motsimus

Welcome. Hard luck story bud. The only thing I feel I can suggest (3rd year apprentice) is visit other shops. If he has other shops, go talk to the other tattooers. Hang out. Get tattooed. If you're serious, you'll make connections with better tattooers and go from there. And by the way, worrying about your first few tattoos not being good? You're always gonna feel that way. That is why we try to progress.

Yeah you definitely need to leave and pursue other options. The idea of undertaking a tattoo apprenticeship from someone who doesn't tattoo is... nonsensical. By the sounds of it, you have too much potential for this clown and he doesn't deserve to have you around. It kinda just sounds like he wants a shop bitch who will make him easy money, and that's not what tattooing is about. I know it's hard to have the confidence at this level to put your foot down and say "hey fuck you man! I'm leaving!" (you don't literally have to say fuck you ;)) BUT YOU SHOULD! Even if you have to keep learning and studying on your own time, it will still be time saved not learning bad habits and bad business practices. And yeah what Kevin said, go hang out at other shops, be polite and respectful, keep your ears open and your mouth shut. Get tattooed! It will work out :)

image url upload[/img]
Lonny did this in 3 sessions.
Aces High Tattoo Shop | West Palm Beach and Jupiter Award Winning Tattoos

No rugrats? Not a fan of Tommy Pickles and Chuckie Finster?

I like the idea a lot. Are you planning on having the tattoos stand alone or will you have some background tying them together?
For designs, I'd suggest looking in books. There are so many good ones out there: the Sailor Jerry books, that Zeis book (the Scott Harrison page in there is something else), the Flash From the Bowery book, the Dietzel and Burchett books, Flash From the Past/Revisited...there's so much out there. Lucky's Tattoo Museum has a bunch of flash you can look at online to give you inspiration. There's so much neat stuff out there and there's probably a lot more variety and diversity in classic flash than most of us imagine.
I think the biggest challenge with this idea would be doing traditional tattoos in a realistic style while still keeping the feel of traditional tattoos. If that's what you're going for. There's a bit in that Brian Bruno and Mike Rennie interview that really sticks out where Brian is talking about advice that Ed Hardy gave him about drawing: if you're drawing a tiger, you don't want to replicate a photo of it, you want to draw it how it makes you feel. I think that idea basically encapsulates one of the main differences between realism and traditional (loosely defined here) tattoos, and I wonder how bridging the gap between the two will work. Sometimes the most exciting things that happen in tattoos come from pushing boundaries and trying things to see how they'll work, so yeah, I love the idea.

Thanks to me not being diligent about booking new sessions, I now have a mishmash of up and coming sessions.
This pic is the result of my last session on Saturday which was at the Sydney Tattoo Convention. Only a small 2 hour session but was cool chatting to different people wandering past asking about my work etc.
Was also my 1st attendance at a tattoo convention/show. I got to see alot of people getting tattooed by many artists and the main thing that surprised me was how few engaged with the artist and chatted.
So many had headphones on or were playing with iPads with no interaction with the artist. For me that is a big reason why I "enjoy" getting tattooed and keep going back for more.
To me a big part of getting a great tattoo is connecting with your artist, chatting with him/her, chewing the fat, disagreeing with him/her and at times arguing with your artist. (Something I have done once or twice.)
Not sure what all you LST's do but my job is very technical and most would class as boring. Is another reason why I enjoy my tattoo sessions, I get to connect and chat to artistic and creative people. Much more interesting than the crap I deal with at work. :)
Anyway enough of my rant, here is the latest pic.
Cheers
Jason

In Qld, Australia now, it's common to be refused from venues for having hand, neck and face tattoos. Especially on the Gold Coast.
The way I see it is that these venues are mainstream. Fuck mainstream. Never wanted to mix with them fuckers anyway. Give me a dingy blues club any day of the week.

Good tattooing is "very clichéd"

I still remember when this forum was devoted to promoting good tattooing.

Finally finished. This one took about 25 hours. The artist asked me if I liked it. I told him yes. He said good, because you're stuck with it now. No panther is going to cover this thing. Ha!
The colors are brighter than what I expected, but they are growing on me. Overall, I'm pleased with how it turned out.
The coolest part about this experience, is that I feel like I can just go down to the shop and hang out and have some beer and pizza with these guys. It's a really fun place to hang out and I'm definitely going to get more work done by him. But the artist knows I'm also getting pieces done by others in the area. He recommended several to me.

I always look forward to the start of the month because it means another 3 hours of work on my back, and another step closer to completion. This session I just could not zone out at all. The whole thing just hurt. On the other hand we have now basically finished the background and I'm stoked with how it's looking.

Marius Meyer backpiece bonanza. Me and @Kai Eirik Espedal

Some more pics!

i flew out to london over the weekend and rich hardy did the second session on my back :)

Met with Carlos Torres in Paris after the convention to finish this little side piece.
Fuck me this did really really hurt!

@Mark Bee you can't seem to go wrong at The Pearl! Love seeing your already impressive collection grow.
- - - Updated - - -
I can't believe I haven't posted these here! I got my butt snake colored in at the beg of feb. Basically I got home from my tattoo trip, and my dog had a big sudden health issue that had to be dealt with STAT! So I didn't even think about it.
Pics attached. I'm booked for more at the beg of Apr too!

I got this today from Skylar Grove at Polished Tattoo in San Jose while my car was being washed. Yup, total impulse tattoo and I love it.

Added onto my arm yesterday with Clare Hampshire.
Could not get a decent photo at home, so pic is from her IG.

Here's my new one, done yesterday at the mondial du tatouage by Chad Koeplinger! STOKED!!!

Finally got around to taking decent pics. Sorry if this is posted in the wrong section.

My son is nearly 12, my daughter nearly 10.
My daughter likes looking at my tattoos but says it won't be for her. She's funny though, she sees other people with tattoos and frequently and quietly comments, "dad, you have way more tattoos than him"
My son is always planning his suit which comprises of dragons, snakes, ships and skulls.
They can never understand why people have to stare so intently when we're out when I'm rocking singlet and shorts.
It's nice to know they're developing a non judgmental attitude towards people who "appear" different.

Nguzunguzu.
I did my PhD dissertation on the paleoclimate and oceanography of the Solomon Islands. They are smack dab in the West Pacific Warm Pool, one of the "heat engines" of the Earth's climate. They also sit under the largest perennial rainfall feature on earth, the South Pacific Convergence Zone. I spent a lot of time out there caving, sampling fossil corals, and hanging out in villages listening to villagers and elders tell amazing stories of the past, and depressing stories of the present; logging and overfishing are becoming epidemic.
In the Western Province, tribal warfare and headhunting raids were often conducted between the small islands, with warriors transporting themselves in large Tomoko war canoes. One of the iconic images of the Western Solomons is the figurehead that adorns the prows of these canoes: the Nguzunguzu. A guardian God carved of ebony wood and painted black, with v or z shaped shell inlay. The eyes are always open, on alert. They are mostly either depicted holding a head or a frigate bird. Frigate birds are merciless, hardy, seagoing predators that will not spend the night at sea. They hold a place of reverence in the West Pacific. When I got my diploma, I got this piece on my chest. The flowers are Dendrobium laevifolium, an orchid species native to the remaining Western Solomons primary rainforests.
The artist was Chelsea Kotzur at True Blue on Red River in Austin.

Thanks everyone! My current work is all from Mike Pain (gave me my first, second and third, great guy), Shanghai Kate Hellenbrand, and Chelsea Kotzur.
My future collection desires and wants so far are a ribcage wolf's head with arrows from Tony Hundahl, a full back work from Kelly Edwards. I also love love love Katja Ramirez and Steve Byrne's work.
I REALLY would like to someday travel to Modern Classic and get a girl head from Valerie Vargas.
But alas, despite what Fox news tells ya, they don't pay us much, so each work is a long time coming

Hi all!
I'm a research scientist who studies paleoclimate, climate change, oceanography, and archeology/anthropology through stable isotope geochemistry.
Stuff about me. My grandfathers pretty much raised me. Both were WWII veterans.
My grandfather on my dad's side was a BAR-man in the USMC with the Pacific from 1942-1944. He was the embodiment of the Greatest Generation, I loved the man to death. He essentially raised me: he taught me how to shoot a rifle, how to fish, and gave me my moral compass and innumerable life skills. I miss him every day. He fought on Rennell, Bougainville, then was assigned to the First Provisional Marine Brigade, where he fought in the Second Battle of Guam, losing sight in in his right eye to a Japanese Grenade, sending him home. The Brigade would go on to Iwo Jima. The grenade probably saved his life. Yes, he was tattooed.
My other grandfather was a total badass, as well. Field Artillery in the battle of Kasserine Pass. He was captured by Rommel's troops, and was a POW at Stalag III-B in Furstenburg. From which he escaped. Twice. Ratted out both times by refugees. They used to trade red cross cigarettes to the guards by making them give a salute and yell "Heil Roosevelt!"
My dad was a 3rd generation Marine, of the Full Metal Jacket era. He was also a real POS of a human, and being in the Corps did that part of him no favors. He told me, to quote, that if I tried to carry on the family tradition, he'd kill me himself first.
So, having grown up in Florida, I pursued what interested me. I'm not the kind of person who could ever have a job just to pay the bills. I get totally enrapt in whatever has my attention and interest. So science was a natural fit. I went to school for way too long. I paid my way through undergrad (chemistry/marine science) working in a boatyard, at a public aquarium and TAing/tutoring. I did research and taught more to survive through getting an MS in Oceanography and a PhD in Geoscience. Now I wake up and get to do what I love every day.
So my main fascinations are the history of tattooing insofar as to be tattooed is to be human. Then, secondarily, American Traditional. As a scientist and person who tries to be an autodidact (and has sailed in the South Pacific, and was raised by Veterans), it's impossible for me not to be fascinated by and deeply respect Sailor Jerry. And as a general person who loves tattoo history, Paul Rogers, Cap Coleman, Amund Dietzel, Thom DeVita, etc. etc. etc.
I am not a tattooer or artist. I don't have a visually creative bone in my body. To me, good tattooing is an ultimate and purely human art form. As human as paintings of mammoths and ungulates on cave walls. It's a truly special, endemic form of tool use that pushes the human brain out to the max.
As a final note, the university I work at has a very conservative student body and is in a very conservative town. It's also too hot for long sleeves all year, so all of my past and future work is necessarily coverable by short sleeves, and preferably shorts as well.
Thanks!

these are my little devils, first one is by Ben Fraser and the dirty hot stuff by Mando Rascon.