Practice

I found this on another web page and really liked it.

it seems lately that there has been a growing number of members asking the same questions over and over, yet the response has been posted over and over in the other threads. let me step back a minute... back in the 'old days' (yes, before my time) there was something called an apprenticeship. if you wanted to learn to make furniture, use machine tools, fix cars build brick walls or paint signs, you found someone to mentor you. that person would take you on as an apprentice and show you the ropes...passing down the trade, craft and tradition. the only people who knew how to do certain things (and properly) were those who wanted to learn the craft/trade bad enough to work for it for nearly nothing until they were ready to go out on their own. and if you didnt have what it took to turn the trade you were encouraged to find another line of work. fast forward..... save for a few instances these days, that tradition is gone, largely in my opinion, due to our fast food, disposable culture, the explosion of the information superhighway and the interweb. now you can 'teach yourself' how to do just about anything. and now everyone wants to be a pinstriper. its just not that simple. i happen to come from a really weird rift in the generational split. most people my age and younger are from the disposable generation. i happen to fall in with the value side. my father was a craftsman tradesman. my grandfathers were craftsmen and tradesmen. if they werent dedicated to their craft/trade, they didnt eat. they had to be good. they tought me about craft. about not just learning how to do something the right way, but about the right way to learn doing something. thats where most amatuer/hobbyist stripers fall short. with nobody standing over their shoulder they are left to their own devices and bad habits, just like 'home tattooists' 'self taught hair stylists' and 'the local handyman'. they look at the internet at all the jokers and rat stripers posting junk and say..."i can do that". and they're right. they can and the work still sucks. i say all that to say this. if you are new to this, please understand that you are not magically going to start laying down the most bitchin stuff in the world just by accident. if you are struggling with designs or line consistency. stop. just stop what ever you're doing. if you dont care about actually being good, stop reading now. if you do, continue. there is one thing that can not be substituted for in any craft. practice. if you cant stripe 10 straight lines, you havent practiced enough and you have no business trying to make designs. stop. find, learn and live the 100 line drills. when that becomes second nature, then move onto simple designs. one thing at a time. ask questions. go to shows, panel jams and letterhead meets and watch someone who actually knows what they're doing. learn a new stroke every week or a new trick once a month. dont jump in with both feet. it is both detrimental to your over all progress and can be quite frustrating and demoralizing also. there was always one kid in wood shop or ceramics that wanted to carve or sculpt the next venus di milo but couldnt turn a simple bed knob on the lathe. he usually wound up smashing his workpiece with a hammer out of frustration. not because he wasnt capable, but he was impatient and over ambitious. didnt wanna go thru the process of learning. thats exactly what i keep seeing in post after post. maybe its just fun for you and you dont care and you think i'm full of hot air. thats fine. maybe you're just a super gifted bad ass and you think i'm full of hot air. thats fine too. but if you fall into the same category as the other 99% of us, and really want to be good and kill 'em at the shows and sell a million panels, and sell all the purses and rockabilly paraphenalia you can come up with and paint a hundered mail boxes and tool boxes, and old beer bottles...oh...wait...does anyone stripe cars anymore? if you wanna get good, you're gonna hafta learn the way they did in the old days. practice, practice, practice. back when, part of the apprenticeship process (much like in todays tattoo world) involved being forced to do alot of menial crap that didnt make any sense at first but later you realize it was forming good working habits. it involved being challenged by your mentor, being over seen, guided and corrected by someone whith more skill, talent, knowledge and experience than you, and being told when you're ready to start doing customer work. you didn't go solo until you were ready because its more difficult to repair a damaged reputation then to build a solid one. without those checks (and the addition of the wonderful internet), the level of work flooding the marketplace has diminished to the point that any kook with some oneshot and a mack is a pinstriper. i dont know how many real train wrecks i've seen with two pages of "that looks great", "i'd let you stripe my car", "looks good to me" and all kinds of other reinforcement that only hurts the 'striper'. to the uninitiated, i'm sure it looks great, but they probably dont know a von dutch from a van dekamps. simply put young striper.... aspire to greatness. do not settle for mediocrity. do as much as is within your power to advance your mastery of the craft. dont rush. be patient.