How to Become a Tattoo Artist

How to Become a Tattoo Artist Through an Apprenticeship


When you decide you want to learn how to become a tattoo artist, you will find that there are a lot of different paths you can take.

Some tattooists become “scratchers,” learning the basics the hard way and practicing on whoever will let them.  For someone who is really serious about learning how to become a tattoo artist, however, the true path to a professional position usually requires an apprenticeship.
What is an Apprenticeship?

The concept of apprenticeships is thousands of years old, and there aren’t a lot of fields left today that still require this kind of intense training from someone who has already mastered a craft.  Throughout time, someone who wanted to join a particular profession would have to go to work for a master, sometimes for years, and usually without pay.  This was especially common in skilled trades such as carpentry, masonry, and metal smithing.  Even bakers and tailors would often live with a master craftsman for years, learning the trade before going on to either be a journeyman working in the field or become a master apprentice with a workshop and apprentices of his or her own.
The Tattoo Apprenticeship

A modern-day tattoo apprenticeship is obviously going to be a little different from those of medieval times.  The apprentice is probably not going to live with the master tattoo artist, for example.  This actually can pose some problems, as you will likely not be getting paid for your time during an apprenticeship.  This means that you will need to have some money saved up to live on during this period of time.

The length of the apprenticeship is determined by you and the master artist. When it comes to learning how to become a tattoo artist, you can’t really speed things up too much.  It takes a lot of time to learn techniques and then to practice them over and over until they become second nature.  A year-long apprenticeship is not unusual, and it may be even longer.

At the beginning of an apprenticeship, you may wonder if what you’re doing has anything at all with actually teaching you how to become a tattoo artist.  This is because most apprenticeships start out with a lot of “grunt” work. You will probably be expected to clean up the shop, spending your time sweeping, dusting, and washing windows, rather than actually inking clients.  This is the time when an apprentice can really start to make a good impression.