aaronkicks

Well I guess it's safe to say that I don't gotta worry about face tattoos coming into style anytime soon. But then again, I got a third of my face tattooed.

When I got into tattooing all my friends were either punk/hardcore/skinhead scene (non racist scene) and a few of my most influential friends got tattooed at this local biker tattoo shop. The artist did awesome tattoos, very new school style so of course I went to him for my first one. I've never been afraid to speak my mind or tell people how I feel or what I feel and that is one of the main reasons why me and the artist hit it off so well. I wasn't afraid to talk shit to him when he'd dish it out first. So after me getting a few tattoos I told him how I was going to art school (originally american academy of art in chicago) and expresed how i wanted to be an art teacher in inner city schools. Needless to say he talked me out of it and asked if I'd pursue a career in tattooing. The rest is history. It's been ups and downs, depression, happiness, loneliness, joy, every emotion possible. Tattooing chose me. I learned the hard way, the extremely hard way. To this day I still have repercussions as to who I worked for, why I worked for him, and what I'm still doing running his shop but overall I don't give a fuck. Tattooing chooses you and not the other way around. I'll never respect someone who paid 5 grand to learn how to tattoo. Fuck that, paying for an apprenticeship is easy, but EARNING one that's a different story.

Thanks for checking out my ramblings guys I appreciate it!

That list is entirely fucked. How the fuck is Grime gonna be put before Angelina Jolie and Mario Barth and why aint Roy Boy in there. He brought the badass to tattooing which is way cooler then the people who took it out!

I take around 1500 mg's of vicodin and at least 3 or 4 strong imperial I.P.A's when I get tattooed by my friends. I'm also a scumbag though so don't take my advice.

I'm trying to be more pro-active in getting my stuff out there on the interwebs. So here's some new tattoos I've had the pleasure of doing in the last two days. I'm finding more and more people are leaning towards my simple, bold tattooing rather than my realistic stuff which is cool, but I'm still not sure which direction to head in. Either way, I'm trying to be fluent in both the traditional "bold will hold" world as well as the realism genre too. My four year tattoo anniversary is coming up soon and I like to set goals for each year I tattoo. So far I've kinda reached them but I'm hoping that in the next four years I can really start to understand the deeper meanings behind symbolism, japanese tattooing, composition, and flow. One of the greatest things I've learned so far is Sailor Jerry's technique of not simple small tattoos but rather using layers to create imagery and depth but still keeping that shit bold and simple. Anyways, enough of my bullshit thoughts here's some tattoos.

My town is a town of about 25-30 thousand people just outside of the chicago metropolitan area in Indiana. There are over 5 shops just in my town alone and if you go 10 miles over there is another 7 shops in the next town. Yeah it sucks but if you do good solid tattooing you won't have any issues. Hell, one of the shops that opened two blocks from where I work has a lady working there who is a photographer for Skin and Ink and goes around taking pictures of huge name artists and it still doesn't help their business one bit because my shop has been here for over a decade and quality will always beat quantity. People spread rumors, get into price wars, yet we keep our heads down and stay tattooing and things work. We tattoo every day all day and just added a 4th artist to the shop so as long as you keep on staying positive good things will come your way! The greedy may temporarily be rewarded but it never lasts. Case in point, another shop that opened up two blocks from us in the other direction is closing down and moving locations because they can't seem to make any money.

I got tattooed at Tattoo-a-go-go by Larry Bone! It's owned by Don Davis and everyone there does really nice, clean, tattooing. Electric Ladyland is a great shop as well! I'm moving out that way next summer. Something about Louisiana makes me feel at home. I wish I knew about more shops down there but to the best of my knowledge those are the ones worth checking out.

I started doing something like this each time I travel. I got a sweet Crawfish/Alligator/Catfish hybrid tattooed on me the last time I went down to my future home of New Orleans. I love that city more then anywhere I've been and I'm planning on getting tattooed at about each city I travel to that means something special to me. But rather then one design like you said, I get little tattoos that represent something that really inspired me on the trip. I find most of my inspiration in traveling and seeing the country so I think this idea is amazing!

Why get into tattooing to be different though? Yes it's a subculture in it's own right but it's an overstatement to say that still as a tattooer you're somehow thought of as just a normal everyday person. Be happy you get to have one of the coolest jobs to this day. Why reminisce of the "good times" as it seems in your post when you can still create the same, awesome atmosphere for yourself? Times change, and so do people. If you want to be in a job that never changes or creates new obstacles, personalities, and entities then work in an office and be content that everything will ALWAYS be the same.

One thing to think about, get tattooed because you want the piece. Not just because that person happens to be doing a style that's currently in the spotlight. That is why so many people end up with a huge mix and match of work when they originally started off wanting all one style. They get caught up in the now and who's the big name. Get work because you like it, not because you see it all over blogs, magazines, and the internet. Would you have wanted that same style of work if you had never seen Thomas Hoopers tattoos? I say this because there are other artsts out there who excell in the same sort of work.