Hotline Tattoo is my shop. Opened in 2021 at the tail end of the covid lockdowns. I'd been working on brand concepts for Hotline for years before the shop even existed. 

Growing up, our local fox affiliate was broadcast out of Buffalo, Ny. I was exposed to a lot of low budget commercials running between the cartoons and sitcoms that raised me. Lockport Gambino Ford and William Mattar Personal Injury Lawyer between episodes of GI Joe and The Muppet Babies. Add to that a genuine love of "The Cash Man" Russel Oliver's work, and it laid the foundation for Larry Hotline. 

This was filmed on SVHS tape, transferred to computer by way of a rats nest of adapters, edited on premiere pro and the graphics were made in after effects. I commissioned the theme music by Chris Bartos at Raccoon Sound and performed some of the backing vocals. 

Most tattoo shops are content with slapping a traditional tattoo image on a tshirt and letting it rip. Since we already suffered the Ed Hardy clothing line of the mid aughts, I thought it was more interesting to make the actual tattoo aspect of the tattoo shop a little less front and centre of the imagery. 
The shop is a genuine reflection of my influences outside of tattooing. It is a shameless vanity project. 

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