TattooSnob.com » Artist Interviews

Artist Interview: Kid Kros

Julene — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:00:33 +0000

It was Kid Kros‘ color work that caught my eye, at least initially. After learning how strongly his background in graffiti ties into his love for lettering, it’s safe to say I will probably always keep tabs on this Croatian tattooer. It’s amazing how many artists I would never be exposed to without the internet.

Of course, Kid was a bit of an internet phantom when I first came across his work–a man without an active internet presence can be rather tough to get in touch with. Thankfully, he’s since gotten onto Facebook and was kind enough to grant us with an interview.

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Tattoo Snob: I’m sure everyone would like to know the History of ‘Kid Kros’ – who are you, anyway?

Kid Kros: I am 33 years old, born and raised in Split, Croatia, where I still live and work… Been tattooing for 9 years now and go by the name Kid Kros. It’s the name from my graffiti background. I am part of the graffiti crew that got “kids” in the name of the crew, so Kid Kros it is… I use that name mostly because it was on my online portfolios from the start, and I participated in a few projects, books, conventions, with that name, so it just stuck with me.

I started tattooing about 9 years ago with handmade, jail-style machines. It’s just another “beginning story” really–the same way 90 % of the tattoo artists out there started. Tattooing whoever wanted to get tattooed in my room; just doing it without any knowledge of anything.

Things became more serious when I bought my first starter kit, and after spending some time doing tattoos “out of the kitchen” I went looking for a ‘real job’. I started at a local tattoo shop and stayed there for several years before moving to my friend’s shop.

TS: You’ve mentioned before that your family is supportive of your pursuit of being a tattooer. Do you think there was any particular reason they were so cool about it?

Kid: Yes, my family was always supportive either with graffiti or tattooing, as long as I’m happy with it. When I first started with graffiti my parents were not too happy about it. At least illegal aspect of it–they always thought that was just a phase in my adolescence.

My father was a sailor. He came back home from the boat one time with a tattoo–a heart with a dagger on his forearm. So he was familiar with the art form.

TS: What kind of weight did being tattooed carry socially at that point?

Kid: I was just a kid then, can’t remember how old I was, but I thought it was really cool. It was the first time I saw a tattoo, and it was just some old school flash. After that I always drew swords, daggers, that kind of stuff. I knew to draw his tattoo exactly as it was, and I still could copy it from my memory. I remember that my grandparents were not so happy about it, but for me it was mystical thing.

TS: When it comes to sailor-related tattoo imagery, do you have any favorites? Anything you’ve had tattooed on yourself in homage to your father?

Kid: I like all of the sailor-related stuff, but don’t have any favorites. I’m not picky when it comes to tattooing. If it’s up to me, I won’t do tribal. Not that I have something against tribal tattoos–I have much respect for tribal art, and tattoo artists that do only tribal–it’s just not for me.

I’m cool with anything that will translate into a nice tattoo.

TS: Tell us about your background in graffiti. What made you so interested in it, did you have a particular style or location you preferred?

Kid: Graffiti is my first love. It all started when I was a teenager as some kind of rebellion against the world. I am not as active nowadays as I was in the past. Tattooing is taking all of my time now. I do a piece now and then, a graffiti jam also, just to see some old friends and have a good time.

TS: Do you think graffiti led you to tattooing at all? Or would you have wound up there anyway?

Kid: Hmmm, hard to say… it sure helped a lot. Everything from colors, flow and composition, to letter forms. I see that many graffiti writers became tattoo artist. Might be something with art medium you work on. When you hit all kind of surfaces, eventually it’s time to hit the skin, hahaha.

TS: As an aside that has more to do with graffiti than tattooing, within the US the term “con safos” has become heavily associated with the art form. Is there some equivalent within Croatia – or elsewhere in Europe?

Kid: No, we don’t have anything like C/S in Croatia. As far as my knowledge goes, I don’t think there is something like C/S in Europe, either.

TS: Give us some insight as to what it’s like living & working in Croatia as a tattooer. What’s the tattoo scene like there? Forgive my ignorance – but is there one?

Kid: I think that working here as a tattoo artist is little harder than in the bigger countries. Croatia is small country with just 4.5 million people–we don’t have real tattoo scene. Lack of requests for bigger works is reflected on your progression as an tattoo artist. Tattooing is not like other art, where you can push yourself and grow as an artist just working alone, from your home – you need customers.

The only thing I can do is work hard, and give my best to what I do.

TS: Given how much heavy color work I’ve seen of yours online, I was surprised to learn that words/lettering tattoos are among your favorites to do. Why is that?

Kid: I’m in love with letters. In general, not just tattooing. When I was just a kid, I was drawing logos and signs that I saw around me… and fonts, I was obsessed with all kind of fonts. Then came graffiti. I guess that was just a natural follow-up…

There are a lot of great artists in every style of tattooing today, but very few when it comes to lettering. I’ve already mentioned that lettering doesn’t get enough credit. Tattoo artists study all kind of styles and the history of tattooing, but it’s sad to see good tattoo ruined with poor lettering, or some script font from computer. And that happens frequently in our industry, I think.

TS: Do you have a shop you call home? Do you travel much or are you a stay-at-home type of tattooer?

Kid: I work at my friend’s studio, atelier El Magico in Split. I don’t travel as much as I would like to, but I have few guest spots and conventions to do in the near future.

TS: I know tattooing keeps you VERY busy, but do you still have time to put toward other non-tattoo artistic pursuits?

Kid: I try to do only custom tattoos. 99% of my work is custom. Even if it’s just a butterfly, I draw it. When you’re doing several tattoos a day and spending all day in studio, you have to do your drawing at night.

I still find some time for other stuff: painting, graffiti, spending time with friends, making my beautiful woman happy…

TS: Artistically, what/who are your greatest influences?

Kid: There are so many people in tattooing today and through the past in which I find some kind of inspiration. I wouldn’t name anyone in particular, because there are too many to list–not only in tattooing but in all artistic fields. If you are open minded, it’s surprising how much you can learn–from people that maybe know less than you do–even outside of tattooing.

I learned a lot from others; not so much in technical aspects of art, but in other creative aspects.
Today you can surf on the internet and find some other artist that just blow you mind. I love when that happens!

To get in touch with Kid Kros, please contact him via Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/kidkros

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Artist Interview: Joey Pang

Julene — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:00:41 +0000

Traditional Chinese and Japanese tattooing intimidate me; the sheer amount of historical knowledge required to even play at being more than a casual admirer is a lot to process in a single sitting.

When the opportunity arose to interview Joey Pang, one of the most well-versed artists tackling Chinese calligraphy as it translates in tattooing, I knew I had to seize the chance to risk looking stupid in the hopes she could enlighten me on such a broad topic. Read on to learn more about her approach to translating traditional calligraphy to skin, her continuing schooling in the subject–as well as a nice breakdown on a variety of–and you’ll have to excuse the use of such a non-PC term–’Asian styles’.

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Tattoo Snob: Since most of our readers are probably not familiar with you, give us a quick introduction. Who are you, where do you hail from, and so on?

Joey Pang: My name is Joey Pang. I started Tattoo Temple back in 2006. I live in Hong Kong, was born in Yunnan China and my family is originally from Indonesia. And I’m writing this from home on maternity leave as I’m expecting my son to be born any week now! *

TS: What’s your artistic background like? And how did that lead to tattooing?

Joey: I’ve been in love with drawing and design ever since I was a kid. I grew up in very rural areas of Mainland China & Hong Kong and didn’t have any art books – I just drew anything and everything around. The idea of being a tattoo artist wasn’t even in my vocabulary and tattoos themselves were thought of as only being for criminals. I worked in the cosmetics industry before leaving to study design. I started with graphic design then moved to fashion and finally interior design. I went to New Zealand to study English and while I was there I saw how people carried their tattoos with pride, it completely changed my entire outlook of the art. From then it was as if a fire was lit inside me. I knew that I had to become a tattoo artist. I traveled to Thailand, China, France, Germany, Switzerland, the US & UK just studying tattoos and different types of body art.

TS: I’ve read you’re a professionally trained Chinese Calligraphy artist—the only one who is also a tattoo artist. Tell us a bit about your background and training in calligraphy.

Joey: Even though Chinese characters serve as a practical method of communication the art of Chinese calligraphy is extremely complex. Almost like a hidden layer behind a language we use every day. Calligraphy is said to be the art form most revealing of the artist’s personality. The level of individual interpretation, movement and style is what adds life to the writing. I’ve been studying calligraphy since I was very young because my mother loved it. She still enters calligraphy competitions and is in class every week. For me it’s been many years of training with the Hong Kong Calligraphy Association and under many teachers. Calligraphy, much like any art, is something you can never ‘master’. I’m still in training everyday and classes a few times a week. When designing a tattoo I typically write out each character around 100 times according the client’s requested calligraphy style and period of history (each character is written differently according the time in Chinese history). Despite all the years put in I’m sure I’ll still be going to class as a very old lady!

TS: You could easily be considered one of the pioneers of translating traditional Chinese calligraphy shapes and form in a way most suitable for tattooing. How did this become your ‘thing’?

Joey: I see Chinese character tattoos that simply look like computer font or where it’s difficult to even make out what the character is as the proportions can be so off. I read somewhere that bad Chinese characters and mistranslation is the main reason behind tattoo removal! One of the tattooing techniques I’ve worked hardest on is the recreation of brush lines and genuine calligraphy movement. It was something never done before. Each character needs to be tailored to the area it’s being placed on the body. Then if there are series of characters the whole chain has to be individually balanced and then the script again as a tattoo piece. The preparation time is considerable but it’s always a pleasure to see the result. Most of the clients who come to me for calligraphy are themselves Chinese.

TS: In addition to calligraphy, you’re known for specializing in a wide range of Asian styles. What does that mean exactly? Can you show us the different, uh, ‘Asian styles’ you like–maybe explain the differences between them for those of us that don’t know everything?

Joey: ‘Asian style’ is indeed a pretty broad category. Some of the best known forms within this are; Chinese calligraphy of course, traditional Japanese (like the well known koi, wave, fan and flower designs), Chinese mythology & nature scenes (dragons, phoenix, watercolor and landscape paintings, bamboo, trees, flowers), modern Chinese (nature scenes, abstract pieces), Thangka Art and Asian mythology (Hindu deities, Chinese deities, archetypal depictions). There are of course many more examples under each style but this is a general idea

Japanese design is generally busier than Chinese. The Chinese approach also values the empty or negative space as much as the subject of the piece. It’s much more of a balancing act than just filling in every available space. Traditional Japanese pieces, like the body suits, really cover whole areas and are tailored to the contours of the body.

There are many bourgeoning modern Chinese styles that offer a twist on traditional elements. Specifically things like bamboo or cherry blossoms can be used in new ways within body art. Thangka is one of my absolute favorites. This style is from Nepal and uses high contrast bright color with close detail.

Dragons are some of the most flexible and individual characters. Every artist can really create their own style or feeling of dragon. The Filip Leu book of dragons** is a fantastic example of a Westerners’ use of these traditionally Asian elements.

As each tattoo is custom designed for the client and only used once I’m always being tested and pushed in new directions. I love the challenge!

TS: As an American, I’m always curious what it’s like to be involved in the tattoo scene in places where being tattooed carries such a different weight socially. What’s it like living and working as a tattooer in Hong Kong?

Joey: Hong Kong tattoos are thought of by most locals as being just for gangsters or sailors. Most tattoo studios are just filled with flash designs. In many places today you can still smoke while getting a tattoo and it wasn’t too long ago that you could actually trade packs of cigarettes for a tattoo! There is still no government control over tattoo studio hygiene or operation, almost as if it’s not really recognized as a legitimate trade. The Hong Kong discrimination towards tattooing is very slowly moving away from a really rough, underground practice but there are opposing ends of this trend. Meaning some people still really do get gangster tattoos while others see their body art as a very high-end collectable. Obviously they’d be frequenting different studios.

We’re starting to see more people get tattooed but there is still a very strong stigma attached to the practice. Most locals we have talked to still won’t get a visible tattoo because they’re afraid of how their family might react. Hong Kong is also a huge tourist hub and many studios cater to the walk-in traveler looking for a permanent memento.

I’ve tattooed police chiefs, CEO’s, doctors, lawyers and many high powered executives. In the professional world there is still a prejudice towards individuals with visible tattoos – more so than in the Western world. This doesn’t stop them from getting large art pieces but everything is usually able to be covered by a business suit. The Western celebrities helped bring the practice out of the shadows a bit in Hong Kong as ink made it into the public sphere. Shows like LA Ink and Miami Ink were very popular. Conversely, the whole situation can help people choose their artwork more carefully. As there is a negative stereotype attached people think more about what they really want, plan & research longer and are happy to wait for their perfect piece. Generally speaking, if it is not socially acceptable to simply collect just any type of tattoo then there is a chance that the quality of ink people do choose to get could increase.

TS: Do you get to do much traveling. If so, where do you go and how often?

Joey: During maternity traveling can’t be on the agenda for the next few months! I think walking is hard enough. One of the greatest parts of being a tattoo artist is a freedom to travel. Seeing how artists work and other cultures value tattooing is just fantastic. There are very few worthwhile conventions around APAC but I’ve been to Singapore, China, Taiwan and Thailand for a few. The next convention I’m planning on will most likely be in the UK and then a few over in the States. I’d like to go as often as possible but the amount of work I have here keeps me off the planes and in the studio.

TS: Last I knew, your wait list was roughly a year long. What’s it like as an artist to go so long between visits from clients, or know that you literally have NO available time to tattoo people?

Joey: I know it’s really long and I’m working hard to make it shorter! The waiting time is actual bookings already made. So from consultation to application, 12 – 19 months is the estimated length of time. This of course also depends on the detail and complexity of the requested piece. However many of the clients fly in from overseas for their tattoo. As such we’re usually in contact via phone or e-mail throughout. I’ll get in touch right away if I have any questions or need their feedback on a project. If they come across a reference that they really like they often send it through to discuss. The waiting time doesn’t feel as long as it sounds as we’re pretty much in constant contact. It really is a collaborative process and I love it! I’m just so grateful for the opportunity to work with such great clients who really value their tattoos.

TS: I’d love to know more about the tattoos YOU have? Who are the last three artists that tattooed you, and what did they do?

Joey: I have a portrait on my leg from Little Dragon. He’s a fantastic artist and really a ‘xi fu’ or master of the trade. I have another portrait on my leg from Paul Booth. This was a few years ago from when he was a guest artist here at Tattoo Temple. Paul Booth is an absolute legend and just a powerhouse of a character. And my right arm is covered in large flower petals. This was done by a Chinese artist call Jia Liang. I have to get back in touch with him as it’s still unfinished!

TS: What are your feelings on tattoo conventions? Any specific ones that you absolutely love?

Joey: I have to get out and see more! I think anything that promotes tattooing as an art form is worthwhile. I love the community and excitement that comes with conventions. Everyone is happy to show their ink. And I think most people appreciate it on both sides – to both show and be seen. The artwork is progressing and its development will also continue to redefine how these interactions change over the years. As the quality and appreciation of the artwork grows so will the standards.

TS: For a female that was interesting in tattooing, what would your advice be to get started? Surely things are different now from when you began tattooing, and sometimes it’s hard to figure out where to even start.

Joey: Things are different nowadays and the industry is definitely more open. To me the most important point would be to simply follow your passion for art. Study and learn as much as you can! If you’re interested in any art form it can all be put to use in tattooing later. All roads lead to body art in a sense. I think the differentiating factor is that great tattoos take art and then add a layer of complexity by applying it to a human body. In a sense a moving, living canvas. What art form or style you want to do that with is your choice. Just follow your passion.

Find Joey Pang online:
Tattoo Temple
Tattoo Temple on Facebook
Tattoo Temple iPhone App

Editor’s Notes:

* Joey has since given birth to a beautiful baby! Congratulations to you & your family!

em>** Both volumes are sold out via Tattoo Life, but you can find more details on the books here: Dragons I and Dragons II by Filip Leu.

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Video: The Jack Morton Interview – Part 3

Kevin — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:45:38 +0000

Below is our third, and final video from Jack Morton of Rethink Your Ink. In this installment, Jack talks about his ideal clients, his thoughts on soccer Mom’s, and the medical community lasering your tattoo work.

Take the time to watch this, I promise you won’t be disappointed.

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Video: The Jack Morton Interview – Part 2

Kevin — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:30:59 +0000

On Monday we posted part one of our interview with Jack Morton from Rethink Your Ink about laser tattoo removal and, as he likes to call it, “editing”. But he wasn’t done yet… check out part 2 for more of everything you ever needed to know about tattoo removal.

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Video: The Jack Morton Interview – Part 1

Kevin — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:45:58 +0000

We recently sat down and talked to Jack Morton of Rethink Your Ink. Instead of just one long interview with Jack, we decided to try something different. Below is the first of three installments, where Jack shares his thought on the current state of tattoo removal, the future of tattoo removal, and the medical field getting involved in the community.

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Artist Interview: Jacob Des with Amanda Leadman

Julene — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 15:30:46 +0000

I’ve been scheming for a while about how to take the interviews here on Tattoo Snob to the next level–this is where Jacob Des and his new project, AvantTard, come into play. While Jacob plans to print all the interviews he conducts in the coming months, what’s the fun of interviewing someone without the whole world seeing?

Jacob kicked off the project by interviewing Amanda Leadman of No Ka Oi Tiki Tattoo in Philadelphia, PA. Trust me, this is not the last artist-on-artist interview you’ll see around here.

Jacob Des: Welcome! You like this set up? I finally got a desk, even though you said it wasn’t punk.

Amanda Leadman: It’s okay you can still be punk.

JD: So it seems only fitting for you to be the first interview in this project since I’ve known you the longest.

AL: Well, thank you for inviting me.

JD: Ok well, do you wanna talk a little about starting out? You started apprenticing almost right out of high school, which is a sort of complicated time for a lot of people. before apprenticing you had a job as a cookie decorator if I recall correctly?

AL: I had a paper route before that.

JD: That’s so funny and so weird. I just imagine some kind of 50’s Americana, like you were in black and white knocking over milk bottles on people’s door steps as you screeched through the neighborhood on your Schwinn.

AL: I worked in a dog kennel, all kinds of stuff. I did roofing for about two days, needless to say they didn’t feel safe having me doing that.

JD: Those things are seemingly odd precursors, I like to know what people did before they started tattooing. Somewhere in there you were harboring this ridiculous talent.

AL: I guess, it took a time for it to develop. I started out at what was then New Breed in 2005. I spent a long time figuring out what exactly I wanted to do and if I wanted to go to school or not. The usual sort of thing for a person my age at the time to be considering. I came and met with Brian (Brenner) in the fall and started working as an apprentice. I did my first tattoo about nine or ten months after that.

JD: Seemingly pretty quick, yeah?

AL: Yeah it seemed pretty quick but Brian had a lot of faith in me and that was when he thought I was ready. That was about 6 years ago.

JD: Wild, so you’re from Ohio. Born and raised?

AL: Born and raised.

JD: So what exactly was your motivation for leaving?

AL: I love that shop, I love the guys, I love the owner. It was ideal in terms of those things. I think I was curious to see if I could even get hired somewhere else ya’ know? When you’ve only worked for one shop the rest of the world seems so big, I mean I had done a number of guest spots and conventions all over the place. But I wanted to see what else was out there and venture out of my comfort zone. I wanted to push myself to do new things. The thought of it was really nerve racking.

JD: But it paid off in the end?

AL: Absolutely, I was really lucky to get involved with a shop that was really busy but also let me travel and do my own thing. So it turned out to be a really easy transition. If you had told me it was gonna be so smooth I wouldn’t have believed you.

JD: In my experience, Philly is sort of a “good ole boy’s” traditional tattoo scene and your work doesn’t really fit the mold so to speak. That being said, I think it was just about finding a place that was a good fit because your work definitely speaks for itself.

AL: I think regardless it was a really gratifying experience. It gave me some sense of validation.

JD: This is kind of shifting topics here, but I wanted to talk a bit about process. I think it’s something that doesn’t come up a lot but is important in understanding people’s work, especially in the case of people’s work that is harder to categorize. Have you ever tried to describe your style exactly?

AL: I think the best way to describe it is by describing my interests. I find myself drawn to traditional style tattoos and to realism and to abstraction. My interests and resources are so vast and varied that I get lost and find my style somewhere in between. Its kind of a hodgepodge I guess.

JD: It makes sense that you’ve got this weird amalgamation of ideas and reference points that inform the way that you do things. While I can pick out various stylistic references here and there I think everything that you do is decidedly your own. There’s not a whole lot of other artists that are doing the kind of work that you are. It’s odd to phrase it this way but I think that your work succeeds in its failures. In other words, you go into a piece trying to make something traditional and realistic and abstract and it doesn’t become any of those things but somewhere along the lines becomes something else that is as strange as it is compelling.

AL: Yeah totally, it’s unapologetic in that way. My stuff is what it is and it works out in a way that I’m happy with.

JD: I’ve noticed in working with you that there are certain themes that people continuously want to reprise. Is it hard to keep reinventing the wheel or does that tedium begin to make you feel pigeon-holed?

AL: I think that when I first got started I was so happy to be tattooing flowers, initially it was really what I wanted to do most. After a while I did so much of it that yes, there was a point when I did begin to feel typecast. It took some time but I’ve started to now try and direct people into incorporating them into other things and pushing those types of designs further. Essentially to make them fit more appropriately into what my interests are currently. As a result I really grew because of it.

JD: Do you think you could pinpoint a turning point in your styles progression?

AL: I think that it’s happened so many times. Anytime I think I’ve got something figured out, something in my way of thinking changes and I realize that I’ve still got so much to learn. I don’t feel like my style is a set way now, I think I still struggle with being satisfied. Now I try and move in the direction of making things bolder, whereas before I wanted things to be more subdued.

JD: I remember seeing old sketchbook stuff that you did with a bunch of sort of traditional based designs, but they were awkward and seemed forced. I think that once you figured out that you didn’t necessarily need to conform to that idea of what a tattoo design was, your work really started to come along and allowed you to expand your way of thinking and do all these wonderful things.

AL: Definitely, I think that certain mindsets limited me and I think that it limits countless other artists. It took me a while to loosen up and be able to find my own way of doing things, I’m still trying to figure it out.

JD: I know that you still don’t really paint ever but do you want to talk a little bit about some of your other extracurricular tattoo related art endeavors?

AL: Yeah I’ve had other tattooers get kind of offended when they find that out but it’s just something that I’ve never taken pleasure in. I do however get into embroidery, don’t laugh. I kind of just taught myself and wing it. In a weird way it’s become a counterpart to my tattooing, and you can see some of the same aesthetic choices as some of my tattoo work.

JD: What does the next year hold for you my dude?

AL: Apparently, this year everyone I know is getting married. So in between a bunch of weddings, I’ll be in Seattle this October, Melbourne in April, Liverpool in May. I’m trying to find a good balance between being home at the shop and traveling. We’ll see what happens.

Find Amanda Leadman online:

Amanda Leadman on Facebook

No Ka Oi TIkki Tattoo

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The Durb Morrison Interview

Kevin — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 14:15:58 +0000

It’s hard not to know who Durb Morrison is. Between his tattooing, running Hell City, True Tubes, Pint Sized Paintings and all of the other side projects he has going on – you’ve seen his name somewhere. But what do any of actually know about him?

We recently sat down and talked to Durb about his time in the tattoo industry, opening his first tattoo shop with $500, and creating the Hell City Tattoo Festival.

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Artist Interview: Brad Stevens

Julene — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:00:34 +0000

A friend turned me on to the work of Brad Stevens before I moved to New York, and I’ve been a big fan ever since. It only makes sense that we interviewed this vegan heartthrob/new addition to New York Adorned before anyone else got to him!

TS: Five things the tattoo world at large should know about you, Mr. Brad Stevens?

Brad: I don’t want the tattoo world to know anything about me besides what my tattoos look like, but I suppose these days people have to have a lot invested on your internet personality to be interested in getting tattooed by you, so I’ll play along. Vegan male, 26, seeks woman (not girl), preferably vegan, with career, to fall in love and get knocked up.

TS: If you had to pick your top five classic Americana tattoo designs, what would they be?

Brad: Woman (not girl), rose, skull, spider, butterfly.

TS: In the past you’ve mentioned wanting to move away from pieces you’ve described as “color bomb neo-traditional”. What does that mean? Why does neo-traditional work bum you out so much?

Brad: It’s an oxymoron, “neo-traditional”? In Back to the Future 2 they figured we’d have flying cars by now, but I guess we realized that wheels were the shit the whole time, ya know? Fuck flying cars.

TS: This brings us to what I think might be the most important question: What kind of work are you interested in doing?

Brad: Lately I’m torn in opposite directions. I love the way that really old traditional classic tattoos look–like they were drawn as simple as possible, with limited reference. I just imagine some old fuck who couldn’t draw being like, “I saw a picture of a tiger once” then drawing that shit… what’s cooler than that? Besides that, the stuff looks sick ALWAYS. It looked cool in 1930, it looks cool now. It was drawn for tattooing: simple.

But I also see what’s being done with Japanese tattoos. I see a timeless style, but this one is a little more accepting of being elaborated on. So really I want to be two totally different tattooers, I just want to be selective over which direction I’m moving which piece. Simpler for traditional Americana, and more detail in Japanese.

TS: A few weeks ago a piece was posted on a fairly prominent New York shop’s blog regarding tattoo websites posting tattooers’ work without asking permission first. What’s your stance on that?

Brad: It sucks to work hard on drawing something for someone and tattooing it well just to be bit off or even traced. I know the internet is all about a free exchange of information and tattooing is all a bunch of pirates who never really learned how to draw, but come on guys. Tattoo blogs need to ask permission at least. How successful their blog is depends on how hard someone else is working, at least ASK if you can share the images. There’s nothing worse than seeing your work on the internet pulled off poorly and the person who did it says, “Chill, I gave you credit”… yeah maybe after 10 or 20 of your friends said “OMG U R so tallented” and thought it was “siqq”. In a generation where everyone thinks they are a tattooer I guess the ones who actually try need to be a little more careful with who is seeing it.

TS: Let’s talk a bit about your own tattoos. Ones you love, ones you hate? I think you’ve been quoted as saying you have “no bad tattoos”. That’s a pretty lofty comment in comparison to some of the pieces most tattooers receive/give themselves either prior to or at the beginning of their career.

Brad: Well, I have some intentionally bad tattoos done by my friends who don’t know how to tattoo, but that’s a recent thing. I was always a little paranoid of what I chose to put on my body. I didn’t get tattooed in the 90′s and I’ve never been a bargain hunter, so a lot of the tattoos I have are great. Grez did my first tattoo when I was 19–can’t really go wrong with that. My left arm is all by Grez, my right is in progress by Chris O’Donnell, chest by Seth Ciferri, stomach by Boltz and too many great artists on my leg to name. But I love my tattoos.

TS: Anywhere in New York aside, what are some of your favorite places to tattoo out of?

Brad: LTW in Barcelona, and Ink Addiction in Verona.

TS: What kind of art do you make outside of tattooing? Has tattooing influenced the type of art you create? (i.e. pieces designed with the potential to be tattooed or that will translate easily to a tattoo in mind)

Brad: I’m all over the place with my painting. Sometimes I paint in a tattoo-able way, sometimes I don’t. I don’t really think about it, I just do what I want. I stopped taking commissions for painting because if I find the time to paint, I’m doing it for myself–I don’t want to have to worry about someone else’s specifications.

TS: Let’s do some quadruplets. Four amazing tattooers you have work from, Four you’d like work from and four you think everyone else should get work from.

Brad: I have work from…
Steve Boltz
Javier Rodriguez
Daniel Albrigo
Seth Wood

I’d like work from:
Tim Lehi
Dan Santoro
Horiyoshi III
Jondix

Who I think people should get tattooed by:
Andre Malcom – If you don’t know, I feel sorry for you.
Claire Vuillemot – Claire is a secret. Find her at Fun City.
Mina Aoki – Apprentice at Daredevil, my best friend in the world.
Steve Boltz- OK, everyone already knows about Boltz… but he just does that shit right.

TS: What kind of projects & travel plans do you have for the rest of 2011? Planning anything in particular, just in case the world really does end in 2012?

Brad: I’m not really planning any trips right now. Not saying things wont happen, but I love summer in New York City, and I’m gearing up for my new home… As of June 1st I’m working at NY Adorned. I’m going to miss my family at Daredevil, and I’d like to thank Michelle Myles and Brad Fink for the opportunity to spend 3 great years there. I’m excited to spend my summer here in NY with the amazing crew of NYA, it’s the logical next step for me.

TS: What conventions do you frequent? Any other travel plans?

Brad: I’m doing the Rochester, NY convention later this summer with the lovely Marina Inoue, and probably the Barcelona convention in October.

Find Brad Stevens online:
bradstevenstattoo.com
twitter.com/bradstevenstatz
Brad Stevens on Facebook

Post from: TattooSnob.com Artist Interview: Brad Stevens

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Artist Interview: Orrin Hurley

Artist Profile: Scott Trerrotola

Artist Interview: Orrin Hurley

Julene — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:30:19 +0000

We have been fans of Orrin Hurley‘s work for a while now. His impressively versatile portfolio showcases not only a wide variety of themes and styles, but a willingness to approach each tattoo with enthusiasm and the desire to help it “be all it can be.”

There’s nothing wrong with having your niche and sticking to it–but that’s just not Orrin’s style. And, one of our favorite things about him. (Sweet Southern accent and wicked sense of humor aside, that is.)

Tattoo Snob: I think anyone even mildly familiar with you is aware of your dedication both to your craft and to your family. What else would you like people to know about you?

Orrin Hurley: I am the a proud father of two that’s for sure. My kids mean the world to me and being a father is job number 1. I have a 9 year old daughter Aeris Jane, and a 2 1/2 year old son Kai Maynard. They inspire me and keep me pushing forward as hard as I can… I want to pave the way for them to have an amazing future.

In addition to tattooing and painting, I have too many hobbies to keep up with. I’ve Dj’d for over 13 years. I haven’t done it in about a year but I am very fond of keeping towards a fast, dark, hard hitting drum and bass style. I also love playing house and progressive house when at all possible.. but I’m a better jungle DJ. I supported myself while going through my apprenticeship by DJ-ing and piercing. Video games would rule my life if I let them so I gotta keep myself in check for playing too much Call of Duty, haha.

Lately, I’m focusing on painting as I’m working on a series for my first solo show. Hopefully I’ll be able to make that happen by spring of 2011. When I have the time, I love to cook. My girlfriend is an amazing (let me stress that: AMAZING) cook, so cooking is something we enjoy sharing together.

TS: You began tattooing at a fairly young age – how did you know this was “it” for you? Especially in comparison to all the art you had focused on before moving into tattooing?

Orrin: I began tattooing when I was 18. I had been piercing for a year and I got the opportunity to apprentice at the same time. I’ve always drawn since I could hold a pencil.. but I knew that typical jobs involving art weren’t interesting to me. I couldn’t see myself painting designs in a cubicle somewhere for some big company. I wanted something… different. I remember seeing GOOD tattoos around the age of 14 and being blown away. Then I walked into my first tattoo shop “Blacks Studios” in Johnson City, TN. As soon as I walked in I knew it’s what I wanted with my life and career. It was the first time I saw an environment that I knew would cater to me being able to doing the art I wanted to do, and with an atmosphere that would keep me pushing ahead. There I met 3 people that really made me want to be a part of what was going on in that shop in particular. Marcus Merritt, who was a piercer that really was friendly and supportive- Jim Black, a very talented tattooer and artist that later apprenticed me and showed me what a clean solid tattoo really was- and Dave Wulff- another insanely talented tattooer and artist whom I didn’t talk to much, but just his portfolio laying in the front of the shop was all I needed to be inspired. After just seeing the tattoos that were going on there (mid- to late 90′s) I just couldn’t even fathom doing ANYTHING else.

TS: Considering you’ve been tattooing for more than ten years at this point, you’ve done a lot of different styles of work, specifically your bio-organic and Japanese work. I’ve seen a lot more illustrative stuff in your portfolio in recent years – is there anything in particular style or composition-wise you’d like to be tattooing more of as your career continues to progress?

Orrin: I consider myself artistically schizophrenic. I can’t keep myself in one style ever. I’m constantly evolving and changing. I learn new styles and apply what I’ve learned to other styles. I love large scale Japanese and Bio organic the most… but I love the challenge of taking a style and including what makes it that style but taking it to the next level and morphing it into something that cannot be labeled. I’ve been tattooing for 13 years now, so I’ve spent my time studying each style in depth. I like to pick a style and really dive into it. I love the nuances that make things what they are: the way fingerwaves are supposed to be drawn, the correct traditional rose structure… I could go on forever. Learning the correct way to draw things, but then taking the rules and breaking them while still keeping the integrity of the subject and style. That’s why you’ll always see multiple styles out of me. I have this competitive part of me that wants to take every style.. and do it better and more clever and more clean than the best artists of that style. It’s that competitive part of me that keeps pushing forward and makes me smile every minute I’m drawing or tattooing. Friendly competition is what makes this business push ahead. That being said, at my core I am an illustrator. It’s a constant in the chaos of my art… it’s all illustrative. I’m pushing towards it more everyday actually. I’m sure that’s where I wanna go with it.

TS: In a post on Devil City Press, you detailed your experience with someone ripping off your tattoo after you expressly did not give permission for them to replicate it. This is a subject every tattooer has to be passionate about– what would you like to relate about that to our readers, tattooers and enthusiasts alike?

Orrin: It’s an important issue to address. When something like that happens you sit back and think… how do I prevent this? There is no real answer. A lot of tattooers out there simply stopped publishing their tattoos and art because they don’t want to be ripped off anymore. It’s definitely caused me to step back for a moment try to be a little more selective about where I send my pictures. It’s crazy now with the internet, so I think there is little we can do other than really frown upon people that do that sort of thing. I Googled myself the other day and found my pictures on sites I’d never heard of… tons of them. On one hand it’s awesome promotion, but I wish that they would just ask. The new thing I keep seeing is fans making websites and profiles just with pictures of tattoos they really like, but they don’t put information for the artists! It’s counter-productive.

I won’t go into the incident that I blogged… but the point was he asked, I said no, and he did it anyway. The bottom line is that to be tattooers, tattooers should have to operate and conduct themselves in a certain fashion–here’s where I start to sound old and jaded. There are levels of respect and manners that should be taught in an apprenticeship that newer artists aren’t learning. One of the major points you learn is never trace and reproduce someone’s tattoos that are not flash. It’s horribly disrespectful to the artist and their client. Some people need to learn respect.

TS: Any tattoos you’ve done recently with a good story to go along with them?

Orrin: I find that the tattoos, stories, and experiences of the tattoo process are sacred in a way. I think that sharing personal stories of clients is the same as someone tracing my tattoo and replicating it. It seems unprofessional to share those on a website. I will say that I always have great customers getting really cool tattoos, and that I have a lot to large scale tattoos in the works that you will see up on my site and Facebook soon. I think a good illustrator can tell an amazing story through art without having to mutter a single word… so lets hope I can accomplish that one day.

TS: Let’s talk a little about your tattoos – do you have any free space left? Any plans to fill that up?

Orrin: I’m almost finished. I have some small spots though. This next year I hope to get tattooed by Adrain Dominic, and Nick Baxter is going to do my right sleeve (once it’s all lasered off) . I have a collection of snail tattoos. I have been collecting them for around 7 years. I find an artist I love, and I get them to do a snail. I have snails from Cory Kruger, Nick Baxter, Timothy Hoyer and a lot more amazing artists. I think my friend Jon Clue is going to do my next one.

TS: Let’s talk conventions: where’d you go this year? Which ones are you working the future?

Orrin: I usually do Hell City and the Paradise Gathering. I’m going to probably start doing mainly international conventions starting this next year. I have my eyes on Puerto Rico, possibly Evian, London, so many… but I haven’t made any commitments yet. I’m just gonna see where this next year takes me. I’d love to take next year to explore some other countries. My girlfriend and I went to Peru this year and it was a real eye-opener. It made me realize that when I was traveling I was working so much I hadn’t taken the time to look around. So I wanna do more non-convention traveling, and make the conventions I do in places I really wanna check out.

TS: Any upcoming guest spots or travel plans?

Orrin: I’ve got nothing planned but maybe a visit to Cali and a few other guest spots I’m trying to work out now.

TS: Who are some of the tattooers that influence you?

Orrin: I could list inspiring tattooers forever. There are so many amazing artists out there that its hard to see all of the amazing tattoos you wanna see on a day to day basis. Cory Kruger, Marcus Pacheco, Guy Aitchison, Shige, Grime, Nick Baxter, Jon Clue… all of them are doing amazing tattoos that no one else can even replicate. I love seeing new work from all of them… they always keep on the edge of growing and evolving yet never lose what makes their art THEIRS. So many tattooers try and BE other tattooers and lose the idea of doing something different. I have to say one of my biggest influences is Tim Biedron. He has an amazing way of making tattoos that have movement, a story-telling composition, style and yet keep a very traditional approach. If you haven’t heard of him I urge you to really check out his art.

TS: When you aren’t tattooing, what do you do with your spare time?

Orrin: I’m working on a few things. I’m having my first solo art show at Dreams in Plastic in Beacon, NY this March; I’m very excited because I really stepped away from tattoo looking paintings and I’m actually happy with the way the paintings are going. I’m also working on a book. It’s going to take me a few years to really get it the way I want it. The book is going to be sort of an auto-biography. I’m going to have lots of tattoo pictures that I’ve never put into magazines or websites (even going to include some gems from my first year… lol). There’s going to be a lot of sketches, line drawings, paintings, etc. I’m basically going to include as much as I can. Shirts, album designs, assemblages… I wanna pack as much as I can in there, along with some very personal stuff too. I’ve had a lot of obstacles in my way and I wanna include a lot of very personal stuff that I feel helped shape me and my art. I really enjoy every art form, and this is a chance to put all of them together.

TS: Any shout outs?

Orrin: I’d like to thank Eternal Ink and everyone involved with such an amazing product. I use Eternal Ink for everything and its the first brand of ink I can honestly say I love EVERY color. I’m sponsored by Eternal and I’m very proud to be able to help promote a product I stand by 100%.

Find Orrin Hurley online:

http://orrinhurleytattoo.com

http://facebook.com/orrinhurley

http://twitter.com/orrinhurley

Contact Orrin directly via email: at Orrinhurley@gmail.com

Post from: TattooSnob.com Artist Interview: Orrin Hurley

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Artist Interview: Brad Stevens

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Artist Interview: Jakub Settgast

Julene — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:00:21 +0000

I don’t know if there’s an easy way to write an intro for this interview. There’s a lot to say about Jakub Settgast–from the first time I saw his work, I knew I had to interview him. And boy am I glad we did, and hopefully he is too… despite some of his very candid answers.

Photo by Bjorn Lexius

TattooSnob: Let’s get the most generic portion of the interview out of the way… what would you like everyone reading this interview to know about you?

Jakub Settgast: My name is Jakub Settgast. I’m a tattooer, bike nerd, I love chihuahuas and worship Satan. I work in Hamburg and in Berlin. I’m a member of Esoteric Gentlemens Club and the Highest Wizard of Esoteric Gentlemens Club – Berlin Lodge. I was born in Poland, live in Berlin with my beautiful wife and daughter.

TS: When did everything “come together” for you as an artist? What about as a tattooer?

Jakub: I’m self-taught so that basically means that: I did tons of bad tattoos for the first couple of years, traveled the world, worked in loads of good and bad shops, moved to a different city/country every couple of months. Something like apprenticeship didn’t existed in Poland in the 90′s so if you wanted to learn something you had to travel.

Then I got an offer to work by side of Chriss Dettmer in Hamburg so I moved there, and everything that I can do now comes from him and all those awesome tattooers I got to know through him, he is my older German brother that I never had! Basically right after I started to work in that shop in Hamburg I had to step up in like 3 days, so I dumped my social life, got my shit together, drew a lot, tattooed a lot and slept not enough.

TS: You changed your last name after getting married – do you feel like that has had any effect on people finding you and your work online?

Jakub: Not really, it’s just easier for most of the people to remember my new name. And it looks better when I write it in runes.

TS: Describe your ideal tattoo client. Ever had the pleasure of tattooing a client like this?

Jakub: That video is not available anymore, but I guess it’s this thing with the screaming girl or something like that? Well as everybody I had some of fainters, couple of people cried, normal stuff, no YouTube potential. I just do what I have to do and when I have really hard customers that make my job impossible at the moment I just break the sitting and tell them to go home and chill. I’m the “outline nazi” so if they move too much I can get really mean! As for the perfect customer, it’s someone that comes to me cause she/he knows my work, someone open for lots of different ideas, and someone who sits like a trooper cause I like to pull my 20cm lines at once. I appreciate every single customer that I get, it doesn’t matter if it’s a whole back piece or a small tattoo, I’m happy that people are coming to me, that they recognize my work, it means a lot to me, even if it doesn’t for them.

TS: You do allow booking via internet: what are your requirements for that, and how well do you feel that works out on average?

Jakub: I’m doing probably something like 60-70% of my bookings over the internet. It works fine for me as I have lots of customers from different cities and couple of foreigners too. We exchange couple of emails regarding the design, if i don’t know them then I take deposit through pay-pal, it’s really easy.

TS: Did you have a favorite piece you did in 2010?

Jakub: A hand-poked heart on my wife.

TS: There’s more than a few tattoos of shoes in your portfolio. Is shoe-obsession contagious?

Jakub: Well it was all customers wish but I actually have a small shoe obsession, I’ll buy everything that catches my eye, I got shitloads of vans, sneakers, hipster shoes, even motorcycle boots.

TS: How much convincing will it take for us to get you to show us one of your own tattoos? C’mon, it’ll be fun!

Jakub: Oh man, I got lots of shitty tattoos that I made myself, that my friends did on me (and they were tattooing for the first time in their life or something like that) but I got couple of really good ones from great tattooers like Chriss Dettmer, Preston Chambers, Steven Burlton, Bill Falsetta, Mark Alter, KesOne, Uncle Allan, Eckel, Eric Michalovic gave me my precious C/S… I got couple of tattoos that my wife did on me, hand-poked and with a machine…

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

Jakub: There are so many great tattooers over there and I don’t have so much space left… I’d love to get something done by Jeff Zuck cause he’s such a nice and great guy, it’s always like I meet some tattooers I hang out with them and if they’re cool and nice I’m getting tattooed by them.

I don’t really care about the names and stuff, there are some really great tattooers with huge names that I would never get tattoos from, cause they’re huge cunts and douche-bags. It’s like the connection between me and my tattooer is more important for me than their status and name “in the game”.

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?

Jakub: I don’t really like working at conventions, i just like them ’cause i can hang out with lots of people that i haven’t seen for ages, meet new people, trade knowledge. Working at a convention is a must cause I’m not a fucking Kat Von D or Mario Barth that give autographs or promote their new lipstick or shit like that at conventions instead of working, so i gotta somehow pay for the flight, for the hotel and stuff. But then from time to time you get to tattoo some crazy kids that didn’t have enough money to come to Germany, and you’re doing this awesome tattoo and forgetting about all those pricks around you that stress you out. I’m half Jewish so I like to complain I guess.

TS: You’ve been splitting your time Lowbrow Tattoo Parlour in Berlin and Immer un Ewig Tattooing in Hamburg. What’s it like to base yourself out of two shops that are roughly 3hrs apart? Have you noticed any difference in the tattoo “scene” (for lack of a better term) between the two places?

Jakub: Well I work Mon-Wed in Immer und Ewig, Hamburg. I’m friends with the guys at Lowbrow and they just lend me their space from time to time if i have someone to tattoo in Berlin on the other days. But since I have more and more people asking me for tattoos in Berlin, I decided to open my own private shop called Esoteric Gentlemens Club. No walk-ins, closed to public, appointments only, custom and fancy – you can call it egocentric and selfish, but I was working street shops for the last 6 years–I need something else now, why not try it?

TS: You’re opening Esoteric Gentlemen’s Club with Simon Erl this month – let’s talk about that a bit. What’s the story? I heard rumors of plans for secret locations worldwide… surely everyone’s curiosity is piqued by the name alone!

Jakub: If I would tell you I would have to kill you! No, not really. Well I wanted to open something different, something where customers and tattooers would feel really comfortable, and that means no walk-ins, appointments only, only custom work, cool chilled out location, nothing new I guess, ’cause shops like that are already running but I wanted something that would be totally mine. Customers contact me through email, Facebook… then we do a consultation date to talk about the design in person, and they get the shop’s address. I’m friends with Simon, I asked him if he would ever want to do some regular guest spots if I ever opened a shop, he was into it so he’s gonna be over here regularly.

I did not want a normal, typical tattoo shop, so it’s gonna look like… well you will see… if you will ever be let in! Simon is the founding member and the highest priest of the club. The Clubhouse will be a tattoo shop during the day and an Esoteric Gentlemens Lodge during the night where all the members can gather and plan world domination through black magic and practice kult life. All I can say is that we have members all over the world and the fact that there will be more lodges worldwide is only a matter of time.

TS: What are you involved with aside from tattooing?

Jakub: Well most of the time I’m working and taking care of my wife and my newborn daughter. When I have some spare time I’m building and riding fixed gear bicycles, track and trick ones. I just quit my band Grey cause I couldn’t afford to go on tour (self-employed blues…) after we signed a contract with a good German label. I do some computer graphics for friends in bands and some clothing labels from time to time, but not too often. Most of the time I hang out with my wife and draw for my customers waiting for a bit holidays so I can paint something. I was in a couple of pretty unknown and unsuccessful bands, I painted couple of crappy pictures for some art shows of friends of mine ’cause they made me do it, I take photos with my iPhone hating all those hipster kids running around with their fancy SLRs making “art”, so what I’m trying to tell you is that I’m kinda low profiled, and I like it that way, its like I don’t mind a bit of publicity, but I’m not greedy, I’m happy cause I’m booked out for couple of months, I’m doing guest spots in cool shops and I’m not hoping for my 15 minutes of fame cause I don’t really crave anything more that I have now. The only thing I really crave is more knowledge!

Find Jakub Settgast online…
His blog: www.iwillruinyourlife.com
Esoteric Gentlemens Club website: www.esotericgentlemensclub.de
Facebook: www.facebook.com/whoneedsyou
Twitter: www.twitter.com/jakubsettgast

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