Upcoming trip

I leave for New York at the end of the month. No, not for Ink Master (one celebrity tattoo artist in Kentucky is more than enough). I'm going to hang out with my friend, Keith Ciaramello. Maybe we'll do some art or just go see a movie. Either way, I'm looking forward to it.


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A Tattoo Tale

Sit back for a moment and let me tell you a tale (excuse the silliness.  I saw "The Hobbit" last week and am feeling fantastical)...

     Once upon a time, long ago, in the magical village of Radcliff, Kentucky, there was a talented but lost artist.  He was wandering through the wilderness alone and confused.  Along his path to work at the cabinet factory was a special place, General Lee's Tattoo shop.  There, Big Daddy Tray, an old friend of the artist, toiled under the supervision of the White Bearded Wizard, General Lee.  The talented but lost artist would stop in occasionally to talk to his old friend.  They would discuss Big Daddy's success and plans to partner with the infamous General Lee.  The artist was SO lost that he never saw the obvious path.  That is until Big Daddy made the suggestion.  Still without any inclination of the potential success that awaited the artist, he considered the notion and eventually came around to give it a try...at least until he got a "real" job, so he thought.  The artist turned apprentice.

   The first few months of the apprenticeship were spent at General Lee's.  Plans were for Big Daddy and General Lee to become business partners with Big Daddy opening a shop down the street in a powerful business move to control the tattoo market in Radcliff.  The new apprentice, being an old friend of Big Daddy's, was obviously to go with Big Daddy as General Lee's was fairly self sufficient.  Another old friend joined the alliance as an apprentice.  Often referred to as AJ, his actual name is unclear as was his past.  He was a proven artist with amazing talent.  Big Daddy's Tattoo opened with a powerful trio who proceeded to dominate the local tattoo scene.

   For years, Big Daddy's continued to grow and prosper bringing in many excellent artists and amazing adventures to foreign, exotic lands (restaurants such as Shalimar and Los Nopales) and exhibitions of musical mastery (Limp Bizkit).  At one point, a trek to Miami, Florida where unsinkable jet ski's were sunk and friends stood together in the strange land.  Life was good but like all good things, they must come to an end.  Evolution occurred on many levels and soon the alliance was broken not only amongst the three old friends but also amongst the business partners.  

   Big Daddy prospered and grew his empire and continued to dominate the tattoo scene in Hardin County.  The talented artist moved to the enchanted village of La Grange far enough away as to not affect the Hardin County tattoo clientele.  The White Bearded Wizard fared not so well.   While maintaining the integrity of the legendary establishment, the world around him was changing.  Consumers became engrossed not with pursuing a quality tattoo experience by a master of the craft, instead they chose to pit tattoo shop against tattoo shop, brother against brother, in a fight for their business.  In all but a few cases, whoever offered the lowest price, won the battle despite their experience, expertise, or quality.

HOWEVER!  THE TIME HAS COME!  The return of the talented but lost artist to his tattoo home.  But he's no longer lost... still talented... but not lost.  Instead, he has evolved into the TATTOO WIZARD!  He has the answer to help General Lee's RISE UP! to the glorious status it deserves and defeat the evil Dragon of Cheapness.  What is the answer?  To educate the public about the difference between people.  Everyone seeks out the best deal, it's foolish not to do so.  However, there are two types of people.  The first type , which is the majority, will readily sacrifice quality for money, time, and effort.  This is why nearly everything is made in China as well as the vast success of stores like WalMart.  The type of person that Ink Well Tattoo and General Lee's Tattoo market to are the second type.  They are willing to sacrifice money, time, and effort to get quality.  Have you ever noticed that someone with a lot of terrible tattoos is almost always someone of ill repute?  That's not to say that someone with great tattoos is a saint, but it is a starting point.  It's not easy to get a lot of nice tattoos.  It requires planning, time, money, and understanding.

     SO, if you aren't already an Ink Well Tattoo or General Lee's Tattoo client, what you have to ask yourself is whether or not you're type 1 or type 2.  Neither is necessarily wrong, just know that you have options.

NOTE:  IN NO WAY IS THIS STORY INTENDED TO BE AN ATTACK ON OTHER TATTOO SHOPS SPECIFICALLY.  Just the ones doing it wrong.  If the shops could get together in a cooperative fashion, everyone would benefit, shops and clients alike.  I invite any and all shop owners, tattoo artists, whoever to stop in and discuss how we can work together to educate the public about the difference between a tattoo shop and a PROFESSIONAL tattoo shop.

I will be at General Lee's Tattoo tomorrow to begin this journey.  In case you didn't know, I'm the talented, but lost artist in the story :)

The End...for now.

Tattoo Wizard

                               

                                 

Oh yeah, and on top of all that...

...I'm working with Tramp at Eternal Ink on an ad campaign using Dutch as the "spokesmodel".  I've essentially only used Eternal Ink on everything that I've done on him and it is holding up great even the stuff that's over 10 years old!  This is a quick "sketch" of a potential ad.

New Stuff for 2013

After a lot of introspection and analysis, I have come up with a few new endeavors for 2013.

As far as my tattoo career goes, I will attempt to be limiting my time dedicated to tattooing to Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. As I evolve as a tattoo artist, the time required to properly execute the evolved tattoos increases. Not just the time of the tattoo process but the preparation as well.



My minimum price per session will increase from $200 to $300 and every hour over three hours will be $150. Monthly appointments will become bi-monthly in an effort to make more time available.

The second endeavor is the partnering of Ink Well Tattoo with General Lee's Tattoo in Radcliff, Kentucky. That is technically where I began my apprenticeship and I'm really looking forward to going "home". General Lee's will now be Hardin County's first "elitist" tattoo shop. If you are not familiar with the Ink Well Tattoo method of client relations, what that means is that the interest of the client is the priority of the artist.

The final endeavor is that I plan on reinventing myself as a traditional artist (everything outside of tattooing).


I have a fairly consistent demand for commissioned paintings and will be producing signed and numbered prints as well as a variety of other art products. Possibly a book and/or DVD.





I intend on starting a new website solely for the purpose of marketing myself as a traditional artist. In the meantime, www.inkwelltattoo.com, this blog, Instagram, and my Facebook page will hopefully be enough "online presence". I guess I may give Twitter another shot too.

I guess that should be enough to keep me a little busy. Plus the family, numerous trips, my '57 Chevy project and whatever may come along! I obviously don't do well with complacency.