Tattoo Artists

My son has decided he wants to be a Tattoo artist.
He's very good at design and art etc, naturally talented.

Trouble is I don't know whats involved in becomming a TA, college, uni courses etc.
He's 17 and at the point he needs to figure out what direction to take.

Anyone have any idea?

I've read a few things but all a little vague.

I've also told him to ask some local Artists about aprenticships or training, but I just thought I'd ask here incase anyone knows

 

Ned, working as an apprentice is the start. He will have to show his art work to the shop.
Reputed shops, charging big $$$ are extremely wary before letting a novice loose on a client - understandably.
Doubt if a college degree is needed, it all about talent. If your art work shows it, then you've got a good chance, if there is a job offering.

Don't know if you've watched Miami Ink or LA Ink on the Travel And Living channel.

Plenty of hits on youtube.

Cheers..

 

I don't know if college classes is needed. May depend on place/location. Personally for me I never seen someone that needed classes to be hired and working. Most the time they took classes for drawling and etc.. Not to be required to be hired. Also I am a artist and I tattoo some times back in the day for spear cash. Also it can make some decent money if you get into a good business. Just got to find a place around you or open up a shop him/her self. Also if he/she goes into some other place its very important to show his own stuff/work that he has done or has drawn up. Some places also don't like to draw pictures of people faces and stick to anything else.. because pictures of peoples faces are hard and can come out badly.

 

Thanks for the info guys, I kind of got the idea there's no "Degree" as such and aprenticship would be the way to go. Fine art classes would look good and help him a lot I think.

@Vik... Needing a portfolio, excellent idea. Never crossed my mind lol, an artist I am not lol so I know little of this stuff.
I also know he'll be starting on pig skin, his uncle suggested today actually he buy a tattoo gun and get some pig skin just to try it out a bit on his own.
I'll tell him to check out those shows on YT.

He's a good artist, could use some skill honing in areas to understand why and how his art works and how to use colors etc

His grandmother was not impressed today when she fond out lol but she's of the generation that tattoo's are for rough and tough guys and criminals lol

I look at it like, he has raw talent, he could earn a good wage and he WANTS to do it, forcing a kid to do something they don't want to do will reslt in half arsed attempts.
Good luck to him I say, make a go of it and do all the things right that I did wrong in life and some of them don't do at all lol

 

The shop where I've had my piercings done work on an apprentice system, but there is also a requirement to be certified. Body piercing has the APP, "Association of Professional Piercers" (international non-profit), that gives classes and are very open about the standards they demand and certify. Their certificates are not usually required for a body piercer to take clients, but the way I see it if they do have that certificate, I know what their standards are. I'm pretty sure tattoo artists have something similar, might want to research that.

 

There a few sites that will give you info on this career, Ned. Mostly American, but you'll get the drift. Some counties/states require licensing, insurance, (apart from business, presumably in case you get sued. eh). Then there;s health and safety, bot for the artist and the client, (get used to working in latex gloves). Also need 'people handling' skills, for obvious reasons. (Can you handle a drunken junkie that insists on a Tat?), etc.

American, but maybe useful:-
http://www.safe-tattoos.com/pamphlets/soyou.html

Also this:-

http://www.myjobsearch.com/careers/tattoo-artist.html

And then - Career Directions:-
http://www.careerdirections.ie/CDW3C/AccessDBAllCareerDetails.jsp?id=126

Anyway, you get the drift.

 

@Mimsy... Yeah I've wondered about that but finding info on it is tricky lol, thankfully he has little interest in peircing people, I don't think he has the stomach for it lol

@Phantom... Great links man, thank you very much. I've passed them on

 

Just thought I'd give an update here for those who might be interested.

My boy has been hanging out down at the tattoo shop in town, the owner has offered him an apprenticeship.
He's going to work down there for nothing and do the grunt work while observing and asking questions, this is until he finishes school and the guy wants him to go onto a College Life Art course.
Over the summer months and between school times he will pay somewhere around $400-500 per month for the training and while in school he will do the training on weekends for free.
After however many years he will get a job with this guys company which has shops all over north america.

I went down to the shop and had a chat with the guy, who is very nice and seems honest aside from a few tall stories, he's heavily concentrated on education and told my boy if he doesn't show him that he's giving 100% in everything then he can look elsewhere for training. I like the way he thinks.

So he's got to work hard which is something he doesn't know how to do lol, but this is the first time I've seen fire in his eyes, he WANTS it and I hope he goes after it full tilt.

Thanks to those for the info.

 

Great news Ned! Sounds like your son found a good place to start out, your description of the owner leaves me with a good impression of him as well. I like the focus on education... if nothing else it will imprint in your son that there's a lot more to this profession than just drawing pictures on people.

Out of curiosity, what's the name of the company? I have enough goth friends that someone's bound to have heard of it somewhere... word gets around about both the good and the bad ones. LOL

 

Congrats on your child getting into the world, step by step they got to work there way to the top and in. Just hopes everything goes well and schooling for him goes perfectly a okay.

 

Yeah, congrats to your son on the Apprenticeship and training, Ned. Keeping up with your education whilst still young in also critical, i.m.o. As has been said, all different forms of art will need to be studied, as working on 3-D people is way different to just drawing on paper or canvass, as well as people skills. Good luck to him in his endeavours.

 

The shop in town here is called "Steel n Ink" , I gather from what he said, the company owns many stores under different names, although I could be wrong lol

I liked the fact he is geared towards education too and work ethic.
He's coming down hard on my boy and letting him know that he has no room for time wasters and has told him that he wont accept excuses.
The guy spent some time in the military and you can clearly see it in his attitude.
He told me what he wants to do is frighten my boy into giving it up and see if he can come through it, then if he does he'll know he's got the right one.
I explained this to my boy in that "he is going to be hard on you for the first while and push your drive as far as he can, it's a test"

I'll keep a keen eye obviously, but I like the way he's thinking. After all to be a good tattoo artist takes more than just talent.