Tattooing is traditionally an apprenticeship based art.

Apprenticeships last approximately three years before they are
considered professional artists. You are making permanent, often
visible changes to another human being and if proper procedure
isn’t followed, you could be jeopardizing that client’s
health and emotional well-being. By taking advantage of the knowledge
of experienced, professional artists, you will avoid many costly
mistakes. Unfortunately it is very hard to get one because very
few professional tattoo artists will give away their “Secrets”
to anybody.

Still, there is a chance of getting into one of those apprenticeships
and here are a couple of tips what to do:

First of all you should put together a kick ass portfolio,
anything reflecting your skills with composition, color and line
work. Take your time with creating the flash and have at
least two sets of flash ready when you walk into a studio.
One set, about 5 pages, in black & white and another
set, another 5 pages, in color. The sheets should not be
smaller than 14×11 inches. As i said take your time with drawing
the flash and be as creative as you can be. Tattoo artists
always like to check out new flashes and if you did a good job and
impressed him you might have a better chance of getting the
apprenticeship. A good artist will see right away if you have the
potential to become an artist yourself.

After you’re done drawing the flashes start visiting local
studios and talk to the shopowners. Here is a little tip for what
to say and what to do, too.

Make sure you check out the studio a couple of days before
you walk in there asking for an apprenticeship. Check out if the
artists are friendly, if the shop is a professional one, if they
have any pics hanging on the walls of recently done work so you can
get an idea of how the quality of the studio all together
is. If somebody asks you if you need some help just say you are
looking around. When walking into the shop asking for the
apprenticeship make sure the shop is not to crowded. If it
is just wait and go there another day cause they might say
“We don’t need anybody” to you, just because they are to busy at
the moment and don’t have time to talk to you.

Make a bunch of copies of your flashes and walk into the
studio of your choice. Ask for the person in charge and let them
know you have some tattoo flash for sale. As I said above,
atrists always like to check out new flash so make sure they
accidently see them already when you walk into the studio. Don’t
throw the sheets on the counter or right into his face, just
carry them around in your hand, not covered by anything like
an envelope so everybody in the shop can see it. But
remember, you are there to get an apprenticeship not to make money
of tattoo flash, so if they are interested in the flash, keep
the price low. If you already got into talking about your
flash, mention that you are looking for an apprenticeship and if
they are looking for somebody to work in the studio. Your
attidude is also important when talking to the artist.
Don’t be a smart ass and tell him “You Know” when he is
talking to you because you don’t know, otherwise you
wouldn’t be there asking for an apprenticeship. Just be friendly,
confident and show interest. The rest is up to the artist and your
work.

Don’t be dissapointed if it doesen’t work in the first studio
you walk into. Make sure you leave your name and number at the
studio and tell them to give you a call if they ever needed somebody.

As I said above it will not be easy to get an apprenticeship at
a tattoo parlor but it’s not impossible. Still, you will get a lot of
“no’s” but keep trying and be persistent. The hardest part is to get
the artist looking at your artwork and the tips above might help you
out. But the most important part is your work, so make sure you do
the best you can

source: 1