71. Faking Gone Wrong
When I first started tattooing, I was at a newer shop in the area. One kid came in with an amazing portfolio. Realism and traditional and everything in between. Drawings and tattoos. We were impressed with his portfolio, and he was hired on.
His first day was a training/test day. We asked him to draw a couple of things. Randomness we thought of. He sat at the computer, and we assumed it was just to get some references.
Then he starts printing stuff out.
Then he heads over to our light table and literally starts tracing other peoples work. Of course, we called him on it. Took the printouts and no computer. He ended up drawing some of the most crappy basic drawings that your average middle schooler could draw.
So, we started asking about his portfolio. It turns out it was his brother’s portfolio. His brother was a new artist in another country. He said, “How hard could it be? It is just tracing with a needle.” So I drew up a nice big piece with straight lines and long curves and serious shading and challenged him to “trace it with a needle” on his body.
He tried.
He now has 14 of the most crooked and jacked-up lines and circles that anyone has. Needless to say, he was gone within a few hours on that first day.