Forum Replies Created
You know I’ve given alot of thought to this subject.
Alot.
Most artist in established shops will tell you they served a apprenticeship.
Many of them even did.
I can name a few that obviously did’nt.
The term apprenticeship though is a very loose term.
Not every one is cut out to be a Tattoo artist, and not every Tattoo Artist is willing to take on a
apprentice.
More should.
Apprenticeship should have more support in the Tattoo Parlor Legislation, it does’nt, and thats sad.
State and local laws in the US should require it, but few do to my knowledge.
Honestly the areas with strong Tattoo regulation are also the best areas to work, and having State laws that require it would only improve and legitamatize the craft more.
In other trades a apprentice earns a living wage, in Tattooing the Apprentice pays $2000-5000 up front and works for free for 1-5 years. All to gain the respect of his peers.
The experience gained mentoring a novice is worth more than years of running your own shop.
Why? Because you have to answer questions you yourself never thought to ask.
The reason a student can’t surpass the teacher is that the apprentice makes the master a master.
Well apprenticeship is the way to go.
No doubt about that.
Find a artist that has successfully taught at least one apprentice, or give one a chance that has a
good reputation and is ready to take on a student.
The artist that blacked over the bad tattoo?
Was he/she the one who did the bad tattoo?
Or did you ask them to black it out?
If a complete black out of a old bad tattoo is what you asked for then perhaps you have no legal
recourse.
now if the artist failed to recommend that you get laser treatments to remove the poor artwork,
or that you seek out a better artist to do the cover up…….try talking to a attorney.
My thought is that the origonal bad tattoo would’ve simpler to fix then a wide black band, and that
given that you had alot of time and money and chair time invested in ink……..then the artist was
wrong to not suggest laser removal when it could’ve been done effectively.
I myself had a very poorly done tattoo removed from my left hand that I’ve since had new ink done
over….it looks great and i’m happy with the result. Furthermore I had the artist pay for the laser treatment.
He also paid for the new tattoo.
But then I was the origional artist who screwed it up in the first place.
A tattoo artist ussually knows right where the worst tattoo he ever did is……its on himself.
Ussually underneith a tattoo that a better artist did.