become a professional tattoo artist

I’ve always loved art since I was a kid… Once I got into my teenage years, I thought to myself, “wouldn’t it be cool to become a tattoo artist?”

To me, the tattoo is the most pure form of flattery. It is a permanent piece of art that someone is wanting to have with them for the rest of their life. Whether it is a heart with a banner that says “mom,” it is still there and it is still art. (well maybe not the heart with a banner that says ‘mom’... that’s just tacky LOL).

I met this girl and we started dating for a while and she did tattoos, not professionaly or really greatly I might add, but nevertheless she did a couple on myself and showed me a little bit of how it is done.

I’ve been doing tattoos myself for a year now, and I think I’ve done about 30. Names, cartoon characters, symbols, my own drawings, flowers, stars.. and a few different things here and there.

I love doing it, but sometimes I get discouraged. I’m still having a hard time with shading evenly and sometimes it makes me think that I shouldn’t be doing this anymore.

I am my hardest critic.

But I’ve had a lot of compliments and encouraging things said to me by people who have been doing it for years and years professionally and that keeps me going on. I know I have talent.

It’s the matter of the $1,500 for an apprenticeship that is keeping me away from really learning all the tricks of the trade.

don’t you love my pink hair in the picture tho..? I miss it a lot… This was me doing a hybiscus (w/e) on her shoulder. This tattoo almost made me stop because the color didn’t stick in all of the flower. I have to rework on it. But she loves it even if it isn’t perfect.

i love drawing because it helps me get express my feelings and expand my imagination more.it would be even better if i could leave or get some of my art work permanent on me.=)after that i think it would be really awesome if people came 2 me to get tattoos done on them.that would leave a smile on my face every time.i don’t want 2 be a lawyer or archeologist because that stuff looks and sounds boring!i want to live life 2 the fullest and go out in a BANG!

life as a tattoo artist isn’t all glamour… it doesn’t pay well, and it’s hard work, and one has to deal with the tediousness of tramp stamps and arm bands….

i am an artist… and i love tattoos…. i have wanted to become a professional tattoo artist for 12 years… but everything seemed to get in the way.

well now, here i am… single…. and i am moving to miami just so i can live with my parents for a year, so that they can take care of my daughter at night while i go apprentice at a shop… so i do not have to work, because an apprenticeship will be a full time job.

it will be the first time i have lived with my parents in 14 years… i moved out when i was 17 and didn’t go back….

it’s going to be ardorous to deal with them everyday… but i can be strong… i need this.

i want a life in art… i want to sling ink… i want so very much to create beautiful art, skin deep….. pieces of art that people will proudly show off… pieces of art that mean so much to the bearer that they do not share with others the meaning behind it… secrets beneathe the skin’s surface…. each piece having a story behind it….. dreams, lost love, great love, unrequited love, hopes, jokes, and faith…..

i want to do this… it is so very hard to be a single mother who spends all her extra money and then some on helping her friends out… i end up with nothing…. not even enough to buy the equipment that i need to apprentice.

so i am sacrificing my life here in austin texas, where i am surrounded by friends… where i have lived for the past 12 years… to move in with my parents and try to make my dream come true.

i do not even have a portfolio together… i need to do this…. soon…