What, what attracted you to tattooing in the first place?

You know, I've always been an artist, uh, and I was just attracted to art and, and different ways of applying that art, whether it was spray paint or pencil or markers or, uh, anything.

And, and I, uh, started drawing caricatures at Busch Gardens.

And one of the guys there introduced me to this fella who had just gotten out of prison, and he was tattooing out of his house.

And, uh, e- essentially I would just hang out with that guy and we would draw together.

And one day he was like, "Hey, man, you wanna do a tattoo?" And I was like, "Sure." So I knocked out a tattoo, and then people just started lining up at the front door.

So I just kept on doing it.

But man, to your core, you are an artist, aren't you?

What, what attracted you to tattooing in the first place?

You know, I've always been an artist, uh, and I was just attracted to art and, and different ways of applying that art, whether it was spray paint or pencil or markers or, uh, anything.

And, and I, uh, started drawing caricatures at Busch Gardens.

And one of the guys there introduced me to this fella who had just gotten out of prison, and he was tattooing out of his house.

And, uh, e- essentially I would just hang out with that guy and we would draw together, and one day he was like, "Hey, man, you wanna do a tattoo?" And I was like, "Sure." So I knocked out a tattoo, and then people just started lining up at the front door, so I just kept on doing it.

But man, to your core, you are an artist, aren't you?

Oh, for sure.

Yeah.

So tell us about this continent that you created as well.

Yeah, so I've always enjoyed creating characters.

Uh, and, you know, I've been tattooing now for almost 30 years, and there was a point in my career where I just was kinda feeling like I was just kinda doing the same thing over and over.

And, uh, I think it was, like, 2009, somewhere around there, I'd been tattooing at that point for about, I guess, I started in, in, uh, '98, so I'd been tattooing for about 11 years.

Um, and a lot of people were coming to me for like squirrels and rabbits and kinda normal things, normal animals, I would guess.

Uh, and I just kinda got tired of just doing a rabbit and then taking a picture of it, putting it in my portfolio, and watching the person walk out the door.

And I really wanted to create more depth in my work, so what I did is I started...

So is that how, how you started? Did you then make a transition?