Tattoo Class

My friend Aimee and I have almost completed our Tattoo class. We both have been interested in tattooing since high school and we finally found someone who was willing to teach us all of the procedures including applying the art, and maintaining a clean and safe environment. While tattooing is an art most people still find "taboo", its actually a growing and demanding industry. Only the extremely talented and well experienced tattoo artists become successful, and there are so many out there that just buy a tattoo gun and go at it without any professional observation or hands on training, which can be very dangerous. Tattooing is also a field that is almost impossible to enter. Because work is competitive, many tattoo studios will hire an apprentice, make them do the dirty work for two years (and in some cases, make them pay) and won't teach them the correct process. That is why we were so fortunate to find a teacher who wants to pass along his knowledge to artists who are seriously interested in the profession.

We started out practicing on grapefruit, then moved to pumpkins (for Halloween), and last night Aimee decided to go for it and tattoo her leg! It was an incredible adrenaline rush, and so much more challenging than I ever thought. I'm determined to move forward and get some progress in before our final class, which involves a step by step process of applying a real tattoo.

I'm hoping all my training may lead to something successful or at least get my foot in the door. I lost my job at Rez yesterday, along with the rest of the night crew, after working there for two years, so I'm trying to stay optimistic. Wish me luck! I'll do my best to keep my progress updated. Here are some pics of my work so far: