Ink Masterz Tattoo and Art Studio

www.inkmasterz.com

Not this crap again. Gabe can you delete this?

Please delete Gabe oh please oh please oh pleASE oHplASe ohLpeasEOHPleaSE OHplease....The ARTIST FORMERLY KNOWN AS tAZ

Holy crap. This guy appears to have an apprentice. ugg. -Kandyman Joe

I didnt think they would last...They have an apprentice?!?!

It seems that way. This is exactly why professionals MUST find a way to create a board to implement some type of testing system. If massage therapists have to do it, why shouldn't tattooers have to pass a minimum of proficiency to gain a license? For instance, there was a guy I never hired that got a health department license by using my business name illegally! The jerk was tattooing out of his house saying he was "licensed" and worked for my shop. It got cleared up with a phone call to IDPH, but it was several months before we caught that this was going on. Who knows how many people were harmed by this. The governement was more interested in getting ...$ $ $ $... than protecting the public. How do we, as professionals, accomplish this type of standard testing?

Ok about the proficiency testing...who is gonna grade us on ARTWORK?...Some government schlepp who doesn't have a clue? Probably. Surely that is not what you want is it?...Or like a state close to mine where the "tattoo board" consists of "established "artists and since the board has to approve you for a license that idea turned into a bowl of fuck soup...one big political brawl and people were being denied license because of grudges between applicants and board members...I say keep the pencil pushers out of this biz as much as possible..we need to police ourselves as much as we can ...I don't see what else we can do...I am open to suggestions! By the way I went to Inkmasters .com this morning and the site will not even open up...I had heard that they had a LOT of people mad at them for one reason or another and had to scoot!!! Anybody know anything about this bunch of_____________( insert your own expletive!)....Let us know!...TAz

Yeah, I guess your right about the pencil pushers. And I certainly see your point about the politics involved if you get artists to make up the board. I've seen it time and again at conventions. I imagine it would be much worse when it came down to licensing a potential competitor. It just drives me nuts (sometimes) that there is very little enforcement to back up serious artists, and bring the work out of the wrong hands... and out of the dark ages... Could there be a way to establish agood and impartial board? It would certainly add to the respect of a studio if it was considered "board certified." -Kandyman Joe www.pureimaginationtattoos.com

Just what the fuck has this guy MASTERZED?

Yeah Joe you and I are in complete agreement.. I have tried for years to come up with a VIABLE way to enforce the tenets of professional tattooing and I am still in the dark.If ya get the govnt involved they always ALWAYS use the wrong things and then take them too far and it ends up hurting the pros and not doing a damn thing to prevent the amateurs from fucking people up. I thought APT was gonna really help at first but when I saw that they allowed just anyone with the membership fee to be a member even the most vile of amateurs I lost faith in that and withdrew my membership At this point I have pretty much given up on trying to improve our art by any sort of restrictive regulatory legislation...It always falls short and only hurts the pros....I feel that all we can do is set a good example and EDUCATE EDUCATE EDUCATE! By the way I really admire your work and only wish I had more skin cause if I did I would be camped at your doorstep!!....TAz

AWW GREAT, Another crazy ass stalker camping in front of the studio :-) Seriously tho, thanks for the compliment.

In addition to agreeing with both of you, I just wanted to say, Whats up Kandyman? Where you been??

Studio? HELL NO! I am gonna camp in front of yer HOUSE!!! LOL!

Bottom line is the control has to be exercised at the customer level. The roll of the pros and enthusiasts who care about the industry and art is to promote and demand high quality work . As people see what a beautiful tattoo can look like and vote with their dollars, then the Masterz & scratcherz will get less and less of the market. If someone settles for a cheap & mediocre tat it's because they were not educated or sold on the benefits and safety of getting quality work. methods: 1) Shows like Miami Ink (like it or not) 2) other educational or media campaigns 3) producing the most beautiful work possible to encourage 'word of mouth' campaigns 4) websites like this one and the artists who take the time to try and educate customers one at a time. Any other ideas?

As I said education is our only weapon but education holds a powerful arsenal on its own!!... There will always be the amateurs, the lowlifes tattooing at parties,the uninformed who purchase kits on e-bay,the suppliers who will sell to anyone with the bucks and the bankrollers who have the financial wherewithal to rent a building,buy some cheap equipment and hire substandard "artists" to take advantage of an unsuspecting public. We can only educate and inform by example, by putting out first class artwork and displaying it on sites like this one, by taking advantage of the tattooNOWS and publishing sound advice for those who seek it. And we must all, as lovers of this art ,continue to fight the good fight and strive to keep our ancient art alive and well despite those ignorant and envious souls who would bring it down with ignorance and stupidity...TAz

OOPS! ...SHIT!...sorry

The uphill battle I seem to face every day goes something like this: Competitors will do tattoos for 30 bucks and a blow job, or just really cheap. Then they'll proceed to accuse my shop of overcharging or taking too long. Honestly their work is not the worst I've seen, but definitely mediocre and rushed. Alot of the public at large seems to be "o.k." with that because that is what they are used to in a tattoo shop. . All the talk about education is important, but I want to be a bit more specific. We need to educate that GOOD ART HAS VALUE. Also, that rushing a design is how mistakes get made. I think the cutting of creative progams in school has two components in this discussion. It creats a vaccuum and a need for art -- (good for business). It also leaves the public uniformed about what makes art good -- (devastating to those that care about good work,and opens the field to hacks). We are in a society conditioned to look for a bargain, rather than quality. How do we quell this, in relation to our business, with the education system suffering? --- Hey Krystof, I've been well, just drawing alot, and keeping the ship afloat. How life back east?) --- Taz, don't forget your tent. We're in the rainy season. :-) Kandyman Joe www.kandymanjoe.com www.pureimaginationtattoos.com

Hey Kandyman Joe...I never really thought of this in those terms but now that you brought it up I cannot agree with you more...Our school system here in the USA not only places more emphasis on sports than art, they spend a MUCH greater percentage of OUR educational dollar on sports related activities than will EVER be spent on the arts....and furthermore I think this has a drastically adverse affect on ART as a whole. Yes we are a society that places a higher value on low cost than high quality...the "garage sale mentality...We are in the same situation here in St Joseph mo...A guy who started as a rank amateur honed his skills with me for over 4 years then one day he opened up his own shop and brags about his low prices and even has a sign that says he will beat any price we quote...What do ya do in that situation...I know what would have happened 15 years ago.....and you do too...it would not have been pretty!! But in this modern age where just the spoken threat of bodily harm will send ya straight to jail...ya just can't go "old school" on anybody, even a punk who is basically stealing from you...That is why I am constantly urging people to get their people under contract...If only I hadn't trusted this little weasel He wouldn't be doin this crap now.Not to mention the shops operated by idiots with no training whatsoever who do the $20 and a blow job thing.....JJJJEEEEESSSSHHH!!!! Anyway I agree with your premise...what do we do about it??..TAz DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some of the "opening up on the other guy" can be a matter of perception. It could be said that I did that same thing to my ex-boss, but I view it as trying to offer the public something different and better. I'm glad the "old school" intimidation methods are fading away. Because those that truly are better would be intimidated out of business. Everyone has a right to try and succeed. Sometimes the intimidation tactics are made out of fear that the other guy actually is better. Thing is there will ALWAYS be somebody better. A good business person will know what to do in this instance. One thing I won't do is undercut compeitors prices. All the business text I've read explains that that does not necessarily do any good. You will end up undercutting until you both go under. I will say that some clients have been duped into getting "in progress" work done on the cheap by competing studios, who use "vast experince" or "fast" as the selling point. What some clients don't seem to get is that there are newer, better, modern techniques available. And unfortunately the client loses out on what could have been a great work of art... Now it is a half-assed effort by a guy lacking ethics skeeving work to take credit for it, or "fixing" it. Seriously folks, don't get a piece finished 'on the cheap' by an artist that wants to get back at their competition. You'll end up dissapointed, or just plain fucked up. An old timer, although due respect, might just be stuck in his or her ways. My thing is don't be fooled... just because it takes longer, or more sittings, doesn't mean it's applied wrong. Also, less years of experience doesn't mean the dues haven't been paid (by eating, breathing, sleeping, learning, and travelling, for the sake of tattooing and art). Moral of the story--- Look at portfolios and choose wisely. Stick with the artist you choose and see the work through to completion. Anyway, thats my soapbox for today. -Kandyman Joe www.pureimaginationtattoos.com www.www.kandymanjoe.com

As far as the "other guy opening up" I guess I did not go into enough detail...We had a verbal agreement that if he ever left he would not open up or work within 50 miles of my studio....I should have gotten it in writing but at the time I was a trusting fool...and there is a LOT more to the situation and I ain't tryin to get into all that I will only say that I took this cat in when he was jobless and homeless and he fucked me...period!!....He even went so far as to copy all our flash at night so he didn't have to buy any!..no ifs ands or buts...he fucked me!!!.and now he is one of those people YOU were talking about that undercuts constantly...well he makes the public THINK they are getting a good deal....I said nothing about his art cause the little bastard is good....Hell he learned from me...But there is NO excuse for his actions.And I think you would feel the same way as I do in my position. All that aside... Shops and artists who undercut on prices hurt the industry as a whole...we at Painted Angel refuse to be involved in a tattoo price war..we exist to do good clean tattoo work at a decent price for both artist and client....we know what our work is worth and if a client wants to price shop...OK...but we don't play that game Homey!!...TAz

True. I only have my experience to go on. I know when I left, I was accused of stealing this and that. Fortunately, I had shrewdly kept reciepts dating years back. Also, having good a relationship with clients worked to the new studio's advantage too. A lot can be said for reputation and passion for the work, whether it is a new shop or an established one. It comes down to what type of client a studio wants to attract. Those who want cheap, fast, and just a tattoo... Or those that want the best around and are willing to pay for the work. Same can be said about any 'cosmetic' type industry from plastic surgery to auto body. The difference is, i think, there are some type of certifications required for those fields, where we essentially have none (and with ...uggg... consumer level tattoo kits from magazines). I don't think the current "honor" system can continue to work with the saturation of artists and wannabes coming in. Some type of certification might help industry issues with folks like the originators of this thread (I won't justify them by repeating the name) .... or your undercutting competition. Maybe they'll undercut themselves out of business?? In the meantime... I'm gunna to buy me a consumer level dental drill offn ebay. I think I have some cavities what needs fixin. -Kandyman Joe

Wasn't it Paleo John that is starting up an at home gynecology clinic...wonder how thats comin?...LMAO!!!...TAz

ALLLRIGHT!!! Garage Gynecology!! Fun with motor oil and speculums!! -sorry. too much HUSTLER in youth. (admit it... you "saw" the issue) -Kandyman Joe

Saw it? Fuck Joe I still got it on my bedroom wall!!!

Hey Kandyman Joe...your kandyman joe.com link does not work...FIX IT!! DAMMITTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TAz