And then a girl got this on her forehead..

[Ursula]

Cool. Sorry to see you think I'm some kind of moron for using the term "the industry". I guess you haven't realized that tattooing is one these days.

Thanks for replying with something intelligent and insightful to help me better understand why you would do a tattoo like that.

I think I'm done posting in this thread after this one. Good luck in your career, hopefully this tattoo won't hurt your shop's business. As I've said before in other threads, if you or anyone has a problem with what I've said here feel free to send me a message. I'm sure you're not a horrible person, I just personally think you made the wrong call on this one, and I only brought it up because of this thread. It's not like I went around the internet calling you a dick hiding behind an anonymous screen name, we're all here having a discussion about an event. People are going to have different opinions. My intention was not to make you feel bad about yourself or your work. I was only expressing my opinion on the matter, as were the other people here. It's not specifically that she got 'drake', I am a firm believer that face and hand tattoos are to be applied only on people you know well, who are also heavily tattooed and fully comprehend what having those areas tattooed means. Anyways whatever, this is just going to turn into a huge argument that I don't want to be part of.

[Kevin Campbell]

I'm cool with you expressing your opinion, but when it comes to implying that I am a dick, I don't feel like your opinion deserves an intelligent and insightful response at that point. It just puts me in a sour mood, and I no longer feel like I owe anybody an explanation if sideways personal attacks are going to get in the middle of it. I would have loved to have given you an insightful response, but I'm over it. Good luck to you as well.

[ShawnPorter]

Years ago, Mike Wilson showed me a picture of a tattoo he did on a guy who was a crazy white power/survivalist/conspiracy theorist. The fella was convinced that the great race war was coming, and that when the "white man lost" that his enemies would set off an atomic bomb or some crazy shit like that. To protect himself, the guy asked Mike to tattoo a black triangle coming down his cheek, starting just below his eye. The blast from the explosion would pass over him if he had it.

Mike did it after the guy kept asking over and over.

Tattooing wasn't damaged. Sure, some a-hole has a stupid, possibly life altering tattoo on his face that may keep him from getting a job more so than avoiding the effects of atomic fallout, but that's pretty much that.

If the internet would have been more omnipresent back then, I'm sure it would be all over the place, though I doubt people would have been taking personal shots at Mike.

Kevin- I think it's a bad idea. I wouldn't have done it. (then again, I'm not a tattooer; I don't make a living having to decide what to turn down and what to do, so my opinion is allowably biased) Partially because it would have come back to bite me on the ass, partially because while she requested it, consent isn't everything and in the end nothing good could have come out of it.

I make bad decisions sometimes too (though I admit I'm kind of a dick) and having those bad decisions thrown in my face would be equally agitating. I'm not here to rub salt in anyone's wounds though. Lesson learned and all that.

[Kevin Campbell]

The greatest thing is, she just came back today to ask about finishing it. She was totally stoked on it, and was wondering about me doing some tip shading and bolding up the lines. She was so pumped on it, and wasn't sure if she should add more because she liked it so much how it was. I just told her that if we fancy it up a bit, she'll be even more stoked. I love making people happy, what an added bonus to an already awesome job I have!

[Kevin Campbell]

I'm pretty pumped to finish this thing.

[cfgsteak]

Best thread in a while.

I see kevin's side of this...I don't go to my tattooer for decision making assistance or moral or ethical guidance.

[Kenny Wilson]

Im not for face tattoos period, but whatever. If someone wants to get something stupid tattooed on their face, who gives a shit. They probably are going to make some life altering decisions that are not tattooed related. There are plenty of kids out their with bullshit neck and hand tattoos who are probably 18 years old and will deal with it the rest of their lives. Im sure 99 percent are not tattoo artist or rock stars, so they will probably have hell to pay finding a job. I believe in freewill, that includes allowing people to make dumb ass decisions. Any grown person should be able to think this decision through.

[Barbie Doll]

Chances are, at this stage in her life, she's not interviewing for a CEO position. If I were to see her in person I would probably be more fixated on the lack of eyebrows which creeps me out a little. I wouldn't be surprised if she gets featured on The Soup or Chelsea Lately and gets her 15 min of fame like that nut job that made herself look like a tiger. She was warned of the potential repercussions of the tattoo beforehand and made her decision. And if she regrets it in 10 years, there are great laser procedures these days and she'll have a very entertaining story and learning experience for her kids. Im not in the tattoo industry so maybe my aversion to it isnt as strong. For me, when I think of poor work ethic, the type of person I think of the plastic surgeon who performed 14 surgeries on Heidi Montag in 1 day and made her look like a crazy blow up doll or the piece of shit lawyer who represented Casey Anthony or the thousands of mortgage brokers who contributed to people losing their homes. Those people are life ruiners. I'm sure there are a lot of tattoo artists that would have passed on this work of art but at the end of the day, if she regrets it, she can wear a beanie until she saves up enough money for laser.

[Kevin Campbell]

Or what about Michael Jackson's plastic surgeon? Geez. I don't see him up in front of a firing squad.

[David Flores]

Got on the computer after a couple of days off and see this story in a few different places. I brought up the topic at the shop and pretty much the consensus was "Everyone gets the tattoo they deserve". I am not sure why anyone would be mad at a tattooer for being a tattooer. I think sometimes people fixate on the artistic aspect of tattooing and getting tattooed by the guys with the names they forget that sometimes it's about providing a service to a customer. This tattoo is sure not for everyone, but she is stoked about it and that is all that should matter.

[Shannon Shirley]

we've all done regretful things , If you haven't, you probably haven't seen much. the real trick is not doin it twice. been there.

[Kevin Campbell]

I think the next time, I just wont let somebody with 6000 followers on instagram take a picture of it. Stupid fucking internet.

[MGblues]

Don't let it get you down too much.

it's just positive proof that if the internet were around in the 80's there'd be more photographic evidence of a shit-ton of "OZZY", "PRIEST", "MAIDEN", etc. tattoos, all where the owners wish they could have a rethink of their choice.

[Kevin Campbell]

Oh and as far as thinking anybody is a moron for using the term "industry" when referring to tattooing, that is far from the case. I guess when I hear it referred to as the "industry", it just reminds me of all the people making money off of tattooing that aren't tattooers. So if I did any damage to actual tattooers, then I apologize. All the industry men can go suck a fuck.

[Ursula]

I wasn't going to post again but after reading everything Kevin wrote back and thinking about it some more I did want to say that yes, my saying you ( @Kevin Campbell) are an asshole or whatever for doing the tattoo was kind of uncalled for. I do still feel the same way about the tattoo but I realize calling someone names doesn't do any good. I do agree with the notion that grown adults should be able to make their own decisions about this type of thing, but these days, especially in America grown adults often are not educated and are not in the mind frame to make those kinds of decisions, especially if they are under the influence of any drugs or alcohol. So basically, I do apologize and take back the "this guy is a dick" comment, but I do not take back my comments on the tattoo and the belief that it should have been turned down. And I did want to say that about the other example of Mike Wilson doing a face tattoo on an obvious 'crazy' person, I feel the same way. He should have probably turned the guy down even if he did come back every day asking for the tattoo. I feel like people wouldn't shit talk him because of who he is, not because they agree with the tattoo. People don't want to burn the bridge to one of our generation's best tattooers, even if they don't agree with something he did. As far as I know, most people at Inksmith are not doing hand and face tattoos on people they don't know and who aren't heavily tattooed. There are one or two people there who will do these tattoos and I feel the same way about them.

Anyways, the girl seems to be stoked on her Drake tatt, and hopefully for her sake it will stay that way for a long time.

[gougetheeyes]

All the industry men can go suck a fuck.

Haahaha dude YES, shit WHAT is "suck a fuck" from?!

[gougetheeyes]

Also, nice job everyone for turning the "dickheads" and "fuck yous" into a near constructive discussion! Shoulda thought twice before starting this thread, but glad it's resolved itself, dare I say, civilly.

[ThaliaCamille]

Haahaha dude YES, shit WHAT is "suck a fuck" from?!

Donnie Darko. "Oh, please, tell me Elizabeth, how exactly does one suck a fuck?"

[ShawnPorter]

The story keeps cycling on my various social networking sites and blogs. Some people taking really personal shots at Kevin (And his shopmates, but in fairness, I know there' s a personal subtext to one) and everyone pretty much getting holier than thou.

Kevin... if you shade that piece, do NOT take pictures.

[Kevin Campbell]

The story keeps cycling on my various social networking sites and blogs. Some people taking really personal shots at Kevin (And his shopmates, but in fairness, I know there' s a personal subtext to one) and everyone pretty much getting holier than thou.

Kevin... if you shade that piece, do NOT take pictures.

Yeah. I figure the personal shots at me are really convenient to make whilst hiding behind a computer screen. Hopefully all these Internet tough guys will have the decency to speak their mind to me at the next convention we're all at. Taking potshots over the internet doesn't really faze me all that much. No big deal.

[JAllen]

people always have strong opinions and lofty ideals when it's something that doesn't directly involve them and more often than not, something that they have no real clue of what they would do until they were actually in that position.

i think the only real mistake you made was giving the interview, mainly because you referred to your customer as a crackhead or a shermed out chola. i get how those things might be said and what you were saying but it was kind of a bummer because i think you do have more consideration for your customers than that implied. also it seems to have given people reading the story the impression that she was intoxicated when getting the tattoo. i've read other assumptions about her not having a bunch of tattoos but i've never actually seen that mentioned nor from most of the photos i've seen can you tell if she is or not. either way, i know from my own experience that the soapbox is far higher to climb up to once you are in a situation that puts your opinions to practice.

[Kevin Campbell]

Yeah man. This whole thing got blown way the fuck out of proportion. The chick from vice originally contacted me to interview the girl, not me. The "interview" actually wasn't an interview at all. I was just telling her about what went down over the course of a few e- mails, and then all of a sudden she was like " hey, i put our conversation into a question and answer format so it's easier to read, and put it up on the vice blog! Is that cool?" Dumbass me didn't realize that like 50 billion people read the stupid vice blog, and so I agreed to it, without really thinking to re-read the thing to basically censor myself. I even went as far as sending her some pictures to put up with the story, mostly because I was so concerned that the photo that Norm took made the tattoo look so flawed technically.

[Kevin Campbell]

*continued from previous post

Had I been smart, I would have (obviously) asked her to take out the shit where I berate my customer and call her a crackhead and all that. She obviously didn't smoke crack, and to call her a dumbass, well, that is just flat out rude. I was just so concerned with the actual technical application looking so shitty in the picture that it didn't even cross my mind to check what I said to the girl from Vice in all the e-mails. I had so much anxiety about the linework looking so jacked in the fucking picture that I jumped on the opportunity to have a decent picture of the actual tattoo taken from a proper angle put out that I didn't even realize that I sounded like a total fucking piece of shit asshole in the stupid "interview". And then, to rub it all in, the picture that they posted on the blog that shows the damn thing got run through photoshop or some shit so you can't really even see it. Fuck me. I'm not going to argue whether or not tattooing a face is ethically/morally wrong, because I've done it plenty of times before and I'll probably do it again, but as far as me sounding like a fucking asshole, I sincerely apologize to anyone who is legitimately bummed out.

[slayer9019]

The way I look at things like this goes as follows....if you are bare minimum bearing dead average intelligence you are officially smarter than half the planet! There are at least 3 billion people less intelligent as you. This also defeats into the following assumption.....there are litterally billions of people that are ready and able to make poor decisions. So to me someone getting silly tattoos are just fantastic content to look at on the internet.

[Janine]

Yikes !