Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Tattoo Apprenticeship : Sketches IV

I don't know if I'm ever going to adequately explain how thorough Cooper is among an industry filled with so many wild cards. From the get go, Cooper had an intricate set of assignments planned within an even more organized timeline for my apprenticeship. 

"We're going to divide this apprenticeship into three parts. The first part will be the bulk of your first year and it will include drawing here at the shop under time limitations as well as illustration assignments at home. The second part will encompass all of the technical skills needed to understand the mechanics of your tattoo machine and equipment. Part three will be the heavily supervised application of tattoos." 

It was pretty intimidated by the work load, to say the least, but the structure of Cooper's apprenticeship helped me to mentally transition into the fast paced, carnival hustle of a well-functioning street shop. When the assignments began, Cooper didn't hesitate to start familiarizing me with some of the more cliché tattoo themes that I would most likely run into from walk-in customers.

"You need to have a skill set that will allow you to take whatever request walks in that door. And until that starts happening, I'm going to give you a list of tattoo genres that would be beneficial for you to know and at least execute well."

Whether a tattoo is cliché or not... all of them seem pretty rad to me. The images below are one example of the many assignments from Cooper preparing me for whatever might walk-in the doors of a tattoo shop. 

This episode is highlighting the "floating or severed head" tattoo theme. 









Thanks for checking in
and take care until next time!

xoxo


No comments:

Post a Comment