William Burgess

Never believed in the whole "small starter tattoo" deal. How about those people getting full bodysuits by Horiyoshi III? I am sure some of those people had no work to begin with and commited to heavy coverage from the get go. If I could do it all over again, thats what I do. Have one tattoo and one only!

Unfortunately, while this is not 100% been the case, it seems the better the artist, the more likelyhood I will be treated like crap. Sometimes people who don't even tattoo but work at the shop give me the cold shoulder. I went into Tattoo City in SF one time, had a bunch of artwork and stuff to show. The floorwalker literally averted his eyes from it and ignored me. Another time I actually got to meet Ed Hardy. I was so excited I was probably babbling like an idiot I guess. After the 5th or 6th curt, one word responses, I got the point. Guess I am not in the "clique" and never will be.

When I did my apprenticship in '91-'93, we were the only shop in a city of 100,000. Even though at first I went about it the wrong way, scratching at home, it was still much more difficult. I remember having to spend most of my paycheck from my my summer job slowly collecting all the necessary equipment. Even then, there was no such thing as pre-made needles, so I was lucky to have someone show me how to make them. Nowadays, $100 gets you a kit with all you need to inflict some permanent damage. You really had to want to do this as a way of life back then. Now it seems so many want to do it as a hobby or just try a few. I had this girl that works at the local gas station tell me "My boyfriend got a kit, he want to try and do one on me". It was obvious he had no intent of taking it seriously, it was just something to mess around with on his spare time. I had to bite my tongue not to snap out on her.

What I hate to see is truely skilled artists that really want to learn and have the dedication being denied apprenticeships while people who couldn't draw their way out of a paper bag being given a spot because they have the right connections. Either that or they have the 5 grand or whatever for the quick "apprenticeship". I have yet to teach anyone, but if I do, they will be a better artist than me. Don't want to contribute to the plethora of hack jobs out there.

This is why I feel I am a semi-old timer, even though I have only been tattooing since 1991. I started in a small city of 100,000 and it was the only tattoo shop, and 1 of 2 in a county of about 1/4 million. Saw a wave of shops opening in the mid 90's then again in the early 2000's, and this was before the damn reality shows captured everyones interest.