Bill Blood

I dig Jason Phillips a lot, and don't hear too much about him over here on the East Coast

Hey, I've been cruising this site for a while, but only just signed up this week. I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and began tattooing in the late 90's, though it has been a long road to where I am now. I learned under a very skilled artist, but his work tended to lean more towards new school and black and grey. I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to learn so much from him, but I have always been more interested in traditional tattooing. Which has changed quite a lot since the 90's (as I'm sure most of you are quite aware). I worked for years in a high volume street shop, which gave me a chance to really lay my groundwork (pumping out Cherry Creek and old Spaulding flash...) and then worked in a custom shop in Staten Island for the last few years. It was nice doing custom work, but at that shop it was mostly black and grey religious work. for the majority of my career this far, I haven't had a chance to do much traditional work except on friends here and there. I find coming from that background my instincts are to over-complicate my work, but I have recently begun to simplify and get back to the basic bold lines and heavy black that attracted me to tattooing in the first place. I recently came back to work in Brooklyn, at a traditional shop, and I'm happier than ever here. My co-worker and friend Jon has been a huge influence and help in steering my work the direction I want to bring it. I'm glad to be a part of Last Sparrow and look forward to sharing my work and seeing the progression. I do not expect the old timers and heavy hitters on here to critique my work, though any imput from anyone is appreciated (good or bad, I can take constructive criticism). Thanks for reading, cheers!

Sorry to hear, Jake. That sucks.
That said, if you want tattooing to be made illegal and still plan to tattoo... (thus breaking the law)... why not just break the law and go break some hands? :D