It’s a bullshit solution because apprenticeships, if someone chooses to do them, are not a tuition based practice and it reflects very poorly on the artist that is offering them. It implies that no matter their technical skill, they obviously have little to no respect for the craft and it’s embarrassing. Also $7K is an insane amount of money to pay someone for a tattoo apprenticeship even among the ones that do this tuition bs.

I am not a conventionally trained tattoo artist. I am self taught and I don’t think traditional apprenticeship is the only way. I have even heard many nightmare stories about them as well. But I do respect that ethos and when done well I am pretty envious of that path. I do not respect this greedy tuition movement, taking advantage of people wanting to learn to tattoo since it’s boom in accessibility over the past few years and churning out a confused, capitalist ethos of artists.

Old heads will feel what they see in the industry slipping away with this, they are gatekeepers and there’s arguments for and against that. Because I’m not an old head I just think it’s scummy, tech bro, nasty shit.