How realistic is being a tattoo artist as a side hustle?

I think this question might irk a lot of people who are devoting a large portion of their time and energy into this profession but I want to be clear in order to avoid that; I do not mean to take tattooing lightly at all and I do understand the amount of time and dedication it takes to become a real tattoo artist. I have nothing but respect for apprentices and masters in this field that put in so much of themselves in order to learn and make a living.

In my case, I'm a psychologist and it seems like it will remain to be my main job for a long time. Because I work private I can arrange my working hours which means I can make it work with tattooing, if I also work private at that.

I have 2 questions regarding this subject:

• Can I, as an apprentice, consider tattooing a side hustle and still become a tattoo artist eventually? Or do I need to be fully dedicated in order to get there? I can definitely dedicate a certain amount of time while pushing my main job to the side if it's a must. At least the current apprenticeship I'm going through is taking 100% of my time so I'm used to that. But I would much rather keep it 50/50 so that I don't face issues with my other job as well.
• Can I, after finishing my apprenticeship, getting more experience and becoming comfortable with running my own/joint studio continue doing tattoos as a side hustle? I mean it might look like maybe a tattoo this week, 3 next and then off for a week while I'm only working with my own designs. Let's say I'd have 10 flashes for this month and that's all I'd be doing.

I would love to hear from any of you that might be doing tattoos less frequently or have taken a longer time as an apprentice due to taking it slower. I don't often see examples of this on the internet as people don't post all the tattoos they do. For example an artist might post 1 tattoo per week but I wouldn't know if they are completely booked for tattoos that are off-brand for them.

I would very much appreciate some insight on this, as well as your experiences.

Hi Seigard,
I'm where you're at right now.

Working in the engineer field, 40 hours a week contract as a freelance, with 2 days a week working at home.

There's a lot of "But..." in my actual life, when i wish to become half or 100% tattoing.

I've 4 kids, 5, 8, 21 and 23. Two at home and two on their own.
My wife is disabled and spends her time home.
This takes a lot of time in itself, i'm living like a single father with 2 kids.
So when i'm finished with my working day, here comes family time, then at 21:30 i can eventually start something tattoo related, but i'm often exhausted and empty.

The other thing is, even if i have time to dedicate to tattoo stuff, i'm rarely tattoing. It's very random and i can have 5 tattoos in a month or nothing in 6 months.
I can do a big multi-sessions piece or a 30 mins little flower. I often do some lining and black packing, rarely shadows or gradients. It doesn't help getting new techniques under your belt, because you have too much time passing between tattoos, and you often forget good practices and what should be done, in which order, what not to forget...

Also i've been testing needles, from RL to magnums, so you need to understand and remember how they work. Each tattoo is a new experience, so if you have few or no experience with a needle grouping, it's all new! There can be a lot of forgotten info between tattoos.

Also, tattoing family, friends and friends' friends gets you trapped in an 'all & everything' journey.
You'll do a flower, then a bird, then a skull, then a logo, then a fish, and if you don't have a good design for each, you'll suffer. This means taking a lot of time, with some perpetual change of mind clients, to create those designs. Sometimes for a little 50€ bill in the end.

As you can see, the real fight is to keep consistency in your tattoing life. 2 tattoos per month is the low limit to get you going on and still learn. Under that number, you'll loose a lot on the way and have to come back to the same errors to nail the good technique in your brains.

I hate fake skin, have only tried it for 20 mins and never came back to it. It seems to be a good practice for most, but real skin is so different (to me) that i can't picture it as relevant to tattoing. I'm sure some peeps here will explain its benefits.

What i would advise you, is to at least lock a tattoo design style, which is yours and recognizable.
You'll avoid doing geometric tattoos, then fur effects, then gradients, then color, then realistic, try to eliminate what you don't like and what you can't do from the start. If not, you'll carry on with too much difficulties. Stay simple and locked on a style, with experience you'll unlock new abilities.

If you can, plan the hours when you'll be drawing new designs. Start and stop at the planned hours.

If you don't have much clients, tattoo yourself as much as possible, you can do a self tattoo in multiple sessions, you can rework them, it'll keep you going and helps a lot with experiencing new needles grouping and techniques.

Last thing, if you want to be pro one day, organize it your way. Don't put your clients or your studio first. This is your path, so don't accept everything from them like it's okay, think about you and the conditions needed for you to pull the best works you can. Refuse anything which could put you in a bad situation. Accept only the possible challenges. Better reject a tattoo that you won't be able to do than fall for the result.

Wishing you all the best!

Peace,

DKJ

Much of what DKJ said. However I have some things to add.

My tattoo journey started about 10 years ago when I started working on an art project (I'm an artist) that included tattooing an entire mannequin (not the living kind ). I sewed a "second skin" in Reelskin tattoo practicing skin and wrapped around her, and then tattooed her:


It took me about 2 years.

Yes, DKJ is right about fake skin not being real skin, but then again almost not one human skin is like another human skin. They are all different. Even on the same human individual. And if you wrap it around something like a bottle, you get real good practice on the awkwardness of tattooing a non flat surface, and not having a chance to keep your hands steady. You can practise on applying stencils (on non flat surfaces ). You can practice on the angle of machine, you can obviously practice ink flow - how much, how deep and how often to dip the machine, hand speed, machine speed. You can practice motifs, you can get to know your machine........ the benefits are infinite. What you will find is always the difference between fake skin and real skin, is the fake skin always will be harder to deposit the ink in, and you will have to go deeper than in real skin. And it will never look as black.

My first 2 years exclusively working on Reelskin became my "apprenticeship" (never had another one). What I think was important was that I worked daily with the tattooing. And I set up my tattoo station like i was tattooing a human, so i got used to the hygiene procedures. I'd say that's even more important than your tattooing technique.

After these 2 years I started practicing on people, and that was neeeervoooouuus Or - first I practiced on myself. That wasn't nervous. I did a realistic rose on my thigh and divided it into several sessions, about 5, I think. That way I didn't have to get unwished for tattoos all over my body.

The first maybe 8-10 tattoo sessions I charged nothing, and I did whatever motifs they asked for. Of course it could be great to "create your own style" like DKJ mentions - but I wonder how many clients you'll end up with if you do? I would advice you the opposite - take on whatever comes in your way. BUT - know your limits. Don't start out with an entire back piece with only lines, where you have no opportunity to cover your mistakes. I actually DID start out with an entire back piece (almost) as practice But it was a lot of shading, not only lines, so I always had the chance of correcting mistakes:


And I did it in 7 sessions. Real good practice.

Eventually I found out that charging ever so little sorted out the not serious clients, who for some reason also almost always are the ones with unrealistic demands, and who also have a tendency to never be satisfied.

And a little later I eventually found out that charging ever so little in advance sorted out the potential clients who ask for a design and then never come back for the actual tattoo.

Hm, I'm starting a novel here. My shorter answer on your question would be - yes, it's totally doable tattooing part time, but I think it requires some initial dedication. You can imagine working as a psychologist, never really learning the basics, and taking on a client every second week. You would probably never get "warm in your clothes" as we say in Swedish As opposed to really learning the trade, be dedicated, and then eventually taking on a client every second week. That would be totally different.

Today I focus on my art project (not involving tattooing anymore) and tattoo sometimes maybe 1 tattoo per week, and sometimes not a single tattoo in 3 months. I don't feel I forget between the sessions, but I think I would have if I hadn't had my own "apprenticeship".

I wish you good luck!!