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