Latest / The Story Behind The Ink / Episode 2: More Than the Ink-The story of a Tattoo Artist
Transcript
- Robert moss: You see the tattoo, you don't see the story. Welcome to the story behind the ink, where we go beyond the surface and hear the stories that made us who we are. I'm Robert Moss, and today we've got another story to tell. So before we get into the story, I'm gonna have you introduce yourself and then I'm gonna have you Tell me the tattoo, who did it, when did you get it? I'm Chris Wilkins, I'm also a tattooer. I would have to say probably the most meaningful tattoo I have is this portrait of Hank. That's on my hand. this is my English bulldog that passed away. he died like a week before his first birthday. Robert remembers him well. I remember that. Very heartbreaking. Yeah, that was that was my dude. And it's also a memorial for my grandfather as well, because he was marine and he was known to smoke cigars. So just kind of a double memorial makes sense. And my friend L. Wright at Empowered Tattoo did it. we traded tattoos for it and she did a pretty good job. Well, good old hand blaster. Good deal. I guess that'd be considered your favorite as well? I I would say so. Yeah. Most meaningful. All right. So where did you grow up? Born and raised here in Asheville, North Carolina. Well, I this is Black Mountain, but born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. Whole life. What were you like as a kid? I was a good kid. I wasn't I wasn't a troublesome kid, you know, I kinda minded my own business. Good grades? Yeah, I did art well up until high school. High school, I did really good, but struggled the whole way through up till then. And did you did you graduate? Yes. I actually did graduate. Yep. I'm pr pretty proud of that one. You did better than me then, bro, 'cause like I told like on my first on my first podcast I mentioned when I got expelled for got expelled in eighth grade for smoking weed. Yeah, it was it was hilarious. And then I ended up going to this university and finally like passing the eighth grade and then I was like, Yeah, I'm done with school. I'm done it. But I eventually did get my G D though, so Hey it works. When did you first become interested in art? I don't remember when I wasn't. When I when I was a kid, I was into comic books and anything comic related and I just replicated that stuff, seeing Spider Man and Hulk and all that. I wanted to replicate it and it kinda just took off from there. I don't remember when I wasn't interested and really. Were you always drawing? yeah. yeah, all the time. Same. what did you think you were going to do for a living? I wasn't sure. I knew it was gonna be something in the art field. I I knew I knew that for sure. I just wasn't sure. I was just winging it basically. And it seems like tattooing is the last like true actual art form. 'Cause you know, architecture is not really art anymore. It's all math drafting, you know, it's not really art anymore and seems like that's the last real true, true art trade you can make a good living with so far. It seems like everything's getting took over by AI too. absolutely. That's kinda scary a little bit. So scary, bro. yeah. Yep. so who was the first person who really encouraged you or encouraged your creativity? probably my sister's dad. My sister's dad raised me and he's the one that got me into comic books and introduced all those characters to me I was talking about and music and everything. That dude is responsible for me being me most definitely at an early age. And that was in Woodruff? No, no, that was here in North Carolina. My half sister's dad. Gotcha. So David Rogers, yeah, he is responsible for All that good stuff. What's something about you that people wouldn't guess just by looking at you? My I know something like that. My love for pumpkin spice and everything pumpkin. Yeah. I'm a basic white girl at heart. True, that that's funny. But I but I'm not ashamed of it, man. I own it. Like I will straight go to Starbucks Prideful and get my pumpkin spice latte any day of the week. Bro, let me tell you the coffee, man. I've started like getting upset stomach. Every time I like just drank one cup of coffee, like stomach upset. So I've been like switched to matcha, bro, and like I've been obsessed with matcha. Matcha's good. man. I like matcha. Ashley don't like it. She says it tastes like earth. Yeah. But I I actually love it. I tell everybody it's like this really good tea tasting coming down and then you just got this little earthy bite at the end, you know what I mean? It's pretty Yeah, I I could get into that. I remember when you got me into the mushroom coffee and we were drinking that for a while. I remember that. My buddy Thomas actually still drinks that stuff, man. And let me tell you, he swears by it. Like there's a truck, there's actually a food truck down there that does just mushroom coffee. You talking about the Thomas, the one I met when we went swimming and all that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, he's a cool guy. You know my Circles tight. Yeah, yeah, you got a good circle. All them people are pretty cool. let's see. But yeah, I even like the taste of it, man. Even with the creamer. I liked it. yeah, you had to have the creamer for sure. So how did you end up becoming a tattoo artist? Well, my cousin Fred is responsible for that because we didn't meet till I was probably like fourteen or fifteen and we met at my family reunion in Ohio and I was already into art and you know I heard that he liked real dark cryptic art and he was a tattooer and I met him and we hit it off and I just looked up to him ever since. And I was like, I want to fall in this guy's footsteps. Like he's awesome and we have so much in common. And he's the one that got my itch, like wanting to go down the tattooer aspect of it. And I just yeah, that that's what started the itch. And then I started my apprenticeship. Do you remember the first tattoo you ever did? Ooh, yes, I did. How bad was it? it sucked. it was a skull on my Uncle Greg's arm, like the the top half of his arm right there. And I did later get to fix it up and like redo it and revamp it. So that was really, really cool. Getting the chance to redo all my terrible stuff. That's how I'm I'll tell like I'll be like sending posts. I'm like, look, if there's something on you that I did back in the day, like please hit me up. Like I will fix it for free. We'll cover it up. yeah. Yeah. If it sucks, like bring it back. Yeah, like whatever it is that I did on you twenty years ago, like come back, let me fix that. You know what I mean? 'Cause I had this chick send me this picture and she's like, Do you remember this? And I'm I looked at it and it was just like, Bro, it just looked like Fido's butt, like it just looked so terrible. And then I was like, couldn't even like make it out. And I was like, No, who would do that? She's like, You don't remember doing that? I was like, I've had those moments. Dude, I remember tattooing out of my house and I was tattooing my sister's rib cage, and midway through the stencil just wipes off and I try to draw it back on as I'm tattooing, which is not sanitary. I don't recommend at all. I didn't know what I was doing back then. And I just remember that feeling of like, God, like what do I do? That's not as bad as me. Like I told a story of me blowing the blowing the ink out of a big pen and using that to tattoo my leg the first time. my god. I hear stories like that all the time. I've never actually used a a homemade machine before. I will say that. Like I've always went straight to straight yeah real machines. So I was the opposite. I guess I don't 'cause Back then, man, I think the first tattoo shop opened up in like Woodruff, South Carolina. I was actually living in Woodruff at the time, bro. again, like on my first podcast, it tells the whole thing of how like I was there from like primary to like middle school. South Carolina in general, like the first shops that were like getting out actually allowed to open. I remember hearing about that. Yeah, 'cause South Carolina has those really weird tattoo laws. Mm hmm. Yeah, you can't do anything above the collar. That's that's why people from South Carolina like come up to Asheville. Yeah. And that's why I always like people get mad, man, 'cause I tell like, look, it's it's one fifty like shop minimum just for the neck up. Like, you know what I mean? Just I don't care if it's a dot. Like it's one fifty, you know? Yeah, 'cause it's not as easy as an armor or a leg. Yeah, people don't get that though. But yeah. That's why I like for our Halloween specials and stuff, like I'm not doing your neck or your face or anything like that for our specials that need to be just, you know Pounded out, yeah. So he was forty four. He was forty four when he died, so we did forty four dollar flash. that whole day. They did it the whole weekend and a news crew actually came up here on Sunday and interviewed a couple of the artists. I only worked Saturday because I had so much to do, I could only give that one day. But all the proceedings gave straight to her and her family. That's that's awesome. I kept a little bit of money for like gas and like five dollars for each setup. That that's really, really sad. so what happened was basically he was trying to defend somebody and then Yeah, so he had got a phone call saying that there was disturbance outside, a bunch of yelling and fighting going on. Right. So he pulls up to the studio and he witnessed dudes like choke an old girl out. Jesus. So he pulls up, you know, takes his shirt off his jewelry, fucking runs over there and then I don't know what happens. Maybe breaks it up or whatever. And then dude shoots him in the back of the head. Like in the back. Then then he leaves his girlfriend there, shoots the car up, shoots her car up, had a like a eye had an eye tag track tracking device on her car and knew where she was at the whole time. Shot her car up, killed him. Then went home and watched T V. Shit. And then waited for waited for the police. But we went to the bond hearing. Like we were at we were there like looking at this man. So they got him. Yeah, they got him. He was like, I'm guilty. I did it. You might as just sip give me whatever, whatever, whatever. Just coward. Just Yeah, they need to give him the book. Just a coward, yeah. So anyway, minus that. Yeah, it was, man, it was it was really hard, bro. Like I couldn't imagine. But we had people at the studio making T shirts. So we got these really cool like shirts, you know. couple people spoke up at the funeral. Man, I I can't imagine what that what that lady's going through. She's traumatized, bro. Like and it's just Yeah, it's it's sad. It's very sad, bro. And we can just All we can do is just be there for You know, my my brother Ian's been he's Troy's real brother and like he's been there the whole time for everybody and so has Troy's mama and so has like a lot of the I mean the dude's really a hero. She yeah, he's a good he was a good dude. Who was the person who taught you the most? Tattoo wise? Dev definitely Brandon. Yeah, yeah, the guy the guy that apprenticed me, I mean for sure. And yeah, and I knew this, but I mean my audience don't know it. So I want everybody to know. And that's at across the skin tattoo, correct? Yep. what was the hardest thing to learn? Hardest thing to learn. Tattooing or just in life in general? Tattooing. I struggled with line work in the very beginning. Shading kind of came naturally. But my line work, man, like getting that better to where I was like very confident in line work took a while. I mean, tattooing in general, you know as well as I do. I mean that that's not an overnight thing by any means. And it's so crazy, like just now like I'm the totally opposite. Like I felt like I killed the line work immediately. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right and just like everybody knows me at for my lines and like they praise me for my line work. 'Cause like that's one of the things like I busted my butt to like get down pat because if anything, I like I needed my lines. Because at the end of the day if I had my line work, bro, I could have a chance of like being a artist. You know what I mean? yeah, absolutely. And then like just now, like I'm getting into now to where like I'm actually like feeling comfortable like with my blends and my shades. But I'm still like nowhere near anywhere near I wanna be at, like as an artist, you know what I mean? Well, I mean the fact that you have that feeling is good. You should always have that feeling 'cause that means you that's growth. Like you're just gonna keep growing if you feel that way. And then that with the opportunity at the other studio and I just feel like that's a blessing. That way I can just constant because I feel like the three days that I work on that other job, I feel like it takes away from my artistic ability to where like I'm so drained to where I don't wanna like create w art. I don't wanna like be on my iPad and like I don't wanna like post. And like I don't wanna like be on social media and like I'm just like dead at the end of the day from that job, bro. So I'm like I feel like if I'm like all I'm doing is just tattooing and podcasting and and then a lot of my energy could be put more into like doing drawings and doing bigger pieces and stuff like that. You know? yeah, well it's like my other job, you know, 'cause I I work seven days a week. You know, I work two days a week downtown at a souvenir shop doing like ice cream and coffee and all that. So speaking of that, tell us about it. Like where is it located? it's downtown at right beside Dissolver on North Lexington Avenue, downtown Asheville. And yeah, it's just a souvenir shop, man. I mean like clothes, ice cream, milkshake, smoothies, I make coffee, like barista type stuff. And so it's like a cafe too. Yeah, yeah, basically. And I'm there by myself and It's it's a whole Starbucks kinda kind of vibe to it. And it's fun to work there. It's not it's not that hard. I do like working there, but my heart's and and obviously in tattooing and art and all that stuff, you know, it's just something it's extra money. It's extra play money. And it's just so saturated here, you know, and then between being saturated and from the hurling or am I saying that right? Helene. Hurling? Helene? Helene. Yeah, Helene. Helene. Yeah, yeah. I think we're coming up on like two year and two year anniversary. yeah. And I was living in Swantanoa when it happened. Two years. I was living at that in that trailer. Yeah. That was crazy time, bro. Crazy time. Asheville is definitely very, very saturated and clicky. Like like so clicky in the in the tattoo industry, it's I just stayed myself for the most part. Same, same. How long did it take before you felt like you could actually call yourself a tattoo artist? I still don't. Like I I I still I call myself a tattoo. The whole tattoo artist thing is like very uppity sounding to to me. And it's almost like I feel like I'm patting myself on the back when I do it. I just tell people I'm a tattooer, even though I am an artist. I don't know, it just sounds uppity to me. I'm just like, yeah, I'm a tattooer. But I I would say after my fifth year in my apprenticeship, I was like, okay, I'm not an apprentice anymore. I'm a tattooer, and just went with that. Was there a point where you almost quit? no. No, I'm too bullheaded and stubborn. I I I knew that I I had to I had to stick with it. I don't know anything else. I mean What what did you have to sacrifice to become good? my my sanity. I mean like I 'cause I remember when I was going through my apprenticeship, I had to work a third shift job and then I would get off at like seven o'clock in the morning and then I had to be in the studio at eleven by eleven fifteen to do the floors, stay all day, do that again and then go back into work again. So that that was a sacrifice. That was the hardest thing I've probably ever had to do in my entire life. I mean, got pneumonia and got sick because of my lack of sleep and Didn't that didn't that put you in the hospital? For for the whole month of October one year. About died. Like, even like nurses when I went to a clinic 'cause I didn't have health insurance at the time. I had to go to the ER. People from the clinic would call the hospital to check on me and be like, Yo, you did you make it? And I'm like, Yeah, I'm I'm here. But they they didn't think I was gonna make it. I got lucky. Well, you're still here. yeah, they can't kill me. That's good. What's the strongest tattoo? Or not the strongest, but what's the strangest tattoo somebody has ever asked you to do? I I got one in my head that I remember. but you probably got your own, but I just wanted to say this one because I remember it. this is great. It was the dang butthole centipedes with all the presidents shoved up in each other's butt. Yeah, that that was pretty awesome. Yeah, that was pretty great. Yeah, that and there was one that sticks out. it was a holy crap tattoo and it was a turd and I got creative freedom with it and it had like a cartoon face and everything. It had angel wings and it was a holy crap tattoo. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's crazy. I went I went weird with it too. I put like a pea and a piece of corn in it and like a fly. So would that be considered one of the funniest tattoos you've done? Yeah, I would say so. I it was like early on in my apprenticeship too. It's like when I was doing free tattoos on homies and yeah, that's what a buddy of mine wanted is like right above his kneecap. And it it was great. It was fun. What was the most what was the most meaningful? Most meaningful tattoo that I did. there was a lady that got a tattoo for her son, and her son was killed during Helene, the her hurricane Helene. And apparently he was trapped in the house when the flood caused a car to go through the house and it killed him. And I did a memorial t I've done a lot of memorial tattoos, but I was I'm pretty good friends with this family and that that's really sad to hear that story. Yeah, for sure. All the stories were like heartbreaking, bro. So many people killed during Helene and went missing and Yeah, it was crazy. that's pretty rough. Yeah. My heart goes out to that family. I mean, and a lot of the people that went through that with Helene, because they were founding bodies for a really long time with all that. So I have a funny one on this question. Have you ever had someone cry by tattooing them? pain-wise or like being sad? Either. I I've had both. pain-wise, I remember you might have been there for this. There was a dance, there's a she was she's an exotic dancer, and she came in to get her first tattoo on her forearm, and it was the little fairy from Zelda. And I mean it wasn't but like that big. And I mean, it's very rare that people. cry from pain. Like usually they'll tap out or they'll make noises, but you don't see many people crying from pain. And she did. Like apparently it was so unbearable for her. And yeah, that was tough to get through. And then she thought it was smart to try to book an appointment with Brandon, my my boss and mentor, that to get a stern and piece after that. And I told him, I like, dude, you don't you don't want to do that. Like I don't she's not gonna be able to handle that. There's no way. So that was one that I definitely remember. Most people can handle it for the most part. I remember that Chinese woman coming in. yeah. She said Yeah, I heard her all the way across the room. You'd have to listen to it. It's on my YouTube channel. But she was like, Ooh, too hot, too hot, too hot. Yeah, if you didn't know tattooing was going on, you would have thought something x rated. Full blown porno going down. Yeah, that that was that was interesting. I remember having to stop tattooing and be like, What are you what's going on here, man? This lady's That was like a little bitty koi fish. It was like this big. I'll yeah, I'll never tell you. Hilarious. yeah, you would have thought you were killing her or something. How did you how did you develop your style? the that was just natural. I like I like things dark and creepy and black and gray. And I mean it that just came natural. that came out of nowhere. So basically, just repetitive on things that you just like to do pretty much. yeah, 'cause I mean I love horror movies and I've always been more prone to black and gray and understood black and gray better than I did color and still do. I mean, if it was up to me, I probably wouldn't even own color. Like I would just stick to black and gray if it was up to me. Yeah, I'm like the opposite. Do you think an artist should develop their own recognizable style? Yeah, I I think if they just wing it and come natural, the style just comes in as its own, like like it did with me. Like like if you try to pursue a certain style, like it's almost like unnatural. Just like do your thing and it'll come natural for sure. who are some artists who influenced you? definitely people like Paul Booth, my cousin Fred, Brandon, you know, Greg Warren here in Asheville. A lot a lot of people like that. If it was dark and creepy and spooky, I I loved it. You know, Paul Acker, even though he does color, but like he's a horror artist and Yeah, he's really, really good. Is he local too? Paul Acker? No, no. That guy, you can Google him, man. He's like an L I think he's an LA or something like that. Gotcha. He's color realism, but he only does horror. But I mean it's like photorealism horror. It it's really good. Gotcha. What's your favorite style to tattoo? I love black and gray realism, but I also love black work traditional, like American traditional. I'm one or the other, not much in between. I I don't know. I I went into black and gray realism at first, and then after I kind of dabbled with American traditional, I'm like, man, this is fun. So to American traditional is fun because I get to only focus on fundamentals and then If I'm exercising the artistic part of my brain, that's where I like to do the realism and stuff. It's kind of like a break and nice medium between the two. Gotcha. Yeah, I'm about the same. I love doing color, but I also love doing like stemple shading or dot work or yeah, that's fun. Yeah, that stuff's fun. I love doing all of that. what's something you refuse to tattoo? Polynesian tribal. That's such an easy answer. Yeah. Anything with like all those patterns and stuff, I'm just like, nope. I had someone hit me up the other day that was doing wanting to do some trade and they showed me the space on their arm they had left, and then above it was all Polynesian. I was like, well, if you're wanting more Polynesian, we go on like kick this out because I ain't I ain't I ain't messing Send them to Robbie big balls. Yeah, I ain't I ain't messing with it. That's what I do. Anything Polynesian, I I'm like, yep, go to Robbie. What's a style you'd love to master? That is a very good question. I don't think I've mastered anything. I don't I don't think I ever will so what's a style you'd love to master? definitely black and gray realism. I mean, I would love to master that because I don't have any desire to really get too too far into color. Mm-hmm. But like if I can master anything, I'm all about it. For sure. All right. So these are great. These are my two favorite questions right here, bro. great. So what's the biggest misconception people have about tattoo artists? That we get to do anything that we want to do. Like for sure. It it's rare that someone comes to the door and they're like, Hey man, do whatever you want. Like it's I get to put like a twist on stuff and a spin on things, but for somebody to be like, Hey, do whatever you want, it's very rare. I think I could probably count on one hand in twelve years how many times that's ever happened. I have like a couple. Kara, she don't give a she don't care what it is. Like I Those are your favorite ones, man. Kara Crystal, they'd be like, But sh whatever. I just wanna I just want some ink. I'm like this is a good one right here, bro. If tattooing disappeared tomorrow, who would you be? I'd be screwed. That's what you can call me. I would be totally out of luck. I think I would be some kind of peer support counselor, something like that. Something to do some positive good in the world and to help people. you know, growing up. as as a kid that had to deal with a mom being an addict and still currently an addict, I would definitely want to do something in that field if I wasn't a tattooer. But if tattooing went away, I that's what you can call me. Screwed. I'd be doomed. Y'all make sure y'all like and subscribe to my channel. That way other people can hear about it. The only way we can grow, if y'all hit that like button and subscribe. we got the final five questions. These are gonna be so like I plan on like making this like one of the niches for this. just because I'm thinking to myself, like 10 years from now, if I have five, what if I had 500 people's like. real life testimony stories like on my podcast in an archive, or archive, yeah, archive, however you say it. then like people from like generations from now will be able to like hear all these people's testimonies and stuff. And these are stories that like nobody gets to nobody gets to tell their story and nobody gets asked about their story and nobody hears their story. You know what I mean? So that's where I come in. I'm gonna give you that option to Tell your story. Like get your name out there. Who you are. Like the story the the life you've gone through. how you've overcome your life or like some tragic thing that's happened that totally switched you around. Like just anything and everything, bro. And that's why I like picked it with with tattoos behind the ink, because I felt like every time I've tattooing somebody, I'm always listening to a story. I'm always hearing it. every different kind of story from every kind of walks of life, you know what I mean? And I just felt like they got so much more they want to say I just give people the opportunity to actually like come out and say it, bro. And I felt like I was just gonna do the craziest thing. So yeah. And I admire people that, you know, call people out on their stuff and they're just so real and raw. I mean, you know, I'm a I'm a big metal head. And I love falling in reverse. And I can't stand metal. And they're I love Ronnie Radke. Like you even if you're not a metal guy, if you follow that guy, he calls people out like publicly. And I love it. That dude is raw and unfiltered, and I'm a fan. So Ronnie, if you're watching this, I'm I'm a huge fan, dude. I love following you. Like this guy is great. He's savage. Like people will literally comment. on his stuff talking trash and he'll go on their profile and show pictures of them calling them out and be like, Yeah, look at this guy and it's just he's like the fifty cent of metal. Like he's he's petty but like in the best way. Like he should be. Like that guy's great. We'll have to tag him into the More people should be like Ronnie Radke. I I I'm a Ronnie Radke supporter. Heck yeah. Yeah, we'll have to tag him in there see if he If he watches the show. Dude, I you've probably listened to Fallen in Reverse before, haven't you? Probably have. Dude, he dabbles in all genres. He done a song with Jelly Roll, he done a song with Tech Nine, and the dude is just him and he's raw and he's unfiltered and he don't care. And if someone's talking trash, like he'll he'll burn you. And I respect it. I'm here for it. Absolutely. the final five. What is the hardest thing you have ever survived? My apprenticeship. Absolutely. Like Brandon was good to me and he treated me with respect and he didn't give me a hard time on anything. But as far as like juggling both jobs and the lack of sleep and everything I had to do to make that work was definitely the hardest thing I've ever done. Absolutely. What are you most proud of? The fact that I do what I want for a living. I'm very blessed and and grateful to be able to say I do that and to make that happen. And I'm I'm I'm proud to do that. I'm proud that I can be like, hey, I'm I tattoo for a living and here's my portfolio and how far I have come and the fact that I was bullheaded enough and stubborn to stick with it. I can I'm definitely proud of that. Same. That's something to be proud of too, bro. absolutely, man. People that go through that and you know, they establish themselves. I mean, that that's a journey. I definitely couldn't teach myself how to tattoo. Like I should have started my apprenticeship way sooner than what I did. 'Cause I scratched and tattooed out of my house for like five years before I decided to get smart and actually stick my nose to the grind and go through an actual apprenticeship. And I I wasted my my time thinking like, I can just teach myself this, that, and another and no, I couldn't. I should have done that way longer and I should have done it when I was younger. Everybody thinks that they can pick up a tattoo machine, bro, and they can learn from tattooing with the tattoo machine. And I'm like, that is not how you I mean, there's some people that are that are out there that are self taught, but it don't it's not that easy. And you know, you you need help. You need someone to teach you the right way for things. If you could give your younger self one more one piece of advice, what would it be? so different than what I was when I was younger. I yeah, I think that goes back to the other one. Like I should have started my apprenticeship when I was like eighteen, nineteen and and just stuck with it instead of starting at like twenty three. And I'd be further along, I believe, in my tattoo career if I would have started out a lot younger. I mean for sure. All right, now my favorite question. When you're gone, what do you hope people remember about you? my my character and my heart and who I am as a person. I mean, yeah, I might tattoo for a living and the things that I have and stuff, but I would r I would r rather people remember me on who I am rather than what I have and what I've done career wise. I would rather be known being a good person. Rather than like, here lies this guy tattooed and had a pretty cool car and all this, that, and another. I would just want to be known for who I am as a person. Heard. Well, that about ends it up, man. before everybody goes, hit that like button, subscribe and share this video. Don't keep a good story to yourself. Send it to somebody, start a conversation, help us bring more real people and real stories to this podcast. The story behind the ink. Everybody has a story. Let's hear it.