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When I first found Mark’s portfolio I was seriously impressed. The only downside was that he’s located across the country from me. However if you’re in Florida (or somewhere close) you can find him at his shop–Forever Tattoo Parlour in Cape Coral, FL.

TattooSnob: Let’s get the most generic question out of the way. Tell us a little about yourself!

Mark Stewart: Not too much too tell… I’ve been tattooing for 7 years and have owned my own shop for 4 years. I like doing American traditional and Japanese tattoos. I’ve been married for 7 years and I have two pugs.

TS: Artists often refer to a time period when it all came together, could you tell us a bit about when that was for you?

Mark: I would have to say the past two years have really been when I feel like everything “came together” as you say. I started doing conventions and getting to work around great artists. I started doing guest spots and having people guest spot at my shop… so I got to learn new things and techniques first hand. I also wanted to feel like I could compete with the other artists at conventions so I definitely stepped it up a notch and tried to develop a style that would set myself apart. I got a lot of compliments on my work from other great artists so I wanted to make sure I could live up that.

TS: On the shop’s website, your portfolio is described as “solid lines and bright colors”–do you credit anything in particular for driving you to make that your specialty?

Mark: I think I started doing traditional tattoos because I wanted to be able to tell what I did from across the room. I want to do tattoos that are going to last. My background in art was mostly black and gray drawings and portraits which is kind of weird that I went the way I did and don’t ever do portrait tattoos or “realism” tattoos. I just like seeing bold, bright tattoos that stand out. I want to do tattoos that I would want on me.

TS: Often the downside of being particularly skilled at any “type” of tattooing is winding up pigeonholed. Are there any types of tattoos you wish you got to do more of?

Mark: Not really; I like doing what i do. I will send someone to somebody that specializes in what they want if I don’t do it… but I would like to do more “taz” tattoos.

TS: What’s the best way for someone to contact you regarding a consultation and scheduling an appointment?

Mark: The best way to get a hold of me is calling the shop… Forever Tattoo Parlour, 239-945-4387. Or email me at mark@forevertattoo.net.

TS: How long can the average client expect to wait before being able to get an appointment with you?

Mark: I usually try to get people in a week after their consultation.

TS: Is there one tattoo you’ve done that you’d consider a personal favorite?

Mark: That’s a hard question… usually the newest tattoo I do becomes somewhat of my favorite but if I had to choose one it would be the girl’s face I did on my wife’s arm. It was the start of a new direction I was taking my tattooing.

TS: Let’s talk about the last time you were tattooed – who did it, and what was it?

Mark: The last time i was excited about getting tattooed was by Chad Koeplinger. It’s a girl head on my right hand. That was about a year ago, I have had some other little stuff done but mostly just covering up old crap that I got when I didn’t know any better!

TS: Are there any artists out there you’d like to be tattooed by, space and time permitting of course?

Mark: I would like to get tattooed by Steve Boltz, Steve Byrne, Russ Abbott and Thad Ritchey. There are more but those would be fine for now.

TS: What are some of your favorite tattoo conventions to attend/work at? Do you have any you specifically like to work, or any new ones you’ll be checking out this year?

Mark: I have only done a couple and one was good and one was horrible so I won’t mention any names… but I’m doing the Baltimore convention this February and I’m pretty excited about that. I like it up there and hear the convention is pretty good.

TS: I’ve witnessed tattoo artists using headphones before while they were tattooing. Personally, I definitely feel like part of the bonding time between a tattoo artist and a client is the chatter that typically occurs during the tattoo. What is your general feeling on this?

Mark: Yeah I’m not like that. I definitely like to talk with my customers while I work… or sometimes I’ll just smile and nod while they talk about something–but I like to make their time enjoyable and want people to know they can talk to me and I’m not a stuck-up, pretentious tattoo artist. If I was rude to everyone then who would I tattoo? It’s a business and I like to have good customer service! I don’t care how good someone is, if they are an asshole then I won’t get tattooed by them.

TS: What are you involved with aside from tattooing?
Mark: I play drums in a band called FREIGHTLINER. You can check us out on myspace.com/freightlinerfl. That’s pretty much all I do when I’m not tattooing aside from hanging out with my wife and friends.

TS: Any last minute plugs?

myspace.com/markstewart
myspace.com/forevertattoo
forevertattoo.net

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Tags: Forever Tattoo Parlour, Mark Stewart

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 1st, 2009 at 9:00 am and is filed under Artist Profile. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.