The Zen Tattooer and 333Machines.com Pt. 1

Before I had started to redesign my website I had to ask myself what kind of image I wanted to send to people with even the most basic concepts behind my site. I tend to lean towards darker tones in all my work; my Verbal Vomit blog with the blacks and grays, Narwhals and Bacon with blacks and reds, and even the EvoTat site is of red and black in nature as well. With every new experience I try to approach it in the most peaceful ways possible, and sometimes I fail to complete such tasks. I do practice Eastern Philosophies such as Buddhism, and since learning the philosophies of the Buddha and many others, my life has gotten much more calm, relaxed, and all around peaceful. With this in mind, I asked myself how I can possibly spread my feeling through the visuals and words that is my website. One of my biggest inspirations on this topic is Nick Baxter’s website (nickbaxter.com).

He has achieved a simple layout, but it’s kind of cryptic in a way that challenges you think before you click a link. He’s definitely trying to send a message through the way he puts things. One of the things that are consistent of so many sites is that it is of blacks and blues for tone. Nice contrast, but it’s got that dark thing going on, and that’s something that I want to steer away from. Darkness can be unsettling, even at a subconscious level, so I took a different direction. I actually grabbed little bits of color from my sketches; reds, pinks, and even cream colors to create the theme. Calming, with a twist of excitement, and they say that red is the color of passion, compassion, love, and even hunger. I want people to love my work, and be hungry for it; to keep coming back and wanting more. Not a deep red as to not inspire greed though. No one likes a glutton.

Upon reading a text on Mr. Baxter’s website he asked several questions which I will answer as I share them with you. He talks about comparing your work with the people you look up to, to gauge where you are in your career. Constantly looking at the other artist and thinking, “Have a made it yet?” He goes on to say, “But once a certain level of proficiency is achieved, I feel that it is vital for truly committed artists to ask themselves honestly…”

What am I after?

What ideas or feelings am I trying to communicate to the outside world with my paintings?

What feelings am I trying to explore within myself, and make tangible through this image?

I am after peace, Zen, and a calmness through my work that I can walk away happy from. In the summer of 2013 I finally decided to take a step back from the art and tattoos I was doing and start pursuing a level of art that I had only achieved a few times when I wasn’t even trying. My frustrations with certain styles of tattooing have left me without inspiration, and little drive to sit and create. I am now trying to bridge the gaps of Zen, lowbrow, new school, and traditional styles of tattooing. People always say they can indentify one of my tattoos, and I wonder how that is when I don’t feel like my tattoos stand out. Nothing really says, “Adam!” I recognize that’s my ego talking, but I would like to have something that is my own and not just me trying to emulate everyone else.

In every aspect of my creations, I want there to be peace, understanding, compassion, and a movement of mind that is wholesome and full of honesty. Too many people in this world get swayed with things and become questionable. “You either die a hero, or live long enough to become the villain.” I feel like I’ve lived too long as the artist I have been and nothing is truly mine; I’m tired of being a human copy machine. I would like very much for my tattoos to have artistic creativity, soul, and a message the stems from myself that hopefully the client can take with them everywhere they go. I want my entire experience with my clients to be something to truly be appreciate rather be a, “wham, bam, thank ya ma’am” interaction. Slap some mindless, trendy tattoo on someone and as soon as they walk out the door they’re forgotten. I want heartfelt experiences with everything that crosses my path.

I had an experience that opened my eyes to tattooing (You can find that on my blog HERE) and I want to take it further, really put some spikes in the ground and cause a wave of consciousness through my art. I’m out to be the Zen tattooer, but I have a feeling that many people won’t respond to it, but I am out to create a level of tattooing that I know people out there do, but I’ve never experienced it, and maybe no one is doing like I’m going to do it.

I want people to think about their tattoos, I want people to care about what goes on their bodies, and I want to sit down with my potential clients and current clients and really contemplate the best possible action that can be taken to make the best tattoo possible. Who knows, maybe through a dialogue we’ll find that I’m not the best artist for what they’re trying to achieve. I have a feeling that some people won’t respond to what it is that I’m trying to do and say to themselves, “Uhm… I just want this infinity symbol, because, like, my family is forever and whatnot. Why does it have to be all poetic, or philosophical or some junk!?” Each to their path I suppose. I know I won’t be able to win them all, but I will do my best to improve on the ones that will. Tattoos that are higher level thinking, and art with a conscious and aware perspective. I care about what goes on people’s bodies, probably more than I should, but I don’t see how it’s a bad thing as long I approach it with right action.

Like I said, I’m out to be the Zen tattooer, and will do my absolute best to approach every tattoo with peace, compassion and understanding.

Please read my other post about myself, scheduling, consults, and other stuffs.

Thank you for reading any and all of my words. Peace.

Trendies: Why they are bad ideas.

Don't be like Demi.. Because she's just a clone, of a clone, of a clone.

In this post I’m going to discuss how some of the more popular tattoos are bad ideas and why. Things like overall design, placement, and aging are all factors why these tattoos aren’t good ideas, but in the end if that’s what the client wants, we will do our best not only to make the client happy while trying to make a good tattoo.

Trend:
The first and probably the most important thing to consider about a lot of these tattoos is trendiness. What is a trend?

trend  [trend]
noun
1. the general course or prevailing tendency; drift: trends in the teaching of foreign languages; the trend of events.
2. style or vogue: the new trend in women's apparel.
3. the general direction followed by a road, river, coastline, or the like.

The problem with a lot of tattoo artists is that they like to try to create something original; something that sets themselves and their clients apart from everyone else. As artists the tattooers work tirelessly not only on a style of their own, but on techniques to do the best tattoos possible, so when people request something that’s been done millions of times it becomes a little heartbreaking for the artist. We of course want tattoos to be trendy, and popular, just not specific ones we get stuck doing time, and time, and time again.

She must in a the Ilooklikeeverybodyelse tribe.

Feathers with birds silhouettes:
This tattoo came out in 2012, and has haunted tattooers worldwide ever since. There’s lots of jokes pertaining to each trendy tattoo that comes about. The sad part of this one is it documents a specific year. It’s not like pointy tribal tattoos that plagued the 90’s, the feather with birds exploding out of it says, “I got tattooed in 2012/2013 and I couldn’t think of anything for myself, and I thought this was cute.” Despite our efforts as tattooers to try to explain to you that tattoos like these will not age well and most likely be regretted and covered up, the clients stick to their guns and exclaim their individualism by looking exactly like everyone else. Speaking of aging lets discuss this tattoo. The idea behind the tattoo is that it’s a dark black feather, with dark black bird shadows flying out of it. This is basically the tribal of the 2010’s. As this tattoo ages it will sooner or later just become a black oval with black dots next to it, and it’s super rare that anyone that decides on this tattoo will step up to the option of doing a fun feather with some cool birds around it. Taking an $80 tattoo making it a 300+ tattoo, even the higher priced, more artistic idea is one that not only will the client love for a lifetime, but the artist will love it and can use it further his career as an artist. We don’t take pictures of these black blobs for a reason. We do them, we get paid, and we forget them. That’s what this tattoo is; trendy, popular, and easily forgettable. And yes, your dandelion/bird thing is exactly the same.

This might've been cool the first time it was done, but not the 1,000,000 times after.

This person obviously let the artist have their way with the idea, and it's cool as hell.

Infinity symbols with words:
Again, here is another tattoo that has infected our lives through the world of Pinterest. The infinity symbol represents forever, and people like to slip words like love, faith, family, and many others to express their feeling that these things are forever. To be completely blunt, none of these things are forever. We all die in the end so it’s little weak in the bottom, but nonetheless, this tattoo is another one of those tattoos we talk about how it’s trendy, and people just what a cheap way to say to themselves that they are committed to some of these ideals. My feeling towards these tattoos is getting a tattoo in the first place is saying that you will feel this forever, it’s a tattoo, it’s like, permanent and stuff. So, why not infest more cash, more heart, and let the artist have their way with your idea and come up with something super rad that really screams, “FAMILY FOREVER!!!”, rather than, “I had sixty bucks and wanted to tell everyone that my family is forever in the cheapest, most permanent way I could think of.”

Heard you the first time, didn't need to have you spell it out for me.

Lettering:
There is so much to say about lettering tattoos and how they are bad ideas. The best person to talk about this is on the Seppuku Tattoo blog. If you want enlightened and want to know why your lettering tattoo is a horrible idea, I couldn’t say it better than Seppuku’s blog. Please read it HERE:

I basically say these things, “You’re not a book, and no one wants to read you.” I will do the tattoo is the best of my ability but again, I will forget your tattoo the second you walk out the door. I also say, “An image is worth a thousand words, a word is worth one. Why not get an image to really represent what it your feeling is.” When I wasn’t a tattooer I was rarely impressed with tattoos people got, one of the reasons being people would always get lots of words on them. I would see them and think, “I don’t want to read that. I don’t care enough.” People would ask my thoughts on the tattoo and I would like at its technical aspects but I wouldn’t read it, and I would what it would say. They would tell me, I would respond saying, “Right on.” If they are lyrics by some hack job of an artist, I especially wouldn’t care. That’s right, Lil’ Wayne, you suck, and you’re words are meaningless. Go read a book people.

If anyone that reads this blog brings me this photo, I will add $150 to your tattoo, and no, the sparrow in isn't cool either. Animals done in tribal form will never be cool.

Tribal:
The first question I have to ask is, “What tribe are you in?” One-hundred percent of the folks out there that I have encountered are not in a tribe of any kind. A gang is not a tribe, it’s a gang, and from what I’ve seen in America, the gangs don’t have tribal design representing them. Tribal stems from the Polynesian islands and each type of designs means something. They have definition, and their tattoos mean something to the rest of the tribe’s men and women. To quote one of my other blog posts,

“These designs stem from places like Hawaii, and many of the islands in Polynesia; hence the Polynesian style of tattooing that is popular from time to time. The western twists on these tattoos don’t really mean anything at all, nothing like the history of the Polynesians. The Polynesians didn’t have a form of writing so they used art. Their tattoos represented hierarchy, family lineage, sexuality, and overall rank within the tribe. Each symbol and image represented something else. As most western society habits go, we watered the ideas down. “

I solely blame the tribal fad on Ed Hardy. He released a few magazines in the 80’s and I believe that’s where the trend started. If I am wrong, someone please comment, and I will edit this. Anyways, people come in constantly come in wanting these huge tribal designs that cover the shoulder, the bicep, and they all have the desire to get it across the traps, down the back and around their ribs. They may not often actually follow through with this idea, but we hear it all the time, and no, we don’t like it. Unless you’re a tattooer that specializes in tribal, then they love hearing all about your desires.

I see this tattoo printed out every couple months.

Flowers with frillies:
The thing about this tattoo concept isn’t so much that it’s trendy or popular, it’s that everyone brings in the same printouts all the time. What’s wrong with bringing in a reference you ask? There’s no common sense amongst the clients that bring us these printouts or even the downloaded Google/Pinterest pics on their phones. We know what you’re talking about the second you describe the idea. We’ve done a billion times all over the world. I don’t understand how people don’t think that when they search these pictures they aren’t fully aware that thousands upon thousands of others have too. People just think their idea is a one of a kind thought even it’s obvious your printout proves otherwise. Stop it; please stop not thinking for yourself. Oh, and stop bringing the same two print outs. Do you think we’re dumb?

The funny thing about this tattoo is everyone who brings it in claims to have drawn it themselves. I don't know who did, but you didn't, don't bullshit me.

This is just a few examples; I’m sure I’ll update this as trends change and express why those things are bad too. These ideas are some don’ts, let me a share a big do in my book.

Traditional:
Traditional tattoos are the best designs that one can get. They are proven to stand the trials of time and will last forever. The tattooers that have been tattooing since the early to mid 1900’s have figured out what works, and what doesn’t when it comes to the longevity of the tattooing craft. I once saw an interview with Rick Walters and he was talking about how they used to big bold lines because that’s what looked good, but as the tattoos aged the lines got thicker and what made that tattoo cool was lost. Guys like Mr. Walters changed things up and started used thinner needle grouping to make sure the tattoos would age properly. Sure it didn’t have the “cool” thick outline, but after the tattoo sat for 20-30 years, it did. That’s why traditional is on a rise in popularity because all these tattoos that were done 20 years ago are finally getting to the “cool”, thick outline stage of their lives.

Some things look great on paper, not all things look great as a tattoo. Find an artist you like, and let them do what they’re good at; you’ll end up with a way nicer tattoo! Promise.

Sailor Jerry's designs will outlast any trendy tattoo, and also will be more respected... FOREVER. How's that for infinity.

Palm and Fingers Tattoos: Why you shouldn't get them.

Finger tattoos have grown in popularity in the last few years; especially with the “Shhh…” that Rhianna got on her index finger. I’m going to explain to you why this is a bad tattoo for several reasons. With all my education blogs I will not only explain the technical aspects of the bad reasons, but also my personal reasons as much as I can without being repetitive, because there are some things that apply to every tattoo idea. In this chapter we’re going to discuss “rings” and the side of the fingers.

Reason 1: Fading
Rings cannot go all the way around the finger because about half way around the fingers, thumb, and balls of the hand that creates the palm, the skin regenerates almost 10X faster than the rest of the body. The skin that is on the palm and the bottom of the fingers is very temporary, so if the artist pushes the design in to light, it will fade quickly, and almost be gone in only a couple months. Because of the fading, the tattoo will require regular touch ups. This can be a very expensive process to the client and can possibly reflect poorly on the artist. Many tattooers in the industry will not do fingers and palms because of these reasons.

The top tattoo shows the tattoos fresh, the bottom shows healed after some time, and how they've faded.

Reason 2: Blowouts
The artist will push the design in too hard in order to get the design to have a longer life, it can cause what’s called a “blowout”. A blowout is when the ink disperses and spreads outside of the wanted areas and can cause what a lot of people refer to as, “foggy”, “blurry”, “smokey”, or other descriptions. The artist must hit that “sweet spot” within the palms and fingers or the tattoo will either be faded or blown out, and seeing as how every person is different, it’s difficult to find the sweet spot.  This is also something that can reflect poorly on the artist and another reason artists refuse to do the hands.

This isn't a hand, obviously, but is a good example of what could happen when it comes to blowouts. See the seepage of the ink around the letters. Spreading can happen even if the tattoo is done properly but is rare, but can happen if the tattoo is applied too hard.

Reason 3: Half Tattoos
Applying tattoos the tops of the fingers or the tops of the hands aren’t so bad. The problem here is the sides. The same reason as above except the only problem is that instead of being left with an almost completely faded tattoo, or even a well done tattoo, you’re left with a little of both columns. The tattoo can stay done well above the “fade line” and everything below will disappear in what can be a few weeks. At that point the client is left with half of a tattoo. Again, if the client isn’t one to admit their bad decision, this can reflect poorly on the artist.

This tattoo from BME.com shows the tattoo fresh, then 8 weeks later, and then having to be redone.

This tattoo is wrong for many reasons, but we'll focus on the placement aspect. As you can see in the first pic the tattoo is dark and black, and 6 weeks later the tattoo is highly faded, and gets even more faded the farther down the finger it goes.

Reason 4: Popularity
Many tattoos are acquired because of the what is seen to a lot of people as “cool”, “cute”, or “admirable”. A lot of the bad tattoo ideas out there are because of celebrities. Unlike the rest of “normal” folk, they have the ability to blow way more money on tattoos. A sixty dollar tattoo to them is not the same sixty dollar tattoo to us. They have money and time to get it touched up every 3-6 months without a problem. If an artist does do finger tattoos, they generally don’t do free touch ups for fingers and palms; which means the client will have to pay to have the tattoo redone as many times as needed until that sweet spot is found, or blow out occurs. If a celebrity has a tattoo, there’s a good chance their tattoo isn’t good; Rhianna, Chris Brown, and Scarlett Johansson are great examples.

In the first pic of Rhianna you can see her tattoo is clean and dark, and in the second photo the letters are much thicker, and darker; this is because she's had to have it touched up at least twice, maybe more times. Maybe not a bad tattoo, but definitely a bad placement.

Brain Spikes, Tribal, Road Rage, and Zen

I haven’t written in some time; at least with the intent to post as a blog. As you go through the life there’s these little moments that are like spikes in your consciousness. It’s these moments that define us. There are different types of spikes. There are those that are smaller; like jokes that have the intent to cause laughter, but deep inside cause hurt. Then there are the bigger ones; physical conflicts, road rage, or anything overly negative.

I’ve experienced several recently. The first I would say has been in the customer service arena. Being a tattooer we see things that majority of people don’t. We are conscious and aware of the trends that be. Visiting a shop with high traffic gives way to seeing those trends at an exponential rate. An example is the ever meaningless tribal tattoos; jagged, pointy, black designs that America has grown very fond of starting in the 80’s. These designs stem from places like Hawaii, and many of the islands in Polynesia; hence the Polynesian style of tattooing that is popular from time to time. The western twists on these tattoos don’t really mean anything at all, nothing like the history of the Polynesians. The Polynesians didn’t have a form of writing so they used art. Their tattoos represented hierarchy, family lineage, sexuality, and overall rank within the tribe. Each symbol and image represented something else. As most western society habits go, we watered the ideas down.

The tribal tattoo designs we see as Americans see today aren’t anything. They have no language and no meaning. Ninety-nine times out of hundred we get, “How much for a tribal? I want it on my shoulder coming down my arm, and I want it to possibly go towards my back, and down my side. How much would something like that cost?” There are those who ask for Polynesian, and majority of those people despite craving design, have no idea what the symbols mean. The pointy, black design our country has come to love so much became popular in the 80’s, and became even more popular in the 90’s. Tribal arm bands plagued the minds of tattooers everywhere. This is when the hate grew for the tribal trend. Now, you might ask, “Adam, you weren’t tattooing in the 80’s or 90’s, why do you hate the tribal tattoo?” I don’t hate the tribal tattoo; I hold contempt for the lack of imagination, creativity, origination, and meaning.

A couple walks into the shop and first the gentleman shows me a tribal design that he wants, and then say, “Hey, 1995 called, they want their tattoo back!” The man, his wife, the counter girl, and I all have a laugh. I then say, “No, seriously, I’m just kidding. Where do you want this tattoo?” He says the back of his shoulder and he wants some symbols in it for something he did that he felt accomplished for. I express excitement for the idea, and even congratulate him on his achievement. He smiled, said thank you, and I told him that I would normally do it for $150, but if he wanted to get done right away I would do for $100. He shook his head and said awesome. Then his wife showed me a similar design and I laughed and said, “Oh no, not you too! Hahaha! I kid, I kid.” We discussed her tattoo and I gave her the same quote. They seemed pleased and we shook hands and they said they would come back for the deposits.

Little did I know that I had actually offended them a little; they went to another shop to discuss the tattoos. Word got back to me that this couple wasn’t happy with the way they were treated. This births many scenarios. One scenario being the biggest; clients are thoroughly upset with my joking and they were super offended. Went to the other shop, through a huge fit and demanded that their tattoos be compensated for such damage, thus coming back on me as a total, complete, rude, disrespectful piece of shit. Another scenario being; that they were mildly offended, mentioned our conversation in regular conversation, and the tattooer handling them expressed concern to the appropriate parties. One other scenario being this; client wasn’t upset, and used me to try get a better deal on the tattoo by acting hurt and offended, and the tattooer blew it way out of proportion to make me look bad out of personal reasons. Any of these scenarios could’ve happened in any arrangement, and you know what the biggest kicker to all these different scenarios is? None of it could’ve happened if I wasn’t being a jokester. Sure my intent was to cause laughter, and express how the tribal tattoo is played out in America, but nonetheless, the client was attached to feelings that are attached to the design. Did they design the tattoos themselves? No, they were found on the internet. Despite me be detached from the designs, the potential client was not. Their laughter was fake, they smiles were fake, the handshakes and words were all fake. I was hurtful, and they were liars, which later rolled back on top of me.

I learned to not joke around with clients in a way that may be hurtful to them. That’s Buddhism 101 right there. I also learned that other shops are not to be trusted, but if I’m not doing anything to fuck up my job, then there’s nothing to roll back on me. The game starts with me. Other shops are not to be trusted, clients are not to be trusted, so best be on your best behavior for anyone involved, and may be potentially involved. I wasn’t living kindness that evening, and I will do better in the future.

That was a small spike to the brain that riled me up pretty bad for a few days, and will probably linger in my brain popping its pointy little head out from time to time. This other tale is much more tragic, and offensive.

I am driving down the road, mid-afternoon, it was around 80 some odd degrees, and the interstate was bustling like it normally does. I used to be an offensive driver. Not offensive as in causing unpleasant feelings, but as in the opposite of defensive. I normally drive in the passing lane, express physically that I need the person in front of me that they need to move so I can get by, and when they don’t I would get frustrated. Since acquiring a street styled motorcycle, I have tried to switch over my techniques. You can’t be an aggressive driver on a motorcycle. You drive like an asshole on a motorcycle, you’ll get yourself killed. Now trying to be conscious, I brought my motorcycle driving techniques over to the car side of driving. I maintain at least a car, preferably two car’s length between me and the vehicle in front of me, and attempt to use my cruise control at all possible. If I keep some distance between me and the car in front of me, with cruise control on, then I allow myself enough response time to react, and give the leading car some adjustment room if need be without worrying if I’m going to rape his rear end.

My “road frustration” has decreased considerably since I’ve been using these techniques on a regular basis. On this sunny day, a car decided to challenge my Zen like nature. I had synced up with the car in front of me some 30 yards apart. I figure, there’s no point in rushing to get behind this guy, so I dialed in my cruise control where I was. We were doing just less than 80 miles an hour, when the speed limit is 75. A silver Jeep begins to squeeze the gap on my car. For miles this car kept getting close, falling back, getting close, and falling back. I made the joke to my girlfriend that the person behind me must have a crush on me, and she asked why. I said that they keep trying to get closer and closer to me. After some time, a good ten plus minutes had gone by, and a very large gap to my right had opened up and the girl passed us giving us the biggest mean mug face I think I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t believe it. She speeded off like her grandma was dying in the next 30 seconds and she had to get there. I laughed, and I supposed I felt attacked. I sped up and caught up to her and got behind her. I rode her close for a bit just to say, “Hey, I bet you don’t appreciate it either do you?” And then I backed off. When she had changed lanes, I sped up, she brake checked the shit out of me and when I came next to her she flipped me off, screamed, and we waved and smiled at her, at which point she made some ugly faces to mock us in return.

I was more or less entertained by the whole thing, but as time passed I felt really bad. I had let this person’s behavior alter my own. I haven’t had a ticket in many, many years, trying to drive more safely, with a Zen attitude, and here I go acting a fool. I lowered myself to her level, and let her itch under my skin. I supposed I got a little irritated; otherwise I wouldn’t have been trying to show what it feels like. I should’ve changed lanes, let her be the fool and pass, and then been on my way. I guess I’m normally the guy squeezing people’s butts so I didn’t know what to do. It really bums me out that I let someone get to me like that and affect my behavior. The road at 80 miles an hour is no place to be rude, and especially no place to teach someone else how to be respectful of others.

With a Buddhist perspective, I should’ve let her pass, not provoke her karma and understand it’s her karmic fruits she’ll have to eat. When someone is acting a fool, that’s bad karma, and the negative effects are her karmic fruits. If I was to remove myself from that scenario with kindness, then my fruits would’ve tasted much sweeter. Instead, my mind is haunted by my actions, and my fruits are bitter. Both the situation with the tribal clients, and the silver Jeep lady, even though they were varying degrees of hurtfulness, the fruits are bitter, and rotten. Unkindness is unkindness, no matter how you slice it.

We all should be living a life of loving-kindness. Having the consciousness, and being aware of our fellow man. As a person who practices the Middle Way, I must be aware that despite my understanding of attachment, un-attachment, and detachment, the majority does not. The clients had felt some love and attachment towards the meanings of their design, despite it being nothing but a Google image, and who knows, maybe the lady in the Jeep’s grandmother was dying and needed to get by, I don’t know. Practicing a Zen mind means, people will behave the way they need to behave, have acceptance, compassion, empathy, and understanding of other’s feelings, and if it means doing a tattoo that means nothing to you, or getting the fuck out the way of the aggressive driver, then do so with loving-kindness, and appreciation. We must all work together to bring each other where we need to be.


Thank you for reading this if you have. I hope that my stories may help you along in your own journeys. I will do my best to try to post every week, or every other week with stories, insights, nonsense, art, and other stuff that you may enjoy. Much love, and peace,

Adam