wanna be tattooers

[Anna_x]

Originally Posted by Stuart Mears

What about calling it Tattoo ‘Privileged’ Society, as apparently only artist that deem ‘themselves’ good enough and cried a little through hard work should be working in it. C’mon people FFS.

People work bloody hard and make countless sacrifices in all walks of life, and strangely, and this is going to come as a shocker to some, it’s not just tattoo artists that do.

I am sick and tired of people slagging others off in this industry/scene/trade/paid hobby because they feel they are not worthy to work in it. It’s absolute bollocks.

I am not on about scratchers here, who obviously need to learn the tattoo craft properly and take it seriously. I am talking about studios with health reg certificates and tattoo from a clinical environment. But people also need to be given a fair chance to learn too. Yes they will probably shit on you at some point, and yes they will probably leave to work for someone else or god forbid set up a rival studio. This happens in all professions. I’ve trained people up in our profession only to have them leave and set up rival product or work for rival companies, countless other business have too, what’s the difference. However by doing this, you would have trained someone up correctly and improved Tattooing as a whole. If you are of any worth in the work you do, it won’t affect what you do.

It just amazes me that people come on here saying that they have worked from the bottom up through blood sweat and tears to get where they are today. All successful people do, that’s what makes them successful and good at it. The youth of today have a lot to answer for when it comes to hard work, but when someone shows willing and commitment then this needs to be applauded and encouraged.

Artist like Phil, Gray, Nigel and many more, who are very passionate about their work and despite me not liking some of their styles (sorry guys) I can appreciate that they are good at what they do. You should all be ambassadors for Tattooing, surging it forward for higher quality, originality, educating etc.. You have so much love and passion, yet from many posts I read it gets turned to anger. I can understand some of this anger, most of it driven through frustration I bet, but it is not going to achieve diddly squat.

Unfortunately no one is going to be able to stop people buying tattoo equipment. Fact. There are just too many easy avenues to do this. What we are trying to achieve with our magazines, events and this forum, it to educated people, show them good tattoos, good artists, and passion. With help and back up from you, people passionate about tattoos that task will be easier. If we can just educate a handful of people to think before they buy a machine, or show people to take there time, research the right artist to be proud of what ultimately they will be wearing for the rest of their life, it’s a start of doing some good. It’s incredible how fast the fire will spread from a single flame!

I hope that this post is read and interpreted in the light of which it was written, positive, passionate and hopefully a wake up call.

You put into words what I wanted to say. However couldn't because I am one of the kids they speak of covered in somebody else's tar. Cheers
I totally get what the OP is saying inside and out seriously here here, but it's nice to see someone seeing things from the other side too.

[phil_kyle]

Originally Posted by Anna_x

You put into words what I wanted to say. However couldn't because I am one of the kids they speak of covered in somebody else's tar. Cheers
I totally get what the OP is saying inside and out seriously here here, but it's nice to see someone seeing things from the other side too.

Go on blow us away then with your art work...
To damn easy now a days...Non of ud need wake up calls we had those while scrubbing the boss's shit out of the toilets when we were apprentices...
If you dont tattoo you cant understand fully...
If you never served a real apprenticeship you cant really get that either...
Tattooing its self is a CRAFT....
Yes i worked my ass off to get were i am now...been 18 years...So damn right i wanna see people who DESERVE to tattoo get into the CRAFT...not some fuck stick who bought equipment and thier Daddy gave them 1000"s of £'s to open a shop that sucks donkey balls....Thats the freaking anger...NO RESPECT!!!!!!
Impress us.
Cause its not just sitting around making tattoos all day listening to music...Its working late hours every day...
Working hard...its not like any other business...
Its a drive...Its hard to explain but if you dont do it how can you know?
Come on...
And this reply goes out in general to many different other replies...
Its not privileged its about busting your ass.And then hearing kids say oh i would like to do tattoos for "awhile" until i get another job...Man it wasnt easy for us back then...why the fuck should it be now...Its respect for tattooing and what it gives you well...you have to give back...

Anywho..i stand by my words...Always...

Gray...how do you know we dont have more in common then that?...i dont even think we have ever spoken... so...
Maybe next time we are same place same time you should.
Loads of people on here know me personally and how i am.
Ask them..

[Slybacon]

Tattooing is an industry in the same way that punk rock is an industry. Ie; you can call it that if you like, technically speaking it might be true. But doing so would still make you highly suspect in my book.

[phil_kyle]

Originally Posted by Slybacon

Tattooing is an industry in the same way that punk rock is an industry. Ie; you can call it that if you like, technically speaking it might be true. But doing so would still make you highly suspect in my book.

Ditto.

[Gothika85]

You know, I would love to have someone come into the studio with a brilliant portfolio, life experience & a humble attitude. Its never happened.
I don't agree with calling tattooing a privilege, to an extent.
Like Phil says, its fucking hard work. The hours are long & you sacrifice a lot to succeed at it. However, it is a privilege to be able to tattoo another person. Something which is lost on a lot of people.
But, we've been over the same thing in many different threads & I have no idea why we're going through it again.

We need people to carry on this great trade, but the next generation don''t seem to get how hard the craft is. Personally, I think apprentices have never had it so easy. They don't do the manual labour that was once expected of them.
Then, you get apprentices who can't wait to pick up the machine, because they see how much their mentor is earning & want a piece of the action. They're quitting & opening up studios in the same area when they have no clue how to run a business, let alone how to tattoo proficiently. So many people don't respect the trade anymore & are in it to make as much money as possible & because they think its an easy job to have.
Like Phil said, its not all about drawing on people & listening to music all day.

Anyway, I'm repeating what a lot of people have said already, but I'm bored of reading these threads all over again.
Tattooing will go to shit, if people don't start respecting it again.

Originally Posted by phil_kyle

Go on blow us away then with your art work...
To damn easy now a days...Non of ud need wake up calls we had those while scrubbing the boss's shit out of the toilets when we were apprentices...
If you dont tattoo you cant understand fully...
If you never served a real apprenticeship you cant really get that either...
Tattooing its self is a CRAFT....
Yes i worked my ass off to get were i am now...been 18 years...So damn right i wanna see people who DESERVE to tattoo get into the CRAFT...not some fuck stick who bought equipment and thier Daddy gave them 1000"s of £'s to open a shop that sucks donkey balls....Thats the freaking anger...NO RESPECT!!!!!!
Impress us.
Cause its not just sitting around making tattoos all day listening to music...Its working late hours every day...
Working hard...its not like any other business...
Its a drive...Its hard to explain but if you dont do it how can you know?
Come on...
And this reply goes out in general to many different other replies...
Its not privileged its about busting your ass.And then hearing kids say oh i would like to do tattoos for "awhile" until i get another job...Man it wasnt easy for us back then...why the fuck should it be now...Its respect for tattooing and what it gives you well...you have to give back...

Anywho..i stand by my words...Always...

Gray...how do you know we dont have more in common then that?...i dont even think we have ever spoken... so...
Maybe next time we are same place same time you should.
Loads of people on here know me personally and how i am.
Ask them..

Hey Phil I'm with you all the way. Anyone reading this that doesn't tattoo has no idea what it's about and I'm not being all superior here. This thing that we do becomes your fucking life. We think about it constantly, we spend all day concentrating on the minutiae in every second that we're working, every dot and highlight and when we finish we wonder how we can make it better. Then we get home and start again, drawing, painting, planning. There's nothing easy, nothing straightforward, AND WE FUCKING LOVE IT! We don't like it a bit, or a lot, we live it. I'm not going to explain my own apprenticeship or the one my guys went through, but it was hard, really hard and i made it hard for them also.
As for what to call it? Most of you can call it the 'tattoo dream' as you'll never be good enough. But i personally find 'industry' wrong, i may be very industrious but i'm certainly not an industry.
As for my anger, it drives me. I'm not interested whether or not it drives others, it's my power supply not theirs. It's not our job to help all you wannabees out there, it's our choice whether or not we offer you advice on here, we are not ambassadors for our profession nor, i suspect, do we want to be.

Also Phil, you're right, we've never spoken, but i've noticed you can drink, so can i (another communality!) so next time we see each other lets fucking drink!

Oh, Stuart, some people do work hard and make sacrifices that aren't tattooists, but some people walk all over others to get where they are. We didn't do that. Some people even rip others off to make money to succeed and boost their bank accounts, we didn't do that either. Some people even set up companies which they liquidate days after making tons of money so they don't have to pay their creditors and can pocket the profits. WE NEVER DID THAT EITHER! These people should shut the fuck up as they have no idea.

[squidgystar]

1

If you re-read what i wrote and imagine its David bellamy presenting it, you'll get how i meant it to come across!

[squidgystar]

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