It is been a while since my last post...
But i always write when i have something to say.
A lot of you keep asking me how to be a tattoo apprentice and how you can get an apprenticehip in a studio.
So here is my opinion and i cant stress enough that this is my opinion and only that.. i dont want to discourage someone or to influence you, but i really intend to help you understand the path you want to choose and if it is the right one for you...
I will never forget the first day i entered the tattoo studio... it was a warm spring morning... the sharp scream of the tattoo machine was breaking the silence of the small Athenian street where the studio was located.
I was feeling the adrenaline rushing through my body... excited and anxious where this journey will take me.. but also determined and proud that i found a small door to this mysterious world...this world of creation this misunderstood world full of misconception and prejudice till this day... the magical world of tattooing...
The boss of the studio greeted me and showed me around, i met the other two artists working there and i was holding my dosier with my sweaty hands ready to show it to everybody.
After couple of hours just sitting there and observing the others tattooing one of the artists reached to me and asked me if i want to tattoo myself.
That was crazy.. my first day... i didnt want to sound like a coward so i aggreed and we moved on the basement where she showed me how to set up a booth.
I decided to make a comic character named Arzak from my favorite comic artist Moebius who had passed away recently so i wanted to honor his memory...
I made my very first stencil, shaved my leg and waited for the stencil to dry... my heart was beating so hard like a bull hitting a wall and my hands where shaking ... how can i do this ? I went out to smoke a cigarrete... i closed my eyes and took a deep breath.. i was ready.. or i think i was....
The power supply with the flashing red numbers pointing at 7.5 volts... the electricity ran through the clip cord hitting the magnet and the metalic spring started moving the 9 round needle 30.000 times per minute... the sunskin coil machine was roaring ... calling me to start a journey ... the journey that took me so far.... from an apprentice to small tattoo studio in Athens.. to my own shop in Vienna....
I still have goosebumps every time i remember my very first experience and although it isnsomething so personal i love to share it with you... because tattooing is art is passion... we make money but for the most of us it is much much more than that.
Dane one of the best tattooers i know and good friend of mine once told me that tattooing is two things... the first is the art and the second is the craft.
THE ART.
We are called tattoo ARTists we create art... painters use camvas and oils or acrylics graffiti writers use the walls and spray cans.. we use the skin and the tattoo pigments... art is art and the only thing that changes is the medium.
For me a good tattooer is above all a good artist... and a good artist doesnt have to be someone who studied in an art school... i met so many great artists that they were selftaught and their work inspired me! But a good artist is not the one who relies only in his talent but the one who works hard to master different mediums and materials, the one who studiesnthe anatomy of the nature of humans animals and the principals of light and shadow...because this is the base of everything... for our mothers and for our friends we will always be the best artists...but in the real world the things get cruel.... so before you decide to touch a tattoo machine get dirty with colors and pencils study! study! study! and try to find your own creative way and style... the style that will distinguish you from the masses....
THE CRAFT.
Craft is the second part of the tattoo art.
We tattooers we are craftsmans, we use machinery which is delicate and needs adjustements .. we use techiques for different parts of the body and different parts of skin, we are trained for at least 2 years next to a master learning the mechanics of the machines and also of the human body...
A good shoemaker makes a shoe that wont make your legs hurt... a good tattooer will make you a tattoo for the rest of your life...
I know nowadays ... it is cery easy for someone to buy a tattoo machine and start scrathing peoples skin raising the danger of infections and even deathly diseases i also know that nowadays everybody can name theirselves as artists...
Please.. dont be that person... earn your budges following the right steps.. train as an artist make a strong portofolio and find a studio and a master who will trust his or her knowledge to you...
Be PATIENT be HUMBLE dont be SELFISH but willing to hear learn and accept...
Tattooing is one of the most beautiful crafts out there and it can give you a life full of experiences to remember till the end of your life... but like all good things in life the tattoo path is full of pain and sacrifices but at the end of it there is light....
Cheers Kuro.