Caricaturing and the Tattoo Industry

Article Transcript

I know what you crazy caricature artists are thinking, “What do tattoos have to do with caricatures?” Well, that’s why I put this article together! I have been working with Sean Gardner and Nick Mitchell here and there, for a few years alongside them at tattoo conventions, where they started their Zombie Caricature business. In doing so, I have learned that the tattoo industry and our industry have a ton in common. The tattoo artists really embraced Sean and Nick over the years, and you will notice how much of a name they have made for themselves in that world; so much so that both were offered full-time apprenticeships from two of the best shops in the business. Over the years, I have seen several caricature artists take the plunge and dive head-first into the tattoo industry. Former president Dion Socia, Len Hernandez and Stacy Pierce are three I know of. So, how do they relate?

First off, there are several styles of tattoo art out there: traditional, photorealistic, etc., but this article focuses on the “New School” style. New School uses exaggerated imagery, forced perspectives, dynamic colors and fun stories, and those are very big topics in caricature.

I think there is also a direct similarity between the two fields in that both are drawn for a paying customer on their time. They sit staring at you while you are doing your work, hoping a line doesn’t slip and, in the end, want to be overly excited about the product they are paying for.

I also learned that, just like us, a lot of them are converting to digital mediums in most circumstances and use the same programs and hardware that we do. In all drawing fields, the industry has evolved, and it’s so interesting to see what shortcuts they use every day to quicken their process.

The artists I interviewed are Halo Jankowski, Will Gonzalez, Greg Ross, Jason Stephan and Mike Schwab. Check out their amazing artwork and inspirations at the bottom of the interview. Sean Gardner, Len Hernandez and Stacy Pierce also added some of their experience to this article.

I hope you enjoy!

MZ: How long have you been tattooing?

JANKOWSKI: I'll have been tattooing for 12 years in December.

GONZALEZ: I have been full-time tattooing since 2007, and doing animated illustrative tattoos primarily since 2009. It has been a long journey to get to where I am, and an interesting, twisting path landing on my style.

ROSS: I’ve been tattooing for 14 years, although technically I tattooed myself when I was 12-13 with a thumbtack and Bic pen, so if you count that, it's closer to 25 years with an 11-year hiatus after the first hour or so.

STEPHAN: I have been tattooing professionally since 1997. I did a 2-year apprenticeship before I began tattooing.

SCHWAB: I started my apprenticeship in the fall of 2000.

MZ: In your art world, a lot of your images are exaggerated, a lot like a caricature is. What goes into the thought process in creating these images?

JANKOWSKI: To create exaggerated images whenever you’re tattooing, you want everything to look dynamic so that people can see it from 10 feet away. A lot of times, I think that making things bolder and more dynamic is a huge part of tattooing. You constantly have to think of how to make an impact with your tattoos because most people aren’t going to be looking at your tattoos from 2 feet away, they’re going to be looking at them from a distance, and you want to be able to draw them in.

GONZALEZ: My personal thought process when creating an exaggerated character or object, is always to maintain a bit of reality to ground the viewer in the imagery, while making it as weird and energetic as possible. I think that any good new school or illustrative concept has to be based off of realism in order to relay what it really is. For example, if I am doing a raccoon, there are a handful of special marker characteristics that relay that it is a raccoon, and you’ve got to maintain some of those in order to tell that story. I prefer larger eyes and heads in my work because, as humans, that is exactly where our eyes naturally land upon a face. It is where a large portion of the personality can lie as well.

ROSS: Depending on what the tattoo is going to be, I usually spend a little time looking up photos or information about what I’m supposed to be drawing, I think you can get a lot more from reading about what it is rather than just looking up pictures sometimes. If it’s something I’m just making up, I just start drawing. As far as the drawing process, I just start making shapes and silhouettes until things look neat to me. I’ll usually draw over the shapes a few times and refine things until it looks like I want. I try to make things look balanced, I think, concerning exaggeration. If I’m not careful, it just looks like it’s a bad PS filter or like you warped it for no reason, instead of exaggerated. It being a tattoo, you also have to think about where it’s going on the body, how much it’ll wrap and, if it’s really big, how much you’ll be able to see on each body part. You could have an awesome shin, but the back of the leg look boring if you don’t space everything out. Certain shapes look good on the body, and some don’t. Also, I’ll try to stick to shapes that work when I’m drawing a tattoo.

STEPHAN: Well, when I get to create whatever I want, I just try to create an image that's fun for me, and the way I naturally draw is a bit exaggerated. A lot of times for a tattoo, you have to have a consultation with the client and go over their idea to find what will work best for the body part and what’s most appealing. Once we’ve got that set, I just try to tweak it out as far as I feel I can get away with and still have the client happy in the end.

SCHWAB: In the process of creating an image, I consider the strength of the silhouette, what features or message I want in the forefront of the composition and, lastly, what, visually, I want to have the most impact.

HERNANDEZ: When it comes to coming up with artwork for a tattoo, I need to fit the art to the canvas. It’s no longer a 12 by 16 sheet of paper. I have rules now. Which direction is the portrait facing? Does the art flow with the body shape? What colors are going to work with this person’s skin color? As for subject matter, I try to come up with images that will be able to be seen clearly from a distance. I try not to clutter too much subject matter into a small space. All the while bending to the client’s requests for whatever they come in for. It’s definitely a whole different monster. Going from doing a face and a funny body to ANYTHING THEY WANT is quite a challenge, a challenge that I love.

MZ: I like to think of caricaturing as a verb (to caricature). A lot of new school tattoos are images of animals and people ― well, pretty much everything, where the subject is caricatured. What are some ways you try to push your ideas to get a strong image but still hold true to the original subject?

JANKOWSKI: Staying true to the subject while still getting strong images means that a lot of times I’m trying to figure out what things matter in the piece. For example, if the point of a bird is that it is cute and shy, you're going to put more emphasis in the eyes in the expression on its face. On the other hand, if you’re doing something evil, like a wolf, you'll probably put more emphasis in the teeth. It really depends on what you're trying to convey, and here at the shop we really want to make sure we place enough emphasis on what’s trying to be told.

GONZALEZ: Over the years, I have played it fairly safe as far as exaggeration. The object can be read really easily, I believe, but I would like to push even further. Unfortunately, in order to do so on skin, it requires a willing client. I’d like to bend and stretch and make my characters even more weird. I’ve been really contemplating this for the last couple of months, but that is the direction I am headed.

ROSS: I usually try to gather or at least look at a lot of reference beforehand. Before the Internet was what it is, I’d go to the bookstore and get random magazines and cut out pictures of different things to keep in a folder in case I needed to draw whatever it was. I think as long as you keep key features in about the right spot, it should be pretty recognizable no matter how much you change other things. If it's green and has bolts, it's Frankenstein, no matter what else you do. I’ll try to pay attention to what’s already a little exaggerated in the real thing and try to focus on that instead of just making things bigger or smaller for no reason. I also try to only show what's really needed. I used to get hung up on every little detail being in a drawing, but it usually ends up looking too busy.

STEPHAN: Tattooing is a little different from some other forms of art because of the toolset used and the fact that tattoos weather in your skin differently than a painting or illustration does. I always try to draw from my imagination first to get an interesting image that has the right balance of detail, so that I know it will hold up. After I've worked on my sketch a bit, I might look at a photo of the actual creature that I'm trying to draw. Sometimes I find that there are little things that I can change to make my drawing more recognizable as what I was attempting to draw.

SCHWAB: Although I am far from an expert in caricaturing ― hell, I'm barely a novice ― I tend to exaggerate the strongest features. Sometimes when I struggle caricaturing something, I turn to my friend Sean Gardner for help and guidance with it. That kid is a master draftsman, in my opinion.

What I will say about my style of "caricature" is that I can do decent portraits and somewhat OK caricatures, so what I do lies somewhere in between.

GARDNER: Creating a fun and interesting caricature of a person’s face can be both challenging and exciting. It allows you to explore the subtle differences in each feature while throwing extreme punctuation on the more noticeable ones. For me, it never stops there. I continue to ask myself, how do I exaggerate their body language? Their clothes? Their accessories … etc. When I’m creating a caricature, I try my best to visualize everything as if it were all a part of the same world. If I visited a world where a very exaggerated face was holding a normal coffee cup, that would seem weird or out of place! So I try to approach every feature and object the same way I would each facial feature. This creates more balance and believability to my art. Mort Drucker and Tom Richmond (of Mad Magazine) and a number of (my) other influences capture and utilize this concept very well in their work. All of their characters/caricatures and their environments complement each other.

So even if I’m drawing a coffee cup, I use it in the context of my body of work to propel the same levels of exaggeration or style to each object I create. This way, everything I create has that flair or signature style to my other work. I think of it as just expanding my universe, even if it’s just bit by bit.

MZ: What do you like to draw with? What tools do you use?

JANKOWSKI: I’ve discovered that it doesn’t seem to matter what tools I end up using to draw, because I work with them all in the same way. A lot of my drawings are preliminary, in order to help me get set up with the medium I’m about to work in. I give myself a simple sketch, and then from that sketch, I’ll work it into something. Before I draw a tattoo, I sometimes use a marker to draw on the skin to gather a general idea before I go in with ink. Most of the time, whatever medium I am planning on working with is what I draw with. I actually don't draw very often. I prefer to oil paint or airbrush, and I use the Wacom tablets when I travel.

GONZALEZ: For most of my artistic career, I would draw with colored pencils, starting with a light color, like a yellow or orange, or even a light blue. I would then tighten up the image with a medium color, such as a red or purple. The final would be inked black with a micron pen. I would go through a ton of paper and tracing paper in order to get to the final draft. The last couple of years, I have completely adopted drawing in Photoshop on my Cintiq Companion. I can’t say enough good things about it, and it has changed my workflow and the outcome of my work. Matt Zitman actually was the one who made me aware that the Companion was a stand-alone device that could support full programs ― rather than simply apps that other devices were restricted to.

ROSS: I’ve been doing pretty much all digital for a while now. I had an Intuos or similar tablet for 8 or 9 years, and then I got a Cintiq about 8 years ago. Recently, everything I’ve done has been on an iPad Pro, and it really fits the way I like to work. As far as software, I use Procreate and Paintstorm on the iPad and Photoshop or Sketchbook Pro on the desktop. Right now, I get almost everything done on the iPad and just use Photoshop for little things. When I do use traditional media, I use Copic markers and Hot Press Arches. I really like acrylic paints as well but still haven’t got the hang of it. I'm not sure if anyone reading this would know or care about the tattoo equipment really, but lately I've been using coil liners made by Rich Helton that are really nice and rotary machines by Neotat and Bishop for all my coloring.

STEPHAN: For a long time, I did all my sketching with Red & Blue .09 technical leads. I really enjoyed the way that looked, but recently I got an IPad Pro and have been doing most of my sketches and finished drawings digitally using Procreate.

SCHWAB: My tools of choice are Tuscan red Col-Erase pencils to sketch with, black Col-Erase pencil to refine the lines and push the values and a Pink Pearl eraser. I’m also kind of picky with the type of paper I use. You’ll rarely see me use an actual sketchbook. I’m a fan of using plain old copy paper on a clipboard. My paper of preference being 20-24-pound with a brightness of 92-97.

GARDNER: When I am working traditionally, I love using Prisma Color: Col-Erase pencils, color pencils, Art Stix and Copic markers ― never been a fan of painting. However, I love working digital, using programs such as Manga Studio (aka Clip Studio Paint) and Photoshop.

MZ: Have you ever drawn a caricature or had one done?

JANKOWSKI: I drew a bunch of caricatures for the guys at the shop as a Christmas present. Those are actually the first caricatures I’d ever done! It was a fun project because I felt like I got everyone's personalities. It wasn’t even something I was commissioned to do. It was something I did for fun and I really ended up enjoying. I hope I get commissioned to do more in the future!

GONZALEZ: I have had one or two caricatures of myself done. I absolutely love the art form and how that art field is pushing. I would love to get into it. I think it would strengthen my artwork as a whole. I have only done one caricature, but it was really poorly done. I think my library of facial features, formula and process simply was too amateur to even do the genre justice.

ROSS: I got one done by Nick Mitchell of myself as a zombie that's pretty sweet; I think it freaked my kids out a little, haha.

I’ve done a few for tattoos and they’re super hard. My hat’s off to everyone who knocks them out. I definitely prefer tattooing them to more traditional portraits, though. I think reproduction is an amazing talent, but for me it’s just not as much fun as drawing someone.

STEPHAN: I have been asked to do several caricatures of people’s kids and dogs as tattoos. They were OK, but when I’ve seen some of the people who do it for a living, I realize that my attempts were amateur in comparison. I had a caricature done when I was a teenager at a car show. It was pretty cool. It was the first time that I recognized certain features that my Mom and I both share. I have one that I keep in my office that Sean Gardner did that I love. I also work with a talented caricature artist named Nick Mitchell, who is transitioning into the tattoo field.

MZ: What are your thoughts on the artists who do caricatures?

JANKOWSKI: I definitely see people taking the dynamics of caricature art and applying them to their tattoos, and those guys are some of my biggest inspiration. Jessie Smith, Robert Crane ― they all take a very caricaturist style to their work. Even though I don’t exactly stick within the rules of caricatures in my tattooing, I do include a lot of those dynamics in my art.

GONZALEZ: I think the artists doing caricatures deserve high praise, especially those who can do such fine work live. It is definitely one thing to do something in the studio at your own leisure with references, but to do something right on the spot (and with an audience) is a completely different pressure.

ROSS: Handsome bunch. I’ve seen people knocking out the same face over and over with different hair color or tiny changes, and then you’ll see someone who’s spending what must be weeks or months (or 5 minutes) on something amazing that really captures the personality of the person being drawn, so I think it’s a lot like tattooing. I think for some people it’s an art form that they’re trying to push or make something unique in, and for others it’s a fun job. It blows my mind what some of you guys can do, haha.

STEPHAN: I am amazed by them. I’m sure there are plenty out there who don’t do the art form justice, but I’ve seen some that just blow me away. The end result may be similar, but my sketches are really loose. I have to take time to refine what I want to do. The confidence and speed that I see in caricature artists is quite impressive.

SCHWAB: I think caricature artists are phenomenal artists in their own right. Their ability to squash and skew/exaggerate features blows my mind, and the majority of caricaturists I know are extremely talented draftsmen. I've heard the phrase “trust your line” used before, and it tends to apply to both animators and caricaturists. I'm more of a very sketch-oriented artist, throwing out a bunch of lines before defining the ones I want.

MZ: Do you see similarities in the fields?

GONZALEZ: I definitely see similarities in the fields. I think with caricature artists, they are just restricted to doing that particular person (along with their demands), rather than a more free-rein approach (for the most part). It is absolutely an adjacent genre, though.

ROSS: I think there are tons of similarities. I’d imagine the whole process is basically the same. Someone walks in and says what they want, and you draw it for them or on them or of them, and then they leave and you never see it again. Or sometimes they commission something and you spend hours working on it at home second-guessing everything and hating it until you’re done, and it comes out pretty cool, and then hating it again when you see a picture of it a month later.

STEPHAN: Yes, there are some similarities. Although, I think a caricature artist may have an easier time being successful at tattooing. You already know how to draw. You'd just need to learn the confines of what can be done with ink, needles and a person’s skin. And I promise you, that is no easy thing. But, the specific thing that caricature artists do I find to be quite difficult, and I think most others would too. It’s almost like you’re just born to be able to create that, or not. There’s definitely a lot of skill and a ton of pressure in both fields.

PIERCE: I think when I started tattooing, I noticed that confidence was a huge similarity between the two fields. When it comes to caricatures, I've seen it a bunch of times with new artists and have even experienced it myself when I was first starting out. When you’re at the caricature stand drawing, and if you’re nervous, and unsure, the guest can spot that immediately and knows that you’re the “new guy,” or thinks that you don’t know what you’re doing. The same holds true for tattooing. No one wants the shaky, nervous dude poking them with needles. Some clients are very nervous about their first tattoo. It’s our job to make sure they’re confident in us and to put them at ease by letting them know that we’re here to give them an awesome piece of artwork.

With both fields, people want to watch what you’re doing. When it comes to tattoos and caricatures, people are really intrigued. Although they may not be brave enough to get either. Not really sure why. Both are freaking awesome! But, they always want to see what’s going to happen. When drawing caricatures at a park, you'll usually have the family or some friends watching as you draw, not to mention the crowd walking around behind you as well as your fellow employees. It's kind of the same working at the tattoo shop. Usually, people will bring someone with them who sits and watches the entire process. And unless the tattoo is in a spot that the client can’t see, they can watch the whole process from start to finish.

Tattoos are another form of art, so some people are gonna like what you do, and some are gonna hate it, just like caricatures. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve drawn a child, only to hear mom yell, “THAT AIN'T MY BABY!” It happens. You draw someone, and you think, “Holy shit! This is the best sketch I've ever done. I totally nailed the likeness!” And just as you’re about to rip it off and prepare yourself for everyone’s praises of just how freaking awesome you are, that’s when you hear, “AWWWWW HELL NOOOOO, I AIN'T PAYING FOR THAT!” It happens with tattooing, too. There have been plenty of sketches that I've drawn up for clients where I try to push or caricature the idea they want and they just reject it. Then it’s back to the drawing board.

HERNANDEZ: You are dealing very closely with a client. It is a very intimate relationship. At least for me. I talk and really get into conversations with both caricature subjects and my clients. I think it helps put them, and myself, at ease. I don’t like working under duress. When they are chill and I am chill, I work at a better level. Another similarity is the art. Each tattoo, each caricature, is different. Not one face is exactly the same. No tattoo is ever the same. People may get the same design, but the placement may be different. The skin will be different; the way they react to the pain will be different. Lots of variables. Lots of on-the-fly decisions being made. Needless to say, neither are boring. Honestly, my time as an airbrush artist has been most beneficial to my switch over to tattooing.

MZ: What are some of your influences?

GONZALEZ: My influences vary so greatly I'd say. I grew up on Saturday morning cartoons, and never stopped watching them. I would say the Simpsons, Invader Zim, Brothers Grunt, Aeon Flux, Thundercats, Smurfs, and even Rick and Morty. I still have an attraction to realistic painting styles, like Boucher, Shawn Barber and Hussar. As far as tattooers, I'd list Tanane Whitfield, Jesse Smith, Frank La Natra, Tim Pangburn, Jamie Ris, Kelly Doty and Timmy B are just a handful of incredible people in my field.

STEPHAN: One of my early influences was Mercer Mayer, who did some children's book called “Little Critters & Little Monsters.” The drawings really captured my imagination at a young age. The other things that really captured my imagination were comic books, skateboard art and heavy-metal album covers. That was the stuff that made me want to draw my entire life. Now that I'm older and have been tattooing for 20 years, I am more into art than ever, but I don't really feel like I have specific influences. There is just so much out there and so much on the Internet that I feel bombarded with different imagery. It’s an amazing time that we live in, being able to see so much, so easily.

SCHWAB: As far as tattooers, my initial influences were Jime Litwalk, Tony Ciavarro, Joe Capobianco, Cleen Rock One in the new school category and portrait artists like Tom Renshaw and Robert Hernandez. Some of my current influences are artists like Edgar Marquez (@ediablo), Adam Munoa (@munoa13) Thomas Daniel Noonan (@thomasdanielnoonan), Marty McEwen (@martyrietmcewen) and Forrest Rowell (@happymiskas), as well as Timmy B, Frank LaNatra, Robert Kane and caricaturists-turned-tattooers Sean Gardner, Nick Mitchell and Tyson Taumaoe.

MZ: Where can people find your work?

JANKOWSKI: Find my work either on Instagram (@tattoosbyhalo) or on my website: tattoosbyhalo.com.

GONZALEZ: Instagram: willjgonzalez FB: www.facebook.com/gonzalez.will, email: willgonzaleztattoos@gmail.com, website: www.willjgonzalez.com

ROSS: The most likely place is in trash cans spread across my shop or home, but also on the Internet and random people. I'm on the Instagram @gross9978 and all the Facebooks and twitters, but I mostly just link to them from Instagram, so it’s all the same stuff over and over. My shop has a website where you can see everything I do as well as all the awesome people I work with if you wanna check it out. Www.Thebluerosetattoo.Com

STEPHAN: I work at Loose Screw Tattoo in Richmond, Virginia. (804) 342-1981. You can find my stuff online at www. jasonstephantattoos.com or Instagram.com/jasonstephantattoos.

SCHWAB: I've been terrible about updating my website lately, but www.painfulreminders.com, or for more up-to-date posts and ramblings, my Instagram is @painfulreminders.

PIERCE: You can find me on Facebook ― Stacy Pierce or IG ― @stacykakes or at Brand New Tattoo on FB or @brandnewtattoo on IG.

GARDNER: I have my art through multiple social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Snap Chat, Twitter and now on skin. Type in SeanGardnerisAwesome in almost any search bar and have a peek at what I’m up to.

HERNANDEZ: I can be found tattooing at Nostalgic Ink Tattoo Studio in San Antonio. I have the majority of my paintings and drawings up on the walls there. I also have a website, and a few social media pages.

GARDNER: Tattooing has been fun, interesting and a massive challenge to learn. There are so many different variables to consider for a tattoo vs. a drawing or illustration. With tattooing, there is a whole new set of tools, cautionary health elements and skin! Everyone’s skin is so different to tattoo, work on and heal. It really has been interesting to learn and observe how much that changes in this craft and how things are done in designing for tattoos. I feel very honored to get to take my art further and actually apply it onto people’s skin.

It's been a pleasure, and thanks so much for having me on this discussion.

To sum it up, these artists are just like us. They push and pull every chance they get. They are constantly trying to better themselves artistically and learning to evolve with technology. They are extremely passionate about art, trying new things and pushing themselves every chance they get. It was an honor to talk with these artists and thank them all by following their art and saying hello!

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