Prick Magazine - 17 Artists from the 2nd Annual Charlotte Convention Feature

17 ARTISTS FROM THE 2ND ANNUAL
CHARLOTTE TATTOO EXPO

by Jonathan Williams
From the May 2004 issue of Prick Magazine.

Little John and Beth.

Tattoo by Brandon Bond.

Tattoo by Dave Martinez.

	The 2nd Annual Charlotte Tattoo Expo - held at the Hilton Charlotte University Place from April 30 - May 2, 2004 was sponsored by Little John’s Tattoo/Pirate Productions and co-sponsored by Ace Custom Tattoo and featured mostly artists from the Southeast. "My job as a tattoo promoter is to bring quality tattooists to an area [and] to bring customers to my friends who are tattooing so they have a good time making money and creating some art and doing what we do," says Little John. "It’s a great city to host an event in and we have a hotel that loves having us there and in a good place where we can do other stuff at the same time at a great time of year. Throw in a few seminars and some activities for fun and it makes for a pretty well-rounded weekend." The following is a collection of questions to tattoo artists in attendance at the 2nd Annual Charlotte Tattoo Expo.

	Brandon Bond Blinding Clarity Tattoos Atlanta, GA www.brandonbond.com How long have you been tattooing? Ten years. How long have you been in Atlanta? 18 months. Where were you before that? Everywhere. I tattooed in New Orleans, Miami, San Diego, Las Vegas, Seattle, Houston, Dallas, Austin, New York… What brought you to Atlanta? Deano Cook. I moved there to work with him originally at Psycho in Marietta. How long were you in Atlanta before went out on your own? Probably about seven months. How did you get started in tattooing? I got tattooed and it was pretty horrible. It was a design that I had drawn up and he botched it and charged me a buttload of money. I thought, ‘Damn, I could do that and probably a little better.’ So then I sought out an apprenticeship and that took a couple of years. I did some murals on buildings and eventually got a seat somewhere. I’ve been tattooing everyday since. Is that original tattoo covered up now? Yeah, totally. Laser, actually. That’s funny, a tattoo artist got a tattoo lasered off. Yeah, a bunch of ‘em. A lot of us do, actually. Laser is an awesome thing because you can just go back over it with newer, better stuff. What would you say is your style or specialty? Definitely really bold, bright colors, that’s what most people tend to seek me out for. But I’ve had the opportunity to work with so many great artists, and gotten work from a lot of great artists, that I’m trying to be real versatile. I think that’s allowed me to do that because all the people that I’ve worked with do things so differently that I kind of borrowed a little bit from each of them and I can pull off a lot of different styles. It’s a good thing. Is there a certain style that you prefer? Well, I love doing color stuff. That’s my favorite thing to do is really large, bold color stuff. I definitely think that in the last couple of years I’ve started to come into my own and started doing my own thing a lot more than I was and developing a style that I really enjoy doing. A lot of it is based on Japanese imagery and a lot of traditional illustration, but changed and twisted around, inside out. I also do portraits and stuff like that - working with people like Deano and Erin Bell really allowed me the opportunity to learn how to do that. I do a lot of dark black and gray stuff, too. People come to me for that sometimes, but colors are my favorite for sure. Who are some of the other artists you’ve worked with? Damon Conklin, I toured with him doing shows and he changed a lot about what it is that I do and how I do it. Most of my body is tattooed by Joe Capobianco and that changed everything for me. He’s a genius. Eric Merrill tattooed me a lot, and Chris Trevino. I think that doing these shows, you get the chance to work with and work next to a huge number of artists that normally you live across the country and you wouldn’t be able to. But you can sit and spend the weekend with them and see what’s up. It’s an awesome thing. Are you looking forward to the Charlotte convention? Definitely. It will be my first year to come to the Charlotte show and I’m stoked. I had a lot of clients show up and get tattooed [at the Greensboro show], so hopefully it will be the same thing there. I’ve had three articles come out within the last few months, which I feel incredibly grateful for. It’s allotted me the opportunity to branch out and do my own thing and have the client base to do it with. I tattoo privately by appointment only - there’s no distractions, no telephones, no nothing. I just sit and tattoo all day with all my concentration put into that. Most of the stuff that I’m doing has been published and it’s kind of a snowball effect and I’m really enjoying it. It’s awesome.

	Matt Terry Fu's Custom Tattoos Charlotte, N.C. www.fustattoos.com How long have you been tattooing? Almost six years. Where did you get started? Upstate New York, Syracuse. What brought you to Charlotte? Lack of snow, warmer weather and I found a really cool shop, so that was pretty much the way to go. New beginnings, warm weather, better environment - a complete package. How did you get into tattooing? I hooked up with a guy that eventually apprenticed me and I was drawing stuff for myself and for my friends and the more I got into seeing my artwork on people the more I was, like, ‘Oh, that’s so what I want to do.’ I was doing graphic arts and I had actually gotten a job at a studio doing comic book coloring and just as that was taking off, he was going to open up a new shop and wanted me to work for him. When you started off, were you doing stuff that was intended to be tattoo art? When I started off doing it, it was for people to get tattoo work done. When I would go to see him to have work done, I would show him a jacket I had painted or a picture I was working on or a magazine that something got published in so he kind of new I was an artist and not some guy who was there harassing him. I’ve been doing art my whole life, but when I started doing tattoos that’s what it was for. That’s how I got the interest was when I would draw something for me or my friends who wanted something designed for them. What would you say is your specialty? I think I’ve gotten to the realm now where I really like taking photo-realistic looking work and then adding that kind of out-there design concept to where it looks more believable. I’m kind of a photo reference whore, so I guess hyper-detailed, photo-realistic kind of stuff. I normally stay away from heavier line work unless the piece really calls for it, like if it’s a really design oriented piece. I like to try to put a lot of different styles in the same piece - I don’t mind sticking tribal work next to something that’s really conceptual, photo-realistic stuff as long as it works well as an illustration. But I like a lighter line and I like it to kind of have more of a photo quality. I really love colors and in just these past couple of years is the first I’ve actually been happy with my gray work. My boss helped me get a really good gray machine and a different needle technique and I’ve kind of come into my own a little bit, I’m more comfortable with it now. Before, I always liked the way it looked, but I couldn’t pull it off as well as I wanted to. I’m really happy with it now and I do about half gray work and half color. You’re relatively new to tattooing. I kind of am, yeah. I never really had any sort of name up in New York even though I had been doing it for, like, three years, so I came down here. It’s really tough. It’s a competitive field, but the people I’ve met have been really cool and this has been a much, much better environment for me. Being from up north, I thought everyone would be a dick. If you are actually a decent artist and you’re not a cock, then everybody hangs out and talks, and that’s great. You so need that environment to get any better. So, I’m relatively new, but I guess that’s why I’m always so anal, trying to go above and beyond to get noticed. Have you won any awards since you’ve started doing conventions? Not yet, I’m working on it. Actually, I haven’t had a whole bunch of stuff to bring to conventions until this year. I have a lot of big project pieces I’m hoping will be entered at the Charlotte show. As soon as you think you’ve hit that next level, everyone around you has done the same thing.

	Rusty Meyers Little John's Tattoo Greensboro, N.C. www.littlejohnstattoo.com How long have you been tattooing? Just over eight years, I’ve been with Little John about three [years] and I’ve been in professional shops maybe about six years now. What got you into the business? Well, I said I would never get tattooed and once I got my first one two months later I was getting my second one and within a year I was getting my forth one. When I walked out from getting my fourth tattoo, the guy who’d done it was really fast and had charged me $185 and I just thought to myself, ‘I think I could do this.’ I’d tried everything else in art and sculpting, I had just never made a living at it. I sold paintings here and there but never really made huge amounts of money. I got a kit and started from there just tattooing myself, family and friends right out of my house. How do you like working with Little John? The reason I wanted to work for Little John was because I knew he put on these conventions. I knew that I could meet better artists and learn from them, pick their brains about what I’d like to learn. That’s why I’m here and that’s why I work for Little John. What is your preferred style or technique of tattooing? I like just about anything gray-wash. I like to do more realistic looking things. I’m not so much into traditional and new school. I’d really love to learn how to do portraits a lot better. There’s really a whole lot of people that want portraits or that come in and ask for portraits. Tom Renshaw is one of my favorite artists. I really admire his work. Terry Manning’s another. I really love the way they do their gray-washing and make things look very realistic. Is that something you practice? Yeah, I do a lot of pencil sketches and working with pencils mostly. I saw one tattoo you did of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Yeah, this guy was a huge Lynyrd Skynyrd fan and he had a picture from the inside of a CD cover that he wanted done. I like when people bring me stuff, too. What are you anticipating for the Charlotte show? The Charlotte show’s going to be nice.

	Chris Stuart Ace Custom Tattoo Charlotte, N.C. www.acecustomtattoo.com How long have you been tattooing? Six years. I was at Skin Art in Gastonia for approximately three years and at Ace three years. How did you get started in tattooing? I started getting so heavily tattooed, it was either that or be a rock star. So, I chose the one that I had better skills at and started tattooing friends at the house. Some tattooists believe they’re rock stars. Looking at your portfolio, it looks like you like to do a lot of traditional work that’s colorful with dark lines. Is that your preferred thing? That’s what I love to do. It’s just that I started doing a few pieces like that and that’s just my clientele, that’s what they come to me for. I love Asian stuff a lot, but I really enjoy doing traditional stuff. There were a couple in there that were a little different, such as the one with the hands and the cherries that kind of look like traditional swallows. Do you like putting your own twist on things like that where it’s kind of traditional with a modern approach? I would rather someone just throw me an idea and let me do it the way I want to do it. I love to tattoo. I’ll do anything to make someone happy. I enjoy the business of tattooing. Are there certain techniques you employ that you’d like to share with other artists? Everyone definitely works a little different and I don’t see me being too much different from anyone else. I’m a little slower sometimes, but it pays off in the end I guess. If you charge by the hour… I wish I did do that sometimes. Do you work a lot of conventions? I don’t really work too many conventions. I like to stay around town and the clientele is so busy, it’s nice to stay at home. But I love to travel and hang out at conventions just to meet and talk with everyone and get tattooed. You’ve been tattooing for about six years, so you’re relatively new to the scene. Yeah, I’ve been getting tattooed for 11 years, so I was pretty heavily tattooed before I started tattooing. So you kind of learned before you were actually an artist? Exactly. Pretty much the best thing for me was traveling to conventions and watching different artists work and getting tattooed by different people. I’ve had no apprenticeship, so that’s the way I learned and I taught myself. So you just went from being tattooed to tattooing. Have you seen a vast improvement from then to now? Extremely. And working with Rodney [Raines] as well - it’s nice to work with a very accomplished artist who helps you. It’s got to be a little scary if you’ve never tattooed before and you haven’t apprenticed to just start doing it. The guy that was tattooing me offered me a job and I started hanging out and drawing stuff. He told me tattoo in front of him, so I did and he offered me a job that day. How did you find a Guinea Pig? My uncle - the guy that took me to get my first tattoo. Any anticipations for the Charlotte convention? I’m looking forward to it. Rodney and I had a great experience last year. Between the two of us, we both won seven awards, so it was a great hometown show. But I like to see things in magazines. Awards are only seen by people in the shop, so I’d rather people see stuff in magazines.

	Ryan Fleming Sanctuary Tattoo Portland, ME www.sanctuarytattoo.com You told me you’re a newbie. How long have you been tattooing? I’ve been tattooing about three years. I’ve only been at Sanctuary for six months. I worked at a couple of unmentionable places beforehand, but you’ve got to start somewhere. Did you start off in your house like a lot of other artists? Yeah, I was pretty much self-taught and I always admired these guys that I’m working with and they offered me a job when they expanded. So, it’s a learning experience now and I’m starting to hone my skills and whatnot. Actually, my serious tattooing started six months ago because I didn’t really have anyone to work with before. I was doing whatever I could and that’s not the way to go about it. But I didn’t have a choice. So Greensboro was your first convention and Charlotte will be your second. How did you like working a convention? I like it. I would always go to them - the Worchester convention, Boston convention - so it’s fun to get a chance to actually go and work and meet some people and hang out. Looking at your portfolio, it’s hard to notice a singular style. I haven’t really honed in on a style. At the shop I’m kind of the utility guy at this point, so I get everybody. I do a ton of tribal, but I don’t take pictures because I don’t want to get known for that. There’s only so many squiggly, pointy lines you can do. Is there a certain style for which you would like to become known? I like it all. I’ve got a whole Japanese leg, so I’ve been getting into that a lot lately. I really like the new school stuff, but it’s not really my artistic direction with the graffiti style. Living in Maine, you don’t get the same kind of clients as you would in the rest of the country - it takes a few years for it to catch up. I just enjoy all aspects of tattooing. I don’t care what it is, I just enjoy doing it and making people happy, even if it’s a little tiny thing. What got you into tattooing in the first place? I pretty much always wanted to do it since I was a kid. I’ve always been an artist, always drawn and stuff like that. And I’m a musician, so I’m in the art community. But up in Massachusetts, tattooing was illegal just until a couple of years ago, so it was really hard to find anybody willing to help out at all. So it wasn’t until I moved to Maine six or seven years ago that I finally started meeting some people that were trying to help me out. Then I got my first Spalding kit in the mail and it went from there. Do you remember what it was when you were a kid that made you want to be a tattoo artist? My dad’s got a bunch of really bad ones. I would see people with dragons and castles and just rock ‘n’ roll and heavy metal in the late ‘80s. The first time I saw one when I was, like, eight, I saw a guy with a big castle on his back and a dragon in some park or something and I followed him around for, like, an hour just looking at his tattoo. So it wasn’t a conscious thing. I got my first one when I was 15 and it was all over. Was that legal? No. The guy didn’t care, he didn’t check my ID, it was in somebody’s kitchen, and it was 20 bucks. But I was hooked. What are you anticipating for the Charlotte convention? I have no idea what to expect. I just want to have a good time and do a couple of tattoos while I’m there.

	Jamie Krantz The Ink Works Rustburg, VA www.billypowellinkworksinc.com How long have you been tattooing? About six years. I don’t see a specific style to your work. Is there anything you prefer doing? I like doing portraits, mainly black and gray. I just feel more comfortable doing it. It’s a lot more tedious because you’re just blending your grays out and stuff like that. I like the more realistic stuff rather than just doing a lot of color stuff. What got you into tattooing? It’s something I’ve always wanted to do ever since I saw my dad get his first one when I was ten years old. It was a panther that was a cover up on his arm. I’ve always been able to draw and I was a professional screenprinter for eight years before I decided to tattoo. Then I drew up some flash and I just took it around to some of the local shops and tried to get an apprenticeship. I worked at Icon Tattoo Studios in Lynchburg for about five years. When I first started my apprenticeship, Billy Powell showed me a lot, so I always felt dedicated to him for showing me that. So I went back to him [at The Ink Works]. Do you get more work at conventions or when you’re at the shop? Most of the time when I’m at the shop because my clientele knows what I can do and being a newbie, a lot of people kind of shy away from you if you haven’t been doing this for a long time. What are your expectations for Charlotte? I’ll just go and have a good time and hope I make some money and do some cool tattoos.

	Billy Powell The Ink Works Madison Heights, VA and Rustburg, VA www.billypowellinkworksinc.com How long have you been tattooing? Seven years. I worked for Icon where Jamie [Krantz] and all of them [worked] and it eventually just all merged together. I’ve had my own shops for four years. What initially got you into tattooing? I was a mechanic for 26 years and I used to build custom choppers and stuff of that nature. A friend of mine had a tattoo shop in Lynchburg and he got me started. Eventually I just dropped everything else and started tattooing. Do you still do custom bikes? We’re going to get right back into it, custom paint and everything. I was a custom painter and did custom graphics. We’ll be doing t-shirts probably by next year and silk-screening, too. Do you have a certain style of tattoos you prefer? I like black and gray portrait style. I like doing animals more than I do humans, but I can do them all. I’m just adapted to it and it’s easier for me to do. How was the Charlotte convention for you last year? It was a good convention. We took home 1st place color and 3rd place cover up. Do you have similar expectations for this year? You never know. I’ve seen days where you do stuff and it’s a hit and other times you think you’ve got it and you lose by a quarter of a hair. Really that ain’t what it’s all about anyway - it’s about meeting people, hanging out, learning a few tricks of the trade. There are such good artists nowadays - I mean, Dave Martinez, he’ll sit down and talk to you like a human being about anything concerning art, yet he’s one of the top ones out there as far as I’m concerned. Awards are nice, but they aren’t everything. You can’t eat them, you can’t chew them up, you can hang them on the wall, but meeting the people is where it’s at. They’ll keep you on your toes. Every year you think you’ve got it made and you come to a convention and find out how far you missed it because someone else beat you to the punch. That’s what excels the whole business is the competition because without it, it would probably be pretty stagnant.

	Jack Rudy Good Time Charlie’s Tattooland Anaheim, Ca. How long have you been tattooing? Well, I’m just starting out today. They haven’t put me on yet…. I’m going on 29 years. It looks like your specialty would be black and gray, is that an accurate assumption? That’s a pretty accurate assumption, although I will do any and all styles of tattooing pretty much. But I mostly get asked to do black and gray work. It is one of my specialties and I do more of that than anything else. It seems like portrait work is even more of a specialty for you. Yeah, I did my first portrait work sometime in early ’76 and I’ve been doing them ever since. I think I was probably one of the first people to do that in modern tattooing, which I got into in the summer of ’75. I’ve seen the work you’ve done for Steve O from Jackass and James Hetfield from Metallica. What other celebrities have you done? I’ve done a lot of work on Jesse James, the bike builder and outlaw. I actually haven’t done that many celebrities. The ones I’ve done, some of them are my friends, so that’s worked out real cool. Was Steve O a friend, or did he just know you for your portrait work? Actually, I don’t know if he knew anything about me. It might have been MTV that did their homework on that. But I haven’t seen him since I tattooed him. What are your expectations for your second Charlotte convention? That’s a great question. My expectations are as follows… No, I expect it to be good, and you can quote me on that.

	Dave Martinez Addictive Ink Tattoos Albuquerque, N.M. How long have you been tattooing? A little over 11 years, and it’s been quite an adventure. When I was tattooing at two years, I was doing some pretty decent stuff and a lot of people noticed and stuff like that. I had a couple of tattooers telling me I was a natural and that I was doing stuff at two years that it took them ten years to do. In ’95 I started doing the tattoo conventions circuit and I think I could have made a pretty good name for myself back then because I started winning awards and had people noticing my work, but the girlfriend I had at the time was always bitching and kind of made me stop going out on the scene. So I cut out and I didn’t come back on the scene until two years ago and it was crazy how many good tattooers there were. When I started back then, you had your select few. But when I came back two years ago onto the scene, I was, like, ‘Holy shit! There are so many good tattooers.’ So I had to work even harder this time to stand out and for people to notice what I was doing. It seems like there are just a lot more people interested in being tattoo artists these days. Yeah, guys who probably never before thought of being tattoo artists kind of fell into it. Someone like Jime Litwalk did graffiti and painting and stuff like that before. He said it just kind of kind of fell into his lap - he was just hanging out at a shop and the guys just offered to teach him. With me, I wanted to be a tattoo artist. It wasn’t like I did anything else. I could always draw and stuff like that, but I wanted to be a tattoo artist. I don’t know why, I just always wanted to do tattoos. I didn’t know I could make a living at it, I just wanted to do it. I didn’t figure out I could make a living at until about a year and half after I was doing it. During that first year and a half, I wasn’t charging anyone, I was just doing it. I was a nurses’ aide, so I worked in a hospital. I actually tattooed and worked there and went to school full time for nine months. There was one day that my supervisor at the hospital told me that the administration wanted to see me, so I had to wait around because I worked the graveyard shift. I didn’t know what the hell I did, and they were, like, ‘Is something wrong? You haven’t picked up your last two paychecks.’ That’s when I figured out that I was making a living tattooing. I was, like, ‘This is cool! Hell, I guess I’m giving you my two weeks notice.’ How does it feel to be sitting side by side with some of the artists that have inspired you? It’s an honor. All those guys like Cap Szumski, Brian Everett, Jack Rudy, Lyle Tuttle, any of those old school guys - I think I come from another rare breed of tattooers these days that still respects all the old school guys because I understand that if it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t have this great industry that we do. They paved the way for us, because it wasn’t always as easy as it is now. Those guys really worked hard when it wasn’t as acceptable and wasn’t as prosperous. They’re your true tattooers - they were in this because that’s who they were and that’s who they wanted to be. There’s a lot of guys in tattooing now because it’s easy money. It wasn’t easy money back then. Those are the guys I definitely have respect for and I try to have those ethics in my career as opposed to some of the younger guys coming out and saying, ‘I’m better than him and he was one of the greats.’ It’s not about that - if it wasn’t for him, you wouldn’t even be doing what you’re doing right now. Sometimes it’s surreal to me when people want my autograph or to take pictures with me or they really want my work because when I started, I was the young kid sitting in my bedroom opening magazines, looking at Cap and Brian and all those guys in the magazines and I was, like, ‘Shit, someday I’m going to be that.’ But I never really thought it was ever going to become a reality. Now that it is, it’s surreal. It just doesn’t seem real to me that people think I’m one of those household names or that I’m one of the greats or something like that. I try and stay humble about it because I don’t ever want it to go to my head and I don’t ever want anybody to think I’m some sort of asshole who thinks I’m better than everybody else. I worked hard for the status that I have and I truly keep the attitude that if it wasn’t for the people who let me work on them I wouldn’t have this status. They play a big part in what I do, because if I didn’t have the canvas to work on it wouldn’t make a difference how good I was. When I started doing conventions, I was always back in the corner. Now I’m right up front with Jack [Rudy] and all these other guys. It’s good, but I still don’t know what to think about it because I’m, like, ‘Is it real.’ It’s a good feeling when Jack comes over and gives me a compliment because it’s like all that hard work has paid off. Do you have a favorite style of tattoo that you like to do? I’m really versatile. I’ve never tried to paint myself into a box of one type of tattooing. So I can do realistic stuff and I can go all the way to new school really twisted, surreal stuff. It’s fun because I never get bored. My clientele base is widespread. That’s another reason why I think I stay busier than most people is because somebody that specializes may have ten people walk up to their booth and one of those people they can relate with and do something for them. I can relate with all ten people, so I could tattoo any of them if I wanted to. I think in this last year, I’ve grown more into how I like to do stuff. I think I’ve mushed all of those styles together. I can do the surrealistic stuff but with some bold lines and then some shading that makes it look a little more real. In my black and gray work, I’m not doing a lot of outlining anymore, I’m doing a lot of stuff with just my mags and my shears. Even when I’m doing color work, I’m doing a lot more stuff like that - I’m shaping stuff with all the black and then putting the color in there. When I would do color work before, I would do a lot of outlining. Now I’m using a lot of black shadows and stuff like that and doing these really loose backgrounds. I think what’s happening with my style is that it’s almost becoming more like paintings instead of just tattoos. I really like working like that now and I think I’ve kind of found my niche and people are appreciating it and people are happy to let me do what I think is going to be a good tattoo. Jime Litwalk, Tony Ciavarro, Guy Aitchison, you can just tell their stuff anywhere. I never thought I had that, but I think I’m kind of progressing into that.

	Jason Spainhour Little John's Tattoo Greensboro, N.C. www.littlejohnstattoo.com How long have you been tattooing? Nine years. How do you like working with Little John? I love it. He’s probably the best boss I’ve ever had. Working with him is great. You won Tattoo Artist of the Year at the Greensboro convention in February. You must have felt honored. It’s a pretty awesome award. I’m pretty stoked about it. I’ve never seen him give to anybody that works for him before, so I was, like, ‘Did he say my name? Is that me he’s talking about?’ Why do you think you were selected for that award? Because I work my ass off. It looks like you are able to do many different styles. Is that a conscious effort on your part? I try to be fluent with everything. Instead of just taking one style and using it as a gimmick, I try to do each and everything - black and gray, traditional, Japanese, new school. If it’s got an outline and color, I’m into it. What initially drew you to tattooing? I was just fascinated with it. My dad’s friends had tattoos and I used to draw them on myself in middle school and stuff. I messed around and started doing them out of the house when I was, like, 15 years old. I had tattoos then, but they were pretty terrible. How was the Charlotte convention for you last year and what do anticipate for this year? I had a great time. It’s going to be a great show. Little John’s shows are always a lot of fun. I work a lot of shows and they’re probably my favorite. Not because he’s my boss, it’s just real comfortable working at his shows. They have a real nice family atmosphere.

	Rodney Raines Ace Custom Tattoo Charlotte, N.C. www.acecustomtattoo.com How long have you been tattooing? I started tattooing seven years ago at Point Blank in Hendersonville, N.C. I’ve been at Ace for about five years now. You do a lot of styles of tattooing. Is there a certain thing you prefer doing? I don’t have one thing that I prefer to do, I don’t have one thing that I hate to do. I enjoy the challenge of doing something I haven’t tried to do before. I really don’t try to pigeonhole myself that much. I’d rather take on a new challenge and hopefully learn something in the process. Why do you feel you are so accomplished for someone who hasn’t really been doing tattoos for that long? Because that’s all I do. I’ve just completely submerged myself in it. If I’m not tattooing, I’m creating art on some other level and it all spirals together at some point. Whether I’m drawing or painting or tattooing or whatever it may be, [art] is always on my mind. I think just the fact that I’ve committed to it on the level I have and not ever rested from achieving one thing has been the key for me. Each milestone I’ve had - getting into a convention I wanted to get into or getting an article done - rather than sitting back on that and going, ‘Okay, this establishes me,’ I’ve decided that there’s just another peak to try to reach. As long as I keep doing that, then the sky’s the limit. Do you like doing conventions where you get to watch and learn from people who have been doing this for a long time? Absolutely. That’s another part of learning is finding out how we got here and not just what’s the new thing happening. It’s more important to me to find out what the old thing was that made the current thing possible and is going to make the next thing possible. I would rather sit down and talk to someone that’s experienced a level of tattooing that I can’t experience because it’s not going to happen again and find out how they got to where they are and hopefully use that as a tool for me to get to the next place I’m going. How was the Charlotte convention last year? Charlotte was great for me. It’s hometown for me, so I’ll probably be pretty booked before I even get to the show by my regular clientele that just want to get tattooed at the convention. Any convention close to home is always a lot easier than going to an uncharted area. It should be a good place for us to showcase our work because we’ve done a lot of work in that area and our clientele will be there showing off their work. You’ve been doing art shows that showcase the non-tattoo works of tattoo artists. Were you an artist before you got into tattooing? I’ve done nothing but art my whole life - things like drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography, any visual image has always been what I’ve wanted to do.

	Holly Azzara Little John's Tattoo Greensboro, N.C. www.littlejohnstattoo.com How long have you been tattooing? 2 years. Where did you get started tattooing? I started in Massachusetts. I did an apprenticeship up there and I met Little John about two months after I started apprenticing. I didn’t know who he was, but I had this friend who was, like, ‘Hey, I’m going to get tattooed by this guy from North Carolina. You want to come?’ So, I came and watched and I kept in touch with him and we became really good friends. He’s helped me out a lot and I’ve learned a lot from him. The first time I got tattooed by him was on the day of my high school graduation and then the next day on the same piece. I will never do that again, that as horrible. It definitely hurt. How long have you been working at Little John’s? Since last July. John will say it himself, but my tattooing since the time I got here to now has been night and day. I’ve improved a lot and a lot of it has been because I’ve been able to do tattoos constantly. I wasn’t really doing that in Masschusetts - I was tattooing my friends and people they knew and it wasn’t very often. Now I’m just taking my time and really trying to understand what I’m doing. Do you still get nervous about it? There are some tattoos I’ve done that I’ve felt pretty overwhelmed with. I just try to take my time and if I run out of time I can always go back into it and do more. I did one tattoo [not long ago] that was pretty big and she was all about getting it done in one sitting, but it was impossible. Being relatively new to tattooing, do you feel there are styles you like doing more than others? At this point in my career, I don’t think it would be a good thing to try to concentrate on one style. I’d like to be able to say that I can do anything. I’m just trying to do everything as best as I possibly can and give them a good experience overall. How do you like doing these conventions where you’re right next to guys who have been tattooing longer than you’ve been alive? Sometimes I feel really stupid, like, ‘Why am I allowed to tattoo here?’ But I’m pretty confident now and I feel better about what I can do. I’m not going to try to do something that I know I can’t do. I’m just having a good time and to be around all these other amazing artists is really an honor. You’ve got to start somewhere and everyone in the room has been in my position. Everyone’s really good about being understanding and helpful and encouraging. Basically, what I really like about conventions is I get really good constructive criticism. I want to know the good things I’m doing, but I also want to know the bad things so I can go ahead and fix it and work on it. Do you find that because you’re a girl people come to you for girlie things? Yeah, sometimes. Actually, some people will ask me what I do and I tell them I tattoo. Because I’ve got a lot of facial piercings, people automatically think I’m a piercer instead of a tattoo artist. I get a lot of girlie things, but I like doing girlie things. Some girls are a little shy and they feel a little more comfortable having a girl do it in a slightly more private area. Do you get a lot of guys wanting you to do stuff like that? I’m not stupid, I know sex sells. I’d rather not be looked at differently because I’m a girl, but it’s one of those inevitable things that’s going to happen.

	Harry Aron Harry's Tattoo Shop Danville, VA www.harrystattooshop.com How long have you been tattooing? Going on 11 years. Where did you get started? I started in Durham, North Carolina at a company called Ink Slingers. What initially got you into tattooing? I didn’t really have an initiative to do it. I went to school for commercial art illustrations and started painting bikes. A fellow saw a paint job and asked me if I’d be interested [in tattooing]. He offered me a job four times, I turned him down and the fifth time I took it. I didn’t plan on it at all and I was 27 years old before I even got in it. So, I just kind of fell into it. Did you apprentice first? He hired me and took me in strictly as an artist for six months. The day I got there, all four artists quit. It was a really busy shop and he had to have some help, so he asked me if I’d be interested in going ahead and learning. So, he gave me a one-month course and it was really intense. Within six months, I had my own shop, which was kind of crazy. It looks like you do a lot of black and gray. Yeah, I stick to mostly black and gray work. Growing up, I did a lot of portraits and worked in pencil medium and in ink medium. In my tattoos, I use all rounds. Most tattoo artists are using mags now and I think growing up using pencils, that round needle allows me to do what I can do with a tattoo like using a pencil. I had to learn to do color because you pretty much have to do color. I’m trying to get to the point where it’s all black and gray, but I don’t think it’ll ever happen. Ninety percent of the work I do is custom. The Lord of the Rings [piece] has gotten me a lot of attention in the past year. I did that last year on a fellow from home and he’s won a lot of awards and gotten a lot of magazine attention. Mostly, I like realism and I like doing a lot of textures. Were you at the Charlotte convention last year? As a spectator, not as an artist. John brought in a lot of new faces last year in Charlotte and I was glad to see that. So, you’ve tattooed members of Def Lepard? [A friend of mine] had a backstage pass and they saw a piece and asked me to bring my machine to the next show. I went out with them nine times on tour. Joe [Elliott] flew me to Wichita to cover up his girlfriend’s name on his arm. He kicked her out of the house and called me two days later and said you’ve got to be in Wichita in two days. I had to cancel appointments and everything and fly to Wichita. I stayed five days and worked on the whole crew. I did Sav [Rick Savage]’s first tattoo. But that’s been a real good morale booster and work booster and I’ve gotten a whole lot of publicity off that deal. And they’ve become really good friends and we keep in touch.

	Deana Lippens Deana's Skin Art Studio Christmas, FL www.deanaskinart.com How long have you been tattooing? 23 years. What initially attracted you to tattooing? I was attracted to tattoos before they’d let me tattoo. After I only had one tattoo, I started to learn how to tattoo when I was 25. A friend of mine taught me with a year’s apprenticeship. Then when I tried to go get a job, nobody’d hire me, so I decided to open my own business. It looks like you have developed many different styles of tattooing. I try to do what everybody wants. I used to like the black and gray but I’ve kind of gone into the color, too. Of course, there’re tattoos that I like doing a whole lot better than other tattoos. It seems that you have kind of become known for your fantasy work. That’s the kind of stuff I like - dragons and wizards and things. Were you an artist before you got into tattooing? Yes. I did pen and ink and watercolors and a couple of different kinds of charcoal and stuff. Then I didn’t draw for a while and worked for a while. Then I started tattooing and started drawing more again and here I am. Arts and crafts, making flowers, feathers and jewelry - I liked all of it. I also used to design clothing for dancers. Have you continued to do any of those things since you’ve been a tattooer? Some. Tattooing is what I do to make a living and the other stuff is kind of what you do to have fun and that’s more of a hobby unless it’s for watercolor painting flash, which we’re going to use in the tattoo field. The rest of it’s all for fun. You’re lucky enough to have a job that’s also fun. I created a job for myself. I’m lucky enough to love my job and be able to do it everyday of my life and not worry about it. I go to work when I want to and do what I want when I want and if they don’t want to pay me or I don’t want to do it I don’t have to. You also organize the Marked For Life Female Tattoo Artist Expo. Do you prefer doing your own convention or being a part of other conventions? Putting on a convention is totally different than going to a convention. I wouldn’t attempt to do another convention. One is plenty for me to produce, but I go to numerous conventions to promote the one I’m doing and to go and do my work and make my living.

	Jason Guy Next Generation Tattoo Machines/Tried and True Tattoo Marino Valley, CA www.ngtattoomachines.com From what I understand, you started out as a tattoo artist. Yes. I started tattooing 12 years ago. Not as much now because the machines keep me so busy. But I’m just taking time to go to conventions and kind of relearn from all the good people, then I’ll go back and start tattooing again once I have time. Do you have your own shop? I had my own shop, but I closed it down to do the machines and just started working for other people. It’s a lot less stress than trying to own a shop and do the machines, since I travel so much. Do you work at a certain shop regularly? I was at a shop called Inkaholics, but my friend’s opening another shop, so we’re going to bring Next Generation and a tattoo shop together and start bringing artists out to California because we’re kind of starving out there. Mike Cole is moving out there and a couple of guys from California, nobody really well known, but they should be once they start getting out to all the shows. How did you get involved with making machines? After six years of tattooing, I was tired of the machines I was using. There was a little thing about each one that wasn’t right, so I decided to make a machine just for myself. I made one prototype and used it for a while. Other people wanted to use it, so I’d let them use it and they kept telling me to make them. I decided I should start making them for my friends and it just snowballed from there. I didn’t plan on making a bunch of machines and starting a company, it was just that when I made one for myself and everyone liked it so much, they kind of made me do it. Are they mass produced or handmade? Mass produced is a tough term. Everybody says there’s custom machines and mine are like cookie-cutter, mass produced machines because they’re C&C cut, they’re not hand cut. But just as much work goes into a machine that’s C&C cut as a regular machine. I guess they are mass produced because I do sell a lot of them, but I still put all my time into each one. I don’t have other people doing all the stuff for me and right now it’s just me and my father doing all the sanding and buffing and all the work that goes into them. Who are some of the artists that use your machines? Guy Aitchison, Jon Clue, Don McDonald, Mike Cole, Sarah Peacock, Tony Ciavarro, Rodney Raines, Marcus Kuhn, Cory Kruger, Michele Wortman, Corey Cudney. There’s probably 30-40 well known artists that are using the machines. Did you work the Charlotte convention last year? Yes. It was awesome. I didn’t expect to do as much business as I did there for it being a first year show. I came by myself and I wished I had brought my father because it was really busy. It was a good show. Hopefully it will be as good as it was last year. I think it was a good first year, so people will definitely want to come back to it.

	Jeremy Whitley Little John's Tattoo Greensboro, N.C. www.littlejohnstattoo.com How long have you been tattooing? About five or six years, on and off. Did you have a day job or something that prevented you from doing it full time? Pretty much. I quit for about four months one time, I quit for about a year one time and had odd jobs. What got you into tattooing initially? Girls, honestly, at first. Did you get what you wanted out if it? Yeah! Well, it didn’t last long. It got to the art later on. It looks like you focus more on traditional stuff. Yeah, I’ve been focusing more on Japanese lately. It’s like a step above for me to do Japanese stuff. It’s bigger tattoos, sleeves and stuff like that instead of smaller tattoos. Are you still trying different things or are you planning to stick to what you’re doing? I’ll keep trying new things for sure. I’m just trying to learn all the Japanese stuff I can. It’s hard. How long have you been working for Little John? Almost a year. How did you get involved with him? I was working at another shop in town that wasn’t doing so good and he gave me a call and gave me a job. How do you like working with him? It’s fun. I like it a lot. Did you work the Charlotte convention last year? Yeah, it was fun. I think it will be way better this year because it’s not on Mother’s Day. And more people know about it. How is it working right alongside people like Jack Rudy and Dave Martinez at these conventions? It’s great. I’m busy all the time. H ave you had the opportunity to talk to those guys at all? Yeah, I talked to Jack for 30 minutes or so. Did you learn anything from him? No, he was actually talking about women and looking for some girl I had tattooed. He was trying to hook up with her or something.

	Mike Cole Studio MC4 Asheville, N.C. www.studiomc4.com How long have you been tattooing? Eleven years. What initially got you into tattooing? I was going to college doing art classes and wasn’t free enough to do what I wanted. I was getting tattooed at the time and the guy that was tattooing asked me if I wanted to do it after seeing some drawings. So I went from there and learned as I went with no formal apprenticeship. Do you think that was a good thing and would you recommend it? No, it’s probably better to go up under somebody’s wing. I think wanting it so bad and the hard work makes you work harder to get what you want and get better by constantly observing and that kind of thing. Did you do the Charlotte convention last year? Yes. It was good. It was busy for a first show and it was a really good atmosphere. Do you think this year will be as good? It’ll be better. Who were some of your influences? Well, of course, Guy Aitchison. Aaron Cain. A lot of new artists are starting to influence getting good quicker with all the free information that’s out there. Guy Aitchison’s book is really helping a lot. I can definitely see that influence in your work. How do you do the light source stuff? Just looking at things the way light hits them, observing it and trying to reproduce it. How has your work progressed since you started tattooing? I started off mimicking other artists and then came up with this geometry that I’m doing and that’s probably more influenced by Escher. It was almost like a switch turned on and I started trying to take it in a different direction with the veiny, Gigerish kind of stuff. I’ve always had a thing for math. I couldn’t really figure out a way to incorporate it into tattooing and then I just started doing it. So originally you were doing more traditional biomechanical stuff? Yeah, and now I’m trying to fuse the geometry with that. It’s kind of hard because you have a more organic feel and such a sharp edge feel, it’s kind of hard to mix the two and make them join. It’s hard to fuse the more unpredictable elements like vein textures and bumpy stuff with just a real hard edge. That’s my goal, to try to fuse those two. Do you like working conventions more than staying at your private studio? Yeah, because the people come for large pieces and they come to collect. Locally, they want more of the pop culture ones, tribal and the more typical stuff you see people getting. Is there anything you would simply refuse to do? I don’t like to do things that are too symbolic. Religious stuff I don’t really care to get into. Nothing that puts a person in any particular group or anything like that. What is like being right next to the legendary artists at these conventions? Very inspiring. These are the people that motivated me to push myself. Some of them are a little intimidating and you don’t know what to say to them and still feel like a little kid watching them work and things like that. Who are some of the more established guys that have been encouraging to you? Guy, of course, is probably the only person I’ve interacted with that has given me verbal advice and steers me in directions and gives me little tips and stuff.
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