Portfolio question (sort of long, sorry!)

Hallo! One thing that really strikes me, is how genuine most of you regulars seem to be.... which is why I'm here, asking this question. I did, at one time, have the startings of an apprenticeship, it did not get very far, I was doing up alot of flash jobs, drawing up alot of artwork, working on refining the way I draw things out etc. Due to a bit of drama at home, life in general, and now, in hindsight, the way the shop made me feel, I did not keep this apprenticeship. The owner and sole artist (My teacher), kept alot of guns around, took alot of painkillers, joked around alot about drugs and while I'm sure he thought he was flirting with me, he really was rather vulgar. I'm no wilting flower, but the environment wasnt what I was looking for. I felt strange thinking of being alone there with him for hours on end, for who knows how many years. I diddnt feel safe, and thats really the problem. Anyway.... I've regretted this, for the past 9 years. I -stopped- drawing. I gave up. Thats the gist of it, and the hundreds of things I could tell you, the thousands of reasons I've rationalized out... won't hold water to the fact that I just lay down, and gave up, it really doesnt matter that there were alot of other things happening that contributed. I'm not dead yet. But I do have to start over, and it's one step at a time. I need to get back in the 'feel' of things again. I've drawn up some flash here and there for friends of mine, but what I -really- need is to start from scratch, get an entirely new portfolio going, because what I can find now, is too old, and who knows what I'll be drawing like now in comparison to my old stuff. I did have a question, yah? Sorry! When I started my apprenticeship, I remember he would give me a sheet of flash, and he'd say, take this home, draw up this one, this one and this one, Then draw them up TWICE the original size, Then draw them in reverse. The next day he'd have me taking two peices of flash, and combining them, then designing a border around them or something. Should I take this approach? To be honest, I kind of miss having someone boss me around with my artwork, I always did so much better when someone gave me a starting point and then let me run with it. Thing is, regular art teachers don't quite work that way.

One more question! While I do have the giant black portfolio 'breifcase' thing, I'm wondering if using good quality sketchbooks is okay? Instead of matting all of my peices? I like having everything together, and what I hated about using the big portfolio case, is that all of my cold press just hangs out in there, loose. I'd much rather have my portfolio's in "book" form. When you see someones portfolio, do you prefer that the pages have the 3/4 inch border? Does it matter?

This is all about ability. I may see more one in one persons 8 1/2 x 11 Plain paper artwork done in pencil than in anothers 22x30 matted and framed under glass painted masterpiece! Just put something together that shows your talent and range period and go shopping.

I dont believe that there are any -real- specifics on what a portfolio has to look like when its presented to a tattoo artist. As far as i know, it just has to be neat and somewhat organized. Of course it should include some of your best artwork, tattoo designs or otherwise, but thats a given. Presentation is the key, and its up to you to make it look clean and crisp. We had a guy come into the shop when i first started working out here who wanted to sell flash to us. Kind of an unkempt dude who look like he had spent a hard night in Oscar the Grouch's place. So he comes in with this 'sketchbook' thats literally dripping with some sort of nasty substance, all stained up and ripped apart, pages damn near falling on the floor. The book actually smelled bad. Never a good thing when you're talking presentation. Needless to say the artwork inside was substandard at best, none of the pieces would translate well into tattoos. We were polite and turned him away. As for the techniques your former mentor had used; Its kind of hard to say. Every artist will take a somewhat different sort of approach to teaching their apprentice. Try to get a feel for the person when you talk to them. Some are straight up nice guys who will teach you everything you need to know about the business, and some are shady under the table types who arent in it for the art or the love of tattooing at all. I cant speak for everyone and i cant tell you who you'll run into along the way. Good luck with that though, and take care

Thanks!!!! Yeowch, see, thats the thing. There is no way in hell I would EVER show up in a shop with that kind of mess. Makes you wonder what is wrong with people... good gods. I guess I"ll just do what I do and keep it organized and... away from my coffee cups -grins- If I come up with anything brilliant, I'm sure I'll hop in and look for critiques :) Thanks again!

I remember years ago I was at Fat Joes Jade Dragon in Chicago and a very scraggly kid in patched up jeans came in with a raggedy portfolio asking about learning to tattoo...he was basically laughed at...Found out later that skinny kid with the long tangled hair and the ragged handfull of sketches was a kid maned Guy Aitchison!