I thought I was going to be starting in May, but - ended up starting my apprenticeship at the beginning of this month! And honestly, it's been amazing and exceeded all of my expectations.
My mentor is awesome. He's an incredible artist, but also a really rad human being. I've already learned so much. The other artists at the shop are also incredible, it's been just shy of a month but I already consider them good friends and look forward to going to the shop every day.
My schedule is more hectic now - I'm still working my day job Mon-Fri, and Tues-Fri I go to the tattoo shop right after work, and then I'm at the shop all day Saturday too. But thankfully it doesn't really feel like a grind, and I've got a full day off on Sundays which is nice. I'm drawing every day, learning new techniques, practicing making stencils, practicing on fake skin, getting my necessary certifications, and studying for the health department test to be able to start actually tattooing. I feel so grateful. Doing my best to stay on top of being active through it all, and have been in a good running/workout routine which has been nice mentally and physically.
Life is also life, so of course there's some not great shit too - most notabley I currently have a bad case of shingles, of all things. So I've been home from the shop for a little bit and missing it, but my mentor gave me things to practice at home and I'm taking the time to also study through all the health department regulations. This too shall pass, eh?
Recent photo dump:
