WTF is wrong with you people?

I've been looking around for info as to how to get started doing tattoos. I really don't want to do anyone else, or work in a shop, I just want to do a few small things for me and my wife, nothing more, I'll sell my machines after that. Finding information on the net, has been pretty forthcoming, everyone everywhere has been more than happy to give me more and more information to help me out. This site however, is full of a shitload of assholes it seems. Flaming in every thread, and no real answers. Everyone just shouts over and over "get an apprenticeship" Get it through your heads, some people ARENT GOING TO, NO MATTER WHAT YOU TELL THEM. There are a variety of reasons I'm sure. Some are just to lazy and shouldn't be in the field, some though, don't have shops around willing to do apprenticeships (none in my area will), and other people simply can not afford one (lets face it they aren't always cheap, the economy is SHIT right now, in case you haven't noticed). Instead of flaming these people, couldn't you seriously help them out with real advice OTHER than, get an apprenticeship? Since many people can't/wont anyways, doesn't it make sense to at least give them the best advice you can other than that? Since, without advice, they probably will mess someone up, or several someones.... and EVERY SINGLE PERSON MESSED UP BY A BAD TATTOO IS ANOTHER NAIL IN THE COFFIN OF THE LEGAL TATTOO INDUSTRY! Turn your attention to Wake Co. NC, where tattooing is illegal, do you want your area to follow, because people are messing up tattoos, the same people who ask for help, only to be flamed? Some of you people need to seriously grow the fuck up and realize, everyone isn't like you.... Is an apprenticeship helpful, FUCK YESSS it is, I am all for apprenticeships, but at the same time, I realize there are some truly great tattooists out there, who were self taught, it CAN BE DONE.....

Amen Brother! With some careful searching around this site, you will discover that most of the people here started out scratching away in their kitchens just like everyone else. There are a few old timers here that do know what their talking about, do help people out that are LOCAL, and are pretty cool. They will NOT help you out on the net and I really can't blame them. But if you walk into their shop, they are pretty cool and usually help. For the most part...the people yelling at you to go get an apprenticeship are the ones that are or should be looking for one as well. I won't even mention the people on here that are talentless yet run their mouths without showing their work. Oh wait. I just did. Oops (This post was written with the sole intention of burning people asses and getting a nice flame thread going. I'm bored. LOL)

Or those types who neither have a tattoo, nor have a tattoo apprenticeship and have no drawing skills whatsoever... sounds familiar... Oh, sorry, that's "different"... OR those types, noz, who gob it off all over the place and show fuck all - speaks volumes. The best advice I can give to the first poster is to just go for it yourself, LOTS of others did before you, and they didn't give a shit what people thought. Besides you can pick up tattoo gear anywhere, just look at the ad's that are on here from time to time.

I scratched for about 7 years before i opened my own shop. To those who gained a apprenticeship, hats off to you. I slogged my arse off to get one and to no avail. Before i even touched a person i studied everything from BBP/CC to machine building for about a year. just because we choose for whatever reason do work or have worked from home doesnt mean we are anyless professional, any less talented or clean. Most of the shops i attempted to get an apprenticeship from pale by comparison to the quality and quantity of work i put out now. Does the fact i was a scratcher make me less of artist. I think not. Im probably better than half the dim wits who feel compelled to give shit to anybody asking for advice on here. this isnt a dick measuring contest and i am devoid of ego about my work but all i will says is buy a kit and before using it learn the safety aspects first an foremost, after that learn them again. Practice drawing constantly. Scratchers are to tattooing now what tattooing was to society not 10-15 years ago. The more mainstream it has become the less rebellious it now seems. So pick up your machine, clean your kitchen, BUY A FUCKING AUTOCLAVE!, be safe, have fun and bring back a bit of the taboo that this industry has now lost.

Grow up? Hey, feel free to $%@#$ up whoemevers skin you want, but I dont want those bad tattoos on my conscience. If you want advice, go to art school and get tattooed by the best tattooers you can get to. Looking for it on an open anonymous forum is insane. And all that info you get for free, well, you get out what you put in. Shit for free is generally worth just that...

Gabe, its almost amazing how poorly you read my post. Go to art school and get tattooed by the best? Perhaps you missed the part, where I'm not interested in doing others..... Sure, I may make a few mistakes, I'm ONLY doing mine and my wife's..... Its really not even about cost, as much as it is, it'll be much more special to use, to do each others.... I don't really care if it comes out looking like chicken scratch, knowing my wife did it for me, is more important that some cracked out scrawny long haired tattoo nut at one of the shops around here (yes, that's pretty much what they all look like around here). Before you respond, you should read the whole post, and actually think about it, so you can attempt to respond intelligently. I can clearly see that's difficult for you, but, if you try just a little, I think you might be able to manage. I also found if funny that you ranted about classes and such to begin with, when I started out saying that (not even me, but others as well) MANY people aren't going to get training like that no matter how much you say it, so don't bother saying it. Do you type, just so you can have a reply, who gives a damn if its on topic or not? Wonder if you're like that in real life, do you talk just to hear yourself as well? I'll be sure to tell the people I know back in Massachusetts (where my family is from) that "off the map" tattoo studio, isn't the place to go to. Ifs amazing what word of mouth advertising can do for, OR TO, a company, specially when its bad word of mouth advertising.

Man, thats a lot to respond to. I did read the part of your message where you said you were only tattooing your wife. So buy a machine and tattoo her. But that doesnt change the fact that the internet is a piss poor place to learn how to do something. And just because people dont listen and wont do the responsible thing does not mean we are irresponsible for not enabling them. As was said before, there are plenty of other places on the internet to learn to tattoo. This is a board for professional artists and clients of professional artists to chat because websites need forums I guess, though there is a large variety of lurkers and posters. This is not a place where I want people to learn to hack shit on people. Whats the big deal? This is the free market in action.... Come here to look at the tattoo galleries and go somewhere else to learn. Sorry that you will tell your family to badmouth my studio, but we are lucky that community will judge our studio by the quality of work and the experience they have here over the course of time from many people. We are working hard to earn a very positive reputation. If your family cares more about scratchers having access to technical information than quality of work, they should go somewhere else.

As far as I am concerned, this site and this forum is for the advance of the ART of tattooing. Which is an art that requires REAL training. From qualified individuals. You wouldn't let a surgeon operate without going to school. Even if they said they learned how to do it online. It's a no brainer. If you want to get your wife a present, buy her some goddamn jewelery. Rather than scribbling some "chicken scratch" on her body. If that is what you think tattooing is, than you might as well brand her with a hot iron. (hey, its cheaper) Or fuck, I don't know, maybe take a romantic road trip to an awesome shop and buy her a professional tattoo. What a crazy idea... Oh, right...I forgot, that wouldn't mean as much to her. And badmouthing someones business because they're promoting profesionalism? Really? Or because you don't agree with the owner? What does that have to do with OTM's ability to execute tattoos? Or how they treat clients? I think we know who needs to "grow up" here...

i just watch for my name. as gabe said, scratch all the fuck you want, i hope you scar your wife and she divorces you. noz knows all.

Didn't your marraige (sp?) mean enough? Just go to a pro for fuck sake. Or at least draw a shitty, poor thought out design and have that tattooed on each of you by a pro. Wait, that sucks too. Christ, have a tattooist come up with a meaningful design and tattoo it on the both of you. What's the big deal here?

Hey, the brother just wants to give his wife something that he created. When I painted my ex-wife a picture, I didn't go to art school for 10 years first. When I cooked her dinner I didn't train with Emeral, or whatever his name is. Hmmm, I wonder if that's why she's my ex?? I just did it. Wake up and smell the coffee. 99% off all tattooists and tattoo artists do little more than trace flash. I had an apprenticeship for that. We call it kindergarden here. And hell, I went two whole years. So there you have it lil buck-a-roo....buy a kit, learn to trace, do a grapefruit or two and then go about 1mm deep with the needle running. You have now served your apprenticeship and are at the same exact level of "training" as 80-90 percent of the posters here. God this board is boring these days.

and thats why you should learn from someone who posts work to the galleries on this site, not gives advice on how to do *crappy* tattoos. this forum has been boring for years.

"i hope you scar your wife and she divorces you." Its amazing how brave people get, while they are safely hidden behind their keyboard.... Says a lot about you though...

'Which is an art that requires REAL training. From qualified individuals' I would like the above statement explained to me. What do you mean qualified. there is no such thing as qualified with regards to tattooing. and here and other posts people always reference surgeons etc. Im sorry but there is no relation between somebody who must understand the essential workings of each and ever part of the human body to somebody(not downplay my own profession) who basically draws pretty pictures on skin. The word i think you are looking for is certified, which is the only qualification and i use that term very loosely that is needed. Example= A colour blind mongle from baton rouge loves miami ink. he has one club hand and the other one missing so must attempt to tattoo with his feet, if only he could see a machine but lost his only good eye attempting moves on his sister decides to open a tattoo shop. He has enough money at his disposal that his uncle bubba left him in his will. He sets up the most amazing shop with all the top equipment. He completes BBP/CC and FA courses. The local authorities come and check out the shop etc. Before you know it he is ready for business. So there you go, he is legally QUALIFIED as you put it. So if someone approaches the above mongle for apprenticeship does that mean they will receive the correct training. Im not against an apprenticeships as ive stated in previous posts, hats off to those who have served one. But at the end of the day that is everyones go to answer for any question on this forum. And its an answer without any 100% substance.

P.S NOZ KNOWS JACK!!! There you go i mentioned your name mate

Obviously, the legally qualified blind man in your parable isn't someone to apprentice from. Anyone with some common sense should be able to spot a bad tattooer and stay away. But not even talking about apprenticeships, the internet isn't where people should be learning to tattoo. Can the reasonable people here agree that anonymous forums are a poor place to learn how to tattoo? The original poster was someone who wanted to tattoo some “chicken scratch” on his wife and then “throw away his machines”. Nobody cares about this guy or his wife, but I don’t blame anyone who isn’t going to encourage him to learn how to do bad tattoos. It’s just an idiotic idea. Like I said, use a hot iron, its cheaper and will look just as good.

If you decide to tattoo yourself and our your wife I'm sure this will be valuable to you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRgLUoJdcOU

Hey Gabe, are you saying that the only tattoo artists that should be inking skin are those who are posting to these galleries? Cause if that's the case bro, that would knock out damn near everyone that posts here. Most of the pics in the galleries here aren't even posted by the actually artist that did the work. They're pulled off of other websites. I was in wrestling for a good number of years and I'll tell you Gabe. Your what we would call a "Jock Sniffer". You latch on to anyone that you think is cool for amoment and tell them how great they are. I think I'll go to the galleries and check out your latest pieces.

Isn't that just the truth, can't tattoo and can't draw - great credentials for a tattoo shop owner - and what's worse is - doesn't even bother to learn??

brave? you gonna beat me up, son?

I'd bend you over and smack your bottom, like the naughty little boy you are. You know you love it you slag.

god bud, you are very bad at readig too I see! Of course there are plenty of tattooers worth getting tattooed by and learning from that arent represented on TattooNOW. But, if you want to learn to tattoo from someone on this website, it shouldnt be the anonymous or semi-anonymous posters to the forum, but someone who posts quality tattoos to the galleries. And I power all those other websites bud, the artists that post tattoos on this website do it themselves. As far as ass kissing, you obviously dont know me or my work too well but sure like to think your smart. I get traffic for tattooers, they hire me to do their websites, for better or worse I dont need to kiss ass, I have something they want. traffic. And a studio they enjoy coming to. And a convention they like coming to. Lastly, I know enough about tattooing to know it doesnt need my chicken scratch and Ill do more a lot more good behind the keyboard... you can check out my gallery here http://www.tattoonow.com/tattoo-websites.html

i was talkin to monkey fag, rich. lmao.

I don't read real well, but my spelling is almost flawless. Sadly Gabe, I'm out of material today. I hope by reading all my posts, you know I'm just giving you hard time to have a little fun. =P But your websites do run kind of slow sometimes. LMAO Sorry, that was the best I could do today.

Aw CRAP Gabe, I just came up with something...... So your telling us that all the great artists that you host want traffic like the traffic you generate on this site?? I'm sure someone like Bob Tyrrell is DYING to have traffic like me. Or god forbid like Noz!! See that? I got a little slam AND Noz all in one post. Ok, ok, I know it was a bit weak. But I'm running on empty. We need a good "What kind of GUN should I use?". Or a nice "I think my new home made tattoo is infected can you give me some medical advice?" post on here.

hahah, ok you got me, we upload for bob.

no ones obigated to help anyone do shit, what other industry teaches shit for free?? besides it wont stop with you and your wife it never does, you would get people to want you do to something first its only one, then you do anouther, before you know it your a hep vender. apprenticships, people have to actually get off there ass to get one, thats how people in the real world are filtered out, all the kids nowadays wanted things handed to them, but the internets not your grandmas house no one has to cook for you and feed you info. thank god for the people on here who withhold info and the suppliers who check for your shop info, without them this industry would be a joke. sorry to let you know but you actually have to work for things in life, im sorry to be the one to tell you

So just out of curiosity you only want to do it on yourself and your wife. Now does the same apply to lets say....surgery. Now yes theres tons and tons of school and teaching that goes into to learning exactly what your going to do when you perform surgery but you've decided hmmmm the t.v. shows sure make it look easy so im going to give it a shot. Taking no regard to the fact that you could give yourself and your wife a serious illness or do damage to your body. Now I understand where some of you are coming from saying yes not everyone has the opportunity to get an apprenticeship but does that mean if I dont have the money to afford to go to college but I really really want to be a doctor its ok for me pursue it hoping that I can find some sort of information to help me learn something that thousands of people have busted there ass to learn. Now you said earlier that you have found numerous sites that have given you so much information about this field and yet you are so angry that people on this site are unwilling to inform you on a skill that some of us have moved to other states, saved 4000 dollars for 2 years while still raising two children to be able to get the chance to do something they have wanted there whole life. And you ask whats wrong with us? My problem is you lazy fucks with absolutely no care for the field itself and all of us who have worked very hard to get where we are think that we should just tell you everything we have learned because you think its ok to just screw you and your wife up? Your a complete moron. Lets just say your a plumber. You've worked your ass off to get the knowledge you have to be a plumber and your stupid ass lazy neighboor says one day "Hey i can do that too" but instead of taking the right steps to learn the field decides to jump on his internet hoping and praying some people will teach him the ways then gets upset when people tell him to fuck off. Now I already know theres no stopping you from doing it, you probably already have but when you give your wife a staff infection simply cause you thought you knew what you were doing don't jump back on a thread trying to figure out how to cure her yourself. Use your fucking head and take her to a proffesional. Peace

oh come on this aint fucking rocket science here go to some shops and see if ya can rent a booth and pay for there supervision and help ya out.explain the deal and see if they would be willing to do this. for what you will spend on jap crap shit equip you can pay for at least having a qualified artist watching you.good luck. and if ya cant find anyone and youre headed my way drop me a e mail hell ill do it for ya and help ya out for the cost of needles ink and bull shit session.

I gotta toss in my two cents here, and be fairly serious about it. GOD I hate doing this. When you come here and use the "You wouldn't let a guy learn medicine on the internet work on you." and then tell them to get an apprenticeship to learn about BBP, isn't that kind of the same thing?? I would REFUSE to put ANY artist on here in the light of being qualified to teach a class or "train" someone in BBP. If you WERE qualified, you would be teaching the class or registered to certify someone wouldn't you? If you were REALLY serious about what you were saying and not just being an elitist ass, you would say..... The FIRST thing you want to do is go to a community college or your local Red Cross and get a training course in BBP from a qualified instructor. THEN research a bit deeper and find out that even though you are man and wife, there are certain diseases and infections that can be passed between the two of you if you try doing something silly like using the same needle. Once you find out what those are, go back and take ANOTHER community college class to learn how to prevent those. Or at least have a sit down with your family doctor to discuss how to prevent them. Everyone thinks that the only diseases that have to be worried about are what I would call "strangers" diseases. But there are FAR more things to worry about. Make sure everything is as clean as you can possibly make it. Then when you think it's clean enough......go over it one more time. Because your kitchen, bedroom, basement or STUDIO will never be clean enough to be called "Sterile" so make DAMN sure it's as close as you can possibly get it. Then, if you absolutely refuse to work with an experienced artist then PLEASE grab some grapefruit, or pig skin, or practice skin, or an orange, or a banana or something to do a couple of "test" tattoo's on. It's a whole different world than drawing something on someone with a bic pen. Then, once you THINK you can do it. Do it. Then IMMEDIATELY throw the equipment in the trash. Do NOT sell it, it's already most likely infected in at least one way or another. I know that sounds silly, but if you are going to insist that you do it yourself, do NOT risk other people by selling them your stuff. These guys are right in one respect. It is ALWAYS best to train with someone who has been doing it for years. But there are ALWAYS going to be people that want to do it themselves regardless. Be one of the "smarter" ones that do it themselves and NOT one of "everyday" scratchers. There is serious legitimate advise. And it wasn't THAT hard to do without "GIVING UP THE BUSINESS". Thanks for blowing the cover man.

So honestly how many people with the attitude of doing it once or a couple times are going to take your advice? Seriously you post the common sense part of it and think your doing people a favor? But hey good job you just broke the secrets of the buisness. Moron

Secrets of the business?? LMAO....you my friend, are a buffoon. But that's ok, I love buffoons. Happen to be one myself. Wanna know the biggest secret? Everything in that post could have been copied and pasted from 1000 other sites, pulled from a hundred DVD's, or given away verbally by walking into any shop for about five minutes.

Trying to be sarcastic to someone and they don't even catch it is great. First off if I agree with you to a very small extent. Giving people the information to perform bullshit work out of there house on a sanitation level is fine for the sake of spreading illnesses is understandable. But honestly man if there unwilling to take the necessary steps to learn the right way then why give them that little bit of motivation they need to start?? Yes there are hundreds of thousands of proffesional great artist out there that have taught themselves and learned from trial and error but that is no longer the case. 20 years ago getting apprenticed was not even heard of. Im not going to get into a pissing contest with you because you are 100% entitled to your opinion and i honestly respect that. I just think if you were or are a proffesional artist it should upset you that people are doing it out of there homes with no respect for the business that some of us take to heart and work there ass off to achive and be better and better for the sake of there art. Now someone who is taking the right steps to not only be good in this field but to be respected I have no problem sharing everything that I know so they can be the greatest artist out there. But someone who wants to scratch himself and his wife up for the sake of just trying it out is bullshit no matter what way you look at it. Now bring on Round 3 you baffoon.

Yes, sarcasm is kind of lost on these boards......you were sarcastic and I missed on it. Then I was sarcastic and you missed out on it. So we both have vaseline above our eyes and we're yelling "Cut me Mick" as loud as we can. So here is a question for you. When did this become a business with no one in it except people who want to be "the best artist ever"? There was a discussion on here not long ago where people were discussing the "Culture" and people were getting very angry with someone for not saying there was a tattoo culture. Well, the tattoo culture is not THE culture. It's a sub-culture of Body Modification. There are scratchers, and people who only do real life work, and people who only work in black and grey, and people who only do tribals and piercers, and all sorts of people that are into body mods that are NOT looking to be the "best artist" ever. We are ALL a part of a culture that's bigger than just certain people who are "the best". And if a part of that culture is going to be "scratchers" it's almost an obligation to give them information on working as clean as possible. If you refuse the information, then you to are as guilty for everyone they infect as they are. Now I'm not saying give them art classes explaining the way light works, what pigment to use, what machine to buy or anything like that. But if someone comes here and says "I REFUSE to apprentice, but how do I stay as clean as possible working in my kitchen" and you DON"T give them the best advise you can.....then you my friend are hurting this culture FAR FAR more than they ever could. And when it comes to working clean, the best answer is NOT NEVER WAS NEVER WILL BE "Get an apprenticeship". The best answer is the one I gave. It was honest and to the best of MY knowledge. If someone knows some other steps this person could take to keep from infecting a nation, they should speak up and tell the man. If you look around you, you'll see that the "I'm an elite artist so I can't help you" is a farce for those stupid enough to buy into it. Look at Gabe. Like it or not, Gabe is one smart cat. If he REALLY wanted to, he could limit this forum to only those who were the best of the best in the business. But he doesn't because he KNOWS that letting sub-cultures debate openly creates traffic. Plus he knows about 99.8% of this forum would be banned. LOL Take a look around the entire site and you'll see kits offered and instructional videos and everything one needs to be a scratcher except the credit card number to order the "gun". So get over yourself. I suck, but so do you when your standing next to someone better. This is the EXACT reason why I've argued for years that there are "tattoo artists", and there are "tattooist". There is a HUGE difference. Let the artists be artists and let the tattooist be tattooist and DON'T be some pompous as to push any of them out of your circle because there is ALWAYS someone sitting in the booth next to you that makes you look like the scratcher your condemning. How was THAT for a round my friend?? LMAO By the way, when you want to say "They are" it's They're. "There" is a place you go to. But then again, Picasso couldn't spell for shit either. LMAO

Very nice. A low blow on my grammar. Hopefully I spelled that right. Well I guess I can see where your coming from. Denying the fact that there will always be scratchers is stupid cause they will always exist. But I understand what your saying. Although I can agree with you to a small extent I'm sure the same will not be applied to me. That's ok. Your probably a stubborn bastard. I thought I was haha. Take care bud and thanks for the war of words. Always fun.

For the record Tex, I've said you were right all along. And yes, I am a stubborn jerk. What fun would it be to do two replies, one of us go "oh, your right" and then move on? =D It's all opinion, and opinion is just like buttholes. We've all got them, and they all stink. LOL Anyway man, that was some fun stuff. We need to start a thread on some other great debatable topic.

I agree. You post the thread sir and I will love to give ya some opinions to keep ya intrested. And I will work on my grammar so ya can't get me there as much lol. :) Debate with ya soon bud. PEACE

Wow guys! Some of us have some real anger issues. Alright guy, you just want to tattoo your wife and have your wife tattoo you. That's cool. In theory. As a female tattoo artist, I had a hard time finding an apprenticeship. Guys didn't think this 100 lb 5 foot tall girl was capable of doing it. But, I was bound and determined, and I found one. I started off just like you. All I wanted to do was tattoo myself. I practiced and I practiced and I read days worth of Internet advice. NONE OF IT MATTERED! You know why? I didn't see it first hand. Reading advice and actually seeing it done are two completely different things! That apprenticeship was well worth the money and the time. I'm no longer paranoid that I'm doing something wrong and I'm going to scar someone for life. If you can't afford the apprenticeship, at least find a decent artist that can let you sit in on a few sessions. Sit down, and shut up. Just watch. After you have watched, I guarantee you'll be glad you didn't just whip out the tattoo machine and start scratching. But, that's just my opinion. Do with it what you will.

No anger issues here. Im a stoner so I'm always happy :) And I aggree with you.

I nearly fainted! You mean people here can actually agree with each other? 8)

http://www.squidoo.com/tattooing-for-beginners check this out....some great advice here!

i just checked that out and went to a link for the crap kits to a canadian supplier that sells "insane ink" made by professionals for professionals.... yet it looks like that site and ebay are the only spot selling it..... very professional damn it why do they have to be canadian and hurt the industry up here lol

soooooo its everyones butthole that stinks? whew! thats a relief! i thought it was just me!