ISO: My Body
Advice for self taught tattooers trying to get a studio spot/community !!
Dear reader,
Welcome to the very first installment of ISO: My Body, a new undertaking! “Giving advice” feels strange to me, but something I do love is talking through and troubleshooting issues people are having, and together coming to some new perspectives.
In some ways I’m surprised by this question. From my perspective (aka what I see on tattoo Instagram), it feels as if self-taught tattooers are so much more equipped and empowered to connect with community than ever before. As someone who started off self-taught (shout out to the freight hopper who taught me to set up a machine in the living room of a now-defunct Brooklyn punk house), resources at that time were incredibly limited. There was so much stigma around being a “scratcher” that if you knew what was good for you, you kept it under wraps- I for sure did not tell most of the professionals I was getting tattooed by that I was doing it in my house, which made it near impossible to connect with people. This was at a time when tattoo information barely existed online, if at all. I marvel these days at how open-source technical information about the craft is, and wish I had had it when I first started, because let’s just say I do not recommend learning by trial and error. So I guess I imagine there are all these cool underground networks and rhizomatic support systems that self-taught tattooers have these days that I only dreamed about when I was getting started?
But as we all well know by now, internet perception does not equal reality, so I shouldn’t be so surprised. And it’s a pretty good guess that literally any person anywhere this moment feels isolated and is seeking connection in some way. The good news is that the self-taught path to learning is so much more accepted and appreciated these days, and is far less of a barrier to connection. What I hear you asking is how to get in with working at a studio (hopefully I’m getting that right). There’s a couple of ways to go about this: join an existing space, or start your own. Both daunting in their own ways!
Starting your own space is a topic big enough for multiple newsletter installments, but one thing I highly advocate for across the board- whether joining a space or starting a space- is to try to move from a place of alignment with your needs and values, rather than from fear or scarcity (“I have to take this offer because no other studio will accept me”). If you’re starting a spot with other people, work to get clear about the values and expectations for the shared space early on. There are absolutely things to be gained from accepting a less than perfect situation in exchange for overall positive returns, but it’s worth taking some time to think through your negotiables and absolute non-negotiables.
Don’t *love* the work of everyone in a space? That’s worth some flexibility on! Even if style doesn’t resonate with you, it’s so valuable to learn from other people’s approaches technically and stylistically. Not super into the idea of paying a percentage rate? Examine what you’re getting in return. Is there an assistant, supplies being provided, or other benefits that feel proportionate to what you’re paying, or is it just exploitative for the sake of profit?
I do believe that community and working with and around other people is so valuable, especially early on in your tattoo career. Tattooing is a social practice, and learning it isn’t just about learning the technique, it’s also learning good communication, conflict resolution, how to share space across difference, and much more. Working in a space that’s not your own can provide new and varied ways to practice those things, and ultimately shape your values around what an ideal work environment means to you. Again, it’s still very much about learning and setting your limitations too (i.e. dealing with a studiomate who always cuts the stencil out of the very center of a full sheet of thermal paper is maybe tolerable, dealing with sexual harassment or racism= nothing you should ever have to tolerate).
We’ve been doing this thing at Flower World lately that has been really fun, which is to invite friends who tattoo out of their home spaces to do local “guest spots” with us. They get to have the experience of working out of a different space and around people, and we get to enjoy their new energy and learn from one another. This could be a low-pressure way on both ends to try out different spaces and get a sense of what you’re looking for in a studio. Another option for getting studio experience can be to travel and guest. Though it might seem intimidating to approach places if you don’t have local shop experience, as long as your work and health and safety practices are solid, you’ll probably be surprised at how welcoming studios all over can be. Once you’ve broken that barrier and gained some comfort and confidence, approaching studios about a more permanent placement will hopefully feel less daunting.
Lastly, I think it’s important to get clear on what you mean by community, right? The word gets used a lot and it helps to dissect it a little to find the heart. I’m going to talk about community as separate from a studio, because you can have one without the other, although ideally you have both (and not always in the same place!). Tattoo community can be so many things. Do you want coworkers on the daily? Someone to keep you company while you work, to run stencil placement by, to help set the energy of a space? Do you want a group text of homies you can send your drawings to for constructive critique? Do you want friends you can decompress with after work and celebrate your tattoo wins with?
In early lockdown of 2020 I started a general zoom meeting for tattooers to meet and talk about how the pandemic was challenging us. It was truly random: I just posted it to IG stories and figured whoever came, came. What developed from that initial call was an unexpected mix of tattooers with very different locations, practices, and experience, but pretty much all queer and trans people. We met every week for more than a year, and it developed into this tight-knit, committed network where we supported one another, challenged each other, developed close friendships and romances. I hold onto that group as an example of cultivating community across geography and difference. So what might that look like for you? How can you build that outside of a studio? How could it supplement and enhance a studio position?
I hope this helps, and thanks for reading. Newsletters will come out every Tuesday with a new question. You can submit your own anonymous question here, and it would mean the world if you became a paid subscriber.
Please enjoy this meme by @pang.fink, my favorite niche tattoo content creator.