Apprentice & Mentor
Evidence, review, public progress, and graduation.
One person, one record
An apprentice remains the same staff member throughout training and, upon graduation, becomes an Artist on that same record and page. A Mentor is an active training relationship, not a separate permanent job title. One active Mentor is paired with one active Apprentice at a time; a reassignment preserves earlier work.
Work, photo, review, publication
The apprentice originates the work and attaches the required final photo or evidence to the exact attempt. The Mentor reviews it as Approved or Needs Work. Training evidence stays private until it passes the separate public media review and is published to Training Progress. Required credit is awarded only after that publication. Work that is not ready to be public is not ready to count toward graduation.
Core path
Training covers setup, breakdown, line work, shading, packing and color saturation, technical understanding, Needle Proficiency, practical work, a Flash Portfolio of 15 pages, and 13 Live Tattoo projects. Reaching a numeric threshold makes work ready for review; it does not automatically grant proficiency or graduation. The Mentor can assign deadlines that appear in the training calendar.
Observation and graduation
Observation time is recorded in ShopHAND and verified by the artist who was observed. The Mentor makes the final training review when requirements are met. Graduation changes the existing staff role and public capabilities; it does not create a replacement page. Private assignment notes and evidence do not automatically become public gallery material.