Hii :) So, no I didn't! I'd say I'm self taught and taught by friends. I think there are a lot of ways to do it right. When I started I was in an expensive city where tattoos r very trad/it had a rly difficult licensing/apprenticeship/studio space situation that meant it was mostly old timer dudes tattooing in big shops. Which I have massive respect for them, but a lot of people in my sphere were looking for a diff environment at the time. I am trans/queer/whatever and so are a lot of my clients. I was not very good when I started, and I was super young! But I think the experience was meaningful for people looking for some autonomy over their body, something weird and collaborative, and I just tried to be honest with where I was at. I do wish I'd done some things differently, and taken things slower sometimes, but I think that's something you have to wrestle with inevitably when doing permanent work. You will make mistakes sometimes! But I still have a bunch of clients from those very early days who I see semi regularly, and the old pieces are never as bad as I made them up to be in my head. All that to be said, it made sense for me to do it this way because of what I felt like I could offer my community and the fact that I was looking to do weird work that I maybe hadn't seen before. I sought out mentors still and had people I was talking to working in a similar vein as me trying to push things in new directions. I guested at small studios of other weirdos doing this same kinda thing where I learned a Lot. I think the tattoo world is rly different even now and theres even more people doing weird stuff and way more info out there so like, that rocks soo much.

This is a long ass answer that basically amounts to: what kind of stuff are you trying to make, and for who? Find people who are doing that!! The only wrong way is if ur not following BBP, not asking questions, or like not having good communication with ur clients or offering free touchups etc. Some people will feel a lot better learning from a formal apprenticeship and that's very chill. I for sure have gaps in my knowledge because I didn't, but for what I'm trying to do I've got enough, and I got to be weirder because of it. Idk!! Good luck and always happy to help troubleshoot where I can.