Uh hi.... Tattoo artist from Florida.

[Jorge Rivera TattooArtist]

Hi my name is Jorge Rivera. I am a tattoo artist at Skinfinity Tattoo Company in Winter Haven Fl. I have been tattooing I guess a total of almost 2 years. I never really had an apprenticeship. I hung out at shops and learned all the cleaning, break down, set up, procedures and customer service I guess. I know a lot of you are probably gonna hate that I taught myself mainly. Oh well. your opinion is yours and I respect that you have one. Not really in an area you can just try 20 shops to get one so I worked with what I had.

I had the business owner of Artistic Ink see my work and offered me to stop doing house shit and get in a real shop. From there I had to learn and quick. I started right in tax season in a busy production shop. The art has always been there and new medias are pretty easy to pick up so I guess tattooing was bound to happen after doing T-shirt airbrush, custom automotive airbrush, drawing, acrylics, charcoal, markers, watercolor, abstract, mixed media, and all that. Uh I dunno really what to say here? Other than I love what I do and I do love to give good advice and make informals on how to find an artist for you and your wants and just make sure you and your artist are just building an awesome bond for a very long term creative relationship. If anyone has any questions artistically speaking I would be glad to answer them, as long as they are not scratcher questions. Call that an oxi-moron but I do fully support getting into a shop and doing real art, not the random butterfly infinity bird sillhoutte that looks like some shitty leopard print. I'll attach some images of my work I guess that seems like what your supposed to do. As far as moderators if I didn't post what I was supposed to please let me know and I will change whatever I need to.

[Matthew Thomas]

That Frank tattoo from Donnie Darko is badass! One of my favorite movies! Your work seems quite good to me. If you hadn't said you'd only been tattooing for a couple years, I would assume longer. I'm not an artist myself, but I respect the fact that you're self-taught and you've obviously worked hard to develop skills. Fuck the haters. You do some nice shit.

[Jorge Rivera TattooArtist]

Thanks. I appreciate it. I wouldn't necessarily say fuck the haters just because the fact that in most circumstances, what I did was the wrong route. But I wasn't gonna let anyone tell me I can't be a tattoo artist so I had to learn some how. The Frank is definitely one of my favorite pieces. I love being able to take a base idea and just twist the shit out of it to where u get it, but u couldn't have thought of it that way. So again, I appreciate it.

[Matthew Thomas]

I really like how the reds and oranges give a nice contrast to the blacks and grays. Definitely a nice piece. I would not say that what you did was the wrong route, because everyone has to start somewhere and learn one way or another. Think of it like this. Tattooing has been around for a very long time, but electric tattoo machines have only been around for a relatively short while. When these machines were invented, the first people using them didn't have anyone to give them an apprenticeship. They had to teach themselves and learn. I'll bet that a few of those tattoos weren't perfect either. When someone wants to do something, they will find a way. It doesn't really matter how you got where you are, you got there and judging from the work you've posted, you can go a lot further with the right attitude and a willingness to continue learning. If you let people tell you how to get where you want to go, you'll never get there. That's what I meant by saying fuck the haters. You're a person with goals and a determination to achieve them. I respect that.

[Jorge Rivera TattooArtist]

A person with goals and determination for sure lol. Being a shop manager and an executive chef at the same time while maintaining a family so u can try and pick some stuff up here and there is not an easy ting to balance. I literally got my first 5 star review at 23 and got my first tattoo posted on a site at 24. Its sad to see how the perception of the industry is so watered down. People come in and expect a sleeve for $150 all the time. You say $100 an hour and there like ok thats fair. But they find out a that Frank piece takes 6 hours and you get that look like, well if you were a good tattoo artist you should be able to do it in 2.... So why should I pay for your inexperience or lack of speed. Then pencil flash pushers get in the industry with a rockstar attitude and bank pushing someone elses art skills lol. It all begins with education and unfortunately for real artists in this industry the majority of peoples tattoo education has been through a TV screen showing a portrait done in 2 minutes and everyone being able to get tattooed the same day they walk in not knowing that was a consultation and appointment booked 6 months to a year in advance. So yeah... Fuck the haters. But if they can be educated, I don't deny them the experience. Because I know it betters my industry and fellow enthusiasts as well.

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And thanks for the acknowledgement lol. My bad. I tend to rant when it comes to industry.

[Matthew Thomas]

You're welcome lol.