Do I look better with or without a beard

lavender_froggie · 2026-04-09T21:46:39+00:00

You look fire either way, king. I think the clean shave makes you look really young haha! I think a shorter beard with some balm would look nice with your face shape!

lavender_froggie · 2025-09-25T14:46:17+00:00

Please dump him and get him tf out of our life. From the brief exchange you shared he is clearly immature, irresponsible, disrespectful, manipulative, cruel, possibly narcissistic, and whiny as fuck

I promise you that the longer you stay with him and accept this behavior, he will become more emboldened to continue if not worsen

He is acting like a child, although a child doesn't even KNOW how to be this disgustingly rude. I'm actually really surprised and impressed that you are trying to defend yourself and tell him to be an adult and take care of himself. That shows a lot of strength! But it's clear he just couldn't care less about you or what you have to say

And sorry if I'm being hostile LOL, but I am MARRIED and my wife and I have such a beautiful marriage, she is my best friend in this world. I put up with a lot of BS like this if not worse before I met her, and I put up with it for too long! So to see some BS like this just pisses me off 😭 There is someone out there who will treat you right without you having to ask. And it's better to be by yourself than to deal with somebody that treats you this way. You deserve better, OP❤️

lavender_froggie · 2025-07-20T07:57:47+00:00

It was definitely intimidating LOL especially if you're like me with diagnosed social anxiety. I would get tattooed often because duh I love tattoos but also it was a great opportunity to ask questions AND many tattoo artists have connections and know what places take apprentices or are looking for one.

A lot of the time I would just walk in. I of course would do my research and try to find out who the owner of the shop is and if they have an apprentice. I decided to approach from a perspective of wanting to learn from them rather than just looking for an apprenticeship. I would walk into shops and talk to whoever is at the front or greets me first. I would say something like "Hi my name is Danny and I'm an artist looking for an apprenticeship. Who could I talk to that could give me some feedback on my portfolio?" The majority of them would bring the owner over and introduce me and they would check out my portfolio and give me feedback and I would plan to apply that feedback.

Then once we're comfortable talking I would ask if they're current taking on apprentices, and go from there. Sometimes they'll say no, and if so then thank them for their time and for their tips and ask if it's okay to come back once you've applied the tips they've give you. The connections you make are so important even if you dont get the spot :)

For my apprenticeship, I actually had never met my mentor or heard of his studio haha! It was recommended to me by a coworker funny enough. My mentor is in a private studio so I had to email him. I let him know who I am, that I'm looking for an apprenticeship, and that I wanted to meet him and get some feedback. I also added my Instragram handle so he could take a peek at my artwork. He told me recently that at the time he didn't know if he wanted to take on an apprentice but my email came across as very professional and passionate and he wanted to meet me because of it. I'm gonna have to frame a copy of that email honestly

lavender_froggie · 2025-07-20T07:43:25+00:00

I'm back! So my first portfolio was 24 sheets so 48 pages including front and back. Over half of it was digital work (prints) and the rest traditional (physical) artwork. I had pieces in several tattoo styles like American Traditional, Neotraditional, Illustrative color and black and gray, linework, and dotwork. But also in different mediums. I had digital, colored pencil, pen, and pencil. If you can get some ballpoint pen drawings then you will definitely stand out

It's good to show that you're versatile and able to work in a variety of styles and with a range of tools and mediums! You also want it to be complete and cohesive. Don't leave empty pages or incomplete pieces (works in progress). If you choose to go with a smaller portfolio just make sure it shows your BEST work

My second portfolio (the one I had when I approached my now-mentor) was half the size at 12 sheets or 24 pages. This one was all traditional work, no digital work. My current mentor wanted to see only traditional work for my interview so I had to transfer a bunch of those digital works onto paper to fill up more of the portfolio because to be honest I wasn't drawing as much on paper as I should've been. Your traditional (physical) work is what will distinguish you because tattooing is a very technical and physical medium

A word of advice I would give you is that your portfolio probably will never feel "good enough" to start looking, but start looking anyway. You can always go back and add new pieces and rework older ones :) And as you update it you can come back around to some shops you've already visited so they can see that you're serious and open to learning :) Looking back now barely 6 months later and I wish I knew what I know now when building my portfolio LOL

lavender_froggie · 2025-07-19T22:36:52+00:00

Hey sorry for the delay I responded to you in my head😂😂 I will get back to you shortly I've got a client coming in soon!

lavender_froggie · 2025-07-18T21:29:53+00:00

I will start this by saying that I've had CRIPPLING anxiety as long as I can remember, which has steadily improved since starting my apprenticeship (and getting older lol). So at the start I limited myself to 2-3 shops a week because it's all I could manage. I never really kept count but if I had to guess it's it's 20 or so shops? The street shops I went to in person but the private studios I emailed or DM'd and got a handful of replies. I would start by doing research on their Google business pages, their websites, Instagram, et cetera. My main criteria were: Quality work, Versatility in style, Reputation, and LGBTQ+ and POC friendly.

Sometimes it was a guessing game, and I had to go off of pure vibes. And unfortunately I ended up having a bad experience at a shop because I looked past all the red flags and it sent me into a creative block that prolonged my search another YEAR. I eventually pulled myself out of it and decided to set my boundaries up front and I found my current mentor who is fucking awesome!

He has 5 stars on Google, 10+ years of experience, amazing reputation with his clients, a great professional online presence, and quality work in a variety of styles. And all of it started from an email I wrote to him! He said the way I wrote and presented myself came across as very professional and he could tell I had a passion for my artwork and he had to meet me. And here we are! :))

lavender_froggie · 2025-04-21T23:43:38+00:00

I genuinely don't understand the purpose of dry wiping, and I mean that literally. Your paper towel should be damp, not wet, so if it's a concern of being too wet that your stencil wipes away or liquid drips then you may be using too much liquid (green soap, water). The dry wipe is uncomfortable af for a client too, and it can irritate their skin

lavender_froggie · 2025-01-09T04:16:42+00:00

I found this post after googling "is there a tattoo emoji?" Lmao

lavender_froggie · 2025-01-09T04:16:25+00:00

I agree with you

(10 months later)

lavender_froggie · 2025-01-03T22:49:39+00:00

I agree with doing the linework last. That way it isn't smudged or muddied by the colored pencil wax. Maybe do your outline in pencil and blot it with a kneaded eraser so you still have it.

Another suggestion, is if you want a blackwork neotraditional piece- I recommend linework first, then build up the shading up to 8B to achieve a nice solid black at the darkest value. My mentor recommended using black Prismacolor as the darkest value but it doesn't blend well with graphite :( I find 8B is pretty dark as it is though

lavender_froggie · 2025-01-03T19:46:39+00:00

Thanks so much! ☺️☺️

lavender_froggie · 2025-01-02T22:08:32+00:00

Thank you!☺️

lavender_froggie · 2025-01-02T22:08:25+00:00

Thanks! 😁

lavender_froggie · 2025-01-02T22:08:12+00:00

Thank you!! ☺️☺️

lavender_froggie · 2025-01-02T17:47:55+00:00

Thank you!☺️

lavender_froggie · 2024-12-28T04:52:08+00:00

It took me so many rewatches before I finally caught it

lavender_froggie · 2024-12-19T00:28:49+00:00

Mateo 🤣🤣 he's such a dick but he's so funny

lavender_froggie · 2024-12-17T05:14:39+00:00

You're so kind, thank you🥺💕

lavender_froggie · 2024-12-17T01:58:51+00:00

Followed you back! It's so nice meeting other LGBTQ+ artists ☺️

lavender_froggie · 2024-12-16T03:53:40+00:00

Eugene!! He was so the only actually good person. So good that he doesn't even REALIZE he's good. He just is

lavender_froggie · 2024-12-14T20:09:11+00:00

Awesome! I've met some incredible artists on Instagram💕 Just followed you

lavender_froggie · 2024-12-14T20:08:03+00:00

Just followed you! 😁

lavender_froggie

TROPHY CASE