The difference between!!!

There has been many post as to self taught and apprentice taught. Maybe this will shed some light on the matter if you can read and understand what I'm going to type. There are a ton of great tattooist that have learned in both manners. The difference is the grit of the path that they went down. When some one says that this or that artist was self taught and their great, that statement is not really the truth. those great artist may have started out on their own but they were getting tattooed ,watching others get tattooed,asking question when they could,and doing all they could to obtain the answers that they needed to get better. If you ask one of the great self taught guys how they did it ,most all will start giving a list of people who they have had lengthy conversations with,got tattooed by,and just generally tried to pick up as much info as they could from. The good self taught guys that most are referencing have put in long hours of study ,long hours of drawing,long hours of basically begging to get to the level of tattooing that their at. They have tried to surround themselves , becomes friends with,and work with people who are better than them. Those great self taught artist have basically forced an apprenticeship out of those that they could get close enough to to get the info. there is not one good reputable self taught artist in this industry that will tell you that they did it all on their own. It's dedication,sacrifice,the yearning in their gut, to know as much as they can from those artist they respected. They had respect for those greater and in return were rewarded with the knowledge that was needed for them to become a great tattoo artist. The guys who were lucky enough to apprentice under some one of a reputable shop or reputable persons were granted the fast track to this giant database of knowledge. The apprenticeship is the best way to go solely in the fact that all the basic to advanced info you need is being taught to you on a daily basis. You are learning (hopefully)the correct way to do things such as machine tuning ,needle making,pigment mixing,color theories,and a good general knowledge of skin texture and aftercare as well as a solid foundation of sterile techniques. In a reputable shop you'll learn how to keep you, your client,and the people you work with safe from disease and contamination. All this information takes years to obtain in a good shop and twice as long being self taught. So, apprenticed or self taught? Obviously apprenticeship is the way to go ,but you can be a solid reputable artist if you have the drive,hunger,love and most of all the respect of the art form. It's just in my opinion the longer road as you just don't have the access to the wealth of knowledge on a daily basis,but you have to get it where you can when you can and that takes time. There are always the one special person that seems to grasp things with ease but thats not the case in 99.9% of people. This form of art ,self taught or apprenticed , should be respected to your highest degree. Either way you learn, you have to have the love,the drive , the eagerness , the willingness to give up most of the time in your day and friends to learn all you can everyday. It doesn't come easy either way. It's a lifestyle . An obsession that eats at your gut to be better than you were yesterday. Sadly, most of todays self taught do not have this drive .they really never did ,it just looked easy to them and people will pay for it.Sadly too, is people are uneducated as to what a good, clean,solid tattoo is because they have no sense of ,or knowledge of what constitutes a good tattoo. this is why some are called hacks or scratchers. They do not have the proper knowledge to do a solid tattoo. When you ask certain questions and get the bashing it's because most of us feel that we gave all we have and will have to know the so called secrets to do our trade. All this knowledge is what makes us professional tattooist. Self taught or apprenticed. professionalism comes with how you interact with clients,your shop, and other tattoo artist. Being a pro comes from obtaining the knowledge necessary to apply your art in a clean ,and proper way. Hope this helps distinguish between the two for all.

If you would like to see our work ,you can check us out at performancetattoo.com. We strive to do better everyday and I think it shows ,to us and our customers. good luck to all!