Hello, and welcome to the apprentice journal!
I’m Nikolai and since August this year I’ve been the newest addition to the Galeria Körperkunst team, starring as the tattoo apprentice with a very art filled background. A little about me and how I found my way into this place:
I was about 12 years old when I decided art would have to be my carreer, after all, its always been my own little thing ever since I could hold a pencil.
Ever since then I constantly worked to improve my artistic skills and I’ve been an active artist in different many ways, fanartist, freelance artist, comic art student, art market vendor, character artist… those and more are fields I’ve tried or still am active in, but what I didn’t expect was for me to find my calling as a tattoo designer at 19 years old, which very quickly became a wish to be the tattooing artist as well, at which point I really just wondered why I havent thought about this earlier, since now this wish just feels like the most natural conclusion.
After that the only thing that made sense was that i had to find an apprenticeship, and it felt almost too lucky that at a certain art market I was seated right next to Lucy Luck, that being the first time meeting her.
Despite absolutely fumbling the interview i was offered shortly after having her as a seat neighbour (i happened to get pierced that same day, curious…) and littering it with nervous ramblings, i got something way bigger than just a spot next to an experienced and skilled artisan, i got a place where i could thrive artistically, meet many amazing people, be challenged in all sorts of ways that make my life more thrilling, and most importantly, a place where i feel supported and understood and a job i could call my „dream job“ with full confidence, many times over and no hesitation.
And one of the main things I love about being an apprentice is the freedom to explore, to learn and to make mistakes, and to be challenged in my own biases and opinions.
A good example of that was when despite my good understanding of contrast and art things of that sort, I struggled my first time making a coloured tattoo design when tasked with it by Lucy. For some reason, my mind was just stuck on the thought of tattoo designs being black and white, simplistic, like… a colouring book??
Because clearly, thats what I thought it was when I coloured the rose design I made as if I was using the bucket tool on Paint. Suddenly all that love for beautiful contrast and the basic knowledge of the fact that tattoos blur over time evaporated into thin air, I’m still confused about what went through my head at that moment…
Luckily, this incident didn’t cause me to die of embarrassment like I usually would, since after a nice correction i managed to rethink what i was doing and corrected it no problem. Instead, I got the opportunity to figure out why the hell that even happened.
After much thought I learned that I’ve been so used to being a purely visual artist that I often don’t keep in mind the practicality an artwork has to to have when its needed for a specific function, like a tattoo in this case. I just draw and trust that it will turn out good whichever way I go. I’ve encountered this problem in different fields as well, like when I would make too complicated motives for a linoleum print, which mostly ended in me giving up when I realized my mistake after cutting the 10th tiny detail so thin it breaks off the base.
This will have to change if I am to make good, forever lasting designs, or even just be able to work on mediums other than pen on paper, and I definitely think this event will remind me of that from now on.
At the end, I’m very excited about the new perspective I’ve acquired, as it puts a new spin on the art I create and learning something new has always pushed me forward in my motivations.
Like this, being an artist is sure to never become boring or repetitive, and being an apprentice at the studio definitely isn’t either!
See you in the next chapter of the apprentice Journal!
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