Tattoing has been part of history for a very long time, its existence dates back to the polynesian tribes, maori tribes, the chinese, and the malays. Symbolic drawings is very important because they show the tribesman's status in the tribe, if he's a warrior then it shows his credibility as a warrior or a hunter, one might see animals or flowers in their respective bodies. But what secrets that this tribesmen have that was passed on to the present modern world? Before they use needles and sticks and use the method called the tap tattoo, in which the needle is individually tapped to the person's skin until the ink sets in, a simple flower might take 3 hours to complete. The maoris and the polynesian uses fish teeth but has the same method of tapping it to the skin. Nowadays Tattoos are mechanically inked to the skin via the 2 coil tattoo machine. Learning to tattoo is a different thing. Let me just enumerate a thing or two that might help you start learning how to tattoo.

1. Must be a good artist (drawer): duh, of course you have to have drawing skills or drawing background, tattooing is not just about drawing on paper but drawing in a different surface called the skin, you have to also learn outlining, mixing color is a must for tattooing.

2.Know your history- You must have good history on different arts. For example you have to learn to know more about japanese art because its famous all around the world and a customer will most likely get a coi or hanya mask, you must know these different art types and their meanings so you could give the client a nice advice on what to get.

3. Characters- In relation with the history you must also know about the different letterings or characters, you must know how to differentiate chinese, korean or japanes characters. Furthermore you have to give importance in the different english letterings namely the old english and the like.

4. Must be willing to undergo Apprenticeship- If you want to be a tattoo artist you must be under someone's ass, this particular tattoo artist maybe your local tattoo artist or a world renowned artist, it doesn't matter, the point of apprenticeship is to experience how it is in the business, you may be the best drawer but you don't have the business savvy or the tenacity to maintain your craft then it would be really useless. An experienced artist would be avery big help, if you sum up all the things to know how to become a good tattoo artist then there's one word for it: APPRENTICESHIP. Just don't think of what Ami James does to Yoji.

Tattooing is a very risky business, there's a lot of things to learn from this craft but I only included the things you need to learn or start with tatooing, all the other intangibles may be added next time if you asked. hehe. Comments, Questions very much welcome.