A cliché I’ve encountered in many countries I’ve visited and that concerns tattoo artists is that, apparently, “they are too full of themselves!”, they are posers, they aren’t humble and so on.
In my opinion being humble doesn’t necessarily mean accommodating everyone.
A humble person is not someone who doesn’t recognize his talents, but someone who doesn’t put them at the center of every conversation and above all knows that there’s always room for improvement.
The fact that tattoo artists are “Ice Queens” might even be true, but generally this attitude can be found in all kinds of categories. But since tattoo artists have become the charismatic figure the media have chosen them to be, they obviously get more attention compared to, let’s say, a plumber, mechanic or dentist.
But why do they have the tendency to ignore some (or many) people looking almost annoyed?
I think it’s the same reason why every time a girl hears “Hello beautiful” she doesn’t even turn around! Should she stop for at least 10 minutes and maybe even give her telephone number just because of a “Hello beautiful”?
Let’s be real, from adolescence onwards, how many times has a beautiful girl heard such a phrase? Dozens of times a day, probably thousands of times in a lifetime. When it’s finally the weekend and she goes out to have fun can a ”Hello beautiful” really be enough to grab her attention? Should she really listen to all the guys who compliment her?
Let’s be serious, that “poor” girl has a life and she has rightly activated filters that enable her to ignore people who are useless to her existence, although compliments definitely satisfy her ego.
Now simply apply the same logic to a Tattoo Artist.
Tattoos have been one of the most popular cultural movements for several years now.
Every week, even a third-rate tattoo artist receives dozens of phone calls, e-mails, messages through social media, he sees a lot of people with whom he discusses, evaluates and creates projects.
When it’s finally the weekend and he decides to go out to wind down, as soon as he enters a club or a bar he immediately gets attention just for having more extensive and visible tattoos than average.
Rude people put their hands on him to take a better look at his tattoos, others start bombarding him with questions, that usually go something like this: “I got this tattoo from a friend of mine, how much would you charge for something like this?”; “How much would you charge me for a tattoo?”; “I would like to get a tattoo that goes from here to here, what do you think about it?”; “I got this tattoo in that studio, is it done well?”. “Would you be able to cover this tattoo?” etc. etc.
Should the poor thing have to listen to everyone, his night out would turn into his longest working day ever and almost certainly into one of the least profitable.
It’s full of time wasters out there and an experienced tattoo artist, despite knowing fully well that a business relationship can come out from anywhere, has learned that a person who is genuinely interested probably takes this opportunity to quickly talk about his idea, ask for his business card and then lets him enjoy the rest of the night waiting to discuss things at a more appropriate location: the studio!
Imagine if every time a dentist goes out to enjoy himself he found himself surrounded by people eager for information: “How much would you charge me for a dental plate?”; “How much for a filling?”; “Take a look here, I think I have a cavity …”.
Or imagine what a proctologist’s life would be like 😀
So, before saying that tattoo artists (or other professional figures) are too full of themselves, it would be best that you bear the aforementioned examples in mind.
Let’s put ourselves in his shoes and we will realize that they need something far more interesting than “How much would you charge me for …” to grab his attention. In the same exact way one should come up with something more interesting than “Hello beautiful” to get a beautiful girl’s attention!
If you are interested in his work or advice, visit him at his studio 😉
Good tattoo everyone.