247 Ink Magazine (October/November) 2017 Issue#17 | Page 25

now he’s tattooing friends and learning stuff. I’ve accelerated his learning a little bit. Because he’s my friend I’ll give him some instructional DVDs, pointers and stuff. I’ve even had him sit down with Halo and some of my other friends. Where would you like to see the industry go from here? I’d like to see it contin- ue to grow more than it is now. To where it’s more accessible to everybody and it doesn’t have the stigma that it’s always had. I like to see the artists make money and people really get into the art now that it’s being accepted as an art form instead of being crazy bikers, whores and sailors. It’s an actual art form. More acceptance, more growth and I’d like to see more artists become successful. I’d like to see less shops and more great artists. Just growth and prosperity for everybody. Everything goes in cycles. We’re at the top of a wave right now and I hope we can keep rid- ing it. I’d like to see people start reading again and learning more about the artists on the consumer end. People don’t know. They see people on TV and are like “I need to get tattooed by him”. I mean you wouldn’t ask Van Gogh to paint a Picasso for you. So people would learn how to research their artists, read about them and see their pictures and know what they’re like. 23