I recently have teamed up with my dope friend @half-breed
To create a whole new line of stickers, t shirts, and other redbubble stuff! Please check us out on the instagram https://www.instagram.com/ditchgavity/?hl=en
I put 4 more hours into this painting only to fuck it up more. I got the color the way I wanted. That was fun to work out. As you can see my 100s of splotches :/. The big problem I see right now is the mustache. So I gotta go in next time and fix that I'll use that rose ;) yes cover mistakes. Cover them good.
In pursuit of knowledge, I have spend some time dicking around in a local tattoo shop. I clean the place, I don’t really get paid for it but that’s okay. I knew that was part of the deal. I’m in search of some profession that I can be passionate about in my artistic career. I’m not really sure if this is for me or if it’s just a passing idea but its certainly has given me the itch to draw more. I have interviewed a few of the artists around the shop.
Justin Wainner
Location: Black Coffin Tattoos in St. Paul/ Mpls MN
Q. What inspired you to become a tattoo artist?
A. I’ve always been an artist. I’ve always had an interest in tattoos, I wanted to see them. It was a society at the time [when I started] It was taboo and I wanted to be a part of it.
Q. How did you become a tattoo artist?
A. It was a very long and difficult process. Years. It was a lot more guarded and sacred in my opinion.
Q. What was that process like?
A. I was persistent, a pain in their ass. I was that guy at the shop who annoyed them until they gave in. That was pretty much how that went down.
Q. Did you have a tattoo portfolio while looking for jobs?
A. Fuck no. You never want to bring a portfolio of tattoos to somebody before you start tattooing. It’s harder to teach somebody who thinks they know things. Most artists won't even talk to you if you’ve touched a tattoo machine. UNLESS you’ve already had a job. That's different.
Q. Have you had an apprentice before?
A. Yes I have
THE MEDIUM
Q. What would you say helped you most to adapt to using a tattoo machine?
A. Adapt? I don't know if it was ever really that difficult. I mean you gotta… It is different to draw on skin, you know basically for tattooing, which is a different medium. Everybody’s skin is different. It's not like it's the same over and over and over. It’s part of the job you have to adapt everyday.
Q. Which medium do you believe is the most closely related to being a tattoo artist?
A. Back when I started there was a lot of flash influenced tattooing. So when people walk into the shop there is thousands upon thousands of flash sheets on the walls and that's what people will see. It wasn’t as custom as it is now a days.
Q. How did you practice with the machine?
A. It's easy to find people who want free tattoos even if they are shitty. That’s true to this day. There people that don’t give a shit about how the tattoos looks. A horrible tattoo is amazing to them.
Q. How did you choose your tattoo machine?
A. Well my first one was given to me and then later on in life I realised it's a lot more important than some people thought. The machines that I have are specifically made for me, for my style of tattooing by a friend of mine.
ART QUESTIONS
Q. Would you say your work is mostly customs or mostly flashes?
A. All custom
Q. How much would you say the client lets you embellish on their idea?
A. Most of them it is as much as I want. Which is good because it really helps the process. It makes the tattoo more original and dynamic.
Q. Are there things you wouldn't do?
A. Oh yeah. I will not do hands, necks, or fingers unless you are covered in tattoos. I will not do names of boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife it's a curse.
Q. What would you say is your speciality or what people come to you for?
A. Lettering for one, since I’m obsessed with it. I also like traditional tattoos.
Q. Do you still enjoy personal art?
A. I do but its hard. I rarely keep stuff. I usually sell it, keep it, or destroy it. It’s usually stuff that I destroy. It’s a big thing, about destroying beautiful art. It’s a process that every artist should do. You’ll find a love for it and a passion for it. It’s not an easy thing.
Q. Do most of your clients come from referrals and friends?
A. Both.
GENERAL JOB QUESTIONS
Q. Do you enjoy your job?
A. I do now. I didn’t for a while. This is like a second chance in life, some weird spark. I really found a love and passion for it again.
In pursuit of knowledge, I have spend some time dicking around in a local tattoo shop. I clean the place, I don’t really get paid for it but that’s okay. I knew that was part of the deal. I’m in search of some profession that I can be passionate about in my artistic career. I’m not really sure if this is for me or if it’s just a passing idea but its certainly has given me the itch to draw more. I have interviewed a few of the artists around the shop.
I interviewed the newest of the tattoo artists in the shop, Erik. He hasn’t been a tattoo artist for long but he’s been a part of the art crowd since he was a little boy growing up in Mexico. I spotted an opportunity to ask this guy some questions while he was taking a break from drawing and watching his friend work on some art projects.
Erik Raymundo Luna, 34
Tattoo artist of 4 years
Location: Black Coffin Tattoos in St. Paul/ Mpls MN
GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
Q. What inspired you to become a tattoo artist?
The art. The people. I just like the idea of other people having my creations on them.
Q. How did you become a tattoo artist?
I have always been involved with art. During grade school in Mexico I was going to art contests all over the place.
Q. Is there a different art style in Mexico?
Kind of. Just the ideas mostly. When it comes to tattoos people want something extremely meaningful, otherwise they just don't get a tattoo. Here, in the states, it has gotten to the point that if you like something, you can have it as a tattoo. Things are changing little by little.
Q. What was the process of becoming a tattoo artist like?
First of all, I had to find a tattoo shop that would take me as an apprentice. It took me like 3 years to be able to find one. Once I found one, I tried to be there as much as possible, always asking questions, and paying attention to everything. Of course, you start at the lowest rank, cleaning, learning about tattoo machines and stuff like that.
Q. Did you have a art portfolio while looking for jobs?
Yes. It is good to have at least 20 really good drawings. The most important, i think, is to be humble with your drawings. When you go to a tattoo shop you have very experienced people, so if you can’t take criticism in a good way it might not work.
THE ART PART
Q. Do most of your clients come from referrals and friends?
Yes.
Q. Would you say your work is mostly customs or flashes?
Custom, yeah.
Q. What would you say is your specialty or what people come to you for?
So far, maybe, black and grays. I do a lot of religious tattoos, holy Mary, praying hands, rosaries.
Q. How much would you say the client lets you embellish on their idea?
That really depends a lot from the background of the client. Most of my lasting clients come to me with an idea that they found on the internet or somewhere else. They struggle if I don't give them exactly what they see. Meaning, you could give them a really cool tattoo or really good idea, better than what they are showing you, but a lot of times they see what they are bringing you and they don't think that you can do it any other way or better. That is one of the struggle that I have when it comes to other people. They’re more easy with ideas, designs and stuff like that.
Q. Are there things you wouldn't do?
I don't like satanic symbols. I try not to do that. I always refer them to another person who doesn’t care about it. I just don't like it.
Q. Do you still enjoy personal art?
Yeah, I do. Paintings and illustrations.
GENERAL QUESTIONS
Q. Do you enjoy your job?
Oh, a lot. It doesn’t really feel like a job to me. I’m just coming over here to have fun. Once I start tattooing I forget about everything else like time, problems, anything else just goes away when I’m tattooing.
Q. How much time do you invest in this job?
I try not to work on projects at home. I feel like you can get annoyed. For example, let’s say somebody works at Walmart. They don’t go to Walmart on their days off. So I feel that if you have a day off and you’re working at home you can start getting annoyed by what is going on in when it comes to work.
Q. Do you have another profession?
Nope.
FOR THE FUTURE ARTIST???
Q. What would you say helped you most to adapt to using a tattoo machine?
I would say watercolor. The brushes for watercolor are similar to certain needles when it comes to the tattoo machines.
Q. How did you practice with the machine?
It's just many different ways to be able to practice certain things. I used a pen attached to a tattoo machine. Other times, I used a parallel pen or a 45 degree. Just different kinds of things. Specially when I used to have to draw i would trace it and trace it and trace it with the pen and the tattoo machine attached to it.
Q. How did you choose your tattoo machine?
I think it's more like a feeling. There is certain tattoo machines that give me a feeling for them.
I kinda went wild on this one. I was suppose to line and base the image on the left… But i wanted to fix some of the anatomy so i cooked up some references and it looks nothing like the sketch. poo. haha. well I’m hoping I can turn the one on the right into something worth selling. :/ It’s going to be donated towards an animal charity of some sort. Here is to a WIP. Step 1 out of 4. sketching.
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