How do you become a tattoo artist in the UK?

Through an apprenticeship, almost always. There is no national qualification and no course that licenses you · what you need is a portfolio that proves you can draw, a studio willing to take you on, and registration with your local council before you tattoo anybody.

The portfolio comes first

Before anyone will talk to you about an apprenticeship, they want to see that you can draw. Not tattoos · drawing. Studies, line control, shading, the same subject attempted twenty times.

The most common reason a studio says no is a portfolio full of finished-looking pieces copied from other tattooers. It shows you can imitate. It does not show anyone how you think.

What an apprenticeship actually is

Years, usually two or three, and most of the early part is not tattooing. Cleaning, setting up, breaking down, watching, drawing every evening. It is a trade taught the way trades have always been taught.

Expect to be unpaid or barely paid for a long stretch. Plan your finances around that before you start.
A studio charging you thousands for an apprenticeship is selling a course, not offering a trade. Be careful.
You will need to be tattooed yourself to understand what you are asking of people.

The legal part

In England and Wales you must be registered with the local council for the premises you work in, and the premises must be registered too. Your council inspects and issues the certificate, and working without one is an offence.

You will also need bloodborne pathogen and first aid training, and public liability insurance. Any studio worth apprenticing at will already have all of this and will expect you to get yours.

Approaching a studio

In person, with the portfolio, at a quiet time, and having looked at their work first. Do not send the same message to forty studios · everyone can tell, and the trade is smaller than it looks.

Expect to be turned down more than once. It is not personal and it is not final.