Mickey Sharpz, nice. Is he apprenticing? I'm just learning myself, but I do a lot of research and question asking whenever I get into something, so I'll say what I can. Starbright is a favorate, but I don't like it because it's too thin. It does hold bright colors well. Some people like Intenze Ink. It hasn't been around long enough to see how it will hold up down the road, but it's looking good so far. I personally like thicker ink and stick with Intenze or Millennium uncut or only slightly cut. For black I use Kuro-Sumi. I would suggest him using what his teacher uses and when he is tattooing on his own he can switch one or two colors to a different brand and see how he likes them. He can mess around with a different brands color and try them while still mainly using what he knows works and what he is used to.