I want to be a Tattoo Artist, now what?

Firstly I just want to say that anything I write here is almost 100% based on my own personal experience with over twenty years in the tattoo industry. Take what I say here with a grain of salt, always do your own research especially when making life changing decisions. You might notice that many will try and talk you out of pursuing your dream of being a professional tattoo artist, mostly by already established tattoo artists.This is not uncommon I’ve seen it over and over again throughout the years. My suspicion is that a lot of this comes from a place of insecurity.

And no I’m not saying tattoo artists are inherently insecure, that would be a ridiculous generalization to make. What I am saying is that the tattoo industry right now as a whole is nothing like what it was twenty, fifteen, or even ten years ago. It’s become almost impossible to imagine the world before the internet, before smart phones and certainly before social media.

Long ago most tattoo shops operated locally and most of the walk-in traffic was generated through word of mouth and simply by being in a certain location. The world wasn’t yet connected to the extreme that it is now. It was a localized market place, not a global one. We knew what tattoo artists we were competing against and I always felt it was a healthy competition. Healthy competition is good. Not only is it good, it’s almost mandatory if an industry is going to drive growth.

I should also mention here that most of my experience is based in South Florida. Needless to say that every industry will vary geographically and what is true in one place may not be the case in another.
So why would already established tattoo artists try to dissuade you from your dream of becoming a tattoo artist yourself? I think a lot of it is from a perceived scarcity mentality within the industry. Scarcity in any form is like a plague. It is debilitating. It may be that a new tattoo apprentice now can be seen as a perceived future threat.

Regardless, the question remains,, ‘Why do you think you want to be a tattoo artist?’ It’s important to be honest with yourself it is often the case that peoples reasons for wanting to become a tattoo artist don’t actually align with the realities. The notion of life as a tattoo artist, the novelty, isn’t always what we would want it to be.
This is obviously a broad topic.

Let’s dig a little deeper in my next post…