When Vincent Hocquet was a child, he had an artist uncle who had a disability which prevented him from turning the palms of his hands up, forcing him to develop a unique way of painting and drawing. This uncle passed on his passion by starting little sketches for young Vincent to finish. Vincent also had an older cousin who was covered with tattoos which he emulated in marker all over his arms and legs. Then at fifteen he was inspired by the book Papillon by Henry Charriere to get his first tattoo.

Finally, in 1996, he met David Kotker of No Hope, No Fear in Chicago who pushed him to invest in proper equipment and showed him how to build a machine. At the time, he was working at an antiques and art auction house, surrounded by a large variety of inspiring artwork, and a few months later he left to open his own studio. Soon he was tattooing four days a work both at Wildcat in Antwerp — where he worked with his girlfriend Peggy — and weekends at their own studio in St. Idesbald. They currently co-own and can be found at Beautiful Freak Tattoo (beautifulfreaktattoo.com).

The Polynesian Legend of the creation of tattooing During the Po’ (the dark ages), tattooing was created by the two sons of the god Ta’aroa and his wife. Mata Mata Arahu (he who makes marks with charcoal) and Tu Rai’i Po’ (he who lives in the dark sky). The two gods belonged to the same group of craftsmen as Hina Ere Manua (Hina of the quick temper),the eldest daughter of the first man and the first woman (Hina). As she was growing up she was closely guarded by her mother and her aunt to preserve her virginity, but the two brothers were determened to seduce her. They invented the new art and tattooed themselves on the face and on the hands so they were able to lure Hina Ere Manua from the place she was guarded. She too wanted the new decoration so she eluded her mother and aunt’s supervision and was finally able to get herself tattooed. Then they taught the art of tattooing to the human race, who found this extremely attractive. Mata Mata Arahu and Tu Rai’i Po’ became the patron spirits of tattooing.

BME: How did you meet David Kotker?

I met David at the first tattoo convention I visited. He caught my attention because he was the only one not to have a bunch of flash books on the table and had nice photographs of his work instead. He also had a different attitude, and seemed more low profile. We started talking and his vision on tattooing was completely how I felt about tattoos. I decided to get tattooed by him and he asked me if I could help him out at some conventions. He recognized my interest in tattooing and that is why he motivated me to start tattooing.

BME: You opened a studio fairly quickly — tell me about your early work?

My first tattoos weren’t very good — it takes a while to get used to the techniques and to working on skin. My father offered to be my first customer. I made him a small tattoo on the arm, and he paid me one symbolic Belgian frank, which I still have as a lucky coin. We enlarged it to be a quarter sleeve a couple of years ago. My family is very supportive of what I do.

Tattoos on Jean Michel, Kelly, and Benjamin

BME: Were you always doing this type of geometric dot work, or did you try other styles?

I started trying out many styles to figure out what I was feeling most comfortable with.

The Polynesian style always attracted me and I spent a lot of time on researching the origin and the symbolism of the old tribal arts. I tried to draw my own interpretation of it and started to put little stories in the designs, and hide many little elements in the design that are only seen when pointed out. I try to entangle the different elements into each other so they have unity. My daughter plays with them, using them as mazes.

I started combining this Polynesian-inspired style with touches of dotwork, and it was a small step from there to making larger dotwork designs and patterns.

BME: Did you apprentice? How did you learn?

Like most tattooists, I did my first tattoos on my own legs. I never apprenticed but was lucky to get good advice from many good tattoo artists.

These days, my thirteen year old daughter Naomi is a tough critic, and I get a lot of stimulus from doing other creative things. I do a lot of designing for projects that are not tattoo related.

I’m also making music, drawing, cooking, painting, and I play with my two year old son. I think all of these indirectly help me in making better tattoos.

I find that limiting myself to one category is limiting my general creativity. I also collect books and imagery from many forms of art, which help me feed my imagination.

Vincent designed this beer label for his friend Carlo from “De Struise Brouwers” (which translates as “The Sturdy Brewers”) for the Belgian Royal Stout “Black Albert”. They gave the beer the slogan, “get tattooed from the inside”, and it was recently voted as best beer of 2008!

BME: Who are your artistic influences?

The artist I most look up to is M.C.Escher. I also like the prints of Masereel, and Bridget Riley’s work. David Kotker taught me not to work from flash, but to create my own designs. I like the works of Daniel, Xed, Tomas, and Pink.

Tattoos on Marije, Jef, and Nico

BME: Who did your tattoos?

I had work done by David Kotker from No Hope No Fear, Daniel from Calypso, Lutz from Artcore Ink, Tattoo Pink, Horitatsu from Dragon Tattoostudio, Robert from Clean Solid Tattoo, Marco Zopetti from Zoptattoo. Some of my tattoos I designed together with the artists, and for some I gave full liberty to the artist.

BME: What are your favorite sorts of tattoos to do personally?

I like the look of big and bold tattoos, but the process of a smaller, well thought out tattoo can be just as enjoyable.

BME: When you’re putting on a large tattoo, how do you lay the stencil? Or do you freehand it?

The bigger complex pattern work is done with different pieces of stencil in combination with freehanding. A lot of my other work I do is done freehand, as this is often easier to make the tattoo fit the body shape.

BME: Do you tend to design by hand, or on a computer?

The computer is a tool like a pencil or a compass — I only recently started working with the computer and this is a big time saver when it comes to making complex pattern work. I draw almost every tattoo by hand and made a habit of drawing every tattoo together with the customer, thus giving every customer a unique design. They love the process of starting off with a blank sheet of paper and seeing it evolve into a unique tattoo design in front of them.

When Bart came to Vincent for his leg piece, he gave him only the following keywords to work with: “Hermes”, “Stars”, and “Art Deco”.

BME: What do you think of the current popularity of tattoos?

In the past, all you heard was that tattooing had to get more socially accepted and that people had to stop judging people with tattoos. Now that this is finally happening, the same people are complaining that tattooing isn’t “underground” anymore! I feel, the better tattooing is accepted in our society, the more blank canvasses are available to express our creativity.

BME: Definitely, and a broader range of people come in for tattoos.

Yes — a couple of years ago a sixty-five year old nun came in my shop and asked me for a tattoo. At first I thought it was a prank, but she was the real thing. I put an interpretation of the “agnus dei” on her shoulder blade. The tattoo took about two hours but afterwards we spent a whole evening discussing religion, music, the differences between our generations, and much more.

She still visits me every year.

These days you see more people getting big tattoos as a first tattoo, and people are more conscious about the different styles and possibilities. A lot of people are traveling to get tattooed by their favorite artists.

Davy started his sleeve about seven years ago, with only one stripe on the back of his arm. Every year since he has added an element, and it’s now become a full sleeve.

BME: Is tattooing something you’ll do forever?

I probably will be tattooing as long as I can, but maybe I won’t do it forever to make a living. I still have other skills and ambitions I would like to develop and who knows where these will take me?

BME: Do you just tattoo in Belgium, or do you travel as well?

I have one guest spot I go to every year — the Dragon tattoo studio of Horitatsu in Kanuma, Japan. The cultural differences between our countries are very big. In Belgium I’ve never had a customer offering me dried squid as a first-meeting gift! I very much enjoy the subtle unspoken way of interacting socially and in business, and the good sense of humor.

Vincent’s good friend Sam was the first person to let Vincent do a piece of this size on him. Their bodysuit project is now finished to the thighs, and they’re starting his arms this year.

BME: Do you ever make mistakes in your geometric work? You must have to pay intense attention!

I don’t make mistakes because I do indeed pay intense attention — I hardly make any conversation while doing these, and after a while the repetition of the work in combination with relaxing music in the background makes me feel like I’m doing mantras.

Doing these tattoos brings me to a state of complete concentration and peace.

BME: That’s definitely reflected in the pieces. Thank you for talking to us!

Shannon Larratt
BME.com

A man cannot make a pair of shoes rightly unless he do it in a devout manner.

For at least ten thousand years tattoos have been installed by hand, poked dot by dot using a variety of manual tools. While most modern artists now use high-speed powered devices, artists like 36-year old Boff Konkerz are keeping the traditional spirit alive as he visits clients’ homes in England’s East-Midlands region and abroad in his travels doing handwork tattoos. Boff has been tattooing for four years now, and recently talked to us about his art and experiences.

You can get in touch with Boff via myspace.com/tattoosbyhand.

Boff at work (note: posed picture; of course he wears gloves!).

BME: How did you get into this career?

I don’t really think of this as a “career”, but I got into it by accident, or it was fate depending on your view. I enjoyed art as a child, but didn’t take it seriously until I started designing tattoos. I designed my first tattoo myself and later started drawing for friends.

As a teenager I was into punk rock and tattoos kinda just went along with that. When I first started I honestly had no intention of doing it for a living, it was a skill I just wanted to acquire due to a genuine interest in the art form. I did it in exchange for pizza and beer back then… I actually can’t remember when I moved into tattooing for cash. Even now I’ll tattoo friends for food and drink.

BME: Besides pizza of course, what is the normal pricing for hand tattoos?

It really varies from job to job, but my basic quote is £30 ($60) per hour, if it’s big work I ask for a commitment of three hours a week until the piece is done, because of the slow nature of handwork I want to be sure they are committed to getting the piece finished. I am able to keep my prices low as I’m not paying rent on a studio. I also add any travel expenses onto the price per session.

BME: How did you actually learn?

I acquired my first piece of handwork from my good friend Xed Le Head and was interested in learning how to do it. I was already quite heavily tattooed by machine at this point, but had never had the desire to learn to tattoo by machine. When Xed did those first pieces of handwork the penny kind of dropped and I knew it was something I wanted to do. I was gonna ask Xed to give me some advice, but the night I was gonna ask him he wasn’t around, so Lucky Diamond Rich showed me how to make a needle and I did my first tattoo on him and tattooed myself that same night. Shortly afterwards Xed shared some of his handworking techniques with me and after that it was a process of practice, trial and error, and perseverance.

BME: What would you say to someone who sees hand poked tattoos and says “I can do that”? How should someone learn?

Find a hand tattooist and get some handwork — just watch at first, and then try asking some questions. And yes, try tattooing yourself.

I’d like to say something in defense of “bedroom tattooists”. I read recently in a national newspaper here a criticism of bedroom tattooists by Louis Malloy [editor’s note: you may know him from TV’s “London Ink” or as “Beckham’s tattoo artist”]. The truth is half of my work is fixing terrible tattoos executed by “artists” working from tattoo studios. Anyone with the money can open a tattoo studio, and getting tattooed in a studio is no more a guarantee of getting a good tattoo than getting tattooed in someone’s home is a guarantee of getting bad work.

Life ain’t that simple.

Although I’m proud to be part of a DIY tattoo tradition, I’m not opposed to working in a studio. Job offers can be sent to me via email!

BME: Speaking of Louis, what do you think of shows like “London Ink”?

I think those shows are the fucking pits. I hate them, they are an abomination, and the worst thing to happen to tattooing in 10,000 years. Would I appear on one of these shows if asked? Of course!

BME: It would definitely be an improvement if they added you to the cast!

Handwork by Boff.

BME: You said you do a lot of repair work — how do you feel about scratchers and lower-end tattoo shops?

Tattoos teach us a lot of things, you often learn more from mistakes than from the things you get right. A shitty tattoo can be the right tattoo for someone at that stage in their development, if it teaches them to think things through. You either walk into a tattoo studio with your eyes open or your eyes closed — your choice. Responsibility for your tattoo ultimately lies with the customer.

I really like the idea of “healing” a machine inflicted tattoo using hand tools.

BME: What’s the actual tool you use for tattooing?

I use conventional tattoo needles lashed to half a chopstick.

BME: How long do hand tattoos take to do in comparison to machine work?

It depends on the design, but I’d say three times longer.

BME: What influences you as an artist?

I like to look at textile designs, porcelain, wallpaper… anything but tattoo flash. I love Picasso, Miro, Goya and Frida Kahlo, but I don’t think their influence can be seen in my tattoo work.

Hand tattoos by Boff.

BME: What are your favorite sorts of tattoos to do?

I love to tattoo hands, regardless of the design.

BME: Why hands? Because of how they move or how they’re always exposed to the public?

Yes, the way they move, and the way they are exposed to the public, but also something on a more subconscious level… I don’t know what, but I’m happy to be involved with it. The leopard spotted hand for example, which took about twelve hours, is my personal favorite of all the tattoos I’ve done.

Also, I think handwork is better suited for tattooing the hands than a machine is. You often get blow-out on the fingers with a machine, but I never get blow-out.

BME: I know you’ve done necks, but do you tattoo faces?

I won’t tattoo faces until I have my own face tattooed.

Left is Boff’s neck by Xed Le Head, and right is a Neck tattoo by Boff.

BME: Do people usually come to you with a design in mind?

Usually they say something like, “I want a rose on my hand,” and I go home and draw something up, and nine times out of ten they like it and away we go. Even better is when they just say, “I want a sleeve.” Then I can really go to town. A lot of my work is cover-up and repair work, so obviously then I have to work around what’s already there, but I like the challenge of that too.

BME: On a design level, and what works, what sort of tattoos work best for hand-poked tattoos?

I generally only use black ink and a lot of dot shading. I can do solid black but it takes a very long time — shading with dots I believe I can do as fast as a machine though. Other than that, anything goes. On a personal level I dislike portrait tattoos and won’t do them — I think it’s just weird having someone else’s face on your body!

BME: What does the future of tattooing look like to you?

It’s only gonna get bigger, which will be both a blessing and a curse. As any industry grows it also diversifies. This will mean that the industry will be taken out of the hands of enthusiasts and uploaded into the mainstream dominant culture. Most tattooing will become formulaic and be tailored to the mass market. The plus side to all this is that the art will be big enough to support an underground scene. Think major record labels and indies in the music industry — this is already well on the way.

BME: Have you experienced physical problems from tattooing?

Yes, I have problems with my right wrist, but this could be from masturbating.

BME: Have you done any touring?

I took my tools with me when I went to India recently, and I thought I’d tattoo a few backpackers out there, but I only tattooed Indians, which was great. It’s better to tattoo in my own area as I have a reputation there and so people trust me. People who’ve never encountered handwork are often wary of it, and they often think it’ll hurt more — most of my clients say it hurts less — or that the work won’t be to a high standard, which it is!

Full sleeve by Boff (click to zoom).

BME: Is this your full time job, or do you do other work as well?

It’s my only job. I earn a living, but it’s not reliable. I try to limit myself to five jobs a week — Monday to Friday, with weekends off. Having said that I did seven tattoos last week, and one this week. I like to do one tattoo per day because of the traveling involved, but if two of my customers know each other, I’ll do both of them in the same day at the same house. This happens a lot, as all my advertising is by word of mouth, so many of my customers know each other. I tattoo a lot of people who are related to each other. I don’t put out posters or fliers or promote myself in any way.

BME: Finally, if you weren’t a tattoo artist, what do you think you’d be?

A rentboy, which I was before tattooing.

BME: On that note, thanks for talking to us!

Shannon Larratt
BME.com

Every dead body that is not exterminated becomes one of them. It gets up and kills. The people it kills get up and kill.

After rejecting art school for a stint in the Navy, DJ Minor commiserated a few bad jobs at a tattoo shop near the base, and not long afterwards found himself tattooing tribal armbands on GIs… He just “kept waking up as a tattoo artist”, and the rest is history. You can find him at TastySquirrels.com and KantReed.com, and on Myspace as djminor.

Left: Done on one of the body mod artists from Joshua Carlton’s shop in Indy, Middle: the customer (a piercing apprentice in Texas) wanted a classic looking girl, Right: Earl’s foot, based on a painting DJ Minor did for another tattooer.

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BME: How did you get into art and tattoos?

I wasn’t drawing portraits of my friends at age three or anything, but I was steadily drawing from the third grade on. I got into photography and technical illustrations in high school due to a very persistent High School Art Teacher. She got me all revved up about a serious art career — as long as it wasn’t photographing kids at SEARS she would be excited. Time goes on and I got a full scholarship for an art School in Savannah, GA, which I turned down for a trip to boot camp. This threw me into a different art reality of the tattoo parlors beside the base.

I would have been awesome at SEARS though.

BME: Were you also exposed to tattoos as a kid, or were the base parlors the first time?

My uncle was in the Navy and was covered with little demons, and flowers from all over the world. It was really interesting since South Carolina, where I am from, didn’t have legal tattooing, or many heavily tattooed people. When I got out of the Navy myself I was covered in the kind of tattoos that make laser treatment techs rich — but visibly covered none the less.

Living in the southern heartland didn’t really take well to a twenty-something all sleeved out with naked ladies and skulls. After a few bad job decisions, I decided to take a few hours break at a local tattoo shop with an artist named Crenshaw. Knuckle head thought I was still enlisted, and was crackin’ on me for my lovely collection of art. Next thing you know, I am rewiring broken power boxes and tattooing GIs from Fort Gordon with Crenshaw! I really don’t know what happened after that — I just keep waking up as a tattoo artist.

BME: Tell me about your first customer?

So my first customer walks in, and throws down with some seriously sweet red tribal arm band action. Oh yeah! After probably two and a half hours longer then he was ready for, we wiped off my glorious red masterpiece. The client base at the time was a lot different from the tattoo show watching public of today, a little less informed about current trends in magazines and the art behind tattoos — they really liked tribal and Old English tattoos!

Left: “Customer told me I could do whatever”, Middle: a gore whore model tattooed on Corey from Prick Magazine, Right: Jeremiah’s hand topper rose done at the Atlanta show right when DJ Minor got back from Hawai’i.

BME: Obviously your uncle doesn’t mind, but what about the rest of your family?

My grandfather was a Pentacostal preacher from the South, and my mom still thinks one day I’m gonna wake up and decide against them. Most of my family just doesn’t care anymore and it’s just who I am to them. The South isn’t like the rest of the country as far as ink and body mods go — I’ve been on the road for many years traveling, and I’m really happy to be away from the negativity from all of that Bible Belt mentality.

BME: Did you teach yourself to tattoo when you, I guess, just started doing it? How do you improve your work?

Tattooing was a sink or swim atmosphere and very intense. I quickly realized I needed more training, so I started traveling more and more until I just became a gypsy. I’ve been to every corner of this country I could, trying to learn more, and immersing myself into tattooing around as many talented artists and tattooers as possible. I owe any successes I have had over the years to my friends. Tattooing was a very private affair a few years back. The open ideas, and willingness to trade information of the last few years has really helped increase my tattooing technically. Lots of practice, and lots of technical critiques really have helped me push my tattooing to some very different places compared to when I first started. Fortunately the ability to tattoo more technically opened the arena to better art, so I worked on drawing and painting. Both mediums helped push the other. It’s kinda nice working with different mediums. You get stale and bored if you don’t. Recently, my wife has been pushing to work with oils more and more, and I’ve been on an art vacation the last three months while my the shop is being refitted.

I really get super critical with my work. I learn from each piece — little things to make it better, cleaner, and more crisp than the one before it, and improve on the next one even more. I try to outdo myself each time.

Critique from others is a large part of how I get better, so I don’t much care for open forums. You get a lot of washed out opinions on the Internet from people trying to be nice. I keep mine for artists I respect and that influence me. No matter how good you are, or think you are, outside eyes often can pick up things you never see yourself — whether it’s line weight, or contrast, you often just need a little extra outside opinion to help.

I also often try to incorporate as much non-tattoo art influence as possible too. There are so many possibilities with this medium that it just seems a waste not to.

Left: This customer wanted a tattoo with his spine cutting him deep, killing him slowly by bleeding him out, representing his struggle with pain after a broken back, Middle: Done on his buddy Stephen, a Def Leppard lyric (“Love Bites” — needs some salt), Right: Mr. Cagle, an ATL-area tattooer wanted something a little odd so they gave him a little birdie.

BME: You said you’ve traveled and worked with a lot of people — who are your influences as an artist?

Tattoo-wise, it’s always been Joe Capobianco, Josh Ford, Josh Carlton, and Eric Merril — guys like that have been on my radar since before I was a tattooer. Recently, people like Gonz, Jason Wheeler, and a lot more West Coast artists have been drawing my attention to more traditional themes and styles. I am looking forward to going back out to Reno and LA to work around them as much as I can. Currently, I am in Houston. Obviously Nate Beavers is a name heard a lot lately, and working down there with those guys was a pleasure. Rick Clark and CMFL are workaholics and make you feel guilty for not painting and working more. But, in this business, there are always amazing artists popping up out of the woodwork making your jaw pop. However, in saying that… I’m still gonna cut off Kyle Cotterman’s hands — maybe just his fingers, haven’t decided yet.

BME: Who would you choose to tattoo you?

Josh Carlton, Joe Capo, and my wife Jen — but I could name lists of people if I had more skin and time. Joshua is a quiet tattooer with loud ideas, and just slick tattoos. His Alla Prima Ink just really looks cool healed. I’d glady trade my black arm for a sleeve from Josh — might be time for some more laser removal? I still have a lot of open skin and I have barely been tattooed at all in the last few years… I would love to get some pin-up action from Mr. Capo. Finally, my wife is my new live-in tattoo artist. I love her work, and we are about to start my back project. I’m super-excited, but she is super-preggo, so I have to wait a little while longer. Once we move back to Reno, we will start on it.

BME: What have your favorite places been to work in your travels?

Each area I travel to really helps me expand. Hawai’i was still the most awakening experience I have had artistically, but the majority of my education was in Atlanta. However, every pin-poke on my map has increased my artistic vocabulary. I really can’t say enough about traveling — I made myself a promise, and this is my last year of being a gypsy full-time. I’m turning into a homebody as of late, so you’ll see me on the West Coast as a fixture not just a glimpse.

Left: Who doesn’t like vampires?, Middle: A dead Virgin Mary, Right: This piece was a collaboration with Nate Beavers at the Live Fast show in Houston where it won Tattoo of the Day — “Elmo wanted to get two dead bitches on him, so a lil dog skull and a zombie chick worked out for him!”

BME: What kind of machine do you use?

You can tattoo with a quill from a sea urchin with black soot from a fire, but I’m too lazy for all that. I still run electromagnetic tattoo machines. I haven’t given into the air machines yet, but who knows. Most of my machines are just random one-offs from different machine builders like Dave Riegel, Josh Ford, BadBrass, and what-not. I wish had more, but my buddy Jay in Atlanta talks me out of most of my irons when I go home for a visit. I have a huge ink rack from several companies, but ink brands don’t matter much. You just have to apply the ink to make a tattoo bright and solid. I got one of the fancy Eikon meter power boxes. I never really used the meter, but it glows all pretty in my booth.

BME: What kind of tattoos are your favorite to do?

Tattoos without a huge back story.

I am sure that everyone could come up with the most meaningful tattoo ever to be on TV, but there is nothing as fun or rewarding as doing a tattoo just because. No reason or rhyme — just a tattoo because it looks cool. I got an elephant shitting out a Dorito on my neck. It doesn’t mean anything but the fact that I have a nacho flavored chip on my shoulder. Most of my clients are pretty chill. I do a lot of odd zombie stuff lately. Not because I want to; people just like dead shit. Who can blame them?

BME: What do you think of those TV shows? They certainly push the idea that everything needs a long story behind it. Would you appear on one?

Hell yeah I would be on a show! I’d be the jerk from any reality show. I love the interest that the shows have brought to tattooing. I am just not really happy about the side they show on TV — any business will have drama. You don’t get a real sense about what is really going on tattoo-wise… “Come back in five minutes, I’ll have that sleeve drawn up and stenciled for ya.”

Um, yeah, sure. It may take a little longer in reality. Oh yeah… And you will not find a cat running around in my shop, or a tiger, or a bear, or even an alligator, oh my. I got a zoo at the house for that. The other shows like that Versus show were awesome, but didn’t have the drama the seventeen year-old MTV crowd wants to see like on Big Brother or what-not. Tattoo shows need to show more art — more conventions and art shows. Follow an artist from two weeks out till the day after a convention. That would make for a better show.

Left: This was done on a tattoo artist from South Texas who’s a huge fan of Peter Boyle from Young Frankenstein, Middle: One of many zombies, Right: This zombie girl was done on one of the shop regulars from LD Tattoo in Acworth, GA.

BME: Will you tattoo faces and other “public” skin?

An eighteen year old walks in and says, “Hey, tattoo this name on my neck…” Well, he probably won’t be getting tattooed. But if you have a fair share of ink, and understand the responsibility of a body mod, then it’s your choice. Don’t think there isn’t a price to pay. Walk up into any store with huge piercings or tattoos and you will quickly learn. People are less shocked these days, but sometimes, you still got to warn or educate a client before they take on certain work.

BME: Do you turn many people away?

Not too often… most of the clients I turn away are actually just referred to someone else who would be better suited for what they want. Most of my clients are here because they are open to my work already, so most often, people who come see me get me. If that Polynesian back piece is still on your mind, then I’ll hand you Ronson’s info and get you out to Oahu though.

BME: What’s the best way for someone to get into the industry these days? Any advice for wanna-be tattoo artists?

Be a well rounded artist way before you try to be in this industry. Make your own path, and don’t look for a quick fix.

BME: What do you think you’d be doing if it weren’t for having fallen into tattooing?

I would have to marry a rich girl to afford my Xbox addiction! Maybe a porn star… who doesn’t wanna watch a chubby guy wiggle on an ugly chick for fifteen seconds?

BME: Think you’ve found your life-long calling then?

Tattooing for my whole life? If this old body will hold up, I will. My tattoo retirement plan is a little lax right now, but my wife is younger, so I’ll just make her work when I get old.

BME: Is your body starting to give you problems?

Yeah, I got some nifty glasses — I look like an old man creeping up with my newly founded gray sprouting hair. My back is ok as can be from sitting on painfully flat chairs for the last decade. I would really like to see some major advancements in tattoo chair technology.

BME: Finally, what do you think about scratchers and their role in tattoo culture?

Trick question, right?

BME: Haha, definitely not… thanks for talking to us!

Shannon Larratt
BME.com

Howie (iam:Howie, LunaCobra.net) is one of a handful of controversial cutting edge body modification practitioners both pushing the limits of and defining this subculture’s procedural options as he travels around the word reshaping people with pseudo-surgical sculpture in the name of Art… and Love.

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How did you first get interested in body modification?

I always loved tattoos as a young child, but as far as non-tattoo mods, maybe it started when I went to an all boys boarding school in the snow belt of the USA. We had to wear a tie every day, our hair had to be cut in a certain way, and no ear rings or anything like that were allowed — that is when I started to put holes in my body and did a few cuttings. A lot of the other guys wanted cuttings so I began doing scars in the dorms on the down low… It was not easy as we were always under watch and could not have blades or anything, so I used to make my own cutting tools. It was so jail-style — I think I liked that about it back then — to make art and say a big fuck you to the oppressors.

What name do you like for what you do — “cutter”, “body modification artist”, “practitioner”, or something else?

How about “SUPERARTMAN”… yes, that would be best.

But seriously then — it’s primarily about “art”?

Yes, sir, it is.

I think when I first met you (in 2000?) you were just getting started as an artist… How did you learn your skills, and how have you honed them?

I lived with a family member while he was finishing med school and became friends with a few of his classmates. Before I started to do heavy mods I used to show them photos of things and talk about it with them, and they started to teach me. We used to stitch meat in our kitchen all the time — during many of my first procedures one of them would be in the room with me helping. I would video tape lots of my work and go over it with them or even call them right in the middle of what I was doing to ask advice.

And let’s be honest here — what we as body modification artists do is surgery.

Surgery in a way, yes… but at the same time the motivations and so on are quite different so I can see why people find the term difficult, especially since surgery comes with so many connotations and legal hangups.

TRUE…

I’m still honing my skills all the time, and I have changed how I do some mods even in the past two years — take nipple removals for example. At first I would make normal sutures, but every guy has a different chest — some have tighter skin and some are overweight which can put a lot of pressure on the wound — so now I use a long lasting heavy internal suture for that procedure. I never stop trying to make my artwork better, and continue to review my work with surgeons and learn as much as I can.

For those that don’t know what internal sutures are, do you mind describing them?

There are many different kinds of sutures and they are used in all kinds of ways for different parts of the body. Internal stitches provide a longer hold and are always done only on the inside of the body.

What have you found the general attitude of people in the medical profession is toward heavy mods, and to those who perform those modifications? Would they like to do those procedures, or are they happy to see this gray market that they exist in?

The fact that people not in the medical profession do this sort of work worries most doctors.

As far as if they would want to do these kinds of mods, they don’t think much of it — most if not all would not do it because its not worth much money. Why would they set up a clean room for $200 to $800? It’s just not worth it to them.

If that weren’t an issue, would the world be a better place if the medical industry embraced the legality and legitimacy of atypical procedures?

Hell, I think it would be great if it any of that happened — amazing things could be done if they would — but I’m about 99.9% sure it will never happen.

With a family that includes doctors, do you think there’s a similar internal drive in both you and them, just expressed in different ways, that took you to your respective careers?

Yes. Anyone that has seen me and and them together knows we are almost the same people. We look a bit different but are very close and very alike.

What is the range of procedures you do?

I do all kinds of implants — even some that people have not seen yet *wink* — most anything cut-and-stitch, dermal punches, scalpel piercing, and tongue splits. I do a lot of reconstruction like ear lobes, and removals of things like transdermals and put the skin back to normal. I do a lot of cartilage removal, elf ears — pointing — and lots more!

How does extreme modification — moving into “the unhuman” — change a person, versus tattooing or piercing which tends to be make more of a “decorated human”?

I see heavy mods in a lot of cases as looking more like decoration. Sometimes it can be more, and I love it when it goes farther… It’s like I’m living in a fantasy land.

Your tattoo style seems reminiscent of some of the modern tattoo styles I see coming out of France, but without being “French” if that makes sense… What are you trying to express?

I understand what your saying, but I don’t think it’s like the work out of France… as the work I see like mine from those guys is just so clean… It looks like it has laws. I see my work as letting go — freedom, heart, and mind, smashing together to make something more than art. Just PURE LOVE — that is why I put a heart in most every tattoo I do.

Which are your favorite kinds of body modifications to do?

I’m not sure. It’s all rather the same to me, but my favorite is when I work on someone that is happy both before and after the work.

I do almost anything above the belt, but I only do a few things (like transscrotals) below the belt. The only thing that I can say I dislike about mods is that some people make a connection to sex — I never liked that and try to stay away from mods that could relate to that.

I find that a interesting comment, because I think I’m probably one of the people who sees it as being strongly linked to sex, both in obvious ways (genital mods), and in the larger sense that I believe that most modification is motivated by “mating dance” type behavior (like how male animals seeking out a mate will go out of their way to be very flamboyant or do outrageous dances and so on). I think that the shift from heavy mods out of the sexual arena is definitely something new though, and something that artists such as yourself have been very influential in causing.

I can see and agree with the “mating dance” idea — but any other link to sex is something I don’t want to have anything to do with or even know about.

What do you think motivates people to get modifications?

I cant speak for others, so I will just answer for myself: ART and LOVE.

You are often seen as the “he’ll do anything” guy in terms of pushing the limits of procedures… And I think when people say that, they don’t mean it in an entirely flattering way. How would you respond to accusations that you are not “cautious” enough or don’t have the right “limits”?

Honestly, unless they are a surgeon they don’t know what they are talking about. Who are they to say what the limit is? They just like to talk on the Internet because they like to bitch and be part of gossip. Of course I have limits and there are lots of things I turn down.

Like what?

I get asked for some odd things — many are below the belt and I don’t even want to mention them. I was asked to remove an eyeball, and I would never even think of doing something like that.

I’ve heard people say that artists should play it “safe” and not do procedures that are too “shocking” or high risk because it attracts undue attention from legislators — that is, your actions could cause laws to be put in place that restrict others. Do you think there’s truth to that, or that it’s dishonest and makes concessions that shouldn’t be made?

I don’t think anyone should tell a person what they can or can not do to themselves… that’s fucking crazy. Go hard if that is what you want to do. In relation to the law, every country is different but it’s already illegal to do a lot of this in many parts of the USA… There’s not much we can do about that. It’s never going to be truly legal, so whatever.

I guess the official stance is that part of being a government and a doctor is “protecting people from themselves” which is, for example, why anti-drug laws exist, and why a cosmetic surgeon is often legally and ethically obliged to deny the person an atypical procedure.

Well hey, I’m not going to tell an adult what they can and can not do. If they ask me to do something and they understand what they are getting into, and I can see the ART of it, then I will work with them.

There are a number of firsts that I’d credit you with as a practitioner — the eyeball tattooing, the antitragus removal, and I’m sure others…

Oh, there have been more, *wink, wink*

How does the process of coming up with new procedures work and what does it feel like?

Sometimes I’ll be talking with doctors in my family, or another surgeon about something they did or learned that was new, and it gives me an idea, or starts a spark that ends up as this new modification idea. I might look at a face, or be watching a movie, and see something and apply that visual in my work… but any time I do something new I talk to a surgeon about it.

When I’m doing something new I would not say it’s fun, because I want to see it heal before I can jump for joy and be prideful about it. Then it’s fun, but when I’m in doing something for the first time it’s just scary.

For example, when I removed that big strip of transdermals from Jake’s head that you posted photos of, after I made the peel and did some elevation, pulling it together and knowing I only had forty minutes until we had to drive him to the airport so he could fly home… With the time pressure and a much bigger wound then I have ever had to stitch shut and it was on his head — that was a lot of scary! When I got to see his head again in Las Vegas a few months ago, I was proud and excited to see how well it worked out. People went crazy on me for doing that but it worked very well — he now is even growing hair through most of his scar tissue!

As someone that’s worked all over the world, what are some of your favorite places to work?

I have been to many places all over the world and lived in many of them as well, and from that I can tell you — IT IS ALL THE SAME! Sure, you may have some different food or weather, but all in all, people are people, and it’s all planet Earth.

That being said, I love all islands, and for sure the Pacific islands.

Does traveling internationally complicate your work?

Yes, at first it was a big pain in the ass, but after a while I had tools in most areas of the world I was working or was able to make them in tool shops I knew of in the other areas. It helps that I know a lot of people that have been very kind with me — I could not have done the travel and work I did without them. Sometimes I knew a bit of the country’s language, but other times I needed someone who could translate and help with aftercare.

Is a lot of what you do through a strong word-of-mouth network? How do most people find out about you?

Yes, for sure. In the past few years it’s all word-of-mouth — over 50% of the people I work on are not even on the web in any way, or have not been on any bodymod sites before.

Do you think the extreme mainstreaming of heavy modification is a good thing or a bad thing?

I don’t think about to be honest… it will be what it will be.

With anesthetics being sort of “gray area” in many regions both in terms of applying them and acquiring them, what is your attitude on anesthetic use?

Yes, that is a spicy tomato! Bottom line is that if you do this work and you don’t use anesthetics, you’re doing it half ass. Without something to slow the flow of blood, you can not see the tissue layers properly, so if you want to do it right you use it — I use it at all times.

Ideally, what laws and regulations — if any — would you like to see governing artists such as yourself, both for the protection of the clients and practitioner?

In my view Johnny Law has no place in my ART.

We should talk a little about complications — you’ve had a few procedures go wrong, most notably a pair of very pointy horn implants that rejected, and a set of nipple removals where the client was unhappy with the scarring.

The pointy implants were on Jim, a friend of mine. I wish I’d only done two — going for five was not a good idea… But I think you’re asking why we did it at all, seeing as they were so pointy?

He had been wearing regular domes in his head for some time and didn’t like how they looked and loved the idea of having horns that were pointy — and I agreed. I think it looks amazing to have something pointy in that area. I had the silicone pointy horns and we talked it over for a day or two when I traveled to see him. I think we both loved the idea of how the pointy horns would look so much that we got carried away with it all and went for putting five of them in. In hindsight, if I had only put in two it would have been a great story.

So… we went with five, and after a week or two it went very bad. Two of the five broke the skin — three worked, but since it would have been off-balance to have two on one side and one on the other, three were removed. We pushed the limits of what kind of shape can be done, and that I feel was a success as he still wears two of them. Putting in too many at once was a very bad idea that I wish I could take back. I also wish I could have stayed around longer to monitor it — it’s very hard to travel and do this sort of work. Ideally I would have stayed for at least ten days, but I only stayed for around three days. This all went down a bit over two years ago I think, and I’ve kept in touch with him since. Jim still loves how the two worked out and doesn’t want to take them out.

On the nipple removal, yes, I also blame myself for not taking into account that he had a heavy chest — this puts a lot of pressure on it. Back then I didn’t do internal stitches, but because of that I’ve switched to using both internal and two kinds of external stitches, even with skinny people.

I think maybe people have unrealistic expectations about what nipple removal will do — it’s rare to be left without a scar or to completely eliminate nipple response since it’s not a mastectomy.

Yes, one will always have a scar when this is done. I told this client it would scar, but I did not expect his to scar as badly as it did, and his scarred much more than the previous four pairs I’d done.

I think the main thing about nipple removal is the size of the person — if you carry a lot of weight and have a large chest, or your skin is tight, your scar will be much bigger than a skinny person. His chest was the largest I had worked on, and this was before I started to use internal stitches on them — I wish I would have used them on him. I know if I had we would both be more happy with his scar.

On another nipple removal I did where the person was unhappy with the scar, I later removed the scar in a second procedure and I used two kinds of external stitches and also internal stitches to repair it and they now have a much smaller mark.

I suppose we’re both getting criticized for the eyeball tattooing — I believe a recent quote from a prominent member of this community was “idiotic and disturbing”…?

We all knew what we were getting into that day so they can’t say shit — fuck em! Why do folks gotta be dicks and talk trash stuff they don’t know anything about?

I’m going to start a solid black eye tomorrow!

I do think that people do like to call you out for some reason, whereas it seems like there are other practitioners who can do no wrong…

YES!!!

Because I’ve been traveling internationally for a many years, it’s a numbers game — the more work you do, the more people you meet in other countries, the more people that might not like you… or even hate you. Not only that, but I’m loud, outspoken, and a shit-stirrer, so it all adds up the current mess… but at least it’s only online and not in person.

Do you mind talking about what procedures tend to cost, like ear pointing and implants for example? How do you determine pricing?

The price does change — ear pointing can be anywhere from $200 to $700 US. It all depends on that person’s body and what country I am in at the time, and how much it costs me to be there — and even how I think it will look on them. I often do work for little to no money if that person is short on funds and I think it will look nice on them.

If someone wants work from you, how do they do that, and how do you determine your touring schedule?

They can go to my website — www.lunacobra.net — and contact me through there or just email me [email protected].

Often I just wait till I have a few people in a country till I come over. Now I’d like to have someone in each country that wants to learn to do what I do so I can make each trip about spreading knowledge — it almost seems like a waste to not do it that way at this point in the mod world.

Thanks for talking to us Howie, and good luck on future adventures and art!

Profile: “MAN-JAW”

“I began my surgical facial modifications over a year ago now. It started when I approached Howie on IAM to try some anti-eyebrow domes after being refused by a variety of different international artists.”

“Howie agreed to do the experimental work after a few phone discussions, and we caught up on one of his tours in Australia. From there we have throughly planned out and executed the entire project from start to finish. Now, with over ten facial implants and various other surgical mods I can finally see my conception taking shape.”

“We are living in a new age of mods where we can explore past limitations and into an entirely new level of expression.”

MINI-PORTFOLIO
(Click to Zoom)

Bipedical flap procedure (sort of like a “handle”).

Cheza Marie’s heart-nozed kitten cutting, fresh and about a month into healing.

Silicon outer conch implant.

Ear pointing procedure (featured earlier on ModBlog).

ThEnigma’s “sea monster” ear reshaping project.

Tattooing by Howie.

Howie at work on Manny’s forehead scars.

Triple transdermal forehead implant. This transdermal, like many, later experienced complications and was removed. Note however, that transdermals still experience a much lower complication rate than mainstream procedures such as breast implants!

Transdermal “Horns”.

Heart-shaped outer conch cartilage removal.

Masaai-style anti-tragus removal.

Large scale cartilage removal.

Chris’s “Schlampe” (German for “slut”) skin removal.

The healed results of Jake’s large transdermal strip removal (discussed in the interview and featured on ModBlog here).

Josh’s injection-style eyeball tattoo.

“Fisting Ribs“.

Swirly Wanx Sinatra’s klingon-esque forehead ridges.

Forehead implant removal procedure.

Jim’s pointy horns (see the interview for the story about the problems with these — there were initially five).

Scar reduction on Luka’s nipple removal (which had been done previously).

Before and after of a nipple removal.

Procedural and healing phots of a nipple removal on Chris.

As well as on BME, Howie’s work has been regularly featured on ModBlog.