"There's nothing they teach in school you can't learn in a hobo jungle"
-Slim Jim Phantom
At seventeen I left school to start a tattoo apprenticeship. When you set out for the life of a pirate, you imagine a lot of swashbuckling, when you actually become a pirate you learn that it's mostly deck swabbing. Traditional apprenticeships are tough, mine was especially hard because I had to learn how to be an adult in addition to learning how to build a tattoo machine and make a stencil.
It's been over twenty years since then. In the meantime I toured with a band, worked the night shift in a kitty litter factory, delivered the mail, built a chopper, and learned how to use the computer. Now I do illustration and graphic design. I'm still a tattooer. The things I learned in tattoo shops are the things that inform every decision I make.
Today I own a small tattoo shop, staffed by two former apprentices. I fill my time between tattoos with freelance illustration gigs and playing with video and motion graphics, hoping to expand my offerings in the near future.