What is your primary medium?
Tattooing. Definitely. I also paint, but I spend a lot more time tattooing.
What got you interested in art?
I was just born that way. My dad was a really great artist and so as soon as I could hold a pencil or a crayon I wanted to do what he did. So, I've always drawn. I've dabbled in a lot of different mediums but it was only when I started tattooing that I was like, “This is it”, you know?
What drew you into tattooing?
Getting my first tattoo, definitely. Because before that I had a lot of preconceived notions about the types of people who got tattoos and stuff. As a kid I thought, especially back in the 80’s and 90’s and stuff, that people who had tattoos were kind of scary. They were older, they seemed like bikers or convicts or something to me and I was like ehhh. But then my cousin got some work from Erik Payne, and he got a lot of work from him, and it was really cool. So when I was a teenager, he was showing me all this stuff that Erik Payne had tattooed on him and I was like, “Oh, I had no idea that tattoos could be that cool and big and artistic and different.” So then I got a tattoo just kind of on a whim and I was like, “Yes”, this is it, this is the right medium.
Where do you get your inspiration?
Mostly from older artists, not tattooers, per se. Some of my favorite references for inspiration are Hokusai, who's a Japanese painter. James Audubon did a lot of nature illustrations, stuff like that. They're probably my two most referenced artists. But you know, there's so many good tattooers in the world now and you just, I try not to ever bite anybody's style, but as far as inspiration, there's tons of it out there, you know?
What drives you to get out and create art?
Who knows? You know, that is just, that's a magical thing, isn't it? Who knows? Why are we driven to do anything? For me, I just have to make things. It doesn't matter what it is. I have to make things. Like, right now I'm really focused on remodeling my house. It doesn't really matter what it is. I really have to create stuff. I also make music. Sometimes it's time to paint, sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's time to tattoo for 12 hours a day. Sometimes it's not. But as long as I'm making something, that's the only drive. Because without it, without making stuff, it's really hard for me to keep a good attitude. But if I make things I always have a good attitude, you know?
Are there opportunities you've had in Boise you might not have had elsewhere?
Absolutely. People here love tattoos. Oh my gosh, like, seriously. I mean don't tell all the other tattooers in the world, but it is a wonderful place. People want big cool tattoos and they want lots of them. We're a very heavily tattooed community per capita, and I travel a lot. I haven't seen very many cities that are as heavily tattooed per capita as Boise Idaho. It's like a well kept secret but it's a great place for tattooing. So you know, could I have a wonderful experience tattooing in a bigger city, for sure. But I don't know that it would be as good as it is here. Again, I've traveled a lot and it's cool and everything, but when I visit another city to tattoo, I'll have an influx of people that want something by me but I'm only there for a week or two, you know what I mean? So it's hard to kind of assess what it's like to work there on a day to day basis. But here, it's just been wonderful. I have such good clients and the enthusiasm is strong.
What's it like for you to be a well known tattoo artist?
I'm very grateful for it. You know, it literally means that I can tattoo anywhere. I could put all my tools and inks and things into a suitcase and go anywhere in the world and do this job. So I try to take advantage of that to a degree. Maybe someday I'll actually bounce around from country to country and do it. I don't know. But it's pretty cool.
What's it like to be able to support yourself with your art?
I'm just super grateful. I mean, I didn't go to college as an art major. I did go to college initially, but I did not go as an art major, because I couldn't think of a job that I wanted that would involve art. I didn't want to be a graphic designer, I didn't want to be a starving artist either. So when I went to college it was like, I don't know, I'll figure it out I guess. And then I got my first tattoo. And then I stopped going to college because I was like, I want to be a tattoo artist. But I'm just super grateful because I realize it's difficult as an artist to make a living doing what you do and yeah, I just try and make sure that I'm worthy of it, you know, work hard to try and maintain that and keep the good work comin.
Can you tell me about your book?
It's a collection of my drawings from like the past 20 years almost and a lot of them have been tattooed but they're more like the raw sketches of those tattoos and a lot of them haven't been tattooed at all. Some are just doodles but they're just like, really raw line drawings. It was fun because I've been thinking about putting this book together for several years and it was only because of Coronavirus that I actually had the time to put a book together, it’s very time consuming even though almost all of the drawings were already drawn. I did draw a few just for the book. But to assemble a book like that is mind blowingly time consuming. So I'm pretty proud of it. It's kind of cool to say hey, this is like two decades worth of drawings and to kind of close that door and work on new drawings. Does that make sense? It's a little bit ceremonious for me to do that.
Was this your first time trying to put a book together?
Yeah, I never wanted to before but this book is, it's put together like a reference book for artists. So if you there's like five chapters to it. There's flowers and people and animals and birds and then random miscellaneous things like skulls and hearts and sail ships and things like that. But anything that you would like to look at is grouped together so you can reference it.
Are books something you utilize a lot?
Yeah, because when I started tattooing we didn't have the internet. Anything you wanted to reference had to be referenced from books or magazines, but that was all you had. I don't know how many tattooers actually use books now, but it is a cool tradition and definitely helps you to find some more hidden gems for reference and inspiration. Like, if you Google search something you can rest assured that 100,000 other tattooers across the world are all looking at those same search results. We're all drawing our tattoos, but what you're looking at to get an idea of what you're drawing has a pretty heavy influence on how you draw it, right? The angle that it's from, the artist's interpretation, whether it's a photograph or an artist rendering, it's going to influence how you draw it and if everybody's drawing the same stuff it kind of makes it hard for you to stand out, you know? So books are good.
What's it like to have people show up for your style of tattoos, rather than just saying, “Hey, can you tattoo X on me?”
Gosh, that happened a long time ago. I mean, I remember being a young tattooer and thinking, “Oh, I wish I had a style of my own.” Looking at older tattooers and being like, gosh, their style is just so, so them, you know, I wish I had a style. It just comes with time and eventually you do enough tattoos that your understanding of what makes a good tattoo becomes more and more set in stone and that in and of itself is what kind of develops one’s style. So after a while, it's unavoidable. Now I'm like, “Man, I wish I could draw a tattoo that didn't look like a Darcy tattoo”, you know (*laughs*). It's inescapable because my beliefs about how to make a good tattoo are so firm because of trial and error and seeing the results. Trying this, trying that and seeing how it heals, how it ages, how it settles in, what colors have more longevity, how dense linework should be whatnot, all this kind of nerdy stuff. The more you do it, the more you become firm in those beliefs and your style just blooms. So yeah, it happened and then people liked it and I'm glad they do. I keep trying to stay fresh, though, you know, I don't want to become stale. So even though I kind of do have my own style, I'm always seeking to evolve it.
How important is having your own space?
I don't mind working at other studios, especially as a guest artist. It's really fun to see how other people put their shops together and whatnot. I mean, it's been such a long time since I've worked at another shop but as far as my workspace, I love this shop. It's got so much space and I like the lighting and the colors and stuff to look at. I'm pretty particular about the space I work in, I like to have a lot of it. The shop is set up the way I like it and luckily, I think all the guys here like it too.
How has it been for you to be an artist employing other artists?
Man, that's challenging, right? Being the boss. But I try not to really be a boss, we all do the same thing so I've learned to just try and hire people that like the same work environment that I like and then that way we just all chill under one roof doing the same thing and it's great. I love walking around and seeing what the other guys are doing because they're so good at what they do and it inspires me to kind of step up my game. I think that we all kind of do that for each other and it's a friendly competition. That's really the reason why we have tattoo shops. These days there's a lot of options for tattoo artists. A lot of tattooers tattoo out of their house, you could have a private studio, you could do all these things that kind of isolate you from other people but personally, as long as we have plenty of space to work in, I prefer to work with a lot of people because it keeps the energy and the inspiration up and that friendly competitiveness, man, it's it's how you get good. I'm convinced that it takes the right attitude and the right personality and then the right group of people around you and you just kind of feed off each other and it's a good atmosphere and I think our clients enjoy it too because they're not just alone in their experience with their good artist here. It's all around them and that's a cool feeling when you look over and you're like, “Wow, that's cool.” You know?
Do you think art is something you'll ever stop doing?
No, that would be sad wouldn't it? It would be very sad. No, I think about that a lot though, actually because tattooing is a small motor skill kind of art, right? I think about people with the little eye loop that paint the little miniatures, that takes very precise motor skills and so does tattooing. Those machines are kind of heavy and you gotta have really good eyesight and not only do your hands have to be precise, but your arms and your posture and everything is very precise. So at some point, it's going to go, it's just true. You don't see a lot of tattooers tattooing past the age of like 65. So after that I hope to become more of a painter. Then I would have a lot more time to paint. Maybe sculpting. I don't know. I always actually wanted to do stop motion animation as my secret alternate dream job because I think that's super cool. Like moving art is really, really, really cool. But I look forward to when the day comes that I shouldn't be holding a tattoo machine anymore. I'll be doing something else. Like I said, I have to make things so I have no doubt, no doubt, that I'll always be making things to the extent that my body will let me.