Here are a few major NO NO’s to bear in mind
DON’T BE AN ASSHAT
If we were to give you an apprenticeship that would mean we would have to spend a lot of our working day being around you. That means you would need to fit into our environment comfortably. This means that our asshat detecting radar is on full tilt when talking to you about an apprenticeship. Be nice.
LOSE THE EGO
This is a big issue. Some people confuse confidence with ego. I have been approached by people who say things like “my work is amazing. Give me an apprenticeship” Of course they are then setting themselves up for a big fall by doing this. Unless the work is truly out of this world (it never is), I’m going to be massively unimpressed when I look at it. Sadly it always seems to be the bigger the ego, the shitter the work.
Tattooing is an industry that attracts over blown egos but it will not get you far. Lose the ego.
DON’T TELL THEM ABOUT TATTOOS YOU HAVE ALREADY DONE
If you have already done some tattoos on friends, do not mention these to the tattooists you approach. This will get you marked down as a scratcher and make the tattooist extremely angry towards you. Most tattooists will want nothing to do with you and will not want to apprentice you. Just keep quiet.
DON’T GO IN TO THE STUDIO WHEN THEY ARE HAVING A SUPER BUSY DAY
Saturday is not a good day to approach tattooists. It’s always a chaotic day in the shop and not one when they will have time to stop and chat. The beginning of the week is always quieter. If you need to take a day off from your normal job it’s worth doing to go in a quieter period.
DON’T SHOW UP WITH THE SAME CRAPPY UNIMPROVED WORK 6 MONTHS LATER
I have a girl who sends me the same A4 sheet of badly drawn flash every 6 months without fail. It’s accompanied by a misspelt letter asking for an apprenticeship. If she sent new work that showed improvement over time I might be interested but this way she’s just wasting her stamp!. If a tattooist tells you they can’t help now but come back in 6 months they will be looking for improvement in that time. Use your time wisely and get better.
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