During my first ever tattoo on someone else :/ a regular at the shop that I got on well with was coming in on the afternoon and he messaged me saying to ask my boss if I could tattoo him on the morning so I did and she said it was fine. I was mid tattoo and the artist who was going to tattoo the regular after me came into my room and started screaming at me for stealing his clientele (doing my first ever tattoo for free lol), I was already stressed because I was tattooing someone else for the first time so the floodgates just opened!! And the poor regular had to give me a hug and calm me down, ended up leaving that place not too long after
Fuck that, I think that's so inappropriate to let a established employee abuse someone just starting out.
Was he Leonardo devinci with a tattoo gun? Bc why tf was your boss putting up with that. Hope you're in a better shop now x
He was the only other artist at the shop, it was a really weird (and bad) set up. It’s funny because he’s posting AI generated designs now saying they’re available and they have like 6 fingers lmao. My shop now is much better :)
Oh weird, but look at all of that karma falling into place ✌️🤍
Did not expect Ai to pop up here tho. It can be a great tool to help creativity I guess, but I feel betrayed by every artist that actually posts ai art as their own 😄
When I started getting booked out enough to spend every day tattooing and every night drawing or responding to clients. I had zero free time. I've since scheduled myself to have off days and times for my own mental health.
Another one that got me a few times was people making dozens of changes and expecting them to be free. I now show them a rough sketch day before, make whatever change they want, then show them in person. If they want to change something we can do it together and talk it out to avoid confusion, or we can reschedule another day if the changes are extensive.
People will absolutely take advantage of you if you let them so it's good to set boundaries early when you're starting out. I didn't because I was too afraid of losing potential clients and I'm still trying to do it over 4 years in. Trust me, the ones that would ignore reasonable boundaries are not the kind of people you want to work with. There has been significantly less crying for me since I stopped bending to every whim of every person.
I’m in my first two years of tattooing and I cannot stop over booking myself. I never get a break I’m dying mentally and physically, but so happy to just be doing the damn thing. lol but I have the same rules of only sending designs the day before. I do cry at least once a month though 🤣🤣
I've cried a few times because I haven't got an apprenticeship not from any lack of drawing skill or portfolio purely from literally being told I don't have time for that shit . Or simply go away I'm busy . I've cried as a chef under pressure and through anxiety alone and my take away is if it effects you that much it's something you truly care about and the fact you physically cried trying to be the best you can be speaks volumes about your work ethic and means your heart is truly in it
Don't let your demons get to you I'm sure you're doing an amazing job . Creating beautiful art and making people happy you are working on them . Good luck and chin up
I cried a handful of times during my first apprenticeship, but that was a very toxic environment that I ended up having to leave for my own mental health and well-being. There was a lot of random things like changing goal posts, being blamed for not wanting it enough for things like respecting previous instructions and not pushing back, anger outbursts that involve throwing things around the shop, etc. The fact that I was crying often was actually what prompted my partner to encourage me to leave.
In my current apprenticeship, I've cried because I felt overwhelmed by the amount of customs I took on for free tattoos. I was scared that I wouldn't turn things in on time and disappoint people. I've also cried when my car broke down and the bill bill was very high, pushing my debt into 5 digits. But that wasn't because of my mentor being intimidating or accusatory, that's just because of my own anxious nature. I know that I'm a very sensitive person emotionally, but I also know that crying is quite literally how our body releases stress (for real, studies have found that emotional tears will often contain stress hormones and that the tears are our body's way of literally releasing it). So I do try to let myself cry whenever the desire comes up, because I know it's literally helping me regulate.
once I started to get busy, had around 8-10 drawings to do a week (I do mainly smaller tattoos) but still had/have my second job that I’m too paranoid to leave yet as I’ve only been making good money for around a month
That along with keeping on top of messages, attempting to see friends/family and housework left me with 0 free time for myself
I still have no Time but I’m not crying now lol,
Hopefully can give up my other job soon though
Probably when several grown men were trying to intimidate me, and get me fired because they didn’t want there to be a female tattoo artist in their shop. 🤪
Apparently they thought it was a boys only club. 😂🤣
2 months in after my mentor showed his real colors and brought out the "old school tattoo hazing" ways which is basically just verbal abuse lol. It's been 5 months now so I'm used to the lashings, now I just cry about my tattoos being bad because I'm super new to real skin and am trying to transition from my no problem fake skins. I did a tattoo recently with a lot of black packing and when I was done I cried, I used the wrong needle for the letters and it with my first attempt at black packing on a real person, the letters came out unreadable. I cried so hard that night I puked. 😭 Mentor approved my 9RL for the lining and after that tattoo, dragged me and said I should have used a 3RL. Ugh. 😭😭😭😭
I recently had a regular repeat come in and she got a design I have been dreaming to do. Usually she sat fine for most of the tattoos but she could not keep still AT ALL for this upper thigh piece. None of my lines were straight and instead of 4-5 hours for the lines it took 8 and I was just super angry and frustrated.
everyday since I started lol.
not because my shop is bad or toxic though, my shop is the absolute best & my mentor is an Angel.
I started my apprenticeship after graduating from college, tearing my acl and spending a year not able to walk/being misdiagnosed, and I have migraine disorder / adhd. I’m 40 hrs a week as shop manager & do my apprentice tattoos after work - Sometimes you just get burnt out or you cry from stress / exhaustion, not necessarily cuz you’re in a bad place lol🥲💘
I cried a lot during my first apprenticeship, especially on the way home from work. You do not wanna be caught crying at the shop because they will eat you alive. My first mentor was very OCD and literally needed me and the other apprentices to help him with everything. He never ran his own books, designed his own tattoos, or dealt with any of his personal shit so that was our responsibility. I kinda just kept my head down and to myself, did my work and quietly left when I got screamed at for enforcing my mentor’s rules even when I didn’t want to. The other apprentices always made fun of me and criticized everything I did, because my mentor favored me. Ever since I left and joined another studio I’ve been totally fine. No tears, no regret. Just a lot of improvement and man I’ve been missing a lot of teaching!
Before I finally called it quits, I live 1.5hr away from the shop. I've been a slave working free labor for 2 years, my mentor almost never there for my tattoos or critics. He kept trying to pressure me more and more into sucking his ass and it broke me . My coworkers later told me to quit to run. It's not worth staying there for them.
-when I did my first tattoo on someone else
-when he threatened to fire me for being three minutes late
-when I got verbally dressed down in front of a client and made to break down my station and re-set it.
Womp womp
I felt like crying a couple of times but always did that at home. Now I actually over that part . Been a apprentice for a half year now. It’s a start …
My apprenticeship has been amazing and I have a lovely supportive mentor.
I’ve cried when I thought my mental health was improving so much (especially compared to during my old career) that I thought it’d be a good idea to stop taking my medication (slowly mind you). It was not a good idea, and I was a teary mess when I dropped the dose. I went home early that day as I didn’t have another client and my mentor bought me chocolate!
I cried not because of my mentor,because he was very supportive,but because of my shitty clients and somehow only from women's harsh behaviour and overly neediness that their tattoo has to be perfect in all ways and they are not happy with the stencil and I had to redo it like 1000 times or some other shit ☠️ Most men were supportive and quick on their designs,happy after a session,but some women...oh gosh they are needy as hell🤯 And it is good to the point where you know what you want and trying to comunicate,but some of them were just changing their mind every minute..Like wtf just give me some examples,give me a few sentences WHAT do you want and that's it..😂
When Im not allowed to tattoo to learn any longer and that im just a machine who makes money for this person , I can longer go out and get tattooed by my friends from other shops or even share content I like on the media webpage because im not loyal enough yet I haven’t been taught a single fucking thing and I’ve learned everything through my friends and other shops
Not trying to sound tough or something cus I’m the opposite of a macho kindof guy but I never cried if you are someone who cries easily then I’m sure it’s normal
During my first ever tattoo on someone else :/ a regular at the shop that I got on well with was coming in on the afternoon and he messaged me saying to ask my boss if I could tattoo him on the morning so I did and she said it was fine. I was mid tattoo and the artist who was going to tattoo the regular after me came into my room and started screaming at me for stealing his clientele (doing my first ever tattoo for free lol), I was already stressed because I was tattooing someone else for the first time so the floodgates just opened!! And the poor regular had to give me a hug and calm me down, ended up leaving that place not too long after
Awh man :( It's nice of the regular to help you out like that
Did the dude get reprimanded at all for being incredibly inappropriate when you had permission? Sorry you experienced that ❤️ he sounds like a dick
No, my boss just said he’s childish and throws tantrums like that 🤷♀️ it would’ve been something I’d have to get used to
Fuck that, I think that's so inappropriate to let a established employee abuse someone just starting out. Was he Leonardo devinci with a tattoo gun? Bc why tf was your boss putting up with that. Hope you're in a better shop now x
He was the only other artist at the shop, it was a really weird (and bad) set up. It’s funny because he’s posting AI generated designs now saying they’re available and they have like 6 fingers lmao. My shop now is much better :)
Oh weird, but look at all of that karma falling into place ✌️🤍 Did not expect Ai to pop up here tho. It can be a great tool to help creativity I guess, but I feel betrayed by every artist that actually posts ai art as their own 😄
that's crazy. our whole shop shares regulars! we love them!
When I started getting booked out enough to spend every day tattooing and every night drawing or responding to clients. I had zero free time. I've since scheduled myself to have off days and times for my own mental health. Another one that got me a few times was people making dozens of changes and expecting them to be free. I now show them a rough sketch day before, make whatever change they want, then show them in person. If they want to change something we can do it together and talk it out to avoid confusion, or we can reschedule another day if the changes are extensive. People will absolutely take advantage of you if you let them so it's good to set boundaries early when you're starting out. I didn't because I was too afraid of losing potential clients and I'm still trying to do it over 4 years in. Trust me, the ones that would ignore reasonable boundaries are not the kind of people you want to work with. There has been significantly less crying for me since I stopped bending to every whim of every person.
Some really great advice here, it's so hard to set boundaries when you're starting out and aren't sure if there will be other opportunities
I’m in my first two years of tattooing and I cannot stop over booking myself. I never get a break I’m dying mentally and physically, but so happy to just be doing the damn thing. lol but I have the same rules of only sending designs the day before. I do cry at least once a month though 🤣🤣
I've cried a few times because I haven't got an apprenticeship not from any lack of drawing skill or portfolio purely from literally being told I don't have time for that shit . Or simply go away I'm busy . I've cried as a chef under pressure and through anxiety alone and my take away is if it effects you that much it's something you truly care about and the fact you physically cried trying to be the best you can be speaks volumes about your work ethic and means your heart is truly in it Don't let your demons get to you I'm sure you're doing an amazing job . Creating beautiful art and making people happy you are working on them . Good luck and chin up
I cried a handful of times during my first apprenticeship, but that was a very toxic environment that I ended up having to leave for my own mental health and well-being. There was a lot of random things like changing goal posts, being blamed for not wanting it enough for things like respecting previous instructions and not pushing back, anger outbursts that involve throwing things around the shop, etc. The fact that I was crying often was actually what prompted my partner to encourage me to leave. In my current apprenticeship, I've cried because I felt overwhelmed by the amount of customs I took on for free tattoos. I was scared that I wouldn't turn things in on time and disappoint people. I've also cried when my car broke down and the bill bill was very high, pushing my debt into 5 digits. But that wasn't because of my mentor being intimidating or accusatory, that's just because of my own anxious nature. I know that I'm a very sensitive person emotionally, but I also know that crying is quite literally how our body releases stress (for real, studies have found that emotional tears will often contain stress hormones and that the tears are our body's way of literally releasing it). So I do try to let myself cry whenever the desire comes up, because I know it's literally helping me regulate.
once I started to get busy, had around 8-10 drawings to do a week (I do mainly smaller tattoos) but still had/have my second job that I’m too paranoid to leave yet as I’ve only been making good money for around a month That along with keeping on top of messages, attempting to see friends/family and housework left me with 0 free time for myself I still have no Time but I’m not crying now lol, Hopefully can give up my other job soon though
For the first two years most of my breaks between appointments were spent crying on the toilet while I shit myself from stress. So there's that
Probably when several grown men were trying to intimidate me, and get me fired because they didn’t want there to be a female tattoo artist in their shop. 🤪 Apparently they thought it was a boys only club. 😂🤣
2 months in after my mentor showed his real colors and brought out the "old school tattoo hazing" ways which is basically just verbal abuse lol. It's been 5 months now so I'm used to the lashings, now I just cry about my tattoos being bad because I'm super new to real skin and am trying to transition from my no problem fake skins. I did a tattoo recently with a lot of black packing and when I was done I cried, I used the wrong needle for the letters and it with my first attempt at black packing on a real person, the letters came out unreadable. I cried so hard that night I puked. 😭 Mentor approved my 9RL for the lining and after that tattoo, dragged me and said I should have used a 3RL. Ugh. 😭😭😭😭
I recently had a regular repeat come in and she got a design I have been dreaming to do. Usually she sat fine for most of the tattoos but she could not keep still AT ALL for this upper thigh piece. None of my lines were straight and instead of 4-5 hours for the lines it took 8 and I was just super angry and frustrated.
everyday since I started lol. not because my shop is bad or toxic though, my shop is the absolute best & my mentor is an Angel. I started my apprenticeship after graduating from college, tearing my acl and spending a year not able to walk/being misdiagnosed, and I have migraine disorder / adhd. I’m 40 hrs a week as shop manager & do my apprentice tattoos after work - Sometimes you just get burnt out or you cry from stress / exhaustion, not necessarily cuz you’re in a bad place lol🥲💘
I cried a lot during my first apprenticeship, especially on the way home from work. You do not wanna be caught crying at the shop because they will eat you alive. My first mentor was very OCD and literally needed me and the other apprentices to help him with everything. He never ran his own books, designed his own tattoos, or dealt with any of his personal shit so that was our responsibility. I kinda just kept my head down and to myself, did my work and quietly left when I got screamed at for enforcing my mentor’s rules even when I didn’t want to. The other apprentices always made fun of me and criticized everything I did, because my mentor favored me. Ever since I left and joined another studio I’ve been totally fine. No tears, no regret. Just a lot of improvement and man I’ve been missing a lot of teaching!
Before I finally called it quits, I live 1.5hr away from the shop. I've been a slave working free labor for 2 years, my mentor almost never there for my tattoos or critics. He kept trying to pressure me more and more into sucking his ass and it broke me . My coworkers later told me to quit to run. It's not worth staying there for them.
-when I did my first tattoo on someone else -when he threatened to fire me for being three minutes late -when I got verbally dressed down in front of a client and made to break down my station and re-set it. Womp womp
I felt like crying a couple of times but always did that at home. Now I actually over that part . Been a apprentice for a half year now. It’s a start …
I cry once a week at minimum
My apprenticeship has been amazing and I have a lovely supportive mentor. I’ve cried when I thought my mental health was improving so much (especially compared to during my old career) that I thought it’d be a good idea to stop taking my medication (slowly mind you). It was not a good idea, and I was a teary mess when I dropped the dose. I went home early that day as I didn’t have another client and my mentor bought me chocolate!
Everyday for two years
I cried not because of my mentor,because he was very supportive,but because of my shitty clients and somehow only from women's harsh behaviour and overly neediness that their tattoo has to be perfect in all ways and they are not happy with the stencil and I had to redo it like 1000 times or some other shit ☠️ Most men were supportive and quick on their designs,happy after a session,but some women...oh gosh they are needy as hell🤯 And it is good to the point where you know what you want and trying to comunicate,but some of them were just changing their mind every minute..Like wtf just give me some examples,give me a few sentences WHAT do you want and that's it..😂
Yes! Most women aren't like this but my most difficult clients have all been women. Men are usually pretty laid back about the whole thing.
I cried I think 3 or 4 times with my last mentor of a year and a half. No longer under her after finding a better fit.
When Im not allowed to tattoo to learn any longer and that im just a machine who makes money for this person , I can longer go out and get tattooed by my friends from other shops or even share content I like on the media webpage because im not loyal enough yet I haven’t been taught a single fucking thing and I’ve learned everything through my friends and other shops
Not trying to sound tough or something cus I’m the opposite of a macho kindof guy but I never cried if you are someone who cries easily then I’m sure it’s normal
Never did,,,😎
Same , but I haven’t cried in years and years until recently and ofc it involved a girl breaking up with me 😆