Total Tattoo – August 2019

TOTAL TATTOO MAGAZINE 99

Is there a reason you've
steered away from colour?
Practically all the work I have on
myself is black and grey. It's the
most simple, most striking, basic
type of tattoo, and also it stays
forever if done properly. Colours
fade over time, some more than
others. I do enjoy colour
sometimes, and it does allow for
more depth. In general I don't like
to use 'Disneyland' oversaturated
happy colours – they would take
away the grimness – but in a
limited palette, some colour can
work well. I certainly don't avoid
colour, but somehow things
always tend to go in the black
and grey direction.

Your work is mainly
freehand and large scale. Do
you make any preparatory
studies or sketches?
I usually do a freehand sketch on
the skin. Sometimes just a few
lines are enough. With especially
large or complex compositions,
like a full back, I'll do a freehand
marker drawing on the skin, then
take a print of it and shrink it to
paper, redraw it small-scale, blow
it up again to life size and then do

the stencil. I don't do full sketches

for every tattoo, but I always do

loads of preparatory studies to

develop my ideas. I find it I get

better results that way.

Do you feel constrained by

your own style?

I definitely work in a style that is

relatively constricted and narrow,

stylistically speaking. Biomech

language is quite limited, but

within that frame there's almost

limitless potential and space for

individuality. Just like in traditional

Japanese. That's a very, very

conservative style which is

constrained by a handful of basic

themes and ideas. Japanese has

been done a million times. And

yet, I keep looking in disbelief at a

never ending ocean of mind-

blowing individual takes on the

style. It's the same in biomech, just

on a smaller scale. I find the

stylistic constraints incredibly

conducive to creativity. You find

freedom within that rigid

framework. That may sound like a

contradiction in terms, but it's not.

The limitations of the style can

actually be very liberating.

TATTOOIST INTERVIEW

TOTAL TATTOO MAGAZINE 99