Hope for scratchers?

Sorry so long but please read... Well after countless feet beating the streets and getting turned down by tattoo artist for apprenticships due to the fact of time and money ...(not art) I have decided to take matters in my own hands. I was scared to do my first tattoo but my first canvas was my mother, She has many tattoos done by proffesional artist and fully understood what I was doing, Before I started i showed her this site and explained that un licensed artist are not exactly welcomed but as shes always said, "If you want something thats out of reach, get a ladder!" Well i got my ladder and a began my first tattoo, That tattoo I drew was a customized seseme street Elmo in combat gear to represent me In Operation Iraqi Freedom, I was so nervous and i checked, double checked, and triple checked my setup in every aspect, I made sure the room was spotless i Disinfected everything i could I used all dispsable supplies. My mother was fully aware i was un lic. and knew that i had never done one before. I drew the drawing 3 times on paper and a 4th for the stencil outline, IT WAS AN UNBELIEVABLE FEELING!!!! An honestly could not believe how good, (sorry for embelishing) it came out on her skin, I did not use a thousand dollar machine our power unit or anything extravagant, I just hoped to make up for it in my artistic ability if it had anything to do with it, And my wife and father agreed. My mother said I finnaly found what makes me tick and said Im gonna be great someday, SHE also agrees with you all that i should get an apprenticeship but understands that its near immpossible. I have this haunting dissappointing feeling from all you artist on here and sort of feel ashamed because i love tattooing so much but your all probably thinking i dont respect it now but i really do i just needed this and my mother encouraged it in everyway...I fully understand everything there is with cc and bbp and obviously would never use knowingly, any shady methods. My work came out amazing and she said its her most favorite tattoo. I couldnt believe how much more detail i could get with a needle than i ever could get with a pen or a pencil. Sorry to all the hard working artist out there i dont mean to dis respect any of you but i needed to find out if this is what i truly wanted to pursue and now i cant go a minute without thhinking about it, I dont know where to go from here but its doing that tattoo was literally a dream come true.

It raises some concern (not just this of course) that you say you could get more detail in on the tattoo than when painting/drawing. The thing with tattoos are that if you put too much detail, then it wont look good over time. Every tattoo can look AMAZING when done, but the key is that they have to look good after many months and years. That is one important reason why you shouldnt tattoo with out proper guidance, because tattoo art isnt and never will be same as painting or something like that.

Im sorry buddy I dont understand, you must be talking in regards to irritating the skin to much? or working the skin to much? Well its been a month now since the tattoo, It healed normal, I was worried using the red pigments cause so many have problems with certain inks but its all healed now and it looks great. Also i have my own art tattooed on me as well from professionals of course and the detail of the virgin mary I cary on my left shoulder is detailed out of this world ...so please if you can explain about this "too much detail" i hope this dosnt violate the tech. questions part. Thanks all

Just basicly that skin is alive and the lines can spread. If you pack too much into a small area it can look like a blob in few years. Tattoo artist can clarify if needed.

tattoo ink settles and becomes less sharp and clear over time, if lines are too close together they will settle into one another, same with small details and small clusters of heavily detailed color.

Check this site if you want to get some useful info http://canvasyou.com/teachmetotattoo/

Dont check out that site and instead try to get a apprenticeship, maybe in a different city. And as Gabe would say POST YOUR ART!

If it's really good, you gotta have pictures taken right... We're insterested to see!

Try to learn plastic surgery over forums and you'll see how good you'll endup messing someone up. Without mentioned the jail time that comes after that and the millionaire lawsuit that will be waiting for ya. Than goodness medicine aspirants know how to do it right. One day people trying to learn will opt for the same route. The choice is yours: Get an apprenticeship and become great at it in just the right amount of time or Think you can do it, be bad at it for life, mess peoples body up and get a for life stigma on your shoulders.

You have all been KICK ASS!! thanks for the info, And i am still trying to figure out a decent website to post all my art.. trying to steer clear of myspace...

inkednation.com

AAAAAAAHAAAAAHAAAAA!!!! nice....

Due- it is not impossible to find an apprenticeship- Difficult, yes- damn hard, yes!! You may have to be willing to move- or drive long distances- I was going to go the "scratcher" route, but Im finding IF YOUR ART IS GOOD and people see you're willing to bust ass you'll be able to find one. Doing things "at your convenience" doesn't translate well in the industry- by that I mean trying to part-time it- you can't just dip your foot in the water!! Your going to have to sacrafice a lot probably- if your married- so is your wife. Im there with you man- you've probably walked into studios were the fuckers seem to give you that "what the fuck do you want" look before they even know if your a customer or not. Just don't give up!!You should be at least drawing everyday. Have a good clean portfolio to take around. Fuck- I can't say anything that hasn't been said a thousand times on every forum out there- I just sent some shit to a pretty big studio and was suprised to get a reply- first line said- "If you're tattooing now- STOP- if you're serious about this"!! and if your thinking Im not posting the name because I don't want you and eveyone else who hasn't sent them shit already hitting them up too- you're damn right!!! its NEAR impossible- but it is possible!!

Definitely agree with that last post. It's true that apprenticeships aren't being handed out to anyone who wants one... but that isn't a bad thing, it's a great thing. Sometimes in order to get where you want to be you need to sacrifice. I'm not saying having a fire under your ass is a bad thing but you have to be responsible. Fallenking has a good point to, you don't want negative connotations following you around especially at the beginning of something that can be amazing. I'm going to tell you the same thing I tell everybody who's looking for guidance in this industry... It took me 6 years of looking and traveling to shop after shop after shop to finally get an apprenticeship. Every time somebody was an asshole to me, or said my artwork sucked I went home and broke out my pencils and pens and made my portfolio stronger. Yes it is hard, extremely hard sometimes, and it's harder for some than others, but it's fucking worth it. The satisfaction you get from doing things the right way far outweighs the stigmas that you'll get from doing things the wrong way. Hope this helps.