How to Get a Tattoo Apprenticeship
Our shop frequently gets asked about tattoo apprenticeships. Being a tattoo artist is a cool job and we love what we do! We also know that being a tattoo artist takes a very specific type of person and skillset with a lot of drive and ambition. If you’re simply looking for a job, and you think this sounds like a good one because “you love art so much,” this isn’t for you. I can promise you, you will never be able to make it if you don’t have the right personality, hustle, and determination. I don’t say this to scare anyone off. I say it to be honest. Many people who start a tattoo apprenticeship will fail if they do not have the heart in it. Those who take the time to hone the craft, learn, apply, and never stop growing and challenging themselves throughout their whole career, will be successful. Those who do not, won’t.
If you’re serious about turning tattooing into not only your career, but your new lifestyle, read onwards. Follow these helpful steps, tips, and suggestions to earn a tattoo apprenticeship.
If you’re serious about turning tattooing into not only your career, but your new lifestyle, read onwards. Follow these helpful steps, tips, and suggestions to earn a tattoo apprenticeship.
Before you start an apprenticeship…
Determine what your tattoo style will be. — Some people are naturally better at one art style than another. For example, some people are naturally good at drawing people, portraits, and human anatomy. Other people may be better at drawing cartoon characters and coloring book style artwork.
Draw… a lot. — Draw things you love. Draw things that are challenging. Draw until your hands hurt. Draw 100 things, then draw 100 more. As you draw, refine your art style and create quirks that are individual to you.
Practice doing your art using different mediums. — Don’t just rely on your iPad to create your artwork. iPads are great for fast artwork, but you’ll need to figure out how to replicate that in the skin with your tattoo machine and ink.
Create a portfolio. — Have a physical portfolio as well as a digital portfolio.
Figure out who you want to be apprenticed by. — Contacting every shop in the area is going to make you look desperate and uneducated. Just like every job on the market, you should know what your “dream” company is. You want to build rapport and interview the company just as much as they are interviewing you. You need to uncover if they hold the same morals, values, and goals as you do. The more careless you are about where you want to get an apprenticeship, the worse your apprenticeship is going to be. You might hate the person you work for and learn absolutely nothing. Instead, take the time to really figure out who is going to be the best fit for you. Here are a variety of ways that you can figure that out:
Determine what your tattoo style will be. — Some people are naturally better at one art style than another. For example, some people are naturally good at drawing people, portraits, and human anatomy. Other people may be better at drawing cartoon characters and coloring book style artwork.
- Do your research on all kinds of tattoo styles. Here are some starting points: traditional, neo traditional, Japanese, new school, realism, dotwork, geometric, Chicano, surrealism, trash polka, watercolor.
- Browse tattoo portfolios on Instagram and figure out who’s artwork you feel inspired by.
- Jot down a list of usernames. Next to each individual explain what about their work you like. Is it the subject matter? Is it the colors they use? Is it the style? Is it their layouts? What makes those people unique and attractive to you?
Draw… a lot. — Draw things you love. Draw things that are challenging. Draw until your hands hurt. Draw 100 things, then draw 100 more. As you draw, refine your art style and create quirks that are individual to you.
- Practice tracing long lines and circles on a light table. This will build up the endurance in your hand to be able to replicate them on skin over time. It also helps you work out the wobbles your hand will naturally create the first several times. Do this as a daily warm up activity.
- Ask for recommendations of things to draw and (even if you don’t like them) try to make those ideas “cool” and awesome to you. One of the best exercises I did as an apprentice was having my mentor feed me really awfully stupid ideas that I had zero interest in tattooing. There will be times that you have to take a “money piece” just to pay your rent. People will send a request for things that are boring, lame, totally off the wall, and everything in between. The challenge is making it something that you will still enjoy doing and be proud of in the end.
- Write down a list of topics and themes, then go to town making as many drawings that you can of related subjects. For example: a beach theme - dolphins, seashells, palm trees, beach balls, hula dancers, etc. Keep going until you can’t think of anything else that relates to the beach. Then, draw 3 different versions of each subject you wrote down. Mix and match subjects together and create visually appealing layouts. Write down what body part those would fit on. Is it a one-off small sticker tattoo? Is it a layout that could fit on a forearm, or would it be better suited on a thigh?
Practice doing your art using different mediums. — Don’t just rely on your iPad to create your artwork. iPads are great for fast artwork, but you’ll need to figure out how to replicate that in the skin with your tattoo machine and ink.
- Practice with graphite pencils. - This teaches you how to properly build shades. The longer you shade into the paper, the more it saturates. This is similar to tattooing. Try not to get in the habit of only shading side to side. Practice shading in circles, ovals, and cone shapes to get corners.
- Practice with colored pencils. - Colored pencils teach you color blending skills. Grab 2 different purples and blend them together. Then, grab 3, then add black and white to each side. See how every shade looks differently. Draw shapes on your page and try filling them in with different colors. Blend rainbow pallets together. Figure out what looks good, what looks muddy, and what doesn’t blend well with others at all. (For example, blending yellow on black looks icky, but blending yellow on green or brown looks okay.) All of that can be then applied to your tattoos later on.
- Practice with micron pens. - These specific types of pens teach you how to gradually pull your hand up (similar to tattooing) so you don’t leave saturated dots (blow outs) on crossed lines and corners.
- Practice with blendable markers. - Chameleon markers are what I used when doing this. Blendable markers teach you that you over saturate an area, your paper is going to fall apart and bleed through the back side. This teaches you that once an area is saturated in color, the more you go over it, the more it chews up. This is the exact same thing for tattooing on people.
- Practice with ballpoint pens. - Once you’ve understood the basics of ballpoint pens, upgrade to a ballpoint pen machine. Ballpoint pen machines are great for the basics of holding a tattoo machine. They don’t teach you everything about tattooing, however, understanding how dots will pull at different machine speeds will help you easily translate that into fake skin later on, when you start an apprenticeship. Note: Don’t get too overly comfortable using a ballpoint machine. Your mentor will teach you safe angles, practices on how to pull lines towards you, etc. once you start your apprenticeship. Everything you self-learned will be tweaked, and sometimes your “bad” habits will need to be unlearned.
- Try mixing up the types of paper you practice on. Start out with printer paper, then move to something with texture, then try something thicker, try cardboard, try canvas. Think to yourself what you have to do differently to replicate the same outcome on different mediums. This helps train your brain that not everything will tattoo exactly the same. We do a similar process with tattoos (hand speed, machine speed, needle depth, stretching of the skin, etc.). When we start new tattoos on new clients we aren’t familiar with, we always start with a baseline. We want to experiment with how a line will take. We’re checking that we aren’t rushing our hand speed, and pulling a gray line; or running our machine too fast and ending up with blowouts.
Create a portfolio. — Have a physical portfolio as well as a digital portfolio.
- Your physical portfolio is like your CV or resume. It should have drawings, sketches, finished artwork in a variety of styles. Put your physical portfolio in a binder with page protectors. Categorize your portfolio so that it is easily searchable. For example: All of your black and gray goes together, all of your colored pencil goes together, or whatever makes sense to you. Use binder tabs to separate each section. Strong organizational skills tell us that you are serious about this as a career. Sloppy portfolios are unattractive, and give off an “unreliable” and “unorganized” vibe.
- Your digital portfolio should be a website URL (you can use a free website builder like Wix or Weebly), Instagram, Threads, TikTok, etc. It should contain information about you and how to contact you. You should have digital artwork (made from your iPad) as well as photographs of your physical portfolio (so we can see that you also can do art outside of an iPad). Keep your digital portfolio clean, simple, and consistent. If you’re all over the place with wacky fonts, colors, styles, photos in different lighting, types of art, etc., you will look “messy” to us. (Messy is not an attractive quality.) Your digital portfolio is going to be what you turn into your professional portfolio as you go throughout your tattoo training. Put your best work here. Keep it updated with your most recent stuff. Delete the poor quality art/images/tattoos as you get better.
Figure out who you want to be apprenticed by. — Contacting every shop in the area is going to make you look desperate and uneducated. Just like every job on the market, you should know what your “dream” company is. You want to build rapport and interview the company just as much as they are interviewing you. You need to uncover if they hold the same morals, values, and goals as you do. The more careless you are about where you want to get an apprenticeship, the worse your apprenticeship is going to be. You might hate the person you work for and learn absolutely nothing. Instead, take the time to really figure out who is going to be the best fit for you. Here are a variety of ways that you can figure that out:
- Look at shops in your area. Check out their websites. Scan through every artist’s portfolio. Look with your eyes… Actually zoom into their photos. Do they have good photography? Is their linework clean? Are their colors saturated? What makes them unique, different, and an artist who you would want to learn from?
- Get tattooed by people whose artwork you like and/or have a similar art style that you want to pursue.
- Talk to them. Get to know them. Befriend those people. See if they’re even someone you have similar morals, values, and communication styles to. If you get a bad vibe, or think the person is a jerk, you probably don’t want to apprentice under them anyway.
- Don’t be surprised if one tattoo by them isn’t enough to become an apprentice. I was tattooed for several years by my tattoo shop and my mentor before I even brought up the idea of becoming an apprentice.
Once you have found a mentor…
Get your finances in order. — When you take the jump to become a tattoo apprentice, you’re likely going to work a lot for little to no income. It is much harder to become a tattoo artist once you’ve lived a life of “making money,” because you are going to be living off scraps right off the bat. Some apprenticeships and all tattoo schools cost a significant amount of money up front before you will be taught anything at all.
Educate yourself. — Get cultured. The wealth of knowledge that you bring to the table will impress us. We want to know that you care enough to learn. When you pre-learn, we know you are teachable.
Invest in your future. — Buy tech, equipment, tools, and educational materials that will help you grow as an artist.
Support our industry. — If you want to “talk the talk,” you better “walk the walk.” When people come to us with no tattoos, have never stepped in a tattoo shop before, and have no concept of tattoo culture whatsoever, it shows (badly). Throwing tattoo jargon at us may raise an eyebrow, but give us a reason to take a chance on you. How have you put both the time and money into our industry?
Get bloodborne pathogens certified. — One of the first things apprentices have to do in a tattoo shop is to learn about cross contamination. Most states require a bloodborne pathogens certification, on top of a tattoo license, in order to tattoo. The quicker you pick up on what is “good” and what is “bad,” the faster you will understand the safety and health side of tattooing. Check your state guidelines for how many hours of training you will need. Here are several places you can get an online certification:
Let us teach you. — Most mentors, with a respectable amount of time in the industry, know what makes tattoos “good” vs. “bad.” Listen to us when we give advice. We know what is going to last long and what will look like crap in a few years. Just because you can do something a specific way, doesn’t mean you should.
Get your finances in order. — When you take the jump to become a tattoo apprentice, you’re likely going to work a lot for little to no income. It is much harder to become a tattoo artist once you’ve lived a life of “making money,” because you are going to be living off scraps right off the bat. Some apprenticeships and all tattoo schools cost a significant amount of money up front before you will be taught anything at all.
- Minimize your cost of living. If it’s an option, I would recommend living with a parent, or finding a rich husband/wife to support you. (Kidding… kinda.) If possible, find a place that you can split with a roommate, friend, or family member to lower your expenses.
- Live below your means. No going out and partying, blowing your money at the bar. No elaborate two-week vacations to Fiji. No DoorDashing food every day. No eating out at fancy restaurants once a week. No spending money that you don’t have. Not only will you destroy your credit, but it will take a long time to get out of that deep hole of debt you put yourself in. Instead of Hulu, Netflix, HBO, Disney, Peacock, Prime, etc… pick one, or watch DVDs. Buy cheap groceries. Only spend money on what you need.
- Save as much as you possibly can. If you think you’ve saved enough triple it. Tattoo machines cost money. Ink costs money. Gloves cost money. Everything you will need to tattoo costs money. Some shops are nice and will provide these to you, but most won’t.
- Plan on working a lot. You will likely either have a full-time job and a flexible part-time tattoo apprenticeship, a flexible part-time job and a full-time apprenticeship, or a full-time apprenticeship with no other income. You need to figure out what is going to be best for you, your finances, and your mental health.
Educate yourself. — Get cultured. The wealth of knowledge that you bring to the table will impress us. We want to know that you care enough to learn. When you pre-learn, we know you are teachable.
- Immerse yourself in the history of tattooing. There are several articles, books, movies, and documentaries out there to read/watch and learn from. Where did tattooing begin? What did it mean? How did it evolve?
- You’ve presumably looked at a variety of tattoo styles by now. Can you list them all? Can you find 10 different tattoo artists that fit each style? What are the differences between each style? What makes them unique? Where did each style originate?
- Study the different types of tattoo machines. What types of machines require foot pedals and power supplies? What is the difference between a coil machine and a rotary machine? Do they take needles and tubes or cartridges?
- Start learning tools of the trade. What are the different types of needles? What does the code on the boxes mean? Which needles are used for lining? Which ones are used for shading?
Invest in your future. — Buy tech, equipment, tools, and educational materials that will help you grow as an artist.
- Scoop up as many tattoo DVDs, books, and magazines as you can. Watch them/read them more than once. Pick out specific things to look for every time you go through them. For example, with tattoo magazines: One time through, read the articles. The next time through, look at the tattoos. Try to guess what line weights they are using, what color pallets they’re mixing, etc. The next time through, look specifically for mistakes in tattoos, or things that you would change/do differently. These resources are not a one and done application.
- Many reputable tattoo artists sell seats to webinars or online seminars. One downside to this type of media is that you often do not get a recording that you can refer back to and re-watch later on, or that recording expires after a short amount of time. Be sure to take lots of notes.
- Another way to gain education is through an in-person event, seminar, or tradeshow. Some of these events are invite-only, however, some are open to apprentices of tattoo shops, so take advantage of these when you can. These events have speakers who will discuss topics related to tattooing or attempt to teach you a new technique/skill. The same downsides to this apply, where unfortunately, there is no tangible item to take from it (unless that speaker provides a handbook, pamphlet, or worksheet with their session). Come prepared with a list of questions and take plenty of notes. Use the session as a way to build a network with other tattoo artists. Remember, building a successful career is all about who you know.
Support our industry. — If you want to “talk the talk,” you better “walk the walk.” When people come to us with no tattoos, have never stepped in a tattoo shop before, and have no concept of tattoo culture whatsoever, it shows (badly). Throwing tattoo jargon at us may raise an eyebrow, but give us a reason to take a chance on you. How have you put both the time and money into our industry?
- Pay real artists real money for tattoos. Talk with us. Get quality work. Ask us questions.
- Go to tattoo conventions. Do meet and greets. Walk around and observe artists working. Buy our merch. Check out our portfolios. They’re often only $20-$25 for a day, or $50 for the weekend. It’s a great way to immerse yourself in our world.
- Pay for tattoo flash books and magazines. These can be found at used book stores, tattoo conventions, or online.
- During your apprenticeship, buy tattoo machines, ink, aftercare products, needles, and equipment from reputable tattoo-artist-owned companies.
Get bloodborne pathogens certified. — One of the first things apprentices have to do in a tattoo shop is to learn about cross contamination. Most states require a bloodborne pathogens certification, on top of a tattoo license, in order to tattoo. The quicker you pick up on what is “good” and what is “bad,” the faster you will understand the safety and health side of tattooing. Check your state guidelines for how many hours of training you will need. Here are several places you can get an online certification:
- Bloodborne Pathogens Certification for Tattoo Artists
- Above Training Bloodborne Pathogens Training
- American Red Cross Bloodborne Pathogens for Tattoo Artists (these training links change periodically, so just Google it.)
Let us teach you. — Most mentors, with a respectable amount of time in the industry, know what makes tattoos “good” vs. “bad.” Listen to us when we give advice. We know what is going to last long and what will look like crap in a few years. Just because you can do something a specific way, doesn’t mean you should.
- You are welcome to challenge us. You are welcome to question us. You are welcome to ask us why. Then, listen to our reasoning and learn from it so you don’t repeat our mistakes.
Things NOT to do…
Do NOT assume you can do it better than a well-trained artist. — This goes without question, but there are people out there who think they are “above others” in some senses. If you “shit on” our industry, you won’t get an apprenticeship, and you’ll end up being a kitchen scratcher wanna be tattoo artist with no income tattooing “friends” in basements for $50.
Do NOT practice on fake skin (yet.) — Please WAIT. Your mentor is going to sit down with you and TEACH you. It is their job as a mentor to explain how to set up a station, how to hold a machine, how deep to set your needle, how to pull lines, how to stretch the area, etc. Let us help you do that. When you teach yourself how to tattoo, you’re teaching yourself “bad” habits that we will have to unteach you. You are much better off learning the proper way the first time. There is a step-by-step process for how people “graduate” to learning new skills. We start with the most safe ways that will cause the least amount of damage to the skin. Then, you can learn other techniques once you’ve gained familiarity and comfortability.
Do NOT tattoo yourself or others. — WAIT for your mentor to give you the education and tools to do so. When you tattoo yourself, or others, you risk serious harm to your/their body. When you “teach yourself” how to tattoo, you are telling the tattoo industry as a whole “fuck you, I can do this better.” It’s not a good look. Many artists won’t take you as an apprentice if you tell us you’ve been practicing tattooing on yourself or others. We don’t want that in our shops or our industry. We want people to learn how to tattoo in a smart and safe environment.
Do NOT get discouraged. — Consider it a blessing if an artist doesn’t want to work with you or train another apprentice. Some artists are close to retirement and do not want to take on the work of training a new apprentice. Some artists don’t have the resources, knowledge, or skillset to train someone, and they’re still learning themselves. Some artists aren’t great people to work for or work with. It’s okay. You will find your people. Trust the universe, trust the process.
Do NOT assume you can do it better than a well-trained artist. — This goes without question, but there are people out there who think they are “above others” in some senses. If you “shit on” our industry, you won’t get an apprenticeship, and you’ll end up being a kitchen scratcher wanna be tattoo artist with no income tattooing “friends” in basements for $50.
Do NOT practice on fake skin (yet.) — Please WAIT. Your mentor is going to sit down with you and TEACH you. It is their job as a mentor to explain how to set up a station, how to hold a machine, how deep to set your needle, how to pull lines, how to stretch the area, etc. Let us help you do that. When you teach yourself how to tattoo, you’re teaching yourself “bad” habits that we will have to unteach you. You are much better off learning the proper way the first time. There is a step-by-step process for how people “graduate” to learning new skills. We start with the most safe ways that will cause the least amount of damage to the skin. Then, you can learn other techniques once you’ve gained familiarity and comfortability.
Do NOT tattoo yourself or others. — WAIT for your mentor to give you the education and tools to do so. When you tattoo yourself, or others, you risk serious harm to your/their body. When you “teach yourself” how to tattoo, you are telling the tattoo industry as a whole “fuck you, I can do this better.” It’s not a good look. Many artists won’t take you as an apprentice if you tell us you’ve been practicing tattooing on yourself or others. We don’t want that in our shops or our industry. We want people to learn how to tattoo in a smart and safe environment.
Do NOT get discouraged. — Consider it a blessing if an artist doesn’t want to work with you or train another apprentice. Some artists are close to retirement and do not want to take on the work of training a new apprentice. Some artists don’t have the resources, knowledge, or skillset to train someone, and they’re still learning themselves. Some artists aren’t great people to work for or work with. It’s okay. You will find your people. Trust the universe, trust the process.
Things to get through your head…
You will not learn how to tattoo overnight. — I still learn new techniques, tricks, and how to tattoo better/faster every time I take on a new project. I learn how to design quicker. I learn how to market myself better. Tattooing is not just a “learn this one time and that’s it” type of job. You will constantly be learning, growing, challenging yourself. The more you do that, the better an artist you will become. It takes time to become skilled at your craft. I used to beat myself up because I couldn’t pull a straight line without wobbles to save my life when I was first on fake skin. I thought to myself, “Why is this so hard?” and “Why can’t I just do this?!” I would get angry, and upset over it. You are learning a new skill. You haven’t mastered it yet. It’s no different than applying yourself to any new trade. Some parts you’ll learn faster than others, some parts take time and repetition.
You will f-up. — Everyone does. Humans are guaranteed to make mistakes because we are inherently flawed. If you get barked at by your mentor, most of the time it’s over something that is a safety issue. We don’t want to reprimand you. We want you to be safe and to learn correctly. To this day, I remember how I was cleaning the shop early on as an apprentice. My pants were a little too big for me and I went to pull them up (with gloves on) after I was dusting the bottom of the tattoo chairs. My boss was a stickler about it. I cross-contaminated myself. It happens. If you accidentally make a wobbled line in a tattoo, it’s okay. When you mess up, take a few minutes to gather yourself. Think about how to fix the issue. If you’re unsure, take more pauses, pretend you’re getting more ink. Slow your machine down. Take a bathroom, water, or stretch break. Ask us a question if you need to. Fix the issue. Move on. Learn from your mistakes.
Slow down. — Don’t rush the process. Most mistakes happen when you’re ripping as fast as you can through a tattoo. Most apprentices can only do one or two tattoos per day right off the bat. You will tattoo slower than an artist with many years under their belt. Don’t try to rush through tattoos to get another person in your chair to “make more money.” You will end up fixing more of your old tattoos and touching up old work. Rather, spend the necessary amount of time doing the tattoo correctly the first time.
You will not learn how to tattoo overnight. — I still learn new techniques, tricks, and how to tattoo better/faster every time I take on a new project. I learn how to design quicker. I learn how to market myself better. Tattooing is not just a “learn this one time and that’s it” type of job. You will constantly be learning, growing, challenging yourself. The more you do that, the better an artist you will become. It takes time to become skilled at your craft. I used to beat myself up because I couldn’t pull a straight line without wobbles to save my life when I was first on fake skin. I thought to myself, “Why is this so hard?” and “Why can’t I just do this?!” I would get angry, and upset over it. You are learning a new skill. You haven’t mastered it yet. It’s no different than applying yourself to any new trade. Some parts you’ll learn faster than others, some parts take time and repetition.
You will f-up. — Everyone does. Humans are guaranteed to make mistakes because we are inherently flawed. If you get barked at by your mentor, most of the time it’s over something that is a safety issue. We don’t want to reprimand you. We want you to be safe and to learn correctly. To this day, I remember how I was cleaning the shop early on as an apprentice. My pants were a little too big for me and I went to pull them up (with gloves on) after I was dusting the bottom of the tattoo chairs. My boss was a stickler about it. I cross-contaminated myself. It happens. If you accidentally make a wobbled line in a tattoo, it’s okay. When you mess up, take a few minutes to gather yourself. Think about how to fix the issue. If you’re unsure, take more pauses, pretend you’re getting more ink. Slow your machine down. Take a bathroom, water, or stretch break. Ask us a question if you need to. Fix the issue. Move on. Learn from your mistakes.
Slow down. — Don’t rush the process. Most mistakes happen when you’re ripping as fast as you can through a tattoo. Most apprentices can only do one or two tattoos per day right off the bat. You will tattoo slower than an artist with many years under their belt. Don’t try to rush through tattoos to get another person in your chair to “make more money.” You will end up fixing more of your old tattoos and touching up old work. Rather, spend the necessary amount of time doing the tattoo correctly the first time.
In summary...
I hope everyone who reads this learns something new, or can use it as a tool to gather resources from which they can learn. Getting a tattoo apprenticeship can be challenging, difficult, and a lengthy process. Keep your chin up, and find someone who will take a chance on you. Hopefully, I’ll be seeing you at a tattoo convention some day! Cheers!
I hope everyone who reads this learns something new, or can use it as a tool to gather resources from which they can learn. Getting a tattoo apprenticeship can be challenging, difficult, and a lengthy process. Keep your chin up, and find someone who will take a chance on you. Hopefully, I’ll be seeing you at a tattoo convention some day! Cheers!