As a tattoo artist, you can enjoy a creative career centered around the artwork you love, but tattooing full time requires a lot of extra work and sacrifices.
Knowing what these responsibilities are before you start tattooing professionally can help you plan your time as you begin your new career.
To give you an idea, we’ve compiled a complete day in the life of a tattoo artist, including other duties that most people never see.
A day in the life of a tattoo artist
Although the clients and tattoos vary, they follow the same schedule almost every day.
A “Slow” Start
Tattoo studios usually open around 12pm and stay open late (10pm to 12am, depending on the store), which allows tattoo artists to work later than most people who work a 9 to 5 job.
Once you’re up and ready, head to the tattoo shop.
Notes:
Whether or not you drink coffee in the morning depends on how it affects your body. If caffeine makes you shaky, it might show up in your line, too.
parents
Balancing your kids’ schedules with that of your tattoo artist can be a challenge, as tattoo artists are often at the shop late into the night and by the time they get home, the kids are already in bed.
Most tattoo artists with children have to get up early to take their kids to school, then have some free time between dropping them off at school (around 8am) and getting to work (around 12pm).
Notes:
If you have children and plan to work “normal” hours as a tattoo artist, you’ll need to consider after-school services and activities. It’s also helpful to create a schedule that allows your partner or spouse to pick up the kids from school and help with dinner, if applicable.
apprentice
Tattoo apprentices arrive at work earlier than the artists in the shop because they have to arrive early to clean the shop and get it ready for the day. To see a tattoo apprentice’s schedule, check out our article A Day in the Life of a Tattoo Apprentice.
12:00pm – Studio Open
When you arrive at the restaurant, what you do will depend on whether or not there is a reservation.
Preparing for your reservation
If you have an appointment, set up your station ahead of time, prepare your stencils, etc.
Waiting for walk-ins
If you’re not booked, you’ll be waiting for walk-in clients. Using this free time to post on social media, work on your marketing, painting, or just be more productive can be extremely helpful, especially if you’re in the early stages of your career.
2pm-3pm – Lunch…?
This raises some questions, because many tattoo artists don’t eat much during the day, and when you’re tattooing all day, it’s easy to skip meals in order to keep working.
However, taking time during the day to eat and stretch is important for your health, and we highly recommend taking breaks throughout the day to keep your body healthy.
Afternoon – 10pm
Throughout the rest of the day, you will repeat the process of cleaning up, setting up your station, tearing down your station and getting ready for the next client.
It might take a few extra minutes, but make sure you take photos of all your creations and post them on Instagram to attract new customers.
10:30pm – Dinner and painting
The tattoo shop closes late, so you get home and eat dinner quite late too. But your work isn’t done yet, and if you have plans the next day, you need to spend some time drawing your tattoo design.
Even if the appointment is booked up to a month in advance, it’s common for an artist to draw a design the night before and make any changes on the day if the client requests them. (They might have a rough idea in their head before they even start drawing.)
2am – Bedtime
Most artists stay up late to paint at their appointed time and don’t go to bed until after midnight.
New Artist
If you are a beginner or apprentice tattooer, you would still use this time to do some drawing, but it would be for your portfolio or for practice purposes.
If you don’t have a list of clients who come in to get tattoos on a regular basis, it’s also important to use this time to respond to messages from potential clients.
Weekends, hobbies, family, etc. – Frequently asked questions for tattoo artists
Tattooing is hard work and takes a lot of time, and while having a creative career gives you the freedom to grow as an artist, it can also interfere with your schedule and other parts of your life.
What does a weekend look like for a tattoo artist? When do you spend time with your family?
Whether you get the whole weekend off or not depends on which store you work at. Some stores are open on Saturdays, but most are closed on Sundays.
If you work at a store that’s open seven days a week, it can be hard to come up with a schedule that works for everyone because most people want weekends off. But you can make a lot of money working on the weekends.
The problem is, this is a double-edged sword: You might earn more, but if you have school-age children, it means you have less time to spend with them at home.
The key is to juggle your and your family’s schedule with work so you can spend quality time with the people you love.
Do you have time for other hobbies?
Between getting tattoos and finding time to spend with your family, it can be really hard to have other hobbies.
When you first start working, it may seem impossible to make time to do the other things you love, but as your career progresses (for example, opening your own shop or doing tattoos by appointment), you’ll likely have more time to pursue your hobbies outside of work.
Are many of your friends tattoo artists?
Yes and no. Most tattoo artists have a “colleague” relationship with the other artists in their shop.
Because you spend more time with your customers through interviews, you are more likely to actually develop friendships with them.
While you may not want to be best friends with all of your customers (many will take advantage of your “friendship” to ask for discounts or apprenticeships), you will likely find some customers with whom you can build lifelong friendships.
When do you work with an apprentice? How much more work does having an apprentice add to your day?
If you have an apprentice, you will work with them every day. Tell them what you plan to do each morning, such as painting, cleaning the shop, etc. They will also watch you tattoo, so you should explain to them what you are doing while they take notes.
Teaching an apprentice adds an extra burden. You have to actively explain everything you are doing, so you can’t go on autopilot. Plus, it takes extra time to teach them a task like dismantling a station. It may seem natural to you, but it takes them time to do it.
However, your apprentices will help you run the shop and clean, which will take some of the responsibility off of you and provide some balance.
Become a Tattoo Artist with our Artist Accelerator Program
Working as a tattoo artist is not only rewarding but also the most stable way to make a living as an artist. However, for decades, the process of becoming a tattoo artist has been known to be extremely difficult.
The apprenticeship process requires aspiring tattoo artists to work 50-60 hours a week unpaid for two to four years, which, combined with a toxic culture of mistreatment of apprentices, makes it nearly impossible for newcomers to break into the industry.
That’s why we created our Artist Accelerator program. Our online courses offer a simple, structured way to learn tattooing that’s proven to be effective with over 2,500 students, many of whom have gone on to open their own shops all over the world.
The program takes you through every step of the tattooing process in nine clear, easy-to-follow modules and supports you along the way within the Tattooing 101 Mastermind online community.
In Mastermind Groups you can collaborate with other students, get your questions answered, and receive personalized video feedback on your artwork and tattoos from professional tattoo artists. With this friendly community of new and experienced tattoo artists, you’ll never be stuck again.
When you join the Artist Accelerator program, you’ll get instant access to the full course and mastermind community, as well as a 30-day flash challenge and recorded interviews with tattoo artists from around the world.
For more information on the Artist Accelerator Program, click here.
