Dan Henk: What’s Wrong With the Whole ‘Tattoo Artist’ vs. ‘Tattooer’ Crap
By Dan Henk
People love clichés. They love to pick apart their coworkers and neighbors. One of the many, many little schools of dissension in tattooing tends to be the “tattoo artist” versus the “tattooer” label.
Some circles, especially those who focus on old-school, have decided that “tattoo artist” is a pejorative. There is a whole list of complaints I’ve heard regarding anything that doesn’t look like a traditional tattoo. Everything from ”that won’t hold up over time,” to “that doesn’t look like a tattoo” to “anyone who wants to be called a tattoo artist is a pretentious hipster, this is a noble working class profession like pipe fitting or blacksmithing…” (more…)
Dan Henk: Sometimes The Old-Timers Are Right
By Dan Henk
When I first started tattooing, the industry seemed to be breaking new ground. People like Guy Aitchison, Tom Renshaw and Aaron Caine were redefining what could be done with the form. It was an exciting time. I had been to art school, was doing album covers for bands, illustrations for a few clubs and magazines, and I finally saw that tattooing could be as detailed and complex as any other medium. I had interviewed with DC Comics, and Penguin books and both were very restrictive… (more…)
Dan Henk: The Horror Convention
By Dan Henk
Horror has been around a long, long time. The early fairy tales were much darker than their current Disney-fied versions. The primal gods of ancient civilizations endured lives filled with maniacal beasts, surreal landscapes and an ever-changing world of magic and dark sorcery. The oral traditions of early man’s forefathers always had an element of horror… (more…)
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