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JOSH FORD
AN HONORABLE LIFETIME OF SOL
by Chris Collins of Steadfast Brand
Photos courtesy of Josh Ford
From the December 2007 issue of PRICK Magazine
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Josh Ford is one of those guys whose friends don't understand how more people don't know this guy. Originally from Atlanta, Ford can now be found at Lifetime of Sol in Denver, Colo. His personal endeavors are as varied and as well executed as his tattoos. I caught up with him on the phone and, unless you are getting tattooed or are on the mat defending yourself from his attack, that’s the only real chance you may find him available.
What got you into the business?
Just being young, getting tattooed, and thinking that being a tattoo artist would be right in line with that young, tough guy mentality. Plus, I wanted to do something art based and graphic design didn't seem like the field for me.
How old were you when you got your first tattoo and where did you get it?
I was thirteen and in my friend's bedroom. It was a hand-poked teardrop on my ankle.
Where did you begin your journey to working in a real shop?
The beginning was kinda hazy because I couldn't find any place that would apprentice me for less than $5,000 to $10,000. I started piercing to get my foot in the door and everything sort of started from there.
I moved to Atlanta during the Olympics and started working at Urban Tribe. I was trying to finish my apprenticeship there. Then, I met a
tattoo artist—a crazy speed freak—who started teaching me about
tattooing. He started showing me about tubes and needles and machine basics. I took the money I was going to use to go to the Fakir School and bought tattoo equipment instead. The guy kinda threw me into
tattooing and had me doing a couple tattoos here and there. One day he comes into the shop and says that he isn't responsible enough to teach me how to tattoo. That was the end of that, and I moved back to Denver.
I moved in with an old friend who was apprenticing under Mike Nickels. I started working construction and other odd jobs just to pay the bills. During my free time, I was getting tattooed and watching Mike work, which gave me the jolt to start tattooing again. So I found a really crappy shop in Golden, Colo. They told me to bring a portfolio and when I said I didn't have one, they told me to bring someone to tattoo. So I brought a guy up and did a tattoo that was way too big for what I should have been doing, and they hired me anyway. So, at this point, I had done about a one-month apprenticeship by a speed freak, and I was working full time at a biker shop.
I was working for these people for a
couple months, and they kept writing me
paychecks that were bouncing because of their crack addictions. I went to work at another shop in town that was overstaffed and that gave me a ridiculously small percentage. In the midst of all this, Mike was still tattooing me, and I was still asking questions to gain more of an understanding about tattooing.
At the same time Mike had decided to open a tattoo shop, Twisted Sol, and in my free time I was going down to help build it. Once that shop had been open for a month, Mike offered me a job and a real apprenticeship. From that point on I learned what tattooing was all about and how to respect tattooing.
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Who were some of the artists that first inspired you?
Grime, Guy Atchison, Adrian Lee, and Aaron Cain. Guys like that were blowing up. The big influences around me were Mike Nickels and Jeff Kopp, who I also worked with at Twisted Sol.
What about their styles motivated you?
My work was influenced by graffiti art and '90s new school—bold line, colorful pieces that were being produced by people like my friend Mike. He was motivating me to constantly work on my art and try to make my work more dynamic. He was also turning me on to guys like Timothy Hoyer, Chris Trevino, and others who were pushing the limits of tattooing. Mike was good at making me look at the big picture instead of the small pond-type of outlook.
When did your tattooing start to go in the direction that you're now taking it?
What I do now is a cultivation of different periods of my tattooing. I went from straining to work on my artwork to working on more of the technical aspect of tattooing. I think that because I apprenticed in a full custom shop, I went in reverse a little bit. Instead of having tons of flash to practice my technique on, I had to focus on my artwork just as much. So I took a step back from the art for a year and worked at a flash shop in Arkansas doing tons of flash.
After feeling more comfortable with my technical ability, I went back to focusing on my art. I started working on realism, traditional, and then Japanese. The last few years, I have tried to become as versatile as possible, and I feel that one of the biggest challenges of being a tattoo artist is not simply defining your own style, but having to satisfy your customers by creating a mix of your art and their ideas.
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Current influences?
Mike has been a steady influence throughout my career. Even though our styles are drastically different now, it's his drive to add something new to his style and not just do the same thing over and over again that pushes me. I also draw a lot of influence from Jime Litwalk. Traveling with Jime for so long and watching his illustration style and how he approaches his art, I see new ways to approach my own style illustration.
Even though he might not admit it, Grime has been a long distance mentor to me. He has critiqued me many times through the course of my career and has been a hard word of truth, but he also helped me push past boundaries. I got lucky enough to work with Deano Cook, who is one of the best portrait artists in the business. He taught me a lot about realistic tattooing and seeing tattoos from a different perspective.
Adam Ciferri has not only been one of the most critical people in helping me with my control of the equipment that I use to tattoo, but has also been a powerful figure in teaching me how to approach my illustrations in tattooing. Many people know Adam for his machine-building prowess, but he's also one of the best tattoo artists I know. There have been a lot of other guys along the road: Matt Rousseau, Gunnar, Jeff Zuck, Horiyoshi, guys who I've either been involved with personally or from a distance who I see unlock something better in the art.
Tell us about Lifetime of Sol.
Lifetime of Sol was an opportunity that just kind of jumped in my lap. To me, it was a sign of a crossroads in my life. I had begun to feel that I had become stiff and bored. It kinda gave me the opportunity to push myself again—not just in tattooing but also in my life. The shop has been there as Lifetime Tattoo since 2001, and I took over in February of 2006. I have a solid staff that I love; and we’ve been pretty well received.
Tell us about your Honorable Irons.
I started messing around with machines a few years into tattooing and after about five years, I decided to really learn about them. I ended up emailing Adam Ciferri about his machines and he invited me to San Francisco to see his workshop. Basically, I went and stayed with Adam and did about seventy hours worth of work in his machine shop over a week. It was the start of a beautiful friendship. That's where I got some good, solid knowledge about tuning machines and, under Adam's guidance, I spent the next few years doing nothing but re-tuning and fixing machines.
In that span of time, I also met Joey D. of Infinite Irons. Joey is not only a great machine builder, but his knowledge of machinery and its efficiency is unbelievably motivating. Between the knowledge I got from Adam, Joey, and some other machine builders here and there, I feel like my machine building became a work of cultivation—just like my tattooing. I took influences from many builders and found what worked for me. After a handful of years, Adam told me that it was time to start building machines based not only on what I knew, but also on what I wanted out of a machine. If I were to build a machine exactly like Adam or Joey, what was the point? They were already doing that.
I feel that if people respect the technical aspects of your tattooing, then it's easier for people to believe in your machine theories. It follows the adage of never trusting a skinny chef; you’re not going to trust a tattoo artist without any tattoos. If my line work looks like crap, why would you buy my liner? If my color is choppy and patchy, why buy my shader? That's the way I see it.
What's your favorite pastime outside of work?
Hanging out with my wife and two beautiful children is a given and is, additionally, a blessing. My other love and life outside of that is teaching and training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which helps keep me healthy both mentally and physically. It's my little sanctuary where I can go and focus for an hour or two a day on nothing but being in control of my body and free of outside issues. I also like to travel when possible, but it's getting harder and harder as my kids get older.
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