Scott Campbell Prison tattoo video

[Kev]

Via Cris Cleen. Extra points for the Dragon Mike/ Tiger John reference, placing him in Houston at some point

Really more of a park tattoo than a prison tattoo though.

[Jaycel Adkins]

Great thread. I saw this on Needles&Sins and am curious to see what people here think about it.

[slayer9019]

I saw this yesterday on Needles and Sins. I kinda agree with them that it was not a great idea but kinda..."cool". I personally would never get tattooed by a prison-style tattoo "gun" regardless if it was a professional using said "gun".

[sbj619]

Well the finished tattoo turned out better than my first done with a similar homemade "gun"

[Stewart Robson]

My "official" opinion is to deride and distance myself from it.

As hard as I may try not to, I think it's cool.

But there are a hell of a lot of things I think are cool that shouldn't be (and aren't) filmed, let alone uploaded to YouTube.

[slayer9019]

I thought about it bit more and thought of it this way...

I compare it to Jackass (and other similar shows). It's hard to watch it, yet you do. You don't condone it (or do it) but sadly people will watch it and replicate (or attempt and fail most likely)

[Kev]

My "official" opinion is to deride and distance myself from it.

As hard as I may try not to, I think it's cool.

But there are a hell of a lot of things I think are cool that shouldn't be (and aren't) filmed, let alone uploaded to YouTube.

Ha! This can be applied to being a (younger) parent in so many ways :rolleyes:

[hogg]

My "official" opinion is to deride and distance myself from it.

As hard as I may try not to, I think it's cool.

But there are a hell of a lot of things I think are cool that shouldn't be (and aren't) filmed, let alone uploaded to YouTube.

I find myself feeling the same way about a lot of Scott Campbell-related things. The fact that he charges $300 an hour is insane to me, but then again, he doesn't seem to be hurting for business, so I guess he wins. I'd read a few years back that he had a $1000 minimum, but I'm not sure that was true.

Speaking of money to burn, he's created several pieces of art using sheets of US currency. Seems gauche to me, but again, I read about it in numerous places, so he's getting the press he wanted. He also did artwork for Camel Cigarettes, which is not that cool to me, but seemed to garner him a lot of notoriety.

And while part of me thinks that he's an asshole for making this video--and tattooing someone on a nasty ass bench under conditions that would shock a Tattoo School graduate--another part of me is very impressed with the end product. And that's something I can say about many of his tattoos: they're good. Really good.

[irezumi]

Speaking of money to burn, he's created several pieces of art using sheets of US currency. Seems gauche to me, but again, I read about it in numerous places, so he's getting the press he wanted.

That shit did look cool though.

[Avery Taylor]

Who the fuck is paying this dude $300 an hour? He is a good tattooer, but what the fuck. I guess that tattooing Sponge Bob Squarepants on famous people gets you a lot further in this world than it should. I don't want to be too much of a douche-bag about this, but I just don't get it. For all I know the guy may donate 90% of his money to charity.

As far as the video goes I don't care much either way. I do not have any homemade tattoos, but I usually like the way that they look. I like the simplicity, and the roughness of them. What I don't like is poorly executed "professional" tattoos. Usually when someone is getting a homemade tattoo it is a memory that they are looking for, and not a great holy shit that is beautiful piece of artwork. When I see someone with a bad tattoo that they paid for then I feel like they were cheated, and that bugs me. Most people trust that if the city you live in felt confident enough to give someone a business license then that someone must be reasonably good at their job.

The one thing about the video that I don't care for is the tattoo itself. I don't feel that it captures the rawness of a homemade tattoo or the quality of a professional tattoo. To me it comes across as an exercise in arrogance. But as the old saying goes "Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one".

[ShawnPorter]

I find myself feeling the same way about a lot of Scott Campbell-related things. The fact that he charges $300 an hour is insane to me, but then again, he doesn't seem to be hurting for business, so I guess he wins. I'd read a few years back that he had a $1000 minimum, but I'm not sure that was true.

He seems to really ride that celebrity thing; pics on his blog of him and celebs and whatnot. Seems to the polar opposite of O'Donnell.

[Petri Aspvik]

Well, it wasnt that cool. Not like I'm on the other end of the spectrum, that I am discusted by it or something. I felt nothing.

Btw. Shouldnt he have gottent the ink for a pen or something to make it more "autenthic". I guess he brought his own. And, did anyone else catch the Camel sign when they were shopping for the toothbrush etc? Accident?

[Stewart Robson]

Scott wasn't the only guy to do paintings for the Camel thing a few years ago.

His were just the ones that were picked for the ads.

[Petri Aspvik]

Who else?

[Rebushido]

300/h is to much..

1000 minimum is to high

the video is kinda cool.. i mean building it out of thrash..

but fameseeking is kinda uncool.. leaves me indifferent..

at least he´s talented.. i rather watch this then LA INK

i would love to have a tattoo from scott he does awsome stuff.. but i will never pay that much..

maybe for hardy ore Higgs hehe..

[jade1955]

He's not a prison tattooer.

The person getting the tattoo is not a con.

Prison tattooers do not have the luxury of wandering around shops or finding disgarded VCRs, when gathering parts to build their machines.

It's tattooed in a park.

I assume Scott Cambell is not using prison type pigment.

It dosn't look like a prison tattoo.

But it does look like a load of pretentious tosh.

Watching a tattooing sequence from the "The Mark of Cain" is far more interesting.

[Bart Bingham]

Tiger john is a really nice dude.

[Kev]

Alot my friends growing up in League City (South of Houston) late 80's-90's went to Dragon Mike or Tiger John when they wanted good tattoos. If they couldn't get in there, they'd go to Bad Boyz on the Seawall or if they were really desparate, Dago's

[Bart Bingham]

they should've gone directly across the street to Richard Stell and Matthew wojciechowski. I started tattooing in the early/mid 90's in Houston I spent some time in Dragon mikes shop and remeber it well but i cannot remember anything about dragon mike the man. I actually worked with Tiger John for a little while at Texas Tattoo Emporium which is the building next door to the building that dragon mikes was in.

to get back on topic of the thread, prisoners don't have the luxury of stencils either. also i suspect they planted that VCR in the trash.

[James See]

I was thinking the same thing about the vcr, seems a little too perfect. I do dig the tattoo, though, in spite of the questionable conditions and/or motivations.

[Shannon Shirley]

yall are goofy.I will apologize first.sorry, this is bullshit.yall are glorifing bul$HIT. I dont care. tattoos to me me have a tradition.why you think this is cool i cant figure.I come from a lineage. this took great effort,yrs of effort.this sort of glorificasion of scrachers.will get no one anywhere.wake up.so now were all so fuc4in cool we imitate prisoners. what the hell.yall ever done time? this is not funny. not even cool. maybe NY cool . quit hangin with the "riche" children. this in my world is wrong. shoot dope ,film it , and make it into a cool doc.yall need to realize what bullshit is. I saw nothing redeming in this crap.sorry.

[Petri Aspvik]

The post by Shannon reminded me of one aspect I forgot. If Scott has pictures of him hanging with movie stars and stuff in his blog, automatically all the people who want to tattoo will think its cool. Meaning this video. Vice magazine people and such. Who are most likely rich and middle class kids. (edit. I mean of course all the people who want to tattoo and think he is cool etc etc.)

And I agree with Shannon. There is nothing cool about being related to prison. Some of my old friends have been in prison and I see these kinda guys from time to time. I dont want to hang with them. They are like this.

Everything is on the edge. Not my kinda scene.

[Perez]

Who else?

Marcus Kuhn, Jason Goldberg, & Katja Opel

Also Scott doesn't actually charge everyone $300 an hour with a 1k minimum, but telling people that does a really good job of keeping tire-kickers and time-wasters at bay. I have a bunch of friends that have tattoos from Scott as well as having a pretty nice one myself, nobody I know of paid a grand. Not to say he probaby didn't charge Marc Jacobs or Courtney love that rate, but I mean, why wouldn't you?

[Avery Taylor]

If I tattooed Courtney Love I would go and get a tetanus shot as soon as I finished.

[Shannon Shirley]

The post by Shannon reminded me of one aspect I forgot. If Scott has pictures of him hanging with movie stars and stuff in his blog, automatically all the people who want to tattoo will think its cool. Meaning this video. Vice magazine people and such. Who are most likely rich and middle class kids. (edit. I mean of course all the people who want to tattoo and think he is cool etc etc.)

And I agree with Shannon. There is nothing cool about being related to prison. Some of my old friends have been in prison and I see these kinda guys from time to time. I dont want to hang with them. They are like this.

Everything is on the edge. Not my kinda scene.

Scott has tattooed ''cool'' & ''famous'' people, he just doesnt flaunt bullcr#p. scott is a humble ,good person,that let's his work speak for itself. braggerdry will get you nowhere with the intelligent.