People often asked me how I became a tattoo artist and want me to tell the story about my career. I hope this article will answer many questions.
I began to draw in early childhood. Since I can remember, I drew wherever it was possible – drew in my diary and on the notebooks fields, on my friends with fountain pen, on the walls at home with the consent of my mother.
When I was a teenager my interest in drawing led me to an art school, but, like all children, I wanted to hang out more and less sit on one place. So I left the school after 3 years of training although teachers asked me to stay. Of course, training gave me a lot, for example, the foundations of the history of art and composition, but I didn’t finished it.
I first became interested in tattooing in 1997. Tattoos that I saw seemed to me like something special, beautiful and strong. In 1998, I set up my first tattoo machine. Of course, it wasn’t a normal one and I worked with it just for a few weeks and spoiled only my own skin. But this time can be regarded as the reference point of my career.
I perceived tattoo as a hobby at the beginning, but later, in 2000, I realized that I want to become a professional tattoo artist; then I got professional equipment and began to learn a complex and interesting art of tattoo.
Apart from the usual training courses I learned from other tattoo artists: came to the studios, communicated, catching every word, thought about information that I got and then tried to apply it on practice.
I started to work in beauty salons in Obninsk and Moscow, but I thought more and more to establish my own tattoo studio. I didn’t want to adjust to someone, I just wanted to do what I like and show that the tattoo is not just drawing on the skin, but real art, decoration of personality.
In 2010 I realized my dream.
I prefer to do a unique works, and I think that everyone deserves to get an exclusive image. Different people from different social stratums come to my studio and it’s really fun and interesting. We discuss the shape and color of the future tattoos, budget, and then we proceed directly to the process of getting a tattoo.
The main thing in work is to listen to the client, to understand what he wants, to feel his mood and personality traits. Over the years, I have gained the necessary experience, so I can switch between different styles and help everyone to find what is necessary exactly to him.
With some clients you understand that it will be simple and interesting to work with: they are open to dialogue, trust me as a professional, and we can easily understand each other. Others need some time to get used to, they need tips, they haven’t decided what they want yet and they are still looking for. Sometimes there are complicated cases, when people don’t hear anyone and continue to insist on their own, not realizing that the desired work will look out of place, ugly, and sometimes just plain stupid. I am ready to listen to any point of view, but when the client goes out the reasonable limits, I can refuse to work with him.
Now, I do know what kind of works I will not do under any circumstances and, on the other hand, I know the performance of which works I will enjoy. Of course, in this case I lose a certain group of clients, but it’s just not interesting to me — when every second one wants the same sketch, art turns into a routine. The most interesting thing for me is tattoos with meaning and extensive works requiring painstaking planning. In general, big tattoo is always interesting, because it allows me to express the inner world of the client through the prism of my vision.
Tattoo artist — is not a profession but a lifeway; I breathe it, it is only one appropriate habitat for me, as, for example, water for fish. The works of other artists, the mystery of tattoo art — that’s what makes me always improve my professionalism.
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