Tattoo Industry In Crisis!

(and my journey since last time)

Good morning/afternoon/evening/night to you all! Sadly we have seen a noticeable decline in the state of the tattoo industry recently, which is disheartening for talented artists who spent much time, energy and sacrifice perfecting their craft over many years. Traditionally and in most other professions, that effort would be increasingly rewarded. I follow thousands of tattooists on social media, and far too often now I see many of them (even very talented, established ones) really struggling or bowing out of their profession in pursuit of other careers (and their survival). The highest quality and/or experienced ones are often not gauranteed to be the ones who excel. This all began pre-covid, although it seemed to get much worse after 2020...and the tattoo world is definitely not the only industry which has been affected in this way ofcourse. Here I will try to explore this subject fairly, factually and logically. A lot of these points also apply to other careers. So firstly, the reasons for this?

Economic Problems. Our governments and the corporations have been draining (and stealing!) more out of the average person's pockets, now resulting in massive inflation and a much higher cost of living. Tattoos are ofcourse a luxury and not a neccessity - so it is one of the industries which we have seen become harder to make a living in. Saturated Market. A lot more people became tattoo artists in the last 5 years or so, often seeing it as a cool social status and easier route to some success. I personally welcome and encourage people to create art, and pursue careers in it if it makes them happy. But when there are more artists than there are customers!, then obviously it will cause problems. This can also lead to a lot of undesirable staff politics, jealousy/back stabbing, and shallow favouritism amongst co-workers. The saturated market extends to some studio owners, who just saw it as a quick way to make money with little concern for the art. Accessibility. When I started tattooing, it was a (special, unique and) protected industry in which newcomers had to have a certain respect for the craft and their more experienced peers, and took years to earn their place and learn properly from the foundations up. Now however, especially with cheap equipment being readily available to buy online, we have seen a lot of people just jump in and often undercut their peers, leading to a reduction in quality (and the established hierarchy if you will). One could ofcourse argue that this is fair game, and yes perhaps it is...but it is also a reason for the decline of the industry as we knew it. In the last 10 years we also saw many studios offering (often substandard) tattoo tuition crash-courses for premium money, which ofcourse just fed into the problems (for a quick buck). Trends. Large pieces and realism is less favoured in this country these days, and simple small tattoos are in. Interestingly, this has gone full circle from what a lot of tattooing was in the 1990s, where old school artists copied the same designs from 'flash' sheets on the wall, and tattooing did not have the best image or reputation. However, there was a much better trend in the 2000s and 2010s where this was not the case - tattooing was at the forefront of the global art industry as a whole, and constantly pushing boundaries and creativity. It was an exciting and hopeful time to be part of, and it is sad to feel like it is a bit diluted, from what it seemed like it was becoming. This is not the case in all areas ofcourse, but the general trend. There is still amazing work being done around the world. And it is upto us to do it! As long as we have the canvasses :) Social Media & Technology. Also worth mentioning is that due to technology we live in a faster and faster-paced society, where people have less patience for.... the real(?!). They have been geared towards quick, disposable content and often don't take the time to search for the best or most interesting content. And a note about social media platforms - in an ideal world social media would really compliment and benefit quality, truth and expression. But in practice, it has become an over-saturated bombardment of fakery and marketing. Marketing should have little place in the world of art - the art should speak for itself and not need bells and whistles or persuasive techniques to be valued (cue Bill Hicks' thoughts!). This paradigm of paid-for or 'look at me look at me!' social media makes it harder for everyone to be seen. Whoever shouts the loudest wins?! Due to this, I grew to have a real disdain for social media - it is now often part of the problem, not solution.

So secondly... the future of the industry, and possible solutions to the above problems? Well that's a tough one as the world and its economy do not seem to be going in a good direction - but we can still sustain some hope! and take positive action. Also, in an increasingly mixed-up world, I think that true art and expression becomes more important. The way I used to look at over-saturation is that it just 'seperates the men from the boys' so to speak - that in theory it leads some to become even better artists, that competition is essentially a good thing. However, combined with the other causes, it's not so simple anymore. One solution I see is offering more of a 'customer experience'. Different to marketing or fakery, this can be a truly beneficial thing for the clients. Incidentally, I have a couple of really solid ideas of how future studios could do this. Another solution is specialisation, which we have already seen a lot of successful and high-quality artists do. They stick to one style and do it to the highest possible level, to attract the best customers. Personally I see the benefits of that, but I also really appreciate being able to stay fresh and do different styles (which I think I can do very well). Another would possibly be encouraging people to research more, really getting to know artists and their work instead of favouring social media exposure, how many likes they have, or the cheapest price (when something is for life, it should surely be valued as such). Finally, I would say that it is very important to support your favourite artists with word-of-mouth recommendations, and (reluctantly) social media engagement. I have tattood so many happy customers, and I have a lot of followers still...but not many of them seem to take the time to actively support my progress going forward. <boring personal bit> For me personally, I foolishly assumed that my tattoo career would continue for a fair while, the way it was going before. As I may have I explained in a previous post, the 'pandemic' lockdowns (and the resulting economic problems) caused an unprecedented loss of income, forced me out of my home and studio in London, and landed me in sizeable debt. Since then, I have struggled with housing in this UK housing crisis, and moved around different studios trying to find a regular income, which is not as easy as it might sound. The way tattooing works, people often get a few tattoos and then they stop, which makes it neccessary to keep attracting new clients, all the time. I used to get a lot of clients through a certain tattoo app, where your work is put next to other artists' and the client chooses their favourite, and I did very well...but then this app changed its policies and began charging hundreds of pounds for subscription, which at the time just didn't seem viable. At the same time, the social media platforms changed algorithms making it harder to be seen, and lead artists into an attention and bidding war for paid promotions. The worst part of this situation is that when people see that you're not as active as you used to be, or have moved studios several times, they usually think that you must be doing something wrong, or that you aren't as capable as you were - so it's almost a feedback loop where things get harder and harder. That aside, traditionally, we depended on the studios to give us (at least some) work as a lot of new enquiries go through them, all of which leads us back to the above points on causes of the declining trade, but everyone is trying to survive and achieve success in this crazy world. No one wants to hear a sob story though ofcourse, and it is not conducive with atracting more customers! ;) More than a year ago now, I took a step back from tattooing. I went travelling for a while which was awesome, and then I had a long rest (after a whirlwind of a last decade). I did a lot of soul searching, and reflecting, and spiritual work...learnt new life skills, recovered from illness, and also started building the foundations of a new business and passive incomes. I hold my hands up to never quite fulfilling my potential in the tattoo industry. I did work very hard, and I made it to some of the best studios in the country and worked with people that I used to watch on TV or read about in magazines, but I didn't fully capititlise on it sometimes. I didn't do enough new designs for fun, I didn't paint or draw enough, I drank too much (at the end of stressful work days)...and sometimes it was a little too easy to take things for granted and just go through the motions. Tattooing (nevermind life) can be very demanding, stressful, exhausting, even confusing.....so I had my reasons. But an interesting result or effect of the lockdowns and life events since then, is that I can appreciate this more. Im sure other people can relate. I write this not to explain myself anymore, I'm trying to let go of all that. But it's nice for me to be able to record a bit of my journey online sometimes. For the future...I will be making a big push towards reaching that potential. I have so many good ideas and so much to give...and I'll happily go toe to toe with anyone in this game ;) Let's see what happens when I apply myself again x (This post was written without any use of 'AI' or google. They are my own words from the top of my head) Peace