From Apprentice to Artist

As I have stated before, my favorite tattoo shop is Evolution Tattoo.  So for my last post, I decided to go back and interview Ryan Lebiedzinski about how one becomes a full fledged tattoo artist.

In New Jersey, a tattoo apprentice must log 2,000 shop hours under a certified tattoo artist.  During the 2,000 hours, the apprentice learns all about cleaning and sterilization, two of the most important aspects of being a tattoo artist.  Also,they learn how to run the shop, do taxes,  safety, drawing, stenciling and stencil placement, the tattoo machine and different needles are just some of the other things that apprentices learn.

The 2,000 usually takes a full year for the apprentice to complete.  And to fully remove the apprentice tag, this is what the artist needs to produce to the lisencer: 5 written testimonies from people that they tattooed, 25 photos of work that they have produced to show competency, and to take and complete a course in blood borne pathogens.

I then talked to Ryan about his apprenticeship.  He completed it in 2001 at Got Ink Tattoo in Burlington under Vicki Hunt.  When she would get customers to come in and request custom artwork, she would pass the request on to Ryan.

“Drawing is a huge part about becoming an artist, let alone a tattoo artist, you just have to keep doing it, it’s the only way to get better,” Lebiedzinski said.

To get used to the weight of the tattoo gun, Ryan said that he would place the pencil into the gun and then draw or color his assignments. It wasn’t long into his apprenticeship that he got to tattoo someone, that happened to be himself.

“Two weeks into it, I tattooed myself on the inside of  my left ankle,” Lebiedzinski said.

In the time of him doing his internship, it was custom for apprentices to tattoo themselve.  Mentors said it was important to learn what thet were going to be putting pther people through.

After completing his apprenticeship, Ryan said that in the aspect of actual tattooing, that the process helps very little.

“Every person, every tatoo, everyplace on the body is different, you have to learn by doing.”

During our talk, he explained to me that there are some differences in the way that things are done these days with apprentices.  The way that an apprentice learns comes from the mentor, and in Ryan’s case, he said all he had to really do was draw and do the “bitch work.”  A lot of apprentices now do work on fake skin, instead of themselves.  Every artist has their own way of teaching, their own school of thought and dicipline.  Ryan said that when he was hired at Evolution, it was like he was re-learning from Bill (William Webb, owner of the Evolution shops).

What I found interesting about Ryan, is that he has been on both sides of the spectrum.  He has also been a mentor, and currently two of his apprentices also work at Evolution.  Since Ryan felt that drawing was the most important thing that a student could learn, he had them draw, all the time.  Outside of their 2,000 hours, Ryan demanded them to create and complete 5 drawings.  Not just any type of drawing either, bust drawings that will challenge the apprentice.

“To become a tattoo artist, you have to be dedicated and put in the work, in and out of the shop.”

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Some photos of tattoo apparatus.

Fake skin is a rubber based material that acts like human skin with the way it accepts the ink.

Sterile needles come in single packages to ensure safety.

Ink holders.  Every color ink gets a different cup, for safety reasons.