Career Development

How to Become a Tattoo Artist for a Living

If you are inspired to use your talent for art as a lifestyle and career choice you probably should ramp up your skills and take them to a whole new level. A professional tattoo school teaches the art of permanent tattooing. If you are considering tattooing as a career you need to choose a school that will best prepare you for the trade.

A well-rounded school provides the proper instruction through intensive training courses. When you are a professional artist, you want to offer a full range of services. Although you certainly have your specialized area of interest in either tattooing or body piercing, it is most likely that your clientele comes to you for all of their needs.

The range of tattoo schooling greatly varies from poor-to-mediocre through to nothing less than amazing. You want a wide variety of quality instruction, qualified teachers and convenient locations with connections to tattoo apprenticeships.

First Decide on Your Location and Tattoo School

Are you on the East Coast or the West Coast? How far are you willing to travel for your dreams? Finding a school close to you for your tattoo apprenticeship or body piercing apprenticeship is critical. After you finish your program, most tattoo and body piercing schools will help you find a job so being in the city you want to work in can have major benefits.

The Academy of Responsible Tattooing (A.R.T.) is a school way up on the amazing end of quality ratings. That rating is not regarding cost per se, but it provides the breadth, scope and the type of instruction that you need to master the craft.

The biggest thing that stands out about the Academy of Responsible Tattooing (A.R.T.) is the variety of courses that you have access to, as well as the locations in larger cities. They have tattooing schools and access to a place for a tattoo and piercing apprenticeship. Locations for courses on tattooing and body piercing also include the Philadelphia tattoo school, the Brooklyn tattoo school, and the Jersey City tattoo school.

A Tattoo Apprenticeship is Your Entrée into the World of Professional Tattoo Artists

Apprenticeships are key to getting experience and a job after graduation. Depending on your location, you find life-changing tattoo apprenticeship if you go with A.R.T. their aptly named “Body and Soul” Studios are affiliated with the school.

Students who graduate professional schools and take up an apprenticeship learn hands-on and practical skills such as further safety techniques, how to prep for tattoos with drawings, piercings, what is required to run a shop, and what it takes to be a professional artist. They do this while getting the experience they need as a tattoo apprentice from inspiring masters of the trade.

Students who seek an apprenticeship with a master not only further immerse themselves in their passion but they develop their skills while also building an amazing portfolio. A tattoo and body piercing artist’s trade is transformative in nature. You will take beautiful designs and literally change someone’s life before their eyes. People coming to you for tattoos are usually seeking an amazing experience and looking forward to achieving something they have only dreamed. A professional tattoo artist can help them get there.

You want to pick an apprenticeship also where your skills are valued. You want a mentor who can take what you have learned and help you create lasting body art. You want someone who fuels your passion and inspires you. Like a great teaching program, you want a master to learn from who stands out above the rest. Tattooing and body piercing are serious art forms.

Proper training for a student can forge raw talent and galvanize your skills into something incredible. People do not go into the tattooing or body piercing trade just for fun. It is a passion, it is inspirational, and it is very real.

1 Comment

  • Hi! Thank you for this post. I was wondering if you know anything about their program’s cost as of 2016, going into 2017? Also, what is your opinion on the fact that they have a workshop before actual enrollment into the apprenticeship program?
    Thank you so much again!!

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