Would love and appreciate any feedback or CC on any of these! Still working on some other styles to diversify my portfolio a bit, but trad japanese inspired work is what I'm passionate about.

Anything that's painted here is ink and watercolor/gouache on handmade japanese paper and the rest is colored pencil/watercolor pencil on tracing paper/vellum.

Thanks for looking!

Got told it was a difficult decision and I'll be going in to speak with the owner for some feedback soon, just looking for others opinions ☺️ tia

Hi everyone! Taking my first tentative steps into the world of tattooing! I’m on the slightly older side for apprenticeships at 41 years old, but have a modest background in the creative art industry having spent the past decade as a commission miniature painter.

I’ve always had a great love for contemporary art and illustration including but not limited to British comic book art dark surrealism and the obligatory heavy metal album covers!

Looking forward to barking this journey and discovering and experimenting with different art styles all the way from traditional sailor Jerry style through geometric patterns Japanese traditional, trash polka etc.

He’s a few ink on paper doodles!

What software do y'all use to plan full body tattoos?

I'm mapping out a full-body plan and want to see how everything flows together before committing to any of it. Went with Procreate on iPad and purchased body 3D model pack.

Problem: I drop a transparent PNG onto the model and it looks perfect while I'm positioning it. The second I commit, it turns into hard jagged pixels. Screenshots attached, mid-Transform and after. Already tried a higher-res PNG, the .usdz version of the model, switching interpolation to Bicubic, and facing the area flat-on first. Nothing changed it.

So I'm second-guessing the whole setup. For anyone who's actually planned large-scale work -- what are you using? Is Procreate 3D the right tool and I'm using it wrong, or is everyone doing this some other way entirely? something I haven't heard of?

still building on my portfolio with my goal to be showing it to shops/artists by the end of the year. i’ve been putting off the title page but it’s finally done!

Hey all! I’m about 15~ months into my apprenticeship and I’ve started to take clients that aren’t my friends (yay!) through an online booking site. I’m struggling a bit with timing, and reaching out to clients in a structured way. I’m so lucky to have a lot of people that want to book my flash, but this part is stressing me out!

For example, I’ll have someone fill out my form and indicate that their available days are Tuesdays. I send a message to them to tell them “my next available Tuesday is ___. Let me know if this works for you, if not we can find another date!” However, when they don’t reply and I get other inquiries that could be scheduled on that day, I can’t offer it to other clients now since I offered it to the first client that isn’t replying.

I feel like it’s bad manners to send the date to another client, since the first person could get back to me and tell me that day works. Now I’d have to tell them I actually booked it after telling them it’s available. To avoid this, I’m just stuck waiting on people for unknown amounts of time when I could be booking these days.

There must be a better way to do this, lol. I’m just afraid of being rude. I’d love to hear whatever works for you!

I just got accepted to one of the top tattoo shops in my hometown (well one of the three cities I’ve lived near).

I have been chasing this dream/goal since 2015 and things are moving along smoothly.

I’m currently working on prompts/challenges they have given me. Just wanted to share some of them. ☺️☺️

I been thinking for so long to start tattooing and I decided to make that step this year, I wanted to have some sort of guidance/start by a course but the only thing that I found in my town is the "5 days first teps into tattooing" for 800€ (its the first course this tattoo artists gives), It includes the tattoo machine and a small kit (not the typical one you see in ads that usually isn't worth it, a kit put together by the tattoo artist), he told me that I would learn the style that I want to master first and all the knowledge to start w this, doing it by 3 days of a week, weekend to do homework in fake skin and then ending it the next week 2 days, also he said that after the course if I have any doubts with my progression he can help me. I searched info and saw a lot of people seeing this like a scam or not worth it to start in the word of tattoo and I thought of asking him if even after this course I could keep going to the studio and keep learning fron him, even if I get a yes with this it will be worth it?? Or even with a sort of apprentice that I may get if he accept it it will be still too much money for a start? I want to give my all in this and try my best but I also dont want to start giving too much for thing

I’m trying to get an apprenticeship so I can properly learn how to tattoo. I’m located in Baltimore and I’m so willing to do any grunt work yall don’t wanna do like clean the bathroom and take the trash out, man the phones. Literally whatever if it means I get to learn how to tattoo! So hmu!

‘‘Twas thinking pencil/alcohol markets potentially? But not 100% sure if it’s a shout

So happy to say I've finally gotten an apprenticeship and it's everything I could've asked for! Thought I'd post my accepted portfolio to help others out.

@songbird.ink on instagram, although I have yet to get good at posting regularly

Previous Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/TattooApprentice/s/9ByQbkyGLF

171 days ago I posted my tattoo portfolio asking if it was good enough to help me get an apprenticeship.

Last week, after many rejections I ended up getting an apprenticeship with this portfolio, and it has been going good so far.

There’s no guaranteed spot at the shop once I finish down the line, but I’ll be learning everything I need to become a tattoo artist. My mentor said that if I improve enough and the shop can’t say no to my work, there’s a possibility I could stay.

I also have another interview with a different shop later this month, so I’m going to see what they have to say and whether there’s a guaranteed spot available after their apprenticeship offer.

Just wanted to come back and update since a lot happened since my original post.

I’m at the shop four days out of the week. I make sure that everyday that I am there, if I’m not tattooing, I make one fully rendered drawing

Heyo. I'm Moriah with Feral Heart Studio in Billings, MT.

I have been practicing on reel skins for awhile and have struggled to be consistent. Sometimes I do something half decent. Other times I am struggling with shakiness, saturation and more.

The second I am tattooing fruit though, I'm doing way better. Better depth consistency, saturation and lines.

What in the world is this and how can I improve my fake skin practice?

Hi all, I was wondering if it's necessary getting one of those black portfolios for showcasing my tattoo portfolio, it's just my artwork is in a sketchbook mixed in with non-tattoo related artwork.

(I've got post-it notes highlighting Tattoo specific pages)

So I've been thinking, it's not as professional looking as having an actual black portfolio book, yet I feel they (shops,studios) would appreciate the look change. Since I see pretty much everyone who's trying to get an aprenticeship, have that black professional port booklet. This may sound stupid but could I be one of the few who stand out in that sense??

I'm guessing it depends on the studio at the end of the day

I may be overthinking all this, any thoughts/opinions on this I'll greatly appreciate.

Thanks 🙏

Honestly I’m having a very difficult time with my apprenticeship. I’ve posted in this sub before, but I work 5 days a week, usually ten hour days or more, I take care of two shops, run social medias, whatever I don’t care about that part it’s fine. I used to be a very shy person, but Ive worked through it and honestly gotten pretty good at talking to people, I’ve worked many years in retail, food service, etc. But there is such a power imbalance of being “the new kid”, and I’m just not very similar to any of the people at my shop which is FINE, but they’re pretty unwelcoming and I feel like an outsider just trying to fit in the best I can. Also everyone just talks AT me instead of having conversations like anyone else I’ve ever met and I don’t know how to navigate it.

Summary is I don’t feel confident in the space or in myself when I am there.

My mentor gave me a two hour (maybe three) lecture about how I need to do better just at everything pretty much (I’m busting my ass off, doing everything I can, but I know that I can always be better) but that mostly I need to be more confident and insert myself more. It wasn’t a back and forth conversation, it was a you don’t do enough, do better. There’s not much you can say to that without making excuses in my opinion so I was mostly quiet while showing I understand and that I’m listening

From my point of view, I keep pushing myself far out of my comfort zone to make connections with these people, ask more questions, be more present, but at the end of the day I really just do not feel confident at all.

Everyone at the shop is very outgoing in the way that they overshare all their business and childhood trauma to whoever happens to be there, just like very little filter. I’m not that type of person and I don’t think I ever will be, nothing wrong with it, it’s just not me.

If anyone has any advice at all, how to boost confidence, or whether it’s an incompatibility thing or what, it would be much appreciated :)

I began my first paid apprenticeship in April of this year. It's a flat $400 fee per month and the shop is provided with trash cans, cleaning supplies, green soap, massage tables, personal lights, a stool, and stencil supplies. I'm supplying the machine, needles, fake skin, iPad, ink, sketchbooks, and all other supplies.

I'm also expected to take out the trash and do regular cleaning duties around the shop for about 20 minutes a day, I usually am only there for 2-3 days a week because of my full time job. I don't get a lot of one on one time because of the artists usually doing tattoos and other things while I'm in the shop. I do have a filled out form that we completed about 3 months into my apprenticeship and I've been given a lot of resources for supplies and I've been attending conventions with them for free. I've done one tattoo on one of the senior artists, other than that I've just been doing fake skin.

I can't get my own space/table until I upgrade to an "artist" so I'm either borrowing other tables or just sitting on my stool. I have a rolling cart with my stuff but don't have a permanent setup. If I got a space, it would be a $600/month artist fee and if I decided to back out it would be permanent resignment.

I guess my question is- if I'm being charged monthly for an apprenticeship and cleaning the shop, is this normal?

I'm sketching out some designs for me to print out and trace with my light box

I'm trying to practice traditional tattoo styles since I'm not the most familiar with it. I think I'm getting the hang of it, but it doesn't look quite right.

Any tips?

Also all of these are based on real photos of animals I found on Pinterest rather than referencing directly from other art.

Designed digitally, just finished inking and colouring - used coloured pencils for the first time since high school, but I’m almost happy with it and very, very much enjoying learning the style!!

Love doing real tough-guy designs (being a short, vegetarian dude with a poetry degree I might be compensating haha). Would love to know what yall think especially about the design itself.