Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Jammie Dodger Appreciation



Welcome to another blog post from, well, me! On this little adventure we’re going to explore some interesting topics in the world of a tattoo shop. Working in a tattoo shop isn’t at all like you see on TV. Majority of the time there’s not a lot of drama, and everyone works together to create a positive environment. Surprisingly it’s the clients that bring in the negativity and make things complicated. For some oddball reason a lot of clients feel that it’s okay to not pay what a tattoo is worth. People think that quality doesn’t come before price. This is something that is very frustrating for the tattooer.

Tattooing has always been kept secret, and with the change in the human race in the last 11 years after 9/11 people’s finance has become an issue. Maybe tattooers keeping the industry so hush, hush has caused somewhat of a minor “uprising”. Clients subconsciously know nothing about the tattoo world so they could give a fuck what we think and what we do. Well, I’m going to lay some things out for all the readers out there that will hopefully help you understand what we at EvoTat go through. I’ll be explaining what I do every week, and why I charge what I charge.

This is not the clients fault or even responsibility to know this information, but it’s good to know the little details of our jobs in comparison to everyone else’s to fully appreciate the sacrifices given. Tattooing isn’t something you can go to school for, there’s no internship, classes, or books anyone can read. Tattooing is knowledge by environment only process. It’s not like measuring chemicals in beakers and pouring them into other beakers to make an all new chemical. Tattooing is knowing by doing, and learning from everyone that you can whenever you can. Tattooing isn’t just a job you pick up and leave and come back to whenever you want. You live it, breathe it, bleed for it, and ultimately die doing it. When our hands are unable to hold a tattoo machine and pull a straight line anymore, maybe we keep on machine building, shop owning, book writing, foot switch making, or even organize conventions. At the end of the day all we have, is tattooing.

"This is a no fuck around situation" - A Godwin
Do the clients, potential clients, friends, and family understand the sacrifices made to live the lifestyle? I don’t think so. I feel disappointment when someone walks into our shop, doesn’t look at our portfolios, doesn’t really know what they want, and they throw some image at us that earlier in day they traced off some print out from Google images. The thought goes through my head, “You have no idea what I go through daily to make sure your tattoo is the best tattoo I’ve ever done!” Sadly, that person standing there showing me the tattoo they want to wear forever on their phone doesn’t care what I go through daily. They’re supposed to pick it, and I’m supposed to stick it.

For those of you who have even bothered to click my link on Facebook and make it this far, here’s what I do in a day, a week, a month, and even a year. This is what I do not for me, but for YOU! If I have arrived at the shop by nine, I head to the machine shop. Hopefully at nine the weather is cool enough for me to grab some safety glasses, gloves, and getting to cutting away metal to start forming frames for a tattoo machine; maybe winding coils, sanding frames, making binders and contact screws. If I’m lucky I will have had a couple hours of breathing metal dust and shavings, and sweating my ass off before I have even stepped in the doors of the tattoo shop. Why would I do this? Because in anything you do, you should know your tools inside and out. Know how to utilize every part on that tool to accomplish the task you are trying to achieve. After almost a year of building I look at all the machines I’ve spent so much time and money on, and value what I have so much more, let alone pick and choose what builds I like the most for the intended tattoo I will be facing that day. Certain machines do certain things and I need those machines to complete the task efficiently while never sacrificing quality. Time is money, and we don’t charge for touch ups, so I need my machines to do the job perfectly the first time!

At 11 am I open the shop and if I haven’t had a chance to eat yet this is when I do. If I have I’ll get to going through emails online through Facebook, and the 4 other emails I have. Going through these emails concern bills for the shop, possible tattooing/art prospects, and machine stuff. Every other Monday I will inventory the shop, get whatever orders from the other artists and put in orders. I will also organize receipts for taxes on those days as well. Mondays usually consist of business maintenance so it won’t get too ahead of me. Tuesdays are normally the days I do artwork for the week and other deposits. It’s rather hard to keep focused on a Tuesday because you also have to have consults for clients, walk in tattoos, and other miscellaneous things. I normally would only tattoo four days week but recently I have found that it’s easier just to work on pieces the day before or the day of the tattoo.

Boromir knows that there's a lot to consider when getting a tattoo.

When I tattoo I do my best to focus on bigger pieces that I can commit three plus hours on that way I can really put my heart into them. Not all the tattoos I do are this size. Naturally some are much larger, and some are much smaller. If I have time I will book two or more appointments in a day. I recently have been trying to keep my consultations short and to the point. Part of a tattooer’s job is to educate in the ways of what will best suit for not only a good tattoo, but one that will outlast the client’s lives. Preferably, the art must be easy to see from across the room. This is extremely hard to teach someone that has become very dead set on the idea they’ve chosen at times. I have found myself sitting down with a person, a couple, or group for sometimes an hour or more trying to shoot out ideas that will better suit the feeling they have and this type of thing takes up a lot time when you’re doing it every day. As I said, I’m working on getting better at that because I have run into people that want someone to stick what they pick, and that’s not what a real tattooer does. In the end it takes away from my time, and other client’s time that have already committed to deposits and appointments.

Daily, as artists we sketch for ourselves or other projects. Our shop is a custom shop so we don’t have flash hanging on the walls. Flash is art designed for tattoos. Lately I have felt my skills in the lowbrow pinup style very lacking so I have been spending a lot of time sketching, lining, and shading women a lot. This type of thing is constantly changing. Whatever arena we are lacking we spend a lot of time with a red pencil sketching and sketching. A lot of these sketches I have decided to turn into a sketch book for other artists to tattoo or use as reference. Not only will these sketches help me, but they will help others as well. This quick style of art consists of shape building, form, flow, shading, and line technique; whether it’s pulling lines, or practicing line weight techniques. Pieces that stand out I will then transfer over for fine art pieces. My main medium outside of tattooing is colored pencil. This takes up quite some time. It’s rather difficult for me to pull out the pencils and commit hours of my day to this task. It’s bittersweet when I do because I’m happy I’m getting down on some pencil work, but on the other hand I’m not tattooing.

When I’m playing around on Facebook, I’m not really playing around. I am promoting the website, promoting new artwork, trying to get slots filled, sell machines, promote the shop, and then I have the shop Facebook page I have to remember to work on. I participate in tattoo groups through Facebook that allow my work to be critiqued so the next tattoo will be better. I analyze other people’s tattoos to figure how they did things so the next tattoo will be better. I will even look back at my own tattoos and tear them apart so the next tattoo will be better. This can take hours of looking at a computer screen. Does this help my tattoos? No, but it sure does help the client’s tattoos that I do for them. It’s difficult to find time to even work on my portfolio, and our website; which houses artist pictures, artist bios, events, sponsored products and much more. The plan was to have an education section, videos, interviews and more on the site and we haven’t found time to do those things with everything else going on. I am seriously behind on my digital goals and it’s rather aggravating. When people come into the shop and ask, “Are you busy?” It’s hard not to just throw our hands up and say, “Fuck yes I’m busy! You have no idea what all I need to get done!” This is why tattooers stay up long nights working on art, websites, portfolios, banners, artwork for conventions, art shows, magazines, and then we still have client art to work on. Let alone, god forbid we have our own personal lives.

Good Guy Greg is a favorite in every tattoo shop. 
That’s right, despite what people think, we do like to do things that aren’t your tattoos! Me personally, I write this blog, play video games, I draw at home for myself, watch movies and shows, and work really hard to find time to cook healthy food and exercise. Sitting on your butt all day doesn’t do a body good. Please remember, a client’s lack of planning does not justify an emergency on the artist’s part. There’s a lot of time that we spend to do the best artwork that will last longer than you will. When you, the client put restrictions on all this stuff we work so hard to do, you’re only shorting yourself. You’re the one that has to walk out and live with the tattoo, we don’t. That’s something that I have to remember as well, you’re the one that has to wear it the tattoo and if you don’t want to rise to occasion to having the best possibly artwork on you forever, then that’s on you. I suppose that’s another blog all together though huh? Yes, it’s already started to be written.

Just the other day I received a DVD on drawing real life. A two and a half DVD that David Kassan put out about how he draws. This DVD cost me $100 bucks. This was after I spent $50 bucks on a book full of sketches from an artist I have been following since I was a wee lad. The day I received the DVD I also ordered two more sketchbooks. One of the books I received is from one of my favorite artists and inspirations, and another book completely about lettering. I find myself getting stuck doing a lot of lettering. Girls think that lettering going up the side is super cool and neat. Alas ladies it is not. You’re not a book, no one wants to read you, but then again, I am a tattooer and I should be helping my clients out. What happens then? The money the last guy paid me to do his tattoo is now being spent on books and DVD’s to learn more the better the next guys tattoo. My point is, I’m not seeing a Rolls Royce in my future well, ever. I spend all my money on books, DVD’s, and future trips to hang out with tattooers to learn even more. Why? To make your tattoo the best tattoo I can!

Yeah, it’s all about you, the client. We work really hard, and sacrifice our entire being to making your tattoo the best tattoo we can give you. So please, give us a break and let us have fun with your tattoo, throw us a tip, spread the word online, and show some love. We appreciate the time, the money, and the skin you’ve given us, so please throw a little back from time to time.

Thanks for those that read this entire thing, I know it’s rather lengthy, but seriously thank you!

Adam Godwin

Don't be a douche.






Thursday, September 6, 2012

November Dreams



October, November, and December, the tattoo world starts to gradually decline in business. It’s the slowest part of the whole year. This year I would like to find time to travel, relax, and focus on machine building. I’ll still be tattooing but I would like to achieve some productivity in building tattoo machines and find time to see some people that I haven’t seen in a while, or haven’t met. I would like to get out into the world and meet, and hang out with some Tattooers and builders that I talk to all the time but have never physically met. Create relationships outside of the digital universe. I’m hoping to plan some travel time for the last two weeks of November. Those two weeks have seemed to be the deadest time of the whole year for me.

November is so slow for me I’d like to do something special for my EvoTat friends and family. I would like to do some bigger pieces if possible. Pieces I would have to sit for three plus hours or more. Stuff that I can put into a portfolio, possibly a press kit, and even compete those pieces if and when there’s a convention that will roll through Colorado again. My thought is if you will pay for the 3 hours the fourth will be free. By doing this I can put extra time into the tattoo and really push the envelope and put all those extra details in them; things like highlights, lowlights, textures, shadows, and much more. I am an extremely fast tattooer, so having that extra time will allow me to go back through and tighten up the pieces that I normally don’t have time to do. 


For people who will be interested in smaller tattoos I am willing to give a similar offer. For smaller tattoos I will give half an hour to give that extra zazz and love. What I’m thinking is the tattoos have to take around 2-3 hours; preferably pushing the three hour mark. Tattoos that take an hour to an hour and half normally are one pass projects so there isn’t a need to go back through. Whether it’s two, three, or four plus hours the tattoos will be original. Naturally the more freedom you allow me to have the more I’ll put into the tattoo. If a client is extremely particular it will make it difficult for me to throw all those extras into the piece. With that I know quite a few people have the thought go through their heads, “It’s my tattoo, and I have to wear it my entire life. I should have a say in how it looks.” Despite how true that is, this isn’t one of those deals where I’m going to give you an hour of time valued at $150 if you’re going to barking down my neck the whole time.

As an artist and client we need to come together to create not only a piece that that you will walk away happy, but something I myself can look back at the picture and get totally excited about. I would love to achieve more than a few pieces of pure happiness. Tattoos that are truly inspirational to you and myself.
These pups are ready to make artistic dreams come alive... literally...

I will be taking deposits for November any time between now and November. In order to get the free time a $100 deposit is required. This deposit will go toward the final price of the tattoo, reserve your appointment for the beginning of November, and artwork preparation. If the art isn’t going to be tattooed in November the deposit will continue to be valid but the free time may not. Depends on my mood and how much freedom you give me in the art. I except cash, credit, and Paypal transfers. If you are from out of town I can take credit cards over the phone but there is a $5 fee for non-swiped cards. Sorry, my card provider hits me in the mouth for non-swiped cards. My contact information, portfolio options, and Paypal are below.

Thanks to all of you who have, are, and will support myself and EvoTat.

Adam Godwin @ EvoTat
116 N. Cottonwood, Canon City, CO 81212 (next to Ortega’s, across the highway from McDonald’s)
(719) 371-5259
EvoTat.com
Paypal: adam@evotat.com

Monday, September 3, 2012

Burnt Bacon Pt. 1



Here it is, September 3rd, 2012, and I haven’t posted anything on my Verbal Vomit blog since March this year. A lot has happened since then and a lot of things have taken a lot of focus away from writing like I normally do. The Verbal Vomit project was designed as venting station. In February of 2011 I was being approached with a lot of different emotions that left me with quite a few unanswered questions. Honestly, more than just a few. I was dealing with some unethical shop owners, coworkers, and an environment I didn’t enjoy and should’ve. The summer of 2010 was when the fat started to rise to the surface and couldn’t be ignored any further but I fought through it. As the winter started to come to close things had gotten so bad I needed an outlet that others could view and throw some advice at me. The rebirth of my old blog Verbal Vomit was born and being outraged for some time the censorship level, word choice, and mentality was purely extravagation. The intent was to verbally vomit on a fairly intense manner. I had continued the blog for a year, and in the last six months I have been avoiding that behavior.
The narwhal bacons at midnight.
June of 2012 my relationship with my girlfriend of 2 years had come to a halt. It broke me pretty badly. I was in a financial situation that my now ex was still willing to help me out with but I felt staying out of her pocket was the best thing. I had called out to my peers in the Facebook world; clients, friends, and Tattooers. I went an entire week in the beginning of summer without any appointments, deposits, or sales of machines. This really opened my eyes to the people around me. I learned that it was going to be difficult to rely on other from this point on because I never ask for help and the one time I swallowed my pride I was left alone. Now the situation isn’t a bad one. It ended well but before things came to end my heart was thrashed and I felt I needed to let the world know. Did I approach the Verbal Vomit universe? No, but I should have. Instead I faced everyone dead on through Facebook.

I posted a many statuses expressing my distaste for my peers and the town I currently reside. Did this affect my business? I don’t think so but I several weeks later I realized that I was in a bad place. Very little help, very little friends, very little cash, and a depression that caused me to eat poorly, stop exercising, lose sleep, and lost all motivation for anything in my life. Did this realization help me out of the ditch I was in? No. I didn’t care enough. I haven’t cared for a couple months in my life, but I have been focusing my energies on being happier, positive and of course my motivation. I knew that being in such a dark place was going to affect my business. I had deposits for tattoos that I would look at several times a day and I would just ignore them. What I did was start scheduling my appointments when I would take the deposits and the day before or day of the appointment I would draw the work. Many artists conduct their business this way. I may have not been the happiest person in the world, or even the saddest, but I kept working.


As the summer of 2012 comes to a close and fall is rearing its beautiful head, I feel the motivation to write again. I have started to eat right again, hitting the treadmill and doing my strength training exercises, as well as sketch, color, and get back into machine building. There will be posts to this new blog, as well as Verbal Vomit. To maintain happiness there must be balance. The Vomit will be interesting to tackle at this point in my life because with everything going on and trying to commit to positivity it will be difficult to write vomit from a Buddhist perspective. It will be achieved.

Welcome to the new blog of Adam Godwin. I thank you all for reading, and I hope to see comments, discussions, and points of views of others realities! Every little bit helps.