From Trial & Error to Timeless: Lessons from My Early Tattoo Days
Alright, buckle up, buttercup. Let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we? To a time when my tattoos looked like they were done by a drunken spider monkey. There’s nothing quite like looking back at your early work—the excitement, the mistakes, the learning curves. Every artist has a phase where they’re just figuring it all out, and tattooing is no different. My early experiences weren’t just about mastering the craft; they were about understanding what makes a design last, what fades away (sometimes literally), and how every mistake can push you forward.
With this month’s releases, I’ve been reflecting on those early days—when tattooing was still new, raw, and unpredictable for me. Some of the themes I gravitate toward today—contrast, movement, and high detail—are direct results of lessons learned the hard way.
The Early Days: Tattooing in Apartments & Trial Runs
Before I had a shop, I had a machine, some friends willing to take a risk, and an ego the size of a small country. The first tattoos I did were in apartments, and while I was confident in my ability to draw, tattooing was an entirely different beast.
What I learned quickly:
Skin is NOT paper. The way ink settles into skin, the way lines expand over time—completely different.
Black ink saves lives. Early on, I had a habit of relying on mid-tones instead of committing to high-contrast designs. A few washed-out tattoos later, I realized that bold, deep blacks were key to longevity.
Not every design translates well to skin. Some things look great on paper but don’t hold up over time. That’s a lesson you only learn by seeing tattoos heal and age.
💬 Did you ever get a tattoo that didn’t heal the way you expected? Drop your story in the comments!
The Mistakes That Taught Me Everything
Some mistakes you make once and never forget. Here are a few that still stick with me:
Overcomplicating Early Designs – In the beginning, I was focused on adding as much detail as possible—tiny lines, intricate shading. But skin isn’t like paper; over-detailing can make a tattoo blur out over time. Now, my designs balance intricacy with readability, something that I still strive for everyday. Knowing the rules and how to break them.
Not Pushing Contrast Hard Enough – In my early work, I hesitated to go deep enough with black ink. That hesitation led to faded tattoos that lost their impact fast. Today, strong contrast and deep blacks are a signature of my style.
Underestimating Placement Challenges – Some areas of the body are just trickier than others. Hands, ribs, elbows—all places where ink behaves differently. Early on, I didn’t always adjust my designs accordingly, leading to tattoos that shifted over time in unexpected ways, like they'd been through a taffy puller. I learned early on to design with the natural curves and movement of the body in mind.
These mistakes shaped the way I approach my work today—every design I create now is done with longevity in mind.
Blending Neo-Traditional and Soft Realism
Now let's check in on some of the work that came from those lessons and that time. If you’ve followed my work for a while, you know that I love bold contrast, deep shadows, and strong compositions. But I also have a deep respect for soft realism—the kind of work that looks almost like a painting on skin. Difficult to crack from a tattoo perspective when keeping longevity in mind. But with watercolor, a bit more forgiving. The ‘Black Swan’ piece is where these two worlds collide in a beautiful mess.
I painted this piece sitting at a picnic table on the stony shoreline of Brighton, England. I discovered a love of apple and brie sandwiches that I would grab for lunch before settling in and watching the water wave around the pier. I finished it after a few short days and gifted it to the shop I was doing a quest spot at, 9 Tattoo. I hope these days it's still found it's way to the same outstanding company of people. Maybe one day, I'll tell more of that story and my other adventures around the globe, but for now let's get back to the painting. The neo-traditional influence is clear in the bold linework, stylized flow, and structured composition. These elements give the piece clarity and staying power, ensuring it will hold up over time as a.tattoo.
But there’s also a soft realism aspect, particularly in the delicate shading of the purple petals and pink rose. Instead of relying on heavy outlines for everything, I used gradients and depth to create a more natural feel. The metamorphosis of ideals and iconography. The black swan, the outlier, cut open and sacrificed.
This balance between structured and organic, bold and soft is something I’ve been chasing since my early days experimenting with classic folk art, realism, and the juxtaposition of styles.
Transforming Tradition into Graphic Design
While ‘Black Swan’ was about bridging traditional tattooing art with realism, ’The Rose’ represents something entirely different—taking an old, classic symbol and reconstructing it through a modern, graphic lens.
I've always been obsessed with balance and symmetry, and this piece is about stripping a rose down to its most fundamental shapes, its purest form. It’s a direct reflection of my fascination with structure in design—something I was heavily experimenting with back in 2007. I liked it so much, it was the image I used when I created a stamp for my early artwork. Christian Peters and I sat in 4inthemorning Studios and carved our insignias into pink pearl erasers with Exacto knives. You can see the image in some of the work in the 20th Anniversary Collection.
Early on, I was influenced by bold traditional work but also graphic-heavy tattooing, where negative space and composition did just as much of the talking as the ink itself. Looking back, I experimented with these ideas before I fully understood aging and contrast, and some of my early attempts didn’t hold up the way I wanted.
Today I know how to refine those concepts—pushing contrast, balancing detail with simplicity, and using strong black tones to anchor the design.
2007: The Year of Transition
Ah, 2007. In the mid 2000s the internet went from being that weird thing your nerdy cousin did to…well, still weird, but now everyone was doing it. For tattooers, this was a seismic shift. Before, you were stuck hustling in person, hoping your portfolio got passed around, or maybe, maybe, you’d get a feature in a niche tattoo magazine. Then, BAM! Friendster, MySpace, and this new thing called Facebook barged in, and suddenly, you could blast your work to anyone with a dial-up connection. It was glorious anarchy. Suddenly, a nobody from nowhere (me) could get their work seen by people across the globe.
Both ‘Black Swan’ and ‘The Rose’ represent that transition. From older art forms into newer ones—traditional to realism; traditional to graphic. But more than that, they also reflect the shifts that were happening in the industry—and in the world—during that time.
2007 was an industry turning point. Tattoo culture was crawling its way into the mainstream. Social media started giving print media a run for its money. And tattooers had access to more styles and influences than ever. Before, you learned from your mentor, or from scouring magazines. Now, you could see what artists in Japan, Brazil, or wherever were doing. Styles blended, techniques evolved, and the tattoo world became truly global.
Before this, word of mouth, magazines, and in-person networking were how you built a reputation. By 2007, artists were learning from each other across the world in real time—sharing work, refining techniques, and pulling inspiration from places they never would have had access to before.
This online explosion directly influenced me. I was absorbing everything, from traditional Japanese styles to the emerging world of geometric and dot work. It was a time of massive experimentation because suddenly everything was possible. You weren’t limited by what was happening in your local scene anymore. Both ‘Black Swan’ and ‘The Rose’ feel like a reflection of that era. Blending old-school boldness with the softer realism, that was really gaining traction. And ‘The Rose’ strips an old motif down to its rawest elements—just like tattooing itself was being redefined in the digital space. It’s like I was trying to cram every influence I could into each piece. It didn’t always work, but it led to some interesting failures and the occasional breakthrough, and it was in this time I created some truly career building tattoos. Those early clients, who are probably out there somewhere, are braver than any little toaster.
It’s easy to take it all for granted now. We have Instagram, TikTok, and a million other platforms. But back then, it felt revolutionary. It was like discovering a secret world, a global tribe of tattoo enthusiasts connected by this strange, new technology. And it was all happening as I was trying to figure out who I was as an artist. In 2025, these themes are just as relevant. The industry keeps evolving, and I keep refining my approach.
What were YOU doing in 2007? Let’s talk about it in the comments.
-Johnny
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