties and hours??? He or she is usually the person who:

1-      opens the shop

2-       checks voicemails

3-       sweeps, vacuums and/or mops

4-      collects the trash

5-      picks up the mail

6-      washes the windows

7-      sets up the tattooist' work-stations before each tattoo

8-      breaks down and disinfects the tattooist' work-stations after each tattoo

9-      builds needles

10-  learns Infection Control and Sterile Tattooing Procedures

11-  does all the scrub-biohazard work - scrubbing out tubes, and autoclaving them

12-  answers the phones and takes messages

13-  greets customers

14-  discusses ideas with customers

15-  SELLS tattoos (as opposed to just standing there in case the customer wants something)

16-  makes stencils for each tattoo

17-  handles money between the customer and tattooists

18-  takes receipts to the bank

19-  totals the credit card machines

20-  keeps the shop clean during busy times

21-  "stacks" customers in the event that there's more than one to speak with at the same time

22-  cleans up at the end of the night

23-  turns off the lights

24-  locks the doors

25-  and generally does all the things that a manager, a wife, a secretary, a pet, a slave, a roadie, and a guitar tech might do- fetch coffee, fetch food, runs errands for the shop, etc. ......

26-  AND the apprentice must find time every day to draw, draw, draw, preferably with a nib pen for line work and watercolors with a brush for the color/shading.

All this BEFORE picking up a tattoo machine for the first time!!  Once the apprentice is tattooing, many of these duties are passed back to the other tattooists or to a new "shop guy or gal"

The point is that the apprentice (if he or she is truly committed and the shop is a busy place) will often work longer hours, doing harder work than most of the people in most jobs for as long as they are an apprentice.  These duties allow the Mentor to focus on the business of tattooing and making money allowing the apprentice to learn how important customer service and a clean shop are to keeping clients.  It also allows the shop owner to learn who not only “wants to be a tattooist" but then expects to have it handed to him/her. 

WAY too often new apprentices (as soon as they've done a dozen or so small tattoos) convince themselves that they "know what they need to know, and don't need all this chicken-shit"-- quitting after six months.... and open their own "shop"!!!  You can usually tell which of the shops in town are run by these people- they're not busy, they're not professional, the artwork is marginal at best, and the tattooing skills are sub-standard.

Now you should understand why most Mentors only want someone they KNOW WELL, LIKE, TRUST, and know to be RELIABLE as an apprentice. That Mentor will be relying on their apprentice for many things during the entire day at work.  That apprentice becomes part of the business before ever doing a tattoo- becomes part of the shop itself before ever doing a tattoo. 

IF he/she does his/her job properly - will become indispensable to the Mentor and the other tattooists.  They'll tell future apprentices about how, "Bubba was THE BEST apprentice and shop dude we’ve ever had- the shop was off the hook when he was working, we were slammed with customers, and everyone knew where to get tattooed in this town."  Or, conversely, one might hear about, "I had this idiot as an apprentice for about three weeks last year. What a mistake- he thought it was 'unfair' that I had him take out the trash and do the autoclaving! What did he expect- just to come in here and make a million dollars???!!"

If an apprentice is taught thoroughly, that apprentice will become a very successful tattooist and businessperson.  That tattooist will also be able to afford to be an Artist, something that leaves most "artists" broke, hence the phrase "starving artist".  A properly trained apprentice will become a representative of the tattooing community to the rest of the world. An improperly trained apprentice becomes exactly what all the negative stereotypes of what a tattooist are or can be.

The tattooing medium is NOT easy, but instead, VERY complex and difficult to learn to do properly.  What IS easy is learning how to tattoo at a marginal level…learning how to do mediocre tattoos IS easy and can be learned in several months.  "Figuring it out from there" is NOT something that most people will ever be able to do, which is why there's so damned many shitty tattooist out there.  Learning to tattoo "properly" takes YEARS.

Most tattooists do not take seriously ANYONE who has not taken the time to be TATTOOED.  If you don't have professional tattoo work on your body.  Mentors will see you as an intruder, as an interloper – someone hoping to "cash in" on what amounts to a unique and fulfilling lifestyle.  If you're "one of us", it's a LOT easier to get to know tattooist and learn all the answers to questions you have just by sitting in the chair getting worked on... find where the opportunities lie, what's involved and who is most qualified to teach an apprentice.

Tattooist usually teach those they LIKE because there are A LOT of strangers out there who would LOVE to be a tattooist.  The idea of hanging around and helping out at a shop is about finding people who LIKE YOU (and who YOU LIKE) not about "checking out something that might or might not happen".  For instance – How do you get to be a roadie for a small band?...You KNOW the guys in the band.  Or -how do you get to be a crew member on a lucrative fishing boat?...You KNOW someone on the crew.  The same is true for tattooing. Tattooing in ANY shop is a "Family Affair" where people have things in common.  You’ll find any shop where the tattooists are essentially strangers that it is a shop that's filled with drama, bullshit, and not a fun place to work. 

VERY FEW people actually PLAN to become tattooist (unless they were already part of a tattooing family).  Most often apprentices are people who ARE hanging around the shop for several years; who DO get lots of tattoo work from the shop tattooist; who ARE investing their time and effort into promoting and helping out at a specific shop…  Think about it- who the hell wants to spend years around people you don't love or at least like very much??? 

Sometimes Mentors are asked, “How do people support themselves financially during their apprenticeship?” Most often, they usually have a near-full-time job on TOP of their apprenticeship duties….something else to consider when thinking about asking for an apprenticeship.

So if you want an apprenticeship...

1-      Show up knowing that it will cost a lot of money, time, work, and loyalty.

2-      Tell your girlfriend/ boyfriend to take a hike or be ready to support the amount of time you WILL NOT see them… (and when you do see them you will be drawing).

3-      Forget a social life outside the shop for a few years... your life is your Mentor’s life.