interview with Jakub Golebiewski | Hendrix Tattoo | inkpire 07/11/2014
Q: How old were you when you first got interested in art?
A: I was interested in art as far as I remember. My earliest
memories are when I was about 5-6 years old, I was drawing my
favorite cartoon characters. I have to say I was quite good at it or
a least that's what my parents were saying ;) my dad was giving me
little drawing tasks to do like "draw at least 2 favorite characters
from the cartoon that was on tv at the time.
- Who is the person you're most grateful when it comes to
inspiration?
It's quite hard question for me because I don't have the best
relationship with my father now, but from the beginning it was him.
He was a great artist in his times. I remember we had a basement
transformed in to a super cool art place where my dad was drawing,
painting and it was one of my favorite places where I spend a lot of
time watching him painting. Nowadays my inspiration is everything
around me.
Q: Did your family support you while you
were starting out as a tattoo artist?
A: Hahaha my mom hated it at the beginning because she tough that I
will end up tattooed up from heads to toes and in my country tattoos
are still seen as something bad and prison related) but as soon as
she notice that tattooing is the love of my life she support me all
the time. She still hate tattoos tough :) My sister is a lot younger
than me so she is from that generation who loves tattoos and I think
she is very proud of me.
- What was their first reaction after seeing some of your
tattoos?
I think they are more impressed with my work now than when I just
started ;)
Q: Do you have any artistic background? Did you apprentice?
A: I'm one of those self taught artists and I've never had any
apprenticeship but sometimes I wish I had. I will be a lot better a
lot quicker if I had a teacher. Obviously I pick some stuff up from
artists I was working with but nobody ever guided me through the way
of tattooing from the scratch. Being self taught have a bright side
as well. It made me humble and grateful for what I have because I
know how much work I've put into it.
Q: What was the hardest part in getting
into the business?
A: The hardest part... I have no idea to be honest. Every minute of
my tattoo experience seems like a great adventure. But if I have to
choose, I would say is to find the right studio and the right people
to work with. I saw it many times when cool artists worked together
but the vibes were bad and that affect the quality of tattooing and
than you just wait till 6 or 7 o'clock so you can go home, that's
not good, it kills the spirit.
Q: Did you have any ups and downs,
creatively and maybe emotionally? How much did you trust your own
instincts that one day you will become successful and tattooing
won't be just a hobby?
A: Oh for sure! There are days when I think I have lost it all...
that I can't come up with a cool idea. I know it's a bit weird but
if I'm on a holiday and I'm not tattooing for few days I feel like I
forgot how to tattoo haha. But after few minutes of tattooing I'm
there again ;) I have bad days but as soon as I'm on the chair in
front of my customer everything else have to wait and im 100% focus
on tattooing. I've never thought of myself as successful. Just
trying to do the best tattoo I can and never stop progressing that's
the dream anyway. There's still tons of stuff to learn ;)
Q: You do lots of tattoo styles, you're great at them all.
Do you have any favorite?
A: I like doing realism and surrealism. Recently a lot of textures
and high contrast. I love both b&g and color, there's something cool
about the grey color and I'm using it quite often. I'm working on a
new style with you can see in my recent works but it's in the early
stages and still needs to be improved.
Q: I bet you're also a good drawer. How much the drawing
skills play a big role when it comes to tattooing from a technical
aspect?
A: Do you know what, it's hard question. There are a lot of well
known artists that do pure realism and they copy images and there
are many artists that produce the artwork from scratch. In the end
of the day if you execute bad ass tattoo I doesn't matter. I do draw
maybe not on the master level but enough to help me to understand
more how to create decent composition and it make my life easier
sometimes because I can do freehand tattoos and be creative if
there's a need. Sometimes freehand is the only option because of the
placement of the tattoo and than you have to be able to draw.
Answering the question I think if you want to br better as a
tattooist than yes, drawing is very important and I recommend it to
any one.
Q: I really love the fact that you do
custom pieces for each client. I love your tattoo sleeve ideas. Do you also draw digital painting on
Pen Tablet using some software? Tell me more about the making
process.
A: I'm starting to work on a project where I reproduce images from
internet or photographs from friends. I don't do it just for the
sleeve ideas, but for fun too. I'm using a lot of Photoshop and
program called sketchbook pro where u can do digital artwork. I find
it very useful and a lot quicker than classic pencil drawing. When
the design is ready I post it on my social media like fb or
instagram and if someone is interested in getting it done than it's
super cool and I can do my own design :) quite often when I have a
lot designs ready I place them on the arm of the model using
Photoshop so people can see how the sleeve might look like when we
finish and they more likely to be inspired. I usually do digital
version of a sleeve before the session so they can see how it's
going to look before we start tattooing.
Q: Do you also work on customs for sale, like prints etc?
A: I'm thinking about focusing on painting a bit more in the future
and creating a website where I can sale my prints and original
artwork but till that time, I invite everybody to visit my studio
and get a tattoo;)
Q: I know artists are constantly trying to progress, would
you change something in your style, or start working on something
completely different? If so, what would that be? heh
A: There's always something I want to do differently on the next
tattoo. I hope I can evolve my own style to the point that I'm happy
with it. Maybe in the future I will get inspired by somebody or
something and decide to change my ways of tattooing completely but I
need to master the ways I do at the moment first and that's still
miles away.
Q: Being a tattoo artist, everyone thinks that it's a fun
profession, but sometimes it can be hard as hell, how do you
manage being constantly creative, on time with every client?
A: Passion, that's my answer. To love your profession... All I want
to do is to create, I think I've never had enough of it.
Please share your contact info/website.
Jakub Hendrix Tattoo
inkpire@outlook.com
www.facebook.com/jakubhendrixtattoo