Recently tattoos have gotten very popular among people of all ages. It is actually starting to become more and more rare to find some at say…your local beach that does not have a tattoo somewhere on their body. Now that tattoos have become mainstream, a lot more people are starting to thing about becoming a tattoo artist. Through modern technology, it has become very easy to get a tattoo machine for cheap. This is making more and more people want to teach themselves how to tattoo.

Before you go and purchase a tattoo machine and think you are going to become the next star on “Miami Ink”, it is important to realize how the tattoo industry works. Though you might think that if you are artistic that you can tattoo, that is absolutely not the case. Tattooing is a whole different medium that is not very easy to learn. Established tattoo artists can find it insulting to them when someone tries to take the route of teaching themselves to tattoo rather than going the traditional route of getting an apprenticeship. Tattoo artists pride themselves on paying their dues to get where they have gotten.

After informing you that to learn to tattoo properly and safely you need to obtain an apprenticeship, now it is okay to let you know that purchasing a tattoo machine early on is not a bad idea, but only if you go about using it the right way. To get a feel for tattooing prior to making the commitment of paying to learn from the pros, you might want to buy an inexpensive tattoo kit, but you must not tattoo people! What you should do is purchase some fake skin that is now available for tattoo artists to practice on. Although their is nothing that acts just like human skin, this fake skin is probably the next closest thing. If you practice on this fake skin and learn some basic skills through trial and error, an established tattoo artist might be more apt to hiring you on as an apprentice.

If you are curious about how exactly you might go about purchasing your own tattoo machine, I would say your best bet is to look online. There are quite a few online tattoo supply stores out there, and also Ebay is a good resource as it is where I bought my first tattoo gun some years ago for a few hundred dollars, and it lasted me years. You should also know that you are going to want to purchase plenty of disposable sterile needles and tubes. Though you will be practicing on fake skin, you should still get into the habit of properly disposing of needles and tubes.

In conclusion, this article was meant to dispose of the common misconception that you can pick up a tattoo machine and immediately start tattooing people with some basic art skills. This is dangerous and irresponsible thinking and any tattoo artist would be insulted because what they do is a skill that they have learned and perfected through many years of teachings. Do not make the mistake of thinking all that you need to do is buy a tattoo kit and you are now a tattoo artist, it just does not work that way.

Tags: Tattoos