A stab in the dark

I am not sure how to start here and I am sure that many of you will view this with a scornfull eye, but here it is. 7 years ago I made the mistake of buying one of those worthless kits off of ebay. I did what I later learned was the wrong thing and began scratching out bad tattoo work on friends, family and myself. Once I realized my lack of knowledge I searched for an apprenticeship and found one at Smokin Joe's Tattoo in Gainesville Texas, kinda. After 6 months of cleaning tubes and tracing countless line drawings my master began allowing me to tattoo simple designs. As luck would have it a tornado came and ripped our shop to pieces. Myself and the other employee made an attempt at rebuilding our beloved shop. However the owner of the shop, Opie "Joe" Baker, made the decision to get out of the biz and left me and Crystal (the other artist) to fend for ourselves. After another 6 months or so of searching locally for another apprenticeship without any luck, I returned to the hated home tattooing. I separated a room of my home and purchased a simple autoclave and rebuilt my various equipment. Mean while I kept asking the small start-up shops in my area about returning to an apprenticeship to no avail. So that gets me to my "stab in the dark". I have the financial means and a 7 year old desire to break into the biz. I am not boastful or arrogant about my abilities as a tattooist. In fact I hope to start at the bottom of any shop that would be willing to take someone with my history on. That being said the shops within 100 miles of my area (Ardmore, Ok) have been turned off by my "scratcher" history for understandable reasons. If anyone in the US, regardless of the location, would be willing to take me on I would be willing to pay for an apprenticeship and take whatever abuse it takes to get a chance at tattooing the right way. I have a 6 year old child and a supportive wife, as well as the dedication and raw artistic ability to one day succeed, the only thing I'm begging for is that chance. My phone number (580) 465-8235 Also I have a few pics I could E-mail to anyone who would be willing.

Here are a few pics... http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j33/shortyslilbit/

I noticed there have been no replies, rants or even a good ole fashioned u suck quit trying. So I am wondering if anyone has taken the time to look over the pics I've posted. Nothing to say at all?

its hard to impress anyone here however if u are confident in yourself then why worry about all this shit with doing bitch work spend your money get cleared through your health dept and get buissy b the self made somebody .. hell im a scratcher and dont mind working at home and am portable and love doing partys it all about the green cabbage..sorry i couldnot see pics do u facebook maby we could see some of your work thair and most of all good luck

yeah, those tattoos wont impress anyone. You need an incredible art portfolio to get anywhere thesedays, bottom shelf tattoos wont get you much farther than you already are... Do you have any artwork you can show?

To view the pics you have to copy/paste the url into your browser. As far as licensing goes in Oklahoma you must apprentice in an Oklahoma licensed studio under a permit provide through a already licensed artist and filed with the state for a minimum of one year. As far as artwork to post I am very limited at the moment and I don't expect to impress anyone with my tats, I just wanted to show that they weren't complete hack jobs. This was the level I had gotten to at 6 months of apprenticeship. Obviously tons of room for improvement. The few commercial quality pieces I've made in the past were sold years ago. I am however working on rebuilding an artwork/flash portfolio currently and will be posting more pieces on the same photobucket link I posted before. Also I am looking at enrolling in a graphic arts program shortly. I've always been interested in computer aided design and hope it can add to my repertoire.