As an aspiring tattoo artist, it might seem tempting to find someone to mentor you, learn as much as you can, then start your own tattoo school as quickly as possible and keep it moving from there. Many people who wish to become a tattoo artist, particularly the more counter-cultural among them, might not be interested in going to a tattoo artist school. But there are some advantages to attending a tattoo artist school that will serve you in your independent pursuits later on. So what are some of these advantages?
First of all, many tattoo artists will not offer you a tattoo apprenticeship unless you already have some experience. Not only that, but they wish to see a sign that you are meaningfully invested in the craft and that you wish to pursue it on a high level. Furthermore, no tattoo artist wants to spend all his or her time introducing the basic terminology that a tattoo artist school will convey to you. Instead of asking “is tattoo school for you,” you might ask yourself “can I move further without attending tattoo school?” Tattoo apprentice kits are cheaper than a school, but they will not convey to you the wealth of knowledge and interactive learning that the school environment fosters.
Another advantage of attending a tattoo school is that, with 21,000 tattoo parlors in the United States, there could be considerable differences in what you actually learn depending on what parlor you apprentice at. A tattoo training school is more likely to be run by considerably experienced instructors who have a broad and deep knowledge of the art.
Finally, attending a tattoo trade school can inform you on how to produce the most popular tattoo designs. Although most tattoo artists consider themselves to be designers and find the most popular tattoo designs to be boring and trite, the truth is that the tattoo industry is built on the whims of the public, and people tend to like certain things time and time again. So however boring it may be to produce angels and hearts time and time again, learning the most popular tattoo designs is as much a business consideration as anything else.
All in all, attending a tattoo art school is a good move from a financial, artistic and professional perspective. Comment below with your thoughts and experiences.
