06/11/2026
A couple months ago I had to close my private tattoo studio. Just couldn’t quite get it off the ground and it was bleeding me.
I didn’t give up on tattoos, just on being able to do it all by myself from the ground up.
A few weeks ago I set up my pencil drawings at the Villain Arts Tattoo Convention in my home town of Cincinnati.
My goal at the show was to have at least 2 solid leads on a local tattoo shop that I could team up with.
Before I even got a chance to roam around, Dave, the one tattooing in the picture, approached me and we talked about my drawing background and brief stint in tattoos.
The next day of the convention, Dave brought his business partner Gabe to meet me and we 3 vibed very well right off the bat.
They took me to their booth and introduced me to at least 10 of their artists, all of which instantly struck me as solid people.
Through further discussion, I came to learn Gabe and Dave own 4 thriving local shops and have almost 30 artists, but are in need of a portrait artist…
The stars aligned and we decided right there at the show to continue the conversation.
We met at The Hive in West Chester, the newest shop, a week after the show and decided on today as the official start of my apprenticeship with them! 😁
I started at Wicked Dragon in Erlanger today, got plugged into the system, and watched and learned from Dave and a few other artists doing their thing.
Since I am still relatively inexperienced, we decided I will do a brief apprenticeship. I’ll be taking apprenticeship tattoo clients very soon… 😎
