Q: What made you want to become a tattoo Artist?
A: I have always loved drawing, and as the older ones in the group noticed that, they easily invented for me a machine which I have used for my first tattoos, that fascinated them. So that was my first touch with this amazing Art. And later on I am much grateful to my wife, who made me buy my first professional tattoo set in 2004. Since then I have accepted this hobby more professional. In 2006 I have opened a tattoo studio with my colleague and from then on tattooing is not my job or my hobby, but my obsession in which I want to be better and better with every passing day.

Q: Who are your influences?
A: The biggest influence on my work gave Bob Tyrell with his portraits and of course Robert Haernandez with his realism in tattooing, and every single drawing that I make I want to be with the touch of realism. Also Tomas Miroslav with his great Art, helped me a lot to attain, I least I think so, a high-level in my work.

Q: Which style of tattooing you like the most?
A: Realism, at least, I insist to be, as I said in question 2, Hernandez, Tyrell and the work of Tomas Miroslav…

 

Q: I can see a lot of black and grey tattoos, is that your specialty?
A: I love to do the black and grey technique, but this is more for the area I live in, mostly I like the color technique because it is more complicated, but the clients in my studio want a color tattoo very rarely.

Q: How many tattoos do you have on you and which one is you favorite?
A: I have on myself a right sleeve which is not finished yet, I have started to draw my leg, too, for which I wish more artists, but definitely my favorite is the portrait of my son on my arm!!!

          

Q: What could you say to someone who has had a bad first experience?
A: I wish that never happen again to him and next time to ask carefully for the artist and the studio (work conditions) where he is planning to get a tattoo.

Q: Is there any ethical rules for tattooing or its just who has a lucky to have a good and halted tattoo on himself?
A: In a real tattoo studio there must have some rules, but when we are talking about a tattoo whether it is good or bad or if somebody had the good luck to get a good tattoo, I think there is no need for such discussion, because every tattoo is a personal stamp for the one who have it and if he is happy with it then the artist and the studio are good and should not be changed.

Q: Do you feel there now should be mandatory schooling for soon to be tattoo artists?
A: In every school there are good and bad students, so I am not a supporter of tattoo classes or schools, because somebody will see in that job only money and somebody else will accept it as a way of life and only if it is way of life and somebody really wants to do it, one could become a successful and appreciated artist.

 

Q: Where do you think the Tattoo Industry is going today?
A: How it is going? In any case, it is getting better, but the problem is that we for example, I mean our own studio, we still cannot feel that, because we still don’t have a lot of equipment, but we all know that every single day brings up something new, which is better than the old one and I think this is great. I feel a bit pity that some people see in that only money and the beginners, at the very begging, have a very bad equipment for a very big price, I have suffered from that too, this is inevitably for our country. But in any case it is getting better and I have assured myself in that on the conventions abroad.

Q: "Tattoos and piercing " why those things always going together hm?:)
A: I don’t think they go together. I think tattooing is an art and it is something that one gets for a whole life and piercing - you bring it today and tomorrow – don’t, isn’t that so? I don’t want to offend somebody by saying that, because I do piercing myself in my studio.

Q: How many often do you go on tat conventions and which one left u the most memorable impression?
A: I do my best to visit at least two conventions every year, but this is a very big problem for me, as I have to apply for visa every time. But definitely the biggest influence to me made my first convention in Berlin in 2007, because I have never seen so many artists at one place, and even some of my idols, who have been tattooing… This is one greatly joyful and positive experience for me that I will always remember.

 

Q: What is the opinion about tattoos in Banja Luca?
A: As it is in every other town in our country. Still it leads the opinion that only criminals and thieves have tattoos, without having in mind that in the tattoo studio are coming also doctors and lawyers and people from many different occupations…

Q: I think scarification and the rest of body modifications are very popular in last 3-4 years, what do you think about this?
A: I have absolutely no comment about desecration of clear skin, because for me clear skin is something best for doing tattoo.

Q: The most popular question for every tattoo artist!:) Is it possible to get a tattoo on scar?
A: Of course it is possible, I have done this a few times for covering a scar, but the client should be aware that in this case he could not choose the picture...

                        

Q: Are there any reasons to avoid getting a tattoo?
A: For me there is no such reason, only if a juvenile comes in my studio and wants a tattoo on the hands or the arms, I do it only if the parents are present and I try to dissuade the client from such a visible place, but only from the place, not from the tattoo, only because of the age,
when it is important for him or her to show that has a tattoo.

Q: Who is the artist you want to tattoo you?:)
A: There are so many artists who want a tattoo from and I hope everyone will sign himself on my skin. I do not want to point none of them, because it is very important for me the one who does the tattoo to do it with pleasure and honor, because this tattoo will have a very sentimental meaning to me.

Thank you for the interview Iva, Pedi BlTattoo www.bltattoo.com