A tattoo artist and keen traveller Artem Koro creates incredible tattoo compositions. We caught up with Artem to learn more about his avant-garde tattooing and love for the craft…
I have always been attracted to the trade and have been a tattoo artist for the past six years. I first got tattooed when I was 14 years old and at 28 I realised that I could combine my love of tattoos and travelling the world into one profession. I then set out to become a tattoo artist.
I would define my style as avant-garde. It’s a style that has evolved and continues to evolve. That’s something that is very important to me; it’s important that my style and myself will continue to constantly develop. I don’t believe in staying in one place in terms of style and what I create.
I think it is very important to note that there is always some growth in my art. Development is the root of success as is growing as an artist.
I get inspiration from many aspects of life, including music, movies and places I have visited. I get lot of inspiration from nature, my roots and where I grew up (in the Middle East). For example, a lot of my textures and compositions are inspired by desert areas, Middle Eastern music, patterns on carpets etc.
Each appointment can take a full day, but the tattoo itself will take between three and six hours maximum. I like a darker atmosphere in my tattoos, and these days I prefer to work with black ink only. I try to perform work with a high contrast so that the tattoo will last for a long time in the best way possible.
I like to design animals that are not seen every day as well as different textures and unusual compositions. I also like to emphasise the aesthetics and flow of the shape of the body.
In the first two months of the pandemic it was very difficult for me to create and it affected my work. But over time I tried to keep doing the things I love in general (not only tattoos), and eventually this blockage passed. I can say I have remained active for the past year which has helped.
I cannot imagine life without tattoos. My life has changed 180 degrees since I started doing this work. It is very difficult for me to describe in words how much the world of tattoos has affected me. I believe it would be impossible to understand this feeling without experiencing it yourself.
Make sure you follow Artem on Instagram for more awesome avant-garde tattoos.
Mellowpokes from Toronto talks to us about how she got into tattooing, why she loves handpoke and tattooing during a pandemic…
How long have you been tattooing and how did you get into it? I’ve been tattooing for three years. I went to OCAD university here in Toronto and studied illustration. After university I always made time for creative projects, but generally found that they didn’t pay enough to actually make a living, so I started doing graphic design. There were parts of it that I enjoyed, but for the most part I didn’t find it very fulfilling. I found a lot of the jobs to be tedious, and often found myself working for large corporations with many different people to please.
I didn’t actually start getting tattoos until I was in my mid-20s, but once I started I got really excited by all the incredible talent in my city. I got a backpiece done by the absolutely incredible Jess Chen and we talked a bit about having both gone to OCAD and afterward doing graphic design out of necessity more than passion.
She suggested I try tattooing. I ended up mentioning this conversation to one of my best friends, Dana, and like a month later she bought me a stick and poke kit. I am so immensely grateful to Jess for pushing me on this path and for giving me a bunch of super helpful advice when I first started. And I’m grateful for Dana who forced me to actually START doing it. I did my first tattoo on Dana, and I think if it weren’t for that push it would’ve taken me a lot longer to actually take that plunge.
What drew you to hand poke tattooing? When I first began tattooing, I didn’t intend for it to become my full-time job. I was interested in learning tattooing, and I thought that the handpoke technique would feel more intuitive and similar to working with a pen. (Turns out I was wrong, and in a lot of ways using a machine is more similar to the act of drawing than handpoking is!) I intended to just try handpoking, and if I liked it, potentially upgrade to machine tattooing.
But, once I started, I fell in love with handpoking, and the quiet and intimate nature of it. I’m generally fairly tech-averse and prefer drawing most of my designs with pencil and paper. I bought an iPad and it took me about six months to actually break it out and start using it. I do intend to introduce machine tattooing to my practice eventually though, just to broaden the scope of what I can achieve!
What inspires your tattoos? I’m inspired by the world around me, although I guess that’s not a particularly interesting answer. I love drawing animals and women. I think when I first started I was really focused on making tattoo designs that looked like tattoos, but now I just tattoo whatever dumb stuff I draw.
One of my favourite exercises that generates a ton of my flash is posting on Instagram asking people what I should draw. I get so many silly submissions and I draw them all quickly, and usually without any references. Those weird moments trying to draw a crocodile from memory ended up making some of my favourite flash designs.
What do you like to tattoo and what would you like to do more of? Right now I’m in the process of introducing a tattoo machine to my practice, so I would really like to do more work with the machine. I think it will lend itself nicely to the intuitive looseness in some of my drawings, where poking was more precise and slow.
In terms of subject matter, I want to make sure I don’t get stuck in a niche doing specific things. I love doing dogs and cherubs, and they’re two of my most requested images, but I always want to push myself and expand. I would love to do more larger pieces and more experimental compositions.
Do you prefer working in colour when you handpoke? How does this differ to handpoking black ink? This has two sides. On one hand, I love tattooing in black ink because I find it easier. The ink is hyper-pigmented and the perfect consistency to push into the skin by hand. The ink makes less of a mess and is generally easier to work with. However, I love tattooing in colour because I love the end result.
Coloured ink looks so beautiful in the skin, and introducing colour into a composition gives you so many more options for where to take a design. Colour heals so differently on different skin tones and I love seeing how the colours heal and integrate with people’s bodies. I always love when a client is open to colour, even if it takes a bit longer and is a bit tougher to work with.
Can you tell us about some of your experiences getting tattooed? Do you prefer handpoke or machine tattooing? I love both methods! I think in general handpoke tattoos hurt less, and in general machine tattoos hurt more. There are always exceptions to this (depending on the artist, the design, the placement) and I’ve definitely had poked tattoos that were excruciating and machine tattoos that I barely felt.
There is also a bit of an assumption that handpokes don’t heal well or don’t last, and that machine tattoos heal better, which is also not necessarily the case. It all depends on the artist, the placement, and how you treat the tattoo while it’s healing. Anyways, I love both methods and don’t tend to choose my artists based on what method they use, but rather based on their artwork!
How has COVID affected your tattooing? COVID has been really tough on so many people and industries. We had to shut down in March 2020 for the initial lockdown, and we remained closed for five months. We were able to reopen again in August, but were forced to close for lockdown again in November, and remain closed now. It’s been very difficult.
The Canadian government hasn’t provided much support to small businesses, particularly newer small businesses who don’t have the financial history to qualify for government support. The uncertainty of things adds extra strain (both mentally and financially) since it’s impossible to plan. We have no idea when we will be able to tattoo again at this point. Not to mention that an important part of my job, and one of my favourite parts, is being able to travel and guest in different studios around the world. I had plans to travel to London and Paris to tattoo (literally had flights booked) as well as to the US. None of that happened, and now I’m not sure when I’ll be able to do it again.
I am trying my best to explore other art forms in my downtime from tattooing, and have been getting back into painting and making merch. At the end of it all, though, I am so grateful for my health and understand that COVID has hit many more people far more directly than it has me. Just want to hammer this point home – please be careful, please wear a mask, please be considerate of others!
Follow Mellowpokes on Instagram for more handpoked tattoos.
25-year-old Alberto Lelli from Italy creates rad traditional tattoos mixed with Italian Futurism and German Bauhausat Seven Doors Tattoo in Lane, London.We chatted to Alberto about the inspiration behind his pieces and the affects of the pandemic on tattooing...
How long have you been a tattoo artist? I did my first tattoo at 18 so this year it’s my seventh anniversary in the tattoo world. The first thing I did after turning 18 was get a tattoo. I immediately fell in love with this world and started visiting the tattoo studio almost on a daily basis. One year after I finished high-school I started my apprenticeship in the same tattoo shop.
What drew you to the world of tattooing? During high-school I studied at art school. This is where I got a strong education in the history of art and graphics. I took a lot of inspiration from the artistic movements of the 20th century.
How would you describe your style? My favourite definition of my work is “a contradiction between the past and the future”. Indeed, my style conjugates artistic elements from the Italian Futurism and German Bauhaus. When I started tattooing my first approach was American traditional. I think knowledge of what has been done before you is key to being able to build your own interpretation. I am always studying, learning and trying to find new elements and inspirations.
Can you tell us about your process, how long does a tattoo typically take? The process is determined by the size, placement on the body and the amount of work going into the design. I am pretty lucky because most of the time my customers choose pieces from my sketchbook, but obviously if I have to do something custom I need more time to create the design. I’m pretty fast in tattooing and normally my tattoos take two to three hours maximum.
What do you like to tattoo and what would you like to do more of? My favourite subjects are definitely figures of women and men. I really want to do more architecture inspired tattoos in the future, I’ve already done a few and I really enjoyed it. I’m from Bologna and I grew up with the architecture of the city, filled with arcades. This strongly influenced my love for geometrical shapes.
How have you found the pandemic, have you found time to be creative or been feeling blocked? At the beginning it was very bad. I think everyone in the last year has been forced to change their way of life and when you feel forced to do something you can’t be happy and you work is going to reflect that. I have now learnt how to deal with that and actually I’m happy because I have found more time for painting and to do a lot of things that I wasn’t able to before. At the moment for example, I’m experimenting in the field of carpets and rug design.
What does tattooing mean to you and what does it mean to not be tattooing? Tattooing is my life and I really miss it. At the moment I’m not working at all in London as everything is closed due to national lockdown. I also miss travelling a lot and that is a really important part of my job. I hope that after the vaccine has been administered to enough people and the crisis has been contained we will slowly go back to normality.
Follow Alberto on Instagram for more traditional style tattoos.
A tattoo artist for 6 years, Pasha Et (Pavlo Kurylo)creates beautiful black and grey realism tattoos in Ukraine.We chatted to Pasha about the inspiration behind his pieces...
How long have you been tattooing and how did you get into the industry? I wanted to be a tattoo artist when I was 18. I found some videos about tattoos and decided that I could do it too. I’ve always liked tattoos and at 19 I bought all the necessary equipment and made my first tattoo, that was back in 2015.
What does tattooing mean to you? For me, tattoos are style, beauty, and self-expression. To be a tattoo artist is to give these things to other people. I enjoy the process of creating a cool tattoo, so after the tattoo is finished, my client will also enjoy their tattoo for life.
How would you describe the tattoo scene in the Ukraine and Belgium? If we’re talking about tattoo artists, then every country has some very cool but also bad tattoo artists. It seems to me to be about the same, there’s a balance.
If we talk about clients then the difference is really big. In Ukraine tattooing is still developing. Basically people aged 20-35 want to get a tattoo, but many of them are still students and can’t afford a quality tattoo. Most people over the age of 40 don’t understand tattoos or tattooing, they don’t see it as art.
Of course, there are exceptions, but it’s mostly like that. But in Belgium, clients consciously approach tattooing, they’re smart with their choice of tattoo and tattoo artist.
How would you describe your style? I work in the realism style with the technique of “whip shading”. I really like how tattoos look in this technique. I work mostly with small portraits (usually celebrities) and various sculptures or statues.
What’s the process behind your tattoos? How long does a typical tattoo take? It starts with the client sending me an example of what they would like, then we meet for a consultation and discuss all the details. Then we create a sketch in Photoshop (this is usually a collage of several pictures), if necessary, I finish sketching by hand. The next step is to determine the size and try a sketch on the part of the body they want tattooing. Once this is ok we agree on the date and time of the session.
Usually portraits take 4-6 hours. If they’re quite large portraits, about 20cm in length without additional details and heavy elements I can do them in one session (5-7 hours). If a portrait has lots of details, it can take 2-3 sessions each one being about 5-6 hours, but it all depends on how detailed and complex the design is.
Where do you get your inspiration? I am inspired by so many things. I’m mostly inspired by people in other creative professions, those who work hard on themselves and succeed in their field and beyond. It could be a tattoo artist, graffiti artist, a photographer or musician – anyone creative.
What do you love to tattoo and what would you like to do more of? Generally, I like to do realism by using photos. I would like to make even more portraits, especially shots from movies.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your tattooing? I’ve had more time to develop and improve my style, but I think COVID has had the biggest impact on my trips to other countries to either work or go to tattoo festivals. Unfortunately, until the situation around the world improves it will be very difficult to move. But someday it will all end and tattoo artists will be able to travel and make people happy with their tattoos again.
Be sure to follow Pasha on Instagram for more awesome realism tattoos.
Suro tattoos out of Gold Leaf Ink, San Francisco where she creates incredible (mostly) black and grey realism mixed with illustrative style tattoos. In this interview Suro tells us about her path into tattooing and what she’s learnt along the way…
I was actually born in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. I spent my entire childhood there all the way up until 12th grade. I wanted to experience college in the states, especially art schools in New York, even though there are a ton of great art colleges in Dubai. I mostly wanted an escape. I come from a traditional Sri Lankan family and they wanted me to pursue a career as a doctor or lawyer. I knew that to be true to myself and find my creative rhythm I had to move.
The idea of tattooing was so far-fetched at that point because of my strict family and tattooing is taboo in the middle east, meaning haram (forbiddened) in the Islamic religion. I would get super intrigued by tattoos as I watched TV and saw tattoos on tourists that would come into town.
I kept saying that I would get a tattoo when I move to The States. Little did I know I would be pursuing a career in it.
I’ve been creative since I was a baby, drawing on the walls and doors. I knew it was either art or nothing! I Loved to paint and I’ve painted with acrylics since I can remember. The only reason I even passed some subjects was because my diagrams were so realistic! So I knew I had to pursue a career in the arts.
I ended up at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY where I pursued Interior Design. I was super excited as I was going to an actual art school with other creatives, painters, sculptors, photographers, etc. It was during my time at Pratt that I found my way into the tattoo industry and I’ve never looked back.
Starting out in a diverse city like NYC I was grateful to have come to work with some real cool people in the industry. I worked at about three shops mostly – the first Big Bang Ink in Brooklyn where I apprenticed at, and then Village Tattoo located in St.Marks which was my first shop as a tattooer and finally Red Baron Ink in the Lower East Side. Each studio had tattooers from different ethnicities and had different tattooing skills so it was cool getting to learn something new from them. I never once felt disrespected by any of them, so I know I was super lucky because tattooers, especially females have been treated unfairly.
I had quite a start, pretty rough cause I was super broke right after college. I was in between bartending and trying to keep my apprenticeship at Big Bang. Unfortunately I allowed nightlife to consume me which became my downfall and had to put a pause in my apprenticeship. I try to live with no regrets since I did bounce back a year later, but I do agree that was time wasted.
I have a better understanding of the industry especially to my clients. I’ve learnt to develop a language to communicate my art and tattoo what I like to tattoo.
This industry is forever changing, and has been since I started about nine years ago. From the techniques and styles to even the public being more accepting of them. So this alone has opened up many doors for tattooers. From tattooing celebrities to people in blue collar, tattooers are now finding more and more creative ways to tattoo. Example, wireless tattooing is now a common thing which was a spoken myth back in the day.
When I started, most of the equipment I used was heavy and bulky whereas now I can literally fit my entire set up in a Fanny pack (CRAZY!) So having a wider range of clientele nowadays has evolutionised the art of tattooing. There are more styles too, like minimalism, dotwork, blackwork, micro realism etc. I can’t say the days of the Sailor Jerry flash are dead because hell that will be the day the industry dies, but it’s amazing to see how the newer generation of tattooers are changing the game.
My style of tattooing is a mix between illustrative and realism. I love playing with light and shadows, so the contrast level will differ from piece to piece. I also love playing with lineweight, so having both bold and fine linework. My inspiration comes from art all over. Abstract to renaissance paintings I love to pull inspiration from fine art mostly.
Even though I paint with color I enjoy a monochromatic palette more. Using a pen, pencil or even charcoal is my favorite and has always been. I enjoy smooth shading and love when I can bring some realism with just one color. So my preference is mostly black and grey. I love to shade anything, from portraits to inanimate objects, to florals, etc. I really enjoy tattooing details so the more details the more fun the piece gets!
I see myself opening a private studio sometime in the future. I want to create a space that will pull in artists of different backgrounds and styles so that we can learn from each other. The same experience I had when I started nine years ago. The beautiful thing about this career is that there’s always room to grow and learn. So I can’t speak on it much now but I’m excited to see what the next nine years will bring.
So for those looking to start, understand it is a commitment and an investment. Don’t start if your mind is not in the right space whether it be financially or even emotionally. Your relationship with whomever will be affected but know no matter what that it’s so worth it in the end.
An apprenticeship could take anywhere from a year to two, but what determines that is your drive. Find a solid mentor who also is in a good mental space cause you will take on from what you see, and trust me you don’t want one who parties! So have a good support system, surround yourself with those who make you better cause you’re going to need every bit as you start this journey.
Make sure to follow Suro on Instagram for more amazing tattoos.
