A day in the life of a tattoo artist
The art of tattooing isn’t something that started with sailors, taking its origins from the Maori people of New Zealand. It has come a long way from whale bone needle and hammers, especially for James Zehna, owner and tattoo artist at Sailor Jim’s Electric Tattoo in downtown Logan.
Zehna, owner of Sailor Jim’s Electric Tattoo, looks like what some would assume to be an average tattoo artists with enough tattoos to, as he says, make his mom nervous, two silver capped teeth, full chops on his face, a fifties greaser hair cut, small silver hoop and ball earrings and black rimmed glasses perched on his face.
But what most people do not know is that Zehna isn’t your average “Miami Ink” tattoo artist that most people have in mind.
Zehna said he was always fascinated with tattoos, even as a young kid when he saw someone with a tattoo he thought “that person must have an interesting life.”
While serving in the U.S. Navy, Zehna said he started wanting to become at tattoo artists. After starting college, he was looking for artistic jobs when he began searching for an apprenticeship at a tattoo parlor.
“It took me three years of pestering and seeking out shops before I could even mop the floors at a place,” he said. “There is defiantly no set format (for becoming an artists). It is something you have to seek out.”
Naming artistic ability and work ethic as the two top skills that one must have to be a tattoo artist, Zehna said the only way to be taken seriously in a shop is to get tattoos.
With the first couple years of tattooing being a roller coaster of good work and disappointment, Zehna said even now, after 12 years of tattooing, he is still learning.
“It’s a constant evolution,” Zehna said. “There isn’t a point where you know everything.”
Life in the shop isn’t as reality TV has painted on everyone’s mind to be, he said. Zehna said he works 40 hours a week in the shop tattooing, mixing ink and building needles. Even after putting in 40 hours at the shop every week, Zehna said he spends extra time at home drawing. He said one tattoo session is three to four hours long, making it possible for him to do two appointments a day.
Although Zehna may work long weeks he said as an artist, he gets out of it what he puts in. Starting out, Zehna made $700 a month; now, he said, he can make that in a day at a tattoo convention.
Zehna said he doesn’t have just one style in which he likes to tattoo. Although his style is recognizable, he said he takes inspiration from everywhere, with most of his work evolving as it goes along.
“My main focus,” Zehna said, “is doing tattoos that look bold and will last 20 years.”
Although there are many classic tattoos that get repeated, Zehna said to him it doesn’t mean he can’t put his own spin on things. He said he may like the aspect of putting art on someone forever, but the best part of his job is meeting people. Zehna said he is able to meet people by being able to create and make people happy.
Zehna said being a tattoo artist and not just a painter means his art gets to travel the world without the fear of it being resold or ending up in a dusty attic.
As with all jobs, he said, tattooing does have its good and bad parts, namely the art that Zehna puts on people.
“I have standards now,” Zehna said. “When you work for a shop you have to keep your mouth shut and do the work. When you own the shop it’s a little different.”
The process of creating the art for a tattoo all starts with an idea, said Zehna. The size and location being the most important when discussing it with a client.
Zehna said he loves tattooing but doesn’t see himself doing this for the rest of his life.
“My eye sight is bad,” Zehna said. “I probably only have another 15 to 20 years left doing this. I want to illustrate a children’s book, but according to the Myan calendar the world is going to end is 2012.”
Zehna has been around the world with the Navy and as an artist, recently to Sweden. With a global perspective in mind he gives advice not only about tattooing but about life as well to his clients, he said.
Tattooing isn’t the only thing in Zehna’s life that keeps him busy. With a hobby farm, wife and kids, Zehna said he still manages to find time to live his rock ‘n’ roll dreams and fix cars.
–chjensen@aggiemail.usu.edu