my little rant

ok i know this subject comes up quite often around these parts. but i wanted to add my two cents on these subjects. in case anyone cares but i am just a eauthasist who enjoys good quality art. and i pay a decent and fair price for the art in which i have. i have had a thought of opening a studio and i did a few searches on just what i needed to do and i come across this web site. now i have heard several say that only a tattooist should open a studio. well i can tattoo what i like to call flash. and i can do that all day long everday. but i dont consider myself to be a artist. and being just a eauthasist i have a respect for the art like most artists do. but i have also seen a "flash artist" consider themselves to be top of the line artist. and that would be all that artist would do is just "flash" Now this is just my opinion but how arogant can a "flash artist" be when they dont do anything original ever and probually never has. and not even sure if the "flash artist" even had a apprentiship anywhere. and to me i dont consider that to be a true artist. and after reading a few of the posts i have seen on the subject of someone other than a artist opening a studio i think is a bunch of crap. and there were also some comments of a non "artist" judging art. and i will say that is a bunch of bull crap also not that i want to judge but i would believe that i could. and qualifications i have none but i do know some really good art when i see it and i know shit when i see it too. and i would never get tattooed by a artist as arogant as some of the ones i have seen post here. and i would not give a rats ass if the artist considers him self the best artist in america. now for another rant on that. and since i started getting tattoos professionally about 15 years or so now i have known some really good artist come and go. for instance if i were in denver i would go see jeff walker. not sure if anyone knows of him but he use to draw 2 or 3 of the pictures on the hard back books for dungeons and dragons. good quality artist, down to earth, easy to talk to and design a tattoo and always gives the tattoo that the client wants. and if im in dallas i would go see lobo at 360 blues and tattoo. he is very humble and another that is down to earth and interested in doing the best tattoo for the client. or i would go see sean e bones first time i met him i thought he was just a big teddy bear. and if i were in houston i would go see (now i know everyone knows this one) Johnny jackson. and another that seemed to me to be very down to earth. and if i get to the east coast i guess i better make the apointment to visit the sickest person tattooing today in my opinion and i know everyone knows paul booth. now that my rant is almost complete and i still consider myself to be a eauthasist that would like to open a studio and i guess hang on a good quality artist coat tail to learn the art. but what i think everyone i seen here has seemed to forget that bad publicity for any studio is not good. and good publicity is word of mouth from one client to another. wow now that takes me back to the restaurtant business where the customer is always right hmmmmmm. has any of these arogant artists forgot what brought them to the show or are they all still tattooing oranges? and with out the customer none of you artist would have a job and if arogance is mandatory for all artists i look forward to not coming in your studio. and as for web sites i operate two one is dfwtattoo.com and usa-tattoo.com its just a online directory for tattoo studios the usa-tattoo.com site is not complete and still generates 6k hits or more a month. and since i am just a client that gets tattooed i feel qualified to do web sites for the customer cause they will listen and like i said before bad publicity is bad for any business.

gay.

Quite honestly, I'm not sure if I even know what that rant was about.

the rant is a simple tale told by an idiot.

Paragraphs and stuff may have helped. Actually, no, no they wouldn't have.

I think some artists have a problem with non artist owned studios because we don't like to see money from our industry going to people who aren't artists. Many custom artists work their asses off, working 10 hour days, 7 days a week. Traveling all over the country.... and some of them sacrificing parts of their lives or relationships. So it's hard for some of us who work and work trying to make something of ourselves.. and then turn around and see a person making money off of us without contributing. By owning a shop and not being an artist, you aren't really making tattooing as an art form any stronger or better. You're just telling people what to do and taking a cut of their money. I mean.. why do you need to own a studio? You either own it to contribute and have an environment that helps create a stronger artistic "vibe" that lets you do your own thing, or you own it to make money. If you're not an artist.. you're just owning a shop to make money off of us. Also, it's a little insulting to point out that you make 6k by directing people to our websites, while we do all the work of planning, drawing and doing the tattoos....

Just to play the devil's advocate here, I work at Off the Map Tattoo and for TattooNOW. Gabe, who is the owner and creator of TattooNOW, also co-owns Off the Map Tattoo. He also doesn't tattoo. I can certainly tell you he's not in it just to "take" money from tattoo artists. He contributes to the tattoo community by not only running an amazing shop, but also building websites for tattoo artists along with maintaining TattooNOW.com, running the Paradise Tattoo Gathering and continuing to plan further events (like our up coming seminar week in April featuring Mike DeMasi, Jeff Gogue, Jeff Ensminger, Tom Strom and Ethan Morgan), that promote education and the art of the industry. I understand both sides of the argument, but I'm just saying in my opinion I don't think it should be some unsaid rule that people who don't tattoo, shouldn't open shops. What about people who love the art of tattooing and want to better the industry, but know they're piss poor artists that would never want to subject anyone to the chicken scratch they'd produce? Some people are just in it for the money, I don't doubt that, but there are some people who genuinely wish to contribute to the community in ways other than tattooing. Not everyone's an artist, but that's not to say they may not have other skills they can contribute.

Right, like I said, you either want to contribute, or make money. I find it hard to believe that this person, who is bragging about making 6k (off an unknown website) is comparable to Gabe, a contibuting member of the tattoo industry. Which is probably why people are acting "holier than thou" toward him.

It's difficult to tell newcomers not to do shit when Gabe doesn't tattoo himself - I'm not saying that's a bad thing but I can see how people can see it as being hypocrytical. Surely someone in his situation would at least try to learn to draw and become a tattooist - it's simply logical isn't it - no matter how bad he might feel he is now. Certainly it puts him in no position to tell people who WANT to learn to tattoo what to do?? - at least they want to learn to tattoo and have the enthusiasm to acheive something. I think if Gabe offers nothing artistically to the tattoo commnuity, he has no right to tell others what to do, or to give advice. I think if he offers the tattoo community "websites", then he should work for a computer company - as opposed to owning a tattoo shop. - or at least not judge others...

Many time Artist aren't the best business people. While the tattooist is tattooing the non artist shop owner can be working on building the business, or printing up tshirts, or doing a whole host of tasks related to running a business, which are many times things that the artist would rather not be doing. Isn't that why musicians have managers, and booking agents to free up their time so they can, hmm make music. I would think the same thing would be true about non tattooers owning tattoo shops. Being resentful of someone "Telling them what to do" isn't looking at the nuances of being in a business partnership. just my 2 cents from a non tattooing person.

Original rant: Im confused and disagree with some but dont know where to start. Stina: Making money without contributing is weak (in any industry/thing). The simple fact of owning a studio or hacking on skin also doesnt meant that the owner is giving back, and without giving back your just a leech. I hate, or severely dislike, lazy people who dont feel they need to pitch in and work hard. There are 5/6 non-tattooing studio owners I know who are in it for the right reasons, and are able to pull it off with respect from the community. But those owners inevitably work very hard for the community, and certainly do their part to make it better. Im sure we can all agree there are plenty of crappy artists who own studios. Natures great isnt it? The part about non-tattooers in it for the money is not absolute, as I have yet to draw a check from my studio (though I think after three years Ill be able to start in 2009!). I also know tattooers who are just in it for the money, and dont think thats "right" either, though of course they have the right. I dont know the finances of the other non-tattooer owners I respect, but I do know they all have other tattoo industry specific businesses they probably make a living from. That makes it easy to let the wrong tattoo walk out the door and to focus only on doing it right. I also learn about tattooing every day at TattooNOW, Ive been learning for over ten years, 6 focused *entirely* in tattooing, like 50-80 hours a week... all vacations are tattoo vacations. Someday Ill be happy to make the big money and take time off with the fam, but for now pretty much everything goes into growing the three businesses and fully realizing how much we can do to help tattoo artists and fans find each other and learn. Mary: The rule shouldn't be people who dont tattoo shouldnt own studios, it should be people who dont *throughly* understand the *art* AND *business* of tattooing shouldn't open studios, and I would extend that to tattooers as well. Just loving tattoos a whole lot and knowing a few folks by far isnt enough. Before I opened a studio I had a large network of tattoo websites and very talented tattoo artist friends, ten years of learning from some of the best tattoo artists around and doing positive business with them, and then worked for the studio for 3 years for beer money. nearly all of the people who post on this forum looking for advice about opening a studio prove they dont know enough about tattooing to open a studio by posting, irony at its best! Instead of posting here, they should be asking the A-List tattoo artists doign their tattoos for advice. And I will be (and have been) polite in telling people so. I do not really like being used as an example of how non-artists can successfully own studios in the public forum, cause there were a lot of things at work that made it happen. I dont care that much though, of course, cause I am happy to be exactly who I am, and not being a tattooer has made me work that much harder to learn what I needed to get ahead. Anyone can do it if they really wanted, but there really arent that many people who really want the reality of owning a studio for the pay... It sounds real nice and fun, but its a lot of work and headaches. poofthatsmellsmusty: It's absolutely not hypocritical to tell people my best advice about the things I have learned. It is logical that I would want to learn to draw and maybe even tattoo after being surrounded by the artists I am, but for fucks sake man, do you know how much work it is to run 3 businesses??? I have a great staff, but not enough to do everything that I would like to see done (at some point I hope to have extra time to learn to draw maybe, but not tattoo). As you can imagine, hosting all these seminars and learning functions, if only I had the time to devote to learning to produce art! But there is simply no time to devote to practicing, if I did that now (or in the last 10 years) there would be no TattooNOW, Off the Map Tattoo, or Tattoo Gathering. Also, and this may be wierd, but whenever I get a real itch to learn, I see what people are doing in their booths and Im like, fuck that, theres absolutely no reason for me to learn, these guys are already waaaaaay better than I could ever be. I dont think its logical for me to learn something Im not good at to put on people for the rest of their lives, when my strengths and hard work already help the tattoo community way more than my tattooing ever could. the fact I dont tattoo and have made it this far might just put me in unique perspective to give advice about learning to tattoo. Indeed, I have heard over 300 learning to tattoo stories, have no real attachment to any particular learning method inherently, and indeed, spend most of my time facilitating the eduction of the art. Obviously I have only one opinion, and people wishing to learn should certainly only listen to my voice as one of many... I dont think anyone could accuse me of not having the enthusiasm to acheive something... ha. I respect your opinion that I have no right to tell others what to do (which I try not to do, its inherently not in me to be the authority figure telling people what to do), but completely disagree that I cant give advice. People have every right, indeed a duty, to listen to lots of advice, and then make educated decisions. You dont need to listen to me, but that doesnt mean I dont have something to share with others who may be more open minded. Also, I do work for (well, own) a website company that specializes in tattoo websites, this is it buddy! If you dont think I should own a studio then I dare you to do better tattoos and put us out of business (and Im lucky there are 40-50 some odd bad ass tattooers who dont feel the same way). This whole dont judge others is BS, Im more along the thoughts of judge others as you would like to be judged... Whatever, I have every right to my opinion and judge you and others for your/their actions, and you have every right to do the same to me (as you are now). And every right to be vocal about it. Whatever, your being quite critical of me, I would love to see a link to your work. That way i can base your judgments of me next to your accomplishments and have a complete frame of reference.

As probably the oldest and perhaps most experienced contributor to this forum, I 'd like to put my opinion on this up for consideration. As anyone who knows me will realize, I'm a rather hard-core 'old school' kinda guy and am usually totally against non-artist owning tattoo shops and have long considered most that do to be only 'parasites' to the art, a view I still hold. However, there are exceptions to most rules and I must admit I believe Gabe to be one of the very few and I personally believe he's stated his position, quite adequately on this subject many times. When I first got involved in this forum years ago, I too was rather pissed to find Gabe owned/operated a tattoo shop but was not a tattoo artist but over the years since, I've not only changed my mind about that in regards to him specifically but have also learned Gabe actually is involved in it for the right reasons and not just to make money off the art/profession like so many of the others. For those who say he has no right to own a shop if he does not tattoo, again, I think Gabe has more than proven he is not only an exception to that 'rule' but has more than deserved the right due to his long involvement in the profession, even if it has been as a 'non-artist'. I'd also like to point out something quite valid that Gabe said in his response, the part that there are tattoo artist who are not really into this for anything except the money who I personally think gives them less 'right' to own/run a shop that Gabe has proven his right to. As to the comments that Gabe should still learn to tattoo if he is actually into it for the right reason, personally I agree with his explanation about that, that he knows he does not have the artist ability and personally I respect that he does know his limitations there and only wish more people were as honest about that as he's been. For one thing, there are certainly more than enough people tattooing nowadays that don't really possess artistic ability and I personally respect Gabe all the more for not wanting to be another of those. I'd also like to state I'd think Gabe has more than proven his 'right' to express his opinion about tattoo related information and would further like to point out he has more than sufficient experience to back up his opinions/statements, in fact, quite possibly more than most of the people who continually attack him over his not being a tattoo artist himself. As much as I dislike having to admit it considering my usual viewpoint on 'non-tattoo artist owned shops' again, I sincerely believe Gabe is one of the rare exceptions and has more than proven that as well as explained that quite well and adequately. Doc