After many years working together, Kevin and Bogdan decided that it was time to welcome someone new into the 7th Circle family. Just over a year ago Ken joined the shop as an apprentice and since then has become, well, a core member of the team. He's been working hard during his time at 7th Circle and it shows how much progress he's made. Ken has been very active on social media tracking his work from sketches all the way up to his practice skin pieces that are actually looking killer. I thought I’d check in with him and see how it’s going and also what it’s like being a tattoo apprentice in 2026.
1.How long have you been an apprentice now and how did it all come about?
I have been an apprentice for just over a year now, it's been something I've wanted to do for a very long time now. I knew I wanted to get into tattooing since I was 12 but life gets in the way and I'm pretty old now. They say you're never too old to learn something new.
2. What made you want to become a tattoo artist a little later in life?
I considered starting when I finished studying illustration at uni in 2012, but then having to find a job and survival became a priority. Since then I've bounced around and gotten a lot of work experience in different jobs but none of them satisfied my urge to better myself and create things. When I decided to throw myself into finding an apprenticeship and spend all my spare time doing what I could to get to where I need to be, I had practically exhausted all my options in different industries. I'd spent years in retail, as a manager, worked in offices as well as cheffing experience. I knew I no longer wanted to pursue jobs where I worked for the sake of paying bills. I wanted something that stimulated me and that would make me feel proud of my progress.
From there it took me just over 3 years to finally find my spot here at 7th Circle due to my previous experiences in other shops having not been great. It actually put me off for a bit until I branched out to Oldham and had Kevin take me on. I'm forever grateful not just because of what I’m learning but also for restoring my faith that there's more genuinely good people within the industry than there are bad.
3. Do you find it hard balancing the apprenticeship amongst your other things like your job?
Yes and no. I currently work part time in another job but pretty much everyday when I'm not working at my job, I'm in the studio. It can be draining and every once in a while Kevin doesn't mind me taking a day off so I don't get burnt out.
On my studio days I'll take the morning to decompress or get things I need to get done at home before setting off and I'll see that as my time off. I look forward to going to the studio on my days away from work so I don't find it taxing at all, having Kevin and Bogdan around is like hanging out with mates that I can learn a lot from. I love the feeling of still being productive whilst not at my normal job.
4. You have been really busy with practicing on skins, is there anything that has been a real challenge for you?
I've been practicing on fake skins as much as I can at the moment, the main challenge I've found is sourcing decent quality skins at a decent price. In terms of the practical side of it, although there are some techniques that are harder to practice than others. I'm open to challenges and I'm enjoying doing it a hell of a lot so I don't mind when Kevin throws a curveball at me. Kevin has been quite happy letting me experiment and make my mistakes whilst I'm using fake skin. I love that because it's good to make those mistakes whilst it's just on practice skin. You have to make mistakes to learn from them, especially something as practical as tattooing where there are so many factors that can go wrong. I really like Kevin's approach to mentoring because he's hands off but hands on at the same time. Everyone learns and trains differently and how your teacher approaches it can completely dictate the way you learn. It's pivotal for students and teachers to be on the same wavelength and have the right chemistry for understanding and progression. Another thing I like is that I'm being challenged and being put out of my comfort zone but not so much that I feel out of my depth.
5. Would you say you've found some styles you enjoy or are you still trialing out different styles?
When I originally started I thought that I just wanted to do blackwork because I'm colourblind and thought that I would have issues with working in colour. Since I've met Kevin he's actually encouraged me a lot to work with and understand colours. I now really enjoy exploring what I can do outside of working with just black and white.
Japanese and oriental style is a huge love of mine, I feel like I've really developed an understanding and progressed a lot in that style since Kevin has piled on the knowledge with colour theory and getting my head around values.
As much as I like to do Japanese oriental, I also love neo-trad and blackwork in general. I would like to excel in all styles to be honest, I believe in the philosophy of the more you know the better you'll get as there's skills in each style you can pick up on that you'll never acquire if you never try. I have an idea of the type of work I would like to do but I do feel like learning as many styles as I can will only contribute to my development. I want to approach finding my style like the way Bruce Lee developed Jeet Kun Do, understand the traditions then use the knowledge to think outside the box. (Jeet Kun Do, for those who aren't martial arts aficionados, is a combat system and fighting philosophy founded by Bruce Lee in 1967. It translates to ‘Way of the Intercepting Fist’)
6. Is there a style you think you may be drawn to more further down the line?
My love for drawing and illustration started from childhood because I'm a nerd at heart and grew up reading a lot of comics and watching animation. So I would like to explore that and develop a style utilising the skills I can pick up from the amazing comic book artists that I've idolized growing up.
Oriental is definitely a style I'm veering towards at the moment as it means a lot to me culturally. I'm also a metalhead so gothic style and horror imagery I think is really cool, I'd like to be able to create some cool imagery with that too.
7. Would you have preferred to train back in the earlier days of tattooing? Or do you enjoy the modern entry to the industry with the advancement of technology etc?
I do think about this very often, sometimes I do wish that I'd had started on this path fresh out of uni but then at the same time when I think about it, I was a bit of a dick when I was younger. I'm pleased to have started this journey whilst I'm more mature and having lived through all the years with different shitty jobs and tough times. It's made me more resilient and appreciative of the path that I'm on.
I may not have the same gratitude towards tattooing had I started when I was younger.
8. Did you always have a desire to become a tattoo artist or was it a new change of heart later on?
It's funny because when I was in high school, probably 12/13 years old, I did my work experience in a tattoo shop because at that age I knew this is what I wanted to do. Then I went onto college and uni and never got the chance to pursue it after that.
9.What's your favourite piece you've done so far and why?
My favourite piece so far is this tiger head that I tattooed a few weeks ago.This is very much the style I wanted to work in originally and I feel quite good about this one because it gives me confidence that I'm doing the right thing.
10. How do you feel about tattooing a real person?
I honestly thought that I would be more nervous but I'm actually just really excited to do some of my own artwork onto somebody's body for them to wear for the rest of their lives. I'm super excited at the prospect that someone might see something that I've come up with and decide that it's something that they want to have on them for life. It would make me very proud to think that I'm good enough that someone wants to decorate their body with my art.
11. Do you have any advice for someone who might be in a similar spot to you in life trying to become an apprentice?
Do as much research as possible, if you find a place and the vibe isn't right follow your gut. There's been times where I've been in a studio and my gut is telling me to get out but I've given it the benefit of the doubt. There's always a last straw, don't let it get to that and never dismiss any behaviour that you don't agree with. Even if it takes a long time don't give up on finding the right person to teach you, not everyone will treat you with respect and more times than not their intentions may not align with what you need to progress. Never sacrifice morals and ethics for someone else because you think they might get you where you need to be quicker.
Something that I’ve enjoyed about having Ken in the shop has been his optimism, positive energy and passion for tattooing. I think something to note for apprentices and this is something I’ve discussed with Kevin is; If you want to be a tattoo artist you can’t half ass it. It's a lifelong craft, like a muscle you have to train those skills by repetition.
‘You can't rush art!’ -Toy Story 2.
Everytime I see Ken in the shop, he has an Ipad in hand, drawing something or more recently working on practice skins, getting those reps in. I think Ken has been and will continue to be a fantastic addition to the shop, when he starts tattooing customers I look forward to getting one of his first few pieces.
You can find Ken’s Instagram HERE @mando_no.5
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