a tattoo addendum-
Hey, I forgot to mention the most important part of my tattoo apprenticeship idea: the reason why.
I'm pulling artwork together that shows my range, my attention to detail, careful ink work, colour sense, and black/white/greyscale imagery. It's occurred to me that it might be a great idea to do a special tattoo-themed portfolio, new drawing and paintings. But I already have what might be the single most important piece of the portfolio, the one image that explains my motivation.
A few months ago, just for funsies, I painted a nipple on my reconstructed breast (aka the "noobie"). I used a palette of eye shadows. There were no fleshy tones, exactly, but I know my colour mixing and was able to come up with reasonable shades.
I painted it to look as realistic as possible, what the paramedical tattoo specialists call "3-D illusion." A nipple that's lit from above, shadowed below, to look like it projects. An areola that's not a perfect circle, and that blends a bit into the breast tissue. The little bumps, also shadowed. It looked remarkably good, so I used my phone to take a photo.
Today I showed that photo to my beloved radiation oncologist. "That's insane," he said admiringly.
Over the weekend, I emailed the image to friend on Facebook who owns a framing shop with her mother. They printed out a nice copy for me, which Fitz delivered to me along with a compliment- that they couldn't believe how good that painted nipple looks, how natural.
That's the most compelling thing I'll have in my book to show potential mentors.
I'm already an artist with more than those 10,000 hours of practice everyone talks about. I know how to listen to clients and produce custom designs. And while I really do want to become a fine-art tattooist, my passion is to help cancer patients. To make beautiful tattoo nipples on reconstructed breasts. Or, to tattoo great areolas to complement surgically rebuilt nipples.
Maybe I can even be my own first client. Hey, a lot of tattoo traditionalists insist on the artist working on themselves. Not that this is a fair example, seeing as there's no feeling in the noobie.
At the moment there is exactly one practitioner in Ontario who does really nice nipple tattoos, and she's not in Toronto. And before you ask: everything I've heard, including from surgeons who send their patients to her, suggests she will not be open to taking on an apprentice.
There's another person with a studio and academy in the city, and she teaches paramedical tattooing, but she wants a ridiculous amount of money for a one-week (!) course, plus I don't really love her examples online?
So what I need is for someone to believe in me, and teach me to tattoo. I'm happy to follow the old tradition of being the Shop Bitch who sweeps the floor and answers the phone and fetches the coffee, proving my worth in order to earn the right to learn the craft. The way aspiring sushi chefs do nothing but cook perfect sushi rice for ages, before finally being handed a knife.
Do you know good artists in or around Toronto? Can you recommend anyone I should talk to? Help a bitch out, won't you?
I'm pulling artwork together that shows my range, my attention to detail, careful ink work, colour sense, and black/white/greyscale imagery. It's occurred to me that it might be a great idea to do a special tattoo-themed portfolio, new drawing and paintings. But I already have what might be the single most important piece of the portfolio, the one image that explains my motivation.
A few months ago, just for funsies, I painted a nipple on my reconstructed breast (aka the "noobie"). I used a palette of eye shadows. There were no fleshy tones, exactly, but I know my colour mixing and was able to come up with reasonable shades.
I painted it to look as realistic as possible, what the paramedical tattoo specialists call "3-D illusion." A nipple that's lit from above, shadowed below, to look like it projects. An areola that's not a perfect circle, and that blends a bit into the breast tissue. The little bumps, also shadowed. It looked remarkably good, so I used my phone to take a photo.
Today I showed that photo to my beloved radiation oncologist. "That's insane," he said admiringly.
Over the weekend, I emailed the image to friend on Facebook who owns a framing shop with her mother. They printed out a nice copy for me, which Fitz delivered to me along with a compliment- that they couldn't believe how good that painted nipple looks, how natural.
That's the most compelling thing I'll have in my book to show potential mentors.
I'm already an artist with more than those 10,000 hours of practice everyone talks about. I know how to listen to clients and produce custom designs. And while I really do want to become a fine-art tattooist, my passion is to help cancer patients. To make beautiful tattoo nipples on reconstructed breasts. Or, to tattoo great areolas to complement surgically rebuilt nipples.
Maybe I can even be my own first client. Hey, a lot of tattoo traditionalists insist on the artist working on themselves. Not that this is a fair example, seeing as there's no feeling in the noobie.
At the moment there is exactly one practitioner in Ontario who does really nice nipple tattoos, and she's not in Toronto. And before you ask: everything I've heard, including from surgeons who send their patients to her, suggests she will not be open to taking on an apprentice.
There's another person with a studio and academy in the city, and she teaches paramedical tattooing, but she wants a ridiculous amount of money for a one-week (!) course, plus I don't really love her examples online?
So what I need is for someone to believe in me, and teach me to tattoo. I'm happy to follow the old tradition of being the Shop Bitch who sweeps the floor and answers the phone and fetches the coffee, proving my worth in order to earn the right to learn the craft. The way aspiring sushi chefs do nothing but cook perfect sushi rice for ages, before finally being handed a knife.
Do you know good artists in or around Toronto? Can you recommend anyone I should talk to? Help a bitch out, won't you?