Ten years in the desert

At the age of 47,after walking away from tattooing for ten years,I have returned.I must say,I was a bit shocked to see so many changes,both good and bad.One thing that pleases me is the number of truly first class artists has increased by a factor of ten. Unfortunately,the number of artists in general seems to have grown by a factor of 100.I honestly can't imagine how anyones making a decent living from this situation. Getting back in has been interesting to say the least. For instance the "we sell only to proffessional tattoo artists" screed that I ran into while re-supplying,(everything I had was stolen in 99',including my portfolio) is a empty threat.This is good for me as I prefer custom machines and quality ink,but I guess "the bullshit" in this business never changes.

welcome back and... good luck!

Thank you Verse, It is my intention to strip all "non art" aspects from my approach this time.Not a business,not a culture,just art.Unfortunately my previous life in tattooing was 90% warfare and struggle against governments, idiot partners,and theives.I never got the opportunity to concentrate on my potential as an artist. Not this time. Not ever again.

Ya know. . . ive been at this for about ten years now and some things dont change. I still gotta lock my stuff up at night, bad decisions by owners, fellow employees cant keep themselves clean off the drugs, it still goes on. I just try to work on improving my art and learning as much as i can every chance i get to make myself a better artist. Just try to be that lesser percentage that doesnt have all the drama and crap going on that seems to follow this job around. Its pretty sad, i see so much talent wasted because they cant seem to separate the art from the"wanna be rock star life".