How Tiktok Inspired a Generation of Tattoo Scratchers

I'm not sure if Gen Z actually believes in ourselves, or if we're just too poor to afford anything, so we'll do it ourselves even if it turns out shitty

I appreciate your content but its also very conflicting, the reason why apprenticeships are shit is to keep people out of the industry who arent commited or potentially in it for the wrong reasons. Arguably they arent difficult enough on people because the industry is still full of arse holes. Theres so many people now who are tattooing professionally who shouldnt be, they hate the job, they complain, theyre always books closed working in some stupid ass private studio making ignorant style inky dinks. The industry needs to restrict people based on some kind of criteria because being licensed means nothing in most countries.

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If you think about it the first tattoo artists in history weren't practicing. They were probably like "sit still, im gonna poke you with this and see what happens".

i love the flannel!!! where can i get one??

Idk, I would personally never get a tattoo from anyone who isn’t a professional in a studio or at least licensed

chad chad?

I absolutely hate how unhygienic they’re doing it. If you got the passion to learn and put in care for yourself and others, then go crazy.
P.s. I love those earings! 🦋

will you be my girl-friend

What is the name of the TikTok tattoo community? Is it TatTok? Please let it be TatTok! 🦋

I don't blame young adults just on the basis of cost. I used to pay $100/hr-$130/hr for a really great tattoo. Last session my tattoo artist doubled her rates to $240/hr and didn't tell me until after. So a 3hr tattoo went from $360 to $720 without notice. The attitude of artists mixed with INSANE costs makes me want to get a machine and do my own work and I'm 31!

Sorry, it's super funny saying Gen Z is the DIY generation then showing a clip of people painting SO INCORRECTLY that it will make any home worth $5000 less. Please, if you paint like that... just don't. Please don't.

You cant really call it inspiration as inspirarion is inherintly positive, influence is the correct term

Calling it us scratchers is disrespectful

🦋 How about this one haha.. Anyhow good take, crazy times indeed!

I’ve wanted tattoos since I was about 10, I’m 20 now and only have one I did myself and I love it so much. I did lots of research, bought the supplies, and did a stick-and-poke on my bed in 2 sessions. I’m an artist already so drawing a stencil and using skills I already have was really fun. It turned out really good imo, I’m not sure if I’d do it again because of how tedious it is, but I plan to get more tattoos when I finally save enough. I think tattooing at home is really fun and a lot more personal than a shop because you did everything yourself

I don’t think it’s intentional gatekeeping, some artist had some really crap apprenticeships and because they had to go the through the wringer they feel that others have to also.

Who cares about someone with the user name basement dweller 😂

My tattoo artist works a main job and then tattoos on the side 3 days a week. He’s self taught but is fully licensed and only tattoos in a shop.

I don't get the point of the video if you just gonna agree with the kids lol. Idfc bro. not my kids.

"Scratchers" brother, you mean what most people who do tattooing started out? Lol....started in a garage tattooing n3ighborgood kids, getting new customers through word of mouth, just because I didn't follow through later on and become a licenses "pro" I have some good shit walking around bodies to this day(all before tiktok was a thing)

I hate that people say this, like look where tattooing started? Tattooing is not something for artist to gatekeep. With that being said, hygiene my guys. Also if you aren't licensed don't act like you are a tattoo artist to your friends. I tattoo my self as a hobby, and to get a certain little ones i want. I still go to shops to get real pieces done. But I mean, if you arent getting customers its not amazons fault, its yours. People don't trust artist any more. Why would I pay a 500$ for a mediocre tattoo?

I was with you until you said people of color, lgbt, disabled, female were excluded or not welcome in the industry until now. Thats just false. Everyone was hazed but welcomed coming into the industry regardless of color, gender, sexual preference or anything else at the same level as anyone else. Old tattoo artist and people in the scene were outcasts, normally looked down on and they channeled that animosity that was targeted at them to people coming in, all people. If there ever was discrimination based on what i listed it was just that individuals hate and not a systemic issue like you are implying.

Pretty much tattoo version of Veneer techs, causing huge problems

🦋 i've never seen anyone with quite your pacing as a speaker. oddly riveting -- didn't even think about wandering off. thank you for a terrific video.

8 year ago, my friend invite me to spend weekend with her. She didn’t told me she lived with her boyfriend at his parents house. Awkward. I studied art, and his dad wanted me to tatto him for free. And he was pissed when I said no. Double awkward. But I never tattoed anyone. It’s different than drawing on canvas. And I didn’t even have things for tattoing. He said I must have some friends to borrow it from. What an entitled prick. My friend tooked his side. She couldn’t understand why I won’t do it, couple of hours of work I have never done before for free…. Well, she wasn’t my friend after this. I finaly recognized he wasn’t the only one entitled there

Spot on observations Celle. As a painter and former tattooer I have enjoyed strong sales for the last 12 years. My last painting sold in Dec 2023. It's never been harder to sell paintings. But I hear art sales are down across the board. My plan is to just stay busy and tough it out. Really enjoy your channel. Best of Luck.💟

There's a cultural and historical element to tattooing that a lot of people on the outside do not understand. Obviously this is just my opinion but there's a reason apprenticeships exist. The people complaining about having to work for "free" don't get it. Tattooing is magical, and the exchange of knowledge for basic labor tasks is the payment. It's hard, but very much worth it. It's a shame the "black t-shirt" generation of tattooers who only want to be a tattooer for the "rockstar" look of it all have turned apprenticeships into scams.
Tattooing to me is more than just a source of income, it's an ancient practice, a transfer of energies, an intimate experience between humans that has been happening for thousands of years. It's sacred to some of us and that'd why we are so passionate about it and want to protect it. :-)

It's a tattoo MACHINE, not a gun.

TatTok

I’m teaching myself to tattoo only myself because I have transferable skills from doing art courses and I can’t really afford time off to get a tattoo from an artist, I’ve just ordered loads of fake skin ready for practice

I think social media is partly to blame, people used to go to their local tattoo shop, get a tattoo, be happy, now these tattoo ate posted on social media and utterly roasted as being rubbish, and tattoo artists are also dissing the majority of tattoos they see. Unless u can afford to go to one of the best artists why bother if its just gonna be percieved as 'rubbish'. I think people are either "shant bother" or "if its gonna be rubbish i may as well do it myself". Sorry im a bit late, ADHD issues.

You know what ruined the tattoo industry?! All y’all‼️ tattoos are far too common and oh so sloppy. Everyone and their mother has tattoos. It’s no longer cool because now you look like all these other wannabe aliens.

Self taught!? Ahhh now I know why I see so much bad ink. Looks like prison quality… we learn from ppl whom know things, on purpose.

Here’s a tip: use an ink pen instead of a needle, and you get the same effect 🤣🤣🤣 8th grade art ‼️

The dental industry needs you. Go to a trade school and become a dental assistant. 9 months of training, earn 50k/year immediately

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It's the amount of arrogant people that call you a human canvas and are more interested in doing what they want rather than what the customer wants on their own body and then charging thousands for it. Took me almost 3 years to find a decent tattooist who worked with me for my cover up and is reasonable pricing, she is fully booked 4 months ahead of time.

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I for one have two tattoos at this point. One I got at a studio, licenced and all, in Austria. The other one I got, on the floor, from a friend, stick and poke. The stick and poke healed perfectly, the one from the studio is scarred, has blow outs and two lines that were supposed to meet up don´t.

If someone gets a shit tattoo from a studio artist: it is still *the client* who is blamed, for not researching the portfolio better.

There are so many layers and complexities to discuss here. I am all for a culture of responsibility and safety, but I am also for taking back a cultural practice, out of the hands of capitalism and cold, or hostile, gate keeping, male dominated studios.

While I do want every artist to have enough income to get by (universal income now!) I also think it is a sad culture we have created, with how de-ritualized and expensive, how gate kept is is to get a tattoo.

Also: the idea of going to a studio and getting fat shamed, body shamed, or hearing racist, sexist shit from a stranger is not very appealing to me. There are a million videos of studio artists shaimgn clients for the designs they get or bodies etc.
Whereas getting a tattoo from a friend, a person I trust, in a setting that feels EMOTIONALLY safe to me, is much more attractive than going to a studio that was "built for tattooing".

You can ABSOLUTLY create or get a tattoo at home in hygienic conditions. In a kitchen, or living room.
I don´t get why I should not do that in my living room. If i sanitize the area, the skin, use disposable needles, wear gloves, or even just wash and disinfect my hands really well...i can absolutly create a safe enough envirnoment to tattoo safely. Indigenous peoples have done it for forever without that and obvoiusly they didn´t die in massive numbers after getting a tattoo, or they would have stopped. Not saying that we should not take modern scientific knowledge into account. I intent to cover the surface with cling film, wear gloves, etc.

I get that studio artist fear for their jobs, and that sucks. I do not wish that upon anyone.

But I, from a ideological and sociopolitical standpoint welcome that *actual people* have taken back the art and craft of tattooing. I think it is sad and telling that we do not have a cultural practice around it, like in other, mostly indigenous cultures existed or still exists, where it is a communal ritual and safety practices are in place and tqught through tradition. this should be a thing, imo. Same around substance use and harm reduction. If we would, as a society, teach kids/teens/everyone HOW to safely use substances, and created a culture around that, less shit would happen, compared to when it is stigmatied and information about ot silenced. same goes for tattooing. people will do it anywayy. always have. i am a millenial and know at least 5 people who gave themselves a small tattoo with actual writing ink in my school years, even if only a few dots. not deniying that it likely is a bigger trend now, since equipment is available and tutorials about it, but i think that is a good thing, cause it makes harm reduction and safety instructions also more available for those who care.

But I´d rather have a body full of technically, objectively badly done tattoos that tell a great story of how i got them and why and where and by whom, than the perfectly done artwork for thousands out of a sterile studio done by a jerk.
Both is valid(and you certainly coudl find a studio artist who is not a jerk) but I´d rather do the DIY thing.

Hence: I just borrowd the machine of a friend, spent a few hundreds on disinfectant, fake skins, stencils etc. and will buy my own machine next month.

Mainly cause I want more tattoos than I can afford to get in a studio and also cause I find it more appealing to do them myself. I am not a teenager, I am 37. Oh and by the way, and if someone tells me something like buying a tattoo machine "should be forbidden", it ABSOLUTLY makes me wanna go do that thing more.
At the same time I consider myself to be a more than average responsible person, who does a shitton of research, especially regardiing transmitting something or causing bodily harm to others.

Greedy show off tattooists ruined the game showing off constantly making any videos to blow up and gave the game away to people that shouldn’t be tattooing and now their complaining, not to mention the tattoo influencer leeches like treacletat or any of the others, people are cosplaying tattoo artists now 😂 everyone is just leeching on the industry all wanting a piece of the pie
You will watch so many people give up soon because there not ready for how much hard work you need to put in

Hopefully you dont take this the wrong way. But you have a really harsh vocal fry. Once you hear it, you cant unhear it. Js. Might be something to pay attention to. I know it bothers a lot of ppl. Might be turning them away from your videos and that would be a shame because you do great work.

Even more proof that the trend has jumped the shark hard

I always thought the spirit of tattoos was to go against the status quo, be legally flexible & crappy tattoos were the stuff of legends. I think the industry got to pretentious & self important.

The attitude that if people don't get tattoos from these artists, they are killing the industry reflects this. It's far from dead, thier format is dying. People don't have the money for their self important BS, & they don't want to drop their prices. also body mod/decor shouldn't be gate kept by them either. The market is changing, people don't have to stay the same because it's convenient for the pretentious tattoo artists.

The apprentice format is also exploitative & predatory. People should be paid for all their work, always. I know lots of people that would have been amazing tattoo artists that were washed out because of this crap that has nothing to do with their artistic ability, just power dynamics.

There's all these access issues and they wonder why people are not even bothering trying to access it anymore.

It's interesting to think about how many professions will disappear thanks to DIY-ers. Trained people lose time, money, clients. Lay people gain knowledge and experience (best case scenario). It is happening in my field too, there are many people saying: hey, I can speak English so I can teach English as a second language. Which is nooot necessarily true. Not even close. Lay people don't know how much teachers' job involve other than knowing a language. At least you they can't do physical harm like unprofessional tattoo artists. That's my main concern really... people doing jobs without training thus risking their own/others' lives. I believe getting a certificate could be a solution? Maybe you are self-taught, alrighty, no problem, you don't need to spend a lot of money on this course, but can you pass this exam? Yes? Great, here's the proof that you are capable of doing xyz. My husband on the other hand promotes natural selection. We are not on the same page. How would you know in advance which professional you can trust?

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