Hello, I'm a 35 year old who has loved drawing since I was a kid, however, I don't exactly have any formal training other than electives in middle/high school. My whole life I've gotten the "you should be a tattoo artist" comment, but for X reason I always more or less had an excuse like not being good enough etc etc.

It's always been kind of a nagging thing in the back of my mind, though. As old as I am, I'm still trying to find "my thing"—my ikegai if you will. I've gotten to the point professionally where I really don't want to leave an unfulfilling job for another unfulfilling job. I want a career, and one that makes me feel useful in the ways I was gifted (I use that term loosely).

But then, I see all of this amazing art everywhere. The kind of stuff that seems mythically out of reach, and I feel the excuses surfacing again. So, I'd like to hear your stories. Did you feel like you were "good enough" when you decided to pursue tattooing? How did you know? What kind of epiphanies did you have during your career?

Thank you for giving this post your time. I truly appreciate it. I included some of my most recent artworks to reference where my starting point would be art-wise.