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Aryanna Flisrand

Mr. Rudebusch

Lucid Illusions

4/8/21

Reflection

I spent a lot of time on my senior project. I spent around thirty hours shadowing, doing

research, creating my product, and meeting with my mentors. Twenty hours of that was spent

shadowing at the tattoo shop Lucid Illusions in Watertown, SD. An estimated three hours of that

work was spent on writing and researching. I worked on creating my senior product for at least 6

hours. There was at least 4 and a half hours spent on drawing out of the 6 hours working on my

final product. I spent about 30 minutes at the tattoo shop to get prices. Then, there was an hour

spent putting my portfolio together.

I faced a few different challenges throughout my senior project. My biggest problem was

when I was writing my research essay, I came across the problem of trying to find information

that would work for my thesis and research question. A lot of the information I was finding was

supporting only part of my thesis. I went through many different articles, but eventually with the

help of Mr. Rudebusch I was able to find articles that would work. The next biggest problem I

came across was when I was creating my product. While picking a few different styles of tattoos

to work with, I had trouble picking out what to draw in certain styles. I eventually figured out

what I was going to draw after doing research on each tattoo style.
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Now managing my time was another problem I faced. Not only while creating my

product, but also while shadowing. When I started shadowing at Lucid Illusions, I was only able

to shadow for a day before I got put in quarantine for 2 weeks. I realized that I would not finish

my shadowing by the time I needed to have it done and had asked Mr. Rudebusch for an

extension, which I was granted. Creating my product was a different story, I had to take a lot of

time during and after school to finish my drawings. When I first started my product, I thought I

had more than enough time; but once I started to work on the project, I realized I needed a lot

more time then I thought. By working on it during any free time I had, I was able to get it done a

few days before it was due.

Throughout this whole experience, I came to realize how much work goes into creating a

tattoo that will be permanently tattoo on someone’s skin and how much skill and practice it takes

to tattoo somebody. Steady hands and a good eye for art are both extremely important in the

tattoo community, one of which I don’t have. You need to be confident in your art and friendly

to costumers. The sterilization and protection of the tools used in tattooing are also very

important. If the equipment is not cleaned or protected in could end with infection or something

worse. Although I realized I don’t want to become a tattoo artist, it doesn’t mean that my respect

for them hasn’t grown after realizing how much work, skill, communication, and trust goes into

being a tattoo artist.

Learning is a part of your life, and this experience has taught me a few more things and

re-enforced others. Once you start something, see it through to the end and never leave anything

unfinished. This is a major thing in the tattoo industry because no one wants to walk around with

a half-done tattoo. Another thing that was re-enforced is that you always need to be kind to

people you don’t know and never tell someone else their artwork is bad. Being kind to people
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can help you throughout the future because you never know they can affect your life. Always

inspire people to follow their dreams, never squash them. After I leave for college, I plan to use

all the things I have learned during this project, whether it be while shadowing, researching, or

presenting, throughout my time in college and hopefully continue to use them after college.