MURKADO

Can you tell me how you landed an apprenticeship at Right Hand Tattoo?

• I met Heath at a convention last year in the spring. I had always been inspired by his work, so I introduced myself and I think I brought up the fact that I had been painting traditional flash.

• About a week or two later we set up a meeting where I showed him my portfolio. He gave me plenty of (welcome) critiques, but overall felt like I had a good enough grasp on painting. He then invited me to start coming into the shop regularly so we could see how we all interacted with each other. After a few months of coming in, painting regularly, doing their set-ups and tear downs, and bringing coffee, I was granted the title of the shop apprentice. 

What motivated you to get into tattooing? What have you done for work in the past prior to your apprenticeship?

• I’ve had several other jobs since I was in high school. I worked in retail, food, and general customer service jobs, but my most recent one before Right Hand was manufacturing at Aurora Cannabis. 

• I was laid off of my job at Aurora when our facility shut down, which led to a lot of free time with my thoughts during unemployment. I had always been drawn to tattoos and tattoo culture, and I have always enjoyed making art of any kind, but I had never tried for an apprenticeship because of self doubt and anxiety. I figured since I had just lost my job anyway that I had nothing to lose if I just tried for it, and decided that I would at least try to make a portfolio and see what happens. 

How has your experience as an apprentice been so far learning from Heath? For me, it was really interesting to see his mentoring skills on display when I had my appointment with you, he seemed really focused that day.

• My experience has been full of important lessons, to say the least. Heath has dedicated much of himself and his life to tattooing. He cares about tattoo culture and history, which has given me the opportunity to not only learn how to tattoo, but learn about the people and methods that came before me, which has given me a higher level of respect and admiration for the craft. He’s a very thorough teacher, and his passion for tattooing shows in his teaching. I’m definitely lucky to learn and emulate the hardworking, always hustling mindset he has towards tattooing. 

• Heath may sometimes seem like a tough and intense mentor, and sometimes the situation calls for that, but he’s always just wanted to make me the best tattooer I can possibly be. He’s been super supportive in hearing my anxieties around tattooing and giving me tattoo, business, financial, and overall life advice. The dynamic at the shop is good, we all come in and just have a good time doing tattoos with an endless supply of banter. 

• Before I knew him I was a bit intimidated, but he really is just a cool and nice guy who can find things in common with anyone who walks through the door.

• Both Heath and Kirk (our other artist at Right Hand/my bestie) have consistently pushed me throughout these months to work hard, get faster, and be better. Sometimes keeping up with all this new information and schedule has felt overwhelming, but leading up to now it has helped me in ways I didn’t realize at first. I am learning how to manage my time better with drawing, working another job, and starting to tattoo. I’m learning how to put out drawings and flash faster, and even how to market myself as a tattooer, which are big parts of the job that I’m glad I’m becoming comfortable with.

Your American traditional paintings are really impressive! How long have you been painting for and what do you enjoy about American traditional tattoos?

• Thank you so much! I’ve created art all throughout my life, I loved to draw and paint as a kid and all throughout my teenage years. I stopped making visual art for a while during high school and tried other crafts like gardening, miniatures, sewing, and Lino prints instead, but I recently picked it back up during the pandemic when I remembered how much I enjoyed it. 

• I enjoy American Trad because it’s bold and concise, but you can still find ways to be creative with it.  I like that it has a kind of standard routine to follow when you’re painting it, and that those steps and concepts can be translated to tattooing.

Have you done any custom pieces before? Or have you stuck to doing flash pieces as an apprentice?

• I’ve done a couple and I’m definitely stoked to do them! As an apprentice who’s just figuring out tattooing though, flash has been easier for me to learn with simpler designs I know I can do. 

What have been some of the more difficult aspects of tattooing that you weren't aware of before?

• I know I said earlier that painting and tattooing can translate into each other a lot, but there’s still a huge learning curve that comes with learning an entirely new medium and making your tattoos look like your paintings. It was definitely humbling to do my first few tattoos and realize how different and how hard it was to make them as clean as I like my paintings. 

• Also, managing a work life balance. Work doesn’t just end when you leave the shop. You get home from work, then you still have to draw appointments or flash for hours after the actual work day is done. I didn’t realize before how many more hours you put in vs a 9-5 corporate job where you clock out and your day is done. 

What other tattoo styles would you like to pursue in the future, if any?

• I’d like to try Traditional Japanese more, even Japanese with biomech elements (@waterstreetphantom, @greggletron, @calekristeltattoo for example). I think Neo-Traditional could be fun as well, although I’m open to trying any new styles if I get the opportunity.

Who are some of your inspirations in the tattoo community?

• Obviously Heath Smith and Kirk Shandro, both for their tattoos and their work ethic. 

• I’m a huge fan of artists that put different creative aspects on the style like Dan Santorro, Mike Baker, Danny Reed, Gordon Combs, Stef Bastian, and Caige Baker to name a few. I also admire tattooers that can just do super trad clean tattoos like @moveslow, @tarynthetattooist, @spencerevanstattoo

• Tattooers who do clean Japanese or add obscurity to it have always inspired me so I have to list them - @waterstreetphantom, @greggletron, @lazyjoel, Adrian Hing, @the_sepp_tattoo.

How many tattoos do you have now and which one was you most recent?

• I only have 15 at the moment, both because I am a broke apprentice and because I want to focus on getting large scale work instead of small patchwork tattoos.

• My most recent was from another apprentice, @t_salty at Easy Tiger, who is the kindest human and is becoming a great tattooer. 

Do you assign any meaning to your tattoos?

• Honestly, no. I have a lot of my tattoos simply because I wanted to get tattooed, meet new artists, and get into the culture more. I only have one tattoo, which is my sisters birthday in a trad rose and banner that means something. 

• I don’t personally feel like it’s important to give them a deep personal meaning. We all change as people and things that were important back then might not be now, so if anything, I like to make sure that personal tattoos are at least done in a way that they look good in the future if the meaning is not as important anymore. 

In your opinion, which parts of your body have been the most painful spots to get work done on?

• Probably my knee, which was done by @lazyjoel. I’m a very bony person and getting a bony spot like that was pretty spicy.

Out of all of the tattoos that you have, which ones do you love the most and why?

• Also my knee, I think it’s just the most aesthetically pleasing to me and done in a super clean traditional style. I also hated my knees growing up for having scars and bumps but putting a sick panther on it has made me like it a lot more.