LIVE ONLINE COURSE

TATTOO DESIGNER

Name: TATTOO DESIGNER
Rating: 5 (4 reviews)

Dates: 21 OCT 2026 - 7 DEC 2026

Duration: 7 WEEKS
MONDAYS & WEDNESDAYS
5 PM PT / 8 PM ET

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ERICK SATCHELL II
GREMLINS TATTOO LOUNGE

LIVE ONLINE COURSE

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THIS COURSE IS FOR YOU, IF...

YOU ARE A DIGITAL ILLUSTRATOR OR CONCEPT ARTIST

You already know how to create stunning artwork — now learn how to make it tattooable. This tattoo design course teaches you to design with the body in mind, balancing composition, flow, longevity, and readability so your work looks just as good decades later as it does on the screen. Build professional artist handoff files that tattooists will want to use.
YOU ARE AN ASPIRING TATTOO APPRENTICE

Breaking into the tattoo industry takes more than artistic talent. Learn the technical skills, design workflows, and professional presentation techniques that studios expect from serious apprentices. You'll create body-ready designs, polished stencils, and a portfolio that helps you stand out before you ever pick up a tattoo machine.
YOU ARE A GRAPHIC DESIGNER OR FREELANCER

Your artwork shouldn't disappear after a single client project. Learn how to turn your designs into scalable digital products through tattoo licensing, professional client packages, and repeatable creative workflows. Whether you want to collaborate with tattoo artists or build an additional income stream, we’ll help you transform your portfolio into a business.

PRACTICAL SKILLS

Across 13 packed lessons, you'll master anatomy, composition, color, Procreate workflows, AI-assisted concepting, client communication, and the business of selling your designs, all through practical assignments built around real challenges.

CASE STUDIES & GUEST SPEAKERS

Go behind the scenes with live demos, tattoo cases, and industry guests who'll show you how pro tattoo designers work IRL. Analyze healed tattoos & iconic styles, build stencil files, and learn the marketing tips that turn flash into a brand people line up for.

FINAL PROJECT

Your final project is your first real pitch to the industry. Create a polished Flash Drop collection, package it with technical design assets, and present it through a pitch video that shows your artistic vision, technical skills, and creative identity.

ERICK SATCHELL II

LinkedIn Profile

Designs award-winning tattoos and leads Gremlins Tattoo Lounge, a thriving multi-level studio home to 10–12 professional artists.
Turned artistic talent into a successful business, growing from self-taught tattooing in a college dorm to owning one of the region's leading tattoo studios.
Competes at international tattoo conventions, collaborating and networking with some of the industry's most respected artists while continually refining craft and technique.
Blends artistic creativity with business expertise, drawing on a background in both Art and Business to scale a profitable tattoo brand.
Earned clients' trust through collaborative design, transforming personal ideas into custom tattoos with creative freedom and technical precision.
Teaches aspiring tattoo artists the practical skills, industry knowledge, and entrepreneurial mindset needed to build a successful career — whether inside or outside the traditional apprenticeship path.

WED (10/21), 5 PM PT/8 PM ET

The Tattoo Designer: Introduction to Permanent Vision

Explore what separates a tattoo designer from a tattoo artist, and learn why a flawless flat drawing can fail the moment it meets skin.

Designer vs artist roles
Paper vs skin translation
Ethics of permanent artwork
Case Study: Ink aging over five years
In-Class Exercise: Live conceptual sketching
Breakout: Peer review of first sketches

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MON (10/26), 5 PM PT/8 PM ET

The Visual Signature: Defining Your Stylistic Intent

Discover the foundational and trending tattoo styles shaping the industry, and learn to shape them into a voice that's unmistakably yours.

Foundational tattoo styles
Trending style movements
Building a marketable artistic identity
Case Study: Technical blueprints across styles

Assignment #1: The Flash Drop Concept
Define your signature collection's theme with a mood board and a 150-word artist statement.

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WED (10/28), 5 PM PT/8 PM ET

The Commission Code: Decoding the Client's Brain + Guest Speaker

Learn how to read between the lines of a client's request, and discover how to turn that insight into a professional booking system.

Client discovery and vision extraction
Managing expectations and constraints
IP boundaries and cultural appropriation
Case Study: Modern booking ecosystems
Workshop: Building a digital intake form

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MON (11/2), 5 PM PT/8 PM ET

The Living Canvas: Hacking 2D Human Topography + Guest Speaker

Explore how the body's contours shape composition, and learn to map flat designs onto muscle, joint, and skin movement.

Anatomical mapping and the S-Curve rule
Skin distortion and movement
Spatial relationships and detail loss
Demo: 2D sketch to contoured mockup
Breakout: Peer mockup review

Assignment #2: The iPad Anatomical Warp
Wrap a rough 2D sketch across a curved surface using Procreate's warp tools to test placement and flow.

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WED (11/4), 5 PM PT/8 PM ET

Melanin & The Matrix: Color Theory for Living Tissue

Discover how skin tone and contrast shape color theory on living tissue, and learn why "Black Anchors" are non-negotiable for longevity.

Skin undertones and melanin's effect
Contrast and value dynamics
The Black Anchor principle
Tonal depth without blurring
Case Study: Healed tattoos across skin tones
Post-mortem audits of faded ink

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MON (11/9), 5 PM PT/8 PM ET

Bold Will Hold: Working with Negative Space + Guest Speaker

Learn to let skin do the heavy lifting, and master negative space, line weight, and silhouette storytelling for lasting impact.

Custom brush stamps workflow
Case Study: Saturation vs negative space
Line weight across skin tones
In-Class Exercise: The silhouette narrative
Breakout: Peer feedback session

Assignment #3: The Black Anchor Draft
Build your Showstopper design's first draft, demonstrating value scaling, negative space, and a foundational Black Anchor.

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MON (11/16), 5 PM PT/8 PM ET

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Contrast, Weight, and Breathing Room

Discover what separates an average tattoo from a masterpiece, and learn to apply contrast and negative space rules to your own concepts.

Rule of Thirds in body art
Needle-group simulation for depth
Composition adapted to the human form
Breakout: Spotting flaws in professional work
Case Study: Masterworks vs counterfeits

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WED (11/18), 5 PM PT/8 PM ET

The Thermal Translation: Engineering the Flawless Stencil

Learn to convert a finished illustration into a clean, production-ready stencil, and explore the rules that make it hold up in the chair.

Precision linework for stencils
Analog vs digital stenciling
Formatting for thermal transfer
Case Study: Diagnosing failed stencils
Workshop: Stenciling your own concept

Assignment #4: The Technical Artist Handoff Kit
Build an industry-ready kit with a final render, inverted stencil, and shading map for the executing tattooist.

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MON (11/23), 5 PM PT/8 PM ET

Digital Needles: Simulating Whips, Peppers, and Smooth Gradients

Explore how to customize digital brushes to mimic real machine textures, and learn to replicate whip, pepper, and magnum shading with precision.

Digitizing whip and pepper shading
Procreate brush engine customization
Smooth gradient blending
Demo: Industry-standard brush configurations
Breakout: Hands-on shading practice

Assignment #5: The 2D Flash Collection Expansion
Render three to five additional designs that expand your Flash Drop while showing off your shading technique.

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WED (11/25), 5 PM PT/8 PM ET

Ghost in the Machine: Ethical AI as a Concept Tool

Discover how to use AI as an ideation tool without losing your artistic voice, and learn to catch the anatomical errors it can't see.

Descriptive prompting for reference material
Gemini for ideation and layout
Legal landscape of generative art
Case Study: Spotting AI's hidden errors
Breakout: Auditing AI tattoo concepts
In-Class Exercise: AI concept to human refine

Assignment #6: The AI Concept Transformation
Turn a raw AI reference into a polished, human-corrected render and matching stencil.

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MON (11/30), 5 PM PT/8 PM ET

The "Tattoo Ticket" Economy: Monetizing Your Digital IP

Learn to price and license your artwork like a business, and discover how to protect it with contracts that actually hold up.

Flat-fee vs hourly pricing models
The Tattoo Ticket licensing blueprint
Contracts and revision boundaries
IP and trademark basics
Productizing your line work
Case Study: Digital IP trailblazers

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WED (12/2), 5 PM PT/8 PM ET

Drop Culture: Engineering Hype and Marketing Your Flash + Guest Speaker

Explore how to market your flash on social media, and learn how to build the industry relationships that get your work on the wall.

TikTok and Instagram content strategy
Filming and editing for retention
Case Study: Top-tier content funnels
B2B studio outreach etiquette
Building long-term studio relationships

Assignment #7: The "Hype" Launch Campaign
Architect your Flash Drop's marketing rollout, including a three-part social kit and tiered Tattoo Ticket pricing.

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MON (12/7), 5 PM PT/8 PM ET

The Launchpad – Portfolio, Pitch, and Beyond

Discover how to package your work into a professional portfolio, and learn to pitch your collection with confidence to industry peers.

Building your portfolio home
The B2B PDF portfolio kit
Self-critique before launch
The peer pitch presentation
Breakout: Peer-led final review
Discussion: Growth and next steps

Final Project: The Industry Pitch Video
Pitch your Flash Drop in a 3–5 minute video showcasing your designs, mockups, and technical kits as your professional business card.

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