The Ink Different Mentor Roster: Who Trains Where

The Ink Different Mentor Roster is a curated network of award-winning and celebrity Tattoo Artists who personally guide Apprentices through live, in-person training at Ink Different Tattoo Studios across the country. Who you learn from shapes who you become, and that’s the whole idea behind the roster: your direct connection to professionals who will shape your career path. 

Since 2011, we have spent 15 years pairing serious people with Mentors worth following, the kind of mentorship that AI cannot automate and no online course can replicate.

What is the Ink Different Mentor Roster?

The Ink Different Mentor Roster is our curated lineup of proven, award-winning Tattoo Artists who deliver hands-on training to Apprentices inside working Tattoo Studios, ensuring real-world skill development from day one. It is not a list of names on a website. It is a living network of professionals who have built real careers and now pour that knowledge into the next generation.

When you train under a Mentor who has done the work, you inherit shortcuts, standards, and a way of seeing that no tutorial can hand you. You learn not just the technique but the philosophy behind it.

Every Mentor on our roster shares one thing beyond skill: our “Good Humans” culture. We do not just train hands. We build a family-like community where you are supported, challenged, and never left to figure it out alone. This foundation, both technical and cultural, shapes the kind of Tattoo Artist you become.

Why does the Mentor you train under matter so much?

The Mentor you train under matters because tattooing is a craft mastered through live feedback, corrected mistakes, and deliberate repetition under expert eyes, not through videos, self-teaching, or trial and error. Your Mentor is the difference between years of uncertainty and a clear, accelerated path forward.

Tattooing is a skilled trade that rewards apprenticeship and punishes shortcuts. When you train under someone who has logged thousands of hours, you compress years of learning into focused, guided practice.

A great Mentor also teaches the invisible curriculum: sanitation, client trust, and the discipline behind safe, professional work. A Mentor embeds those habits into your practice before you ever touch a client’s skin, turning safety from a checklist into instinct.

Pro Tip: Before you commit to any tattoo training program, ask directly: “Who will personally train me, and how often?” If the answer is vague or mentions mostly online content, keep looking. Your Mentor is your future.

Who are the Mentors on the Ink Different roster?

The Ink Different Mentor Roster features celebrity and award-winning Tattoo Artists, each with decades of professional reputation built through consistent excellence:

• Al Fliction — Ink Master Season 1 competitor and founder of Skin & Ink Gallery in Brooklyn
• Liz Cook — Color realism specialist from TLC’s Tattoo Girls and co-owner of Rebel Muse Tattoo
• Kyle Dunbar — Ink Master Season 3 and 4 competitor and owner of Almighty Tattoo
• Boneface — Ink Master Season 8 and 9 competitor and owner of Boneface Ink Tattoos
• Jordi Pla — Ink Master Season 13 competitor with over 150 tattoo awards
• Big Ceeze — Ink Master Season 6 and Redemption competitor and owner of Mi Familia Tattoo Studio

These are not internet personalities. They are working professionals whose names carry weight in studios and client communities because of skill, integrity, and years of impact.

Training with names like these is access most people never get. It is the kind of mentorship that transforms a career path from uncertain to inevitable. When you are trained by the best, you do not just learn their techniques. You absorb their standards, their discipline, and their philosophy of what it means to be a professional Tattoo Artist.

What can these Mentors help you build?

• Technical mastery: Line work, shading, color theory, and machine control taught by hand, in real time, with immediate correction and refinement.
• Style development: Guidance on finding and refining your own creative voice as a tattoo artist while respecting foundational principles.
• Business sense: How to build a personal brand, price your work fairly, manage client relationships, and treat tattooing like the career it is.
• Professional habits: Sanitation protocols, client care, studio etiquette, and the mental discipline that separate amateurs from respected professionals.

Want to start building your online presence early? Our guide to platforms to help Tattoo Artists build their brand pairs perfectly with the branding lessons your Mentor will reinforce throughout your apprenticeship. You will learn both the craft and the business of making your name known.

Where do these Mentors train Apprentices?

Ink Different Mentors train Apprentices in person at working Tattoo Studios across the United States:

• Al Fliction — Skin & Ink Gallery, Brooklyn
• Kyle Dunbar — Drunken Monkey Tattoo, Saginaw
• Boneface — Boneface Ink Tattoos, Pensacola
• Jordi Pla — Black Flamingo Collective
• Liz Cook — Rebel Muse Tattoo, Lewisville, Dallas, and Kansas City
• Big Ceeze — Mi Familia Tattoo Studio, Anaheim and Lake Elsinore

Plus Spanish-speaking locations in Denver, Orange County, NYC, and Miami. You learn where real tattoos happen every day, inside a functioning studio with clients, deadlines, and the energy of a real business, not in a classroom disconnected from the trade.

This matters deeply. Learning in a working studio means you are not just practicing on skin. You are observing how professionals handle difficult clients, manage time, maintain sanitation under pressure, and build relationships that lead to loyal followings.

Location also solves a practical puzzle: licensing requirements. Tattoo regulations vary significantly by state and sometimes even by city. When you train where you plan to work, your Mentor and studio guide you through the specific legal pathway for your location, whether that’s getting your tattoo license in Texas, researching how long a tattoo license takes in Colorado, or transferring a tattoo license to California.

How do you choose the right Mentor and location?

You choose the right Mentor and location by aligning three factors: your long-term career goals, your preferred tattoo style or specialty, and the geographic market where you plan to build your reputation and client base. Here is a step-by-step way to work through this decision.

Step 1: Get honest about your career goals

Do you want to master a specific style like realism, traditional, or color work? Do you dream of owning a Tattoo Shop someday? Naming your destination makes the path obvious.

Step 2: Study the Mentor roster and their specialties

Al Fliction blends traditional technique with cultural storytelling. Liz Cook is known for color realism. Kyle Dunbar and Big Ceeze both bring decades of black-and-gray mastery, with Big Ceeze leaning into faith-based portraiture. Boneface works in black-and-gray realism with a cultural edge. Jordi Pla specializes in high-saturation color realism. A Mentor whose strengths line up with your ambitions accelerates your growth dramatically.

Step 3: Consider location and licensing strategy

Pick a studio near where you plan to build your long-term career and client base.

Step 4: Learn from common beginner mistakes

Before you commit, read our comprehensive breakdown of mistakes aspiring Tattoo Apprentices should avoid. Knowing the pitfalls in advance protects the very time and energy you are trying to reclaim from a job that never fulfilled you.

Step 5: Apply and let us guide the matching process

You do not have to figure this out alone. Fill out our questionnaire and our team will help match you with the Mentor and location that fit your goals, your learning style, and your life circumstances.

What does the Traditional Tattoo Apprenticeship include?

The Traditional Tattoo Apprenticeship is an 18- to 24-month, four-phase structured program that begins remotely to build foundational knowledge and finishes in working studios with live mentorship, designed for complete beginners with zero prior art experience.

The four-phase design is deliberate. You begin remote to establish fundamentals: art history, color theory, tattoo machine mechanics, and safety standards, so that when you walk into the studio, you are prepared to learn faster and ask better questions. Then you move into supervised practice, live client work under your Mentor’s watchful eye, and finally the professional independence to work confidently in a Tattoo Shop.

• Length: 18 to 24 months across four progressive phases that build on each other.
• Format: Remote foundation work, then in-studio hands-on training with award-winning Mentors.
• Beginner-friendly: No formal art experience or prior tattoo knowledge required to begin.
• Career-ready: Upon completion, you have licensing support and job-ready professional skills.

Here is the part that matters in an age of automation and AI: tattooing is irreducibly human. It is trust, skin, story, and a steady hand guided by judgment. A robot cannot build relationships with clients or adapt to the reality of human bodies. This is why we call tattooing an AI-proof career.

What is the Master Mentorship program?

Master Mentorship is a one-year, intensive in-person program where beginner and experienced tattoo artists train directly with celebrity and award-winning Mentors to master a specific style, accelerate their career growth, or launch a tattoo business.

This program is designed for people who are already on the path but feel stuck, or for ambitious beginners who want to compress years of learning into focused months. You work shoulder to shoulder with Mentors like Al Fliction, Liz Cook, Kyle Dunbar, Boneface, Jordi Pla, and Big Ceeze, focusing on intensive skill development, portfolio building, and the business foundations of owning your career and potentially your studio.

Already tattooing and feeling stuck at a skill plateau? Master Mentorship teaches you how to break through the ceiling and develop the signature style that makes you memorable. Already a passionate beginner with big ambitions? This program teaches you to compress years of typical learning into one year of focused, elite instruction and accountability.

Is Tattoo Artist Training accessible for Spanish speakers?

Yes. Ink Different offers Spanish-language Tattoo Artist Training at locations in Denver, Orange County, NYC, and Miami to ensure language is never a barrier to your creative career.

We believe career potential should not be limited by language. Making our tattoo apprenticeship available in Spanish means more people can access live mentorship, understand safety protocols thoroughly, and learn the business of tattooing without translation gaps.

Ready to meet your Mentor?

The Ink Different Mentor Roster exists so you never have to walk your path alone or waste years guessing your way forward.

You are the hero of this story. Your courage, your vision, your willingness to risk a paycheck for purpose – that is what matters. We are simply the guide who hands you the map and introduces you to the Mentor who will accelerate your journey.

One last truth: seats with our Mentors are limited by their very nature. Live, in-person mentorship cannot be mass-produced or scaled to infinite students. That is not a marketing tactic. It is the reason the training is worth having.

Ready to become a Tattoo Artist? Apply now to Ink Different’s Traditional Tattoo Apprenticeship and start building an AI-proof career with licensing support along the way. Not sure yet? Fill out our quick questionnaire and get personalized guidance to determine if our Traditional Tattoo Apprenticeship is the right next step for you.