Tattooing is more then just throwing on a stencil and going to town on someones skin. For thousands of years tattooing has represented the many different cultures around the world. One of my favorite styles is that of the great Japanese artist Hiroshi Kawai who tattoos out of his studio in Tokyo Japan. An article with an interview with Hiroshi tells of his attention to detail. Hiroshi believes that the outline of the tattoo must be the first and foremost area of the tattoo the artist must concentrate the most on. Here at Aberration Pro Custom Tattoo we pound this fact in the heads of our apprentices. The outline should take the longest, it should also be crisp and clean. Our shop sees some very bad tattoos done by scratchers who have no other motive but to make the money. For an individual to be an artist he/she must always remember that the work going into the piece must always be 110%.
Many times if an individual has a trained eye. The individual should be able to tell by the piece of art what kind of style had a influence on the piece. Whether it be Western or Eastern. One of the great Western Artist Larry Brogans is located in Joliet Illinois. He is the owner of Skin Art Studio and has been on the convention circuit for many years winning all kinds of awards. If you look at his art you'll be able to pick out the differences from Hiroshi's work. Artist from a particular region of world will always be influenced by the environment around them. Dragons, tigers play a big part in the Japanese culture. While here in the West and more particular the United States skulls, zombies and realism portraits dominate the tattoo scene.
In order to better enjoy and understand the culture of tattooing an individual must go behind the scenes. Look at a piece and see what the piece represents to you or what the artist was trying to convey through the piece. One practice that has really started to disappear in the states is the pre-tattoo meeting. It's still pretty much alive in the east but here in the states tattooing has become very popular. Artist are more concerned with tattooing in a factory assembling line then to sit back with the customer and really dig into what they are wanting the tattoo to represent or given pointers to how to make it look better.
A shop here in Rockford advertises that they are open 24 hrs a day. My questions are many regarding this gimmick. Does it really help the customer coming in for a tattoo at 3 in the morning when the artist is in no mood to tattoo in the first place. This is an example of trying to put money before the customer. It's one thing to be open till 2 in the morning but an entirely different story being open 24 hrs a day and slave driving your employees. The stories have been numerous as people come into the shop for cover ups or fix ups. Or the stories of employees sitting and playing PS3 and ignoring customers. A tattoo shop now a days needs to be friendly and inviting. In the Eastern culture you would never see any of the above taking place. Tattooing is still considered to be a craft that is to be respected. Here in the West we have lost our way, not because we are not artistic but because we are more into the money then the art.