TLC to launch "Tattoo School" on July 14!?!?

[BellaGirl]

Originally Posted by Shauna Wallace

its also giving every trailer park kitchen tattoo artist the idea that they can go to a "tattoo school" and learn in just a couple of weeks....which is complete and utter bulls&!t. thats why so many people have horrible tattoos that actual professional artists have to try and fix on people everyday.

I do not know about any of that. I just like getting tattoos, and am interested..

[TribalZer0]

I don't see it as an insight as to how tattoos work. I read the schools description and the show description and don't get that from it. You want to know how tattoos work ask an artist. I read a few books and studied up on tattoos and meaning and how they are done and how they progressed before I was even old enough to get a tattoo. I have sat and talked with artists. Hell, I used to do b1tc4 work in a shop in my spare time not as an apprentice but just so I could observe and learn stuff. I am not even sure what "how tattoos work" means. I mean the machines, the needles, the ink, the stenciling. What part of tattooing do you want to understand. I do not think a scratch artists 80 hours and your a tattooist school is going to give much insight. It will feed you a lot of BS. I know people that have had to apprentice for years before being full time artists because they didn't have a grasp on the aspects they needed. I know people that have apprenticed a little over a year and picked up because they spent all their time practicing and learning. You can't get anything in two weeks except maybe an infection. I don't mean to be a d!#k, so don't take it that way. And I am not a tattooist. I do like tattoos, I like the artwork, the dedication people put in. I want to get a tattoo the tribal way at some point. I think it would give me insight into "how tattoos work". I do not want to get a tattoo from someone that took an 80 hour course I don't care if they can draw a spawn comic in their sleep.

[BellaGirl]

Are tattoo artist stuck up that they do not want to let us outsiders see what they go through?

[Vincent Haku]

Originally Posted by BellaGirl

Are tattoo artist stuck up that they do not want to let us outsiders see what they go through?

It's not that at all. Personally, this is going to be HORRIBLE for the industry. Televising a scratcher school, will cause an even larger over saturation of the tattoo industry with people who do not want to put in the work in order to not spread Hep, AIDS, Staph infection, etc, etc. It's easy to ruin someone's life if you don't know what you are doing. Tattoo a mole, and you could kill someone because they won't be able to catch developing skin cancer. Needles set incorrectly can cut a major vein or artery and kill the person by making them bleed out. Essentially turning the tattoo machine into a knife. Some of these are a little easier to do than others. Spending a year or two learning is a drop in the bucket. You are getting an education. You don't do a two-week course in surgery or psychology and then are able to take clients. There is an inherent risk in tattooing, for both the artist and the person getting a tattoo. If they don't know what they are doing very bad things can happen. There are plenty of books and materials like another poster mentioned that will give you an inside look into tattooing. However, this is a very demanding career that requires your entire life and dedication. Here is something you may not know.. a real artist will not party all the time, because they simply won't have time. The vast majority of my time is spent drawing, preparing, then go into the studio, clean, clean, clean, help clients, tattoo, clean, go home, draw and prepare of the next day, go to sleep for a few hours. Rinse and repeat..

[TribalZer0]

Maybe you didn't read my whole post.
A.) I am not a tattoo artists.
B.) The two week school is not anything near what an artist goes through. A rush process of ideas packed into 80 hours. Most shops are pretty open so you can see what they do. You can see what apprentices do. You can ask them anything, if they are a good shop they will talk with you. People that take interest are always appreciated, at least in my experience. I got to sit in on piercings and tattoos.
I have helped with the apprentice work. Made copies, helped with sizing drawings (for friends), I have cleaned up areas. I have done a lot, just because I wanted to help out and see. This show, in my opinion, is going to be a black mark on the tattoo industry not a positive reference. You cannot learn shop procedure and tattooing in two weeks. You cannot get a good or real insight into a shop from a TV show let alone one about a school that churns out scratchers in an 80 hour training.
I will say I have met some stuck up artists that think they are gods gift to tattooing and they are @$$holes.

[TribalZer0]

Haku, didn't want to quote all that but very well said.
Tattooing is a dedication and in order to succeed you have to dedicate yourself to it. Dedication comes from putting in grunt work. I never went to a job and after I got my first check said well that was great learned a lot, how about we talk raises. And that is what I feel this school may be creating. People are always looking for an easy way out. The quick easy and painless. That way doesn't work for everything. A better way to put it is we don't put our soldiers through 80 hours of training and put them in battle. It wouldn't end well.

[BellaGirl]

I will be tuning in to the show. I liked La Ink but do not like NY Ink and want something to watch. I like tattoos.

[Lord Hordak]

bella-
I believe what most of our gripe is this:

Some of us on here ar professional tattooers
spending tons of time and money learning a craft,
and im not talking 100 bucks on a tattoo kit either..
I mean real money, real time, years of learning what is referred to as a "craft".

Tattooing is not something that can be learned in two weeks.. period
for someone wanting to learn about tattooing or tattoos
I recommend reading books over and over again, as well as sitting down with a pro artist (someone who tattoos for a living, I pay my bills, child support, car insurance ect with the money I earn from doing inkwork) they will be the only ones who can actually help to understand what is really going on, such as what to do is "this" happens what to do it "that" happens,
good tattoos are created by artists who know the steps in creating them
good tattoos do not just pour out of the machine with the ink, however they are thought out and done in chronological steps.. and there are lots of other factors that do not include artistry skill, but skills that are needed to complete a good tattoo.

There really is no easy way to learn how to tattoo and if you try to find the easy way it will actually be much harder than if you just seeked out the right way.

[JiffyFeet]

Originally Posted by BellaGirl

I signed up for this forum, specifically to post on this message. I am actually looking forward to this show. Everyone is getting all mad, but this will give us tattoo getters an insight into how tattoos work.

I know how tattoos work - I go to a respectable artist in a respectable shop that wasn't taught to scratch in 2 weeks, pay the artist and come out with a nice image on my body. I don't need to see someone going through a conveyor belt tattoo school to know they are going to leave my flesh looking like ground beef.

[AlexanderScott]

Originally Posted by BellaGirl

I will be tuning in to the show. I liked La Ink but do not like NY Ink and want something to watch. I like tattoos.

if you like tattoos then dont watch this show, cause your not going to see any tattoos being done, just people being butchered and scarred for the rest of their lives.

tattoo schools are a scam, taught by scratchers because they cant make a living doing tattoos so they decide to teach what they dont know and charge people thousands of dollars. anyone who goes to a tattoo school will never be hired in a professional shop. ever