Let's take a peek at what Reinventing The Tattoo has to offer...

Designed to motivate you to identify the next challenge, prepare yourself with the skills and vision needed, and tackle it head on. The community of artists who attend the weekly exercises & critiques, as well as world class guests, keep the course on the cutting edge. For decades.

  • Canon

    Decades of knowledge and learning from Guy Aitchison. Massive written portion places equal emphasis on design and execution. Guest writers include Nick Baxter, Russ Abbott, Megan Jean Morris, Don McDonald, Halo Jankowski, Steve Butcher, Phil Garcia & others.

  • Videos

    Instant access to all supporting video material. Dozens of hours of webinars including Guy's Technique tutorial, a massive video seminar showing a number of different tattoo effects up close, hours of coverup webinars, four Photoshop tutorial videos, and so much more.

  • Group Exercises

    Exclusive weekly subscriber events. Reinventing is also a system for constant improvement, providing access to live feedback, critiques & continuing discussion of core ideas. A community of like-minded artists to work with and hold each other accountable. It is your tattoo workout group...

Reviews

Lori Lillimagi-Boehm

5 star rating

“Great information. Very helpful.”

“Great information. Very helpful.”

Read Less

Ash Faulkner

5 star rating

“Reinventing the Tattoo is Great. 5 Stars ”

“Reinventing the Tattoo is Great. 5 Stars ”

Read Less

Eric Anderson

5 star rating

“Covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. It was nice to see Guy in action. ”

“Covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. It was nice to see Guy in action. ”

Read Less

Course curriculum

  • 02

    Design

    • 2.0) Drawing: A Brief Primer

    • 2.1) Flow & Fit

    • 2.2) Positive/Negative Relationships

    • 2.3) Contrast

    • 2.31) Color

    • 2.32) Guest Writer Russ Abbott: Color Theory For Tattooists

    • 2.33) Guest Writer Steve Butcher : Bringing Realistic Focus Effects Into Your Work

    • 2.4) Priority

    • 2.5) Reserve

    • 2.6) Lines & Edges

    • 2.7) Depth

    • 2.8) Lighting & Luminosity

    • 2.9) The Design Needs Of The Client

    • 2.91) Guest Writer Megan Jean Morris: Process and Mindset

  • 03

    Working in a Second Medium

    • 3.1) A Broader Perspective

    • 3.2) Examples of Other Mediums

    • 3.3) Surface Preparation: Building Your Foundation

    • 3.4) Acrylic Painting: A Brief Tutorial

    • 3.41) Rendering 3D Forms In Acrylic

    • 3.5) Oil Painting: A Brief Tutorial

    • 3.51) Guest Writer Nick Baxter: Sharp Focus Realism In Oil - An Excerpt

  • 04

    Working From A Reference

    • 4.1) Seeing The Real Thing

    • 4.2) Finding or Creating Our References

    • 4.3) Doing a Tattoo From a Model, Working From a Line Stencil

    • 4.4) Doing a Tattoo From a Model, Working From a Crosshatch Stencil

    • 4.5) Doing a Tattoo From a Model: Working From a Freehand Drawing

    • 4.6) Extreme Modeling: A Larger Scale Project

  • 05

    The Digital Tattoo

    • 5.0) Basic Computing for Tattooists

    • 5.1) A Beginner's Guide To Procreate

    • 5.2) A Brief Adobe Photoshop Tutorial

    • 5.21) Guest Writer Halo : Taking The Digital Leap

    • 5.3) Using Photoshop in the Design Process: Scanning and Coloring a Drawing

    • 5.4) Using Photoshop in the Design Process: Making a Digital Simulation of a Tattoo

    • 5.5) Using Photoshop in the Design Process: Sizing a Drawing to a Tracing

    • 5.6) Using Photoshop in the Design Process: Compositing Multiple Images Into One

  • 06

    Tattooing Technique

    • 6.0) Technique, An Overview

    • 6.1) Design Transfer: Stenciling and Freehanding

    • 6.11) Guest Writer Don McDonald: Working With Large Stencils

    • 6.2) Needles

    • 6.3) Tubes

    • 6.4) Coil Machine Tuning

    • 6.41) The New Wave of Rotary Machines

    • 6.5) Traditional Machine Setup

    • 6.6) The Stretch

    • 6.7) Tightening and Softening

    • 6.8) Starting a Tattoo Magnum First

    • 6.9) Comfort and Ergonomics

  • 07

    Step By Step Processes

    • 7.1) Bringing It All Together

    • 7.2) A Simple Rose

    • 7.21) Guest Writer Phil Garcia: Attention to Detail

    • 7.3) A 3-Hour Skull Project

    • 7.31) Outer Space Organic Mech Tattoo

    • 7.32) Intensive Rendering: Mind, Body, Spirit

    • 7.4) The Sacred Heart

    • 7.5) The Seahorse

    • 7.6) A Difficult Spot: Neck Inferno

    • 7.7) A Black and Gray Design

    • 7.71) Guest Writer Nick Baxter: Working In Layers

    • 7.8) Making Your Technique Work

  • 08

    Coverup Tattooing

    • 8.1) Coverup Tattooing: Facts, Myths and New Understandings

    • 8.2) Coverup Examples, Large and Small

    • 8.3) Almost Too Good To Be True: Laser Tattoo Removal

    • 8.4) Scar Coverups: A Next-Level Challenge

    • 8.5) Blackwork Coverup

    • 8.6) Incorporating Coverup Tattooing Into Your Career

  • 09

    New Horizons

    • 9.1) Conclusion: New Horizons

  • 10

    Webinar Library

    • 10 Critical Factors for Effective Tattooing

    • Essential Design Compositing

    • Flow & Fit - Composition Fundamentals for fluid Tattoo Design

    • Structure

    • Guy's Bag of Tricks #1

    • Guy's Bag of Tricks #2

    • Tightening Part 1

    • Tightening Part 2a

    • Tightening Part 2b

    • Tightening Part 3

    • Tightening Part 4

    • Tightening Part 5

    • Coverup - A Fresh Look

    • Coverup the Next Level

  • 11

    Group Exercise Library

    • Live Monday Exercise with Guy Aitchison 9 PM EST

    • Live Thursday Fundamental Exercise with Kire Franklin 7pm EST

    • Visual Priority Poppies

    • Dogwood

    • Lily

    • Line Weight Priority Beetle

      FREE PREVIEW
    • Depth Of Field with Tivon Creager

    • Blind Drawing

    • Bevelled Objects and Angular Solids

    • Dark/Light Rythym

    • Detail Isolation

    • Flow & Flexibility

    • Tribal Coverup

    • Warm/Cool Colors

    • Elemental Flow Part 1 - Flames

    • Elemental Flow Part 2 & 3 - Waves with André Malcolm

    • Elemental flow part 4 - atmospheric turbulence

    • Elemental Flow 5 - Geological Forms

    • Elemental Flow Part 6 - Final Project

    • Depth Strategies Part 1 - Overlap

    • Depth Strategies Part 2 - Contour

    • Depth Strategies Part 3 - Volume Shading

    • Depth Strategies Part 4 - Cast Shadows

    • Depth Strategies Part 5 - Priority

    • Depth Strategies Part 6 - Perspective

    • Depth Strategies Part 7 - Final Project

    • Color Strategies Part 1 - Naturalistic Colors

    • Color Strategies Part 2 - Metallic Colors

    • Color Strategies Part 3 - Backlighting Colors

    • Color Strategies Part 4 - Split Complimentary Color Schemes

    • Lighting Strategies Part 1 - Ambient Lighting

    • Lighting Strategies Part 2 - Hard Directional Lighting

    • Lighting Strategies Part 3 - On Camera Lighting (Night)

    • Lighting Strategies Part 4 - Light Rays

    • Lighting Strategies Part 5 - Final Project

    • Texture Strategies Part 1 - Stone

    • Texture Strategies Part 2 - Wood Grain

    • Texture Strategies Part 3 - Crinkle Paper

    • Texture Strategies Part 4 - Hair

    • Texture Strategies Part 5 - Reptilian Scales

    • Texture Strategies Part 6 - Final Project

    • What's In A Blob? with Jesse Smith

    • Contrast Strategies Part 1 - Contrast Frequency

    • Contrast Strategies Part 2 - Large Scale Contrast

    • Contrast Strategies Part 3 - Contrast Intensity

    • Contrast Strategies Part 4 - Texture Contrast

    • Anatomy Series Part 1 - Hands

    • Anatomy Series Part 2 - Full Body Gesture

    • Anatomy Series Part 3 - The Human Head

    • Anatomy Series Part 4 - Action Poses

    • Anatomy Series Part 5 - Full Human Figure

    • Still Life 1 - Blue Glass Vessel & Round Metal Object

    • Still Life 2 - Animal Skull & Yellow Flowers

    • Still Life 3 - Crinkled Shiny Paper & Candle Flame

    • Still Life 4 - Final Project Bowl Of Fruit in Ceramic Dish

    • Flow & Contrast 1 - Storm & Serpent

    • Contrast & Flow 2 - Koi Waterfall Gradients

      FREE PREVIEW
    • Flow & Contrast 3 - The Windmill Principle

    • Flow & Contrast 4 - Train & Steam

    • Pos/Neg Relationships & Color Week 1

    • Pos/Neg Relationships & Color with Guest Don McDonald

    • Pos/Neg Relationships: Bold & Delicate Rendering

    • Pos/Neg Shape Optimization: Organic Forms

    • Pos/Neg Differentiation

    • Lighting: Mutiple Sources

  • 12

    Critiques

    • Live Critiques

What do artists say?

Email your testimonial to [email protected]

“I gotta tell ya, and I know I say this a lot, but this forum has been a big time inspiration. It’s relit this flame of creating and being involved in a community that I had wondered was possible. Here it is. ”

Ricardo

“I subscribe to it. It’s pretty great. My girlfriend and I (both tattooers) watch a lot of the videos when we’re both off and don’t have anything to do for the day. I read the old version of the book (three ring binder copy) during my apprenticeship and the subscription service is still really useful.”

Kelli Zeien

“I subscribed in early November (I already have the 1st and second edition) but wanted to check out the new stuff. 100% worth the price, less than a dollar a day for a year subscription and you get to do weekly drawing practice with Guy, live and that's not even mentioning all the other awesome stuff that isn't in any of the books lol I highly recommend it.”

Jason Lesser

Instructor(s)

Instructor Bio:

When Guy Aitchison was 16, his sister Hannah approached him from out of the blue and asked him if he felt like going to get tattooed. Guy had never thought about the subject before, indeed had never seen any tattoo work walking around that had made him think anything about tattooing. But the idea immediately appealed very strongly to him. They made an appointment at a grungy local shop for the following week, during which time Guy played around with drawings for the piece. And he had dreams: Dreams of getting tattooed. Of doing tattoos. Of teaching tattooing... of standing on a stage addressing a tattooed crowd. He knew right away that he had found his calling.

Guy Aitchison

Founder

Subscribe Today

$24.92 a month billed annually