inked

When talking to Tony, one of the tattoo artists at Sacred Heart, he had a lot of comments regarding how he became a tattoo artist.  Basically what he did was he got an apprenticeship with a tattoo parlor.  Where he basically did all the dirty work for about a year and a half.  He would set up and take down the tattoo sets, he would clean and sterilize, and basically did whatever the tattoo artists needed him to do.  But, in the process of doing all this work, he also was learning how to become a tattoo artist.  There is a huge difference between being able to draw a tattoo on a piece of paper and draw a tattoo on someone's skin.  As Tony said, "Doing a tattoo on a skin is similar to trying to draw on a t-shirt.  You have to pull and stretch it to make sure its nice and firm."  I think most people don't realize how much more difficult doing tattoos is from drawing them.  Tattoo artists' artwork changes though out their careers.  They each have their own style and preference in the types of tattoos they are willing to do but they also need to be versatile in what they can do in order to keep their revenue coming in.  It really comes down to the customer.  There is a fine line of pleasing the customer, and being comfortable with the work you're about to do.  Tattoo artists do have the ability to decline working on a customer because they don't feel comfortable with their name being associated with that tattoo.  For example, Tony will not do any sort of hand or knuckle tattoos on minors because he doesn't feel comfortable with his name being attached to those tattoos.  Its all a preference thing.  Tattoo artists have to be able to have the humility to admit what they can or cannot do, because after all the work that they do lasts a lifetime and it is all apart of their reputation.  One of Tony's favorite parts of his job is that he is leaving his work on somebody else; and come 5-10 years down the line and you see the same tattoo on that person it becomes like a weird Time Machine.  Although the person themselves has changed, the tattoo is still there in the same condition.  "The thought is actually really cool to think about.  Like you're work has been apart of them for several years and will continue to be there for the rest of their lifetime."  We later brought up the subject of tattoos in the work place, and this really hit a nerve with Tony.  " The difference between people with tattoos and people who don't is we don't care that you don't have one."  He feels as if judging someone based off of their tattoos is a personal judgment, and that it shows that people with tattoos are more understanding and have more of a sense of culture.