Tattoo Artist

Answer 1

Despite the grit and grunge associated with the subculture of tattooing, a career as a tattoo artist can be surprisingly lucrative and fulfilling. Tattoo artists have the opportunity to put to practice their talents as an artist using a broad range of grayscale and colorful images. Some tattoo artists may specialize in certain types of images and others prefer to take an eclectic approach to their practice. Regardless of an artist’s area of expertise, a career in tattooing can be highly rewarding.

Most tattoo artists begin as apprentices in tattoo and piercing parlors, where they can gain insight into the field from experienced artists. During their apprenticeship, artists will have the opportunity to shadow veteran tattoo artists as well as gain experience in customer service and shop keeping skills. As the novice gains insight into the field, he or she will have the opportunity to practice tattooing. Typically, the practice begins by using pieces of fruit with skin textures similar to humans. Orange skins tend to be very similar to human skin, and are often most commonly used for inexperienced artists. Once the apprentice has learned basic tracing and coloring skills, he or she will be ready to start practicing on actual human skin.

Most frequently, veteran artists, upon sensing that the apprentice is ready, will allow the apprentice to practice tattooing on his or her skin. A veteran artist will respond much better than a client when critiquing the novice’s tattooing abilities, and the novice artist will receive plenty of feedback for his or her strengths and areas of improvement. Once the veteran artist feels that the novice is ready, he or she will soon be able to practice on actual clientele for more basic tattooing tasks. During this period, the novice will still be highly monitored and clients will be surveyed for satisfaction of the tattooing session. As the artist continues to gain experience, he or she will find it beneficial to assemble a portfolio of his or her best work so that clients will have an idea as to what to expect from the artist. A portfolio will increase credibility and professionalism as well as begin to rake in higher paying clients and more intricately detailed tattoos.

In general tattoo artists can expect payment per tattoo completed in addition to tips per session. Small tattoos may cost around $50-$100 whereas larger and more complicated tattoos can cost in excess of $500. If a tattooing job cannot be completed in one session, an artist has the authority to charge clients at a reasonable and agreed upon hourly rate.

A career as a tattoo artist is a surprisingly high-paying, social job. Behind every tattoo is an interesting story.