colorful tattoo Archives - Matt Hodel Tattoo

Becoming Heavily Tattooed. Swapping stories about getting your first tattoo is fun. It’s a lot like bagging about fishing tales or near death experiences. Your nerves overestimated the environment and the adjectives don’t quite capture the maximum effect your trying to articulate. There is a feeling that the only way someone else can understand is…

The traditions of tattooing have been deeply rooted in the echoes of time. If you meet anyone who has been tattooing for more than 15 years, they will tell you how things used to be. Truly, tattooing has changed and evolved from the sponge and bucket days. With many progressive features being most noticeable on…

In 1995 there were 14 tattoo shops from O’fallon, Illinois to O’fallon, Missouri. In 1998 there were 40. With each shop averaging 3 artists working in house, that would equal 78 new jobs for tattoo artists in three years. That is almost a 300% increase in the industry. As impressive as those numbers are, where…

Tips for the Freshman Tattooist. Its has been said that you haven’t been tattooing until your fifth year is complete. This is when you get to see your old tattoos healed. It takes that long for your tattoos to settle. Until then, your first 5 years are very important. Here is some advice. Take it…

Emotionally driven tattoos When a loved one passes away, the feelings of helplessness washes over us. The desire to “do something” gnaws at our heartstrings. Tattooing has always been the ultimate act. The one thing you can do that truly lasts a lifetime. Just getting a tattoo is a statement within itself so it is…

Your reward is a byproduct. The fastest route is a straight line: unless you’re so focused on the destination that you fall off the path. This happens when you are trying so dang hard to succeed. Sometimes we get so obsessed that we micro manage the entire journey. Have you ever counted calories or tracked…

“I just love my tattoo! It was fast and efficient!” -nobody ever Why. Why do I want to rally the troops? Why do I want to reach out to artists? Because times have changed. The product is no longer the institutional names of big shops but the future solely relies on the individual tattoo artist…

Sometimes I feel so swamped drawing new tattoos for clients that I forget how much I have done. They say if you wanna have self esteem, do something to be esteemed about! I’m posting this as a reminder to lift my head from the grind and appreciate what I do and who I have met.…

www.blurb.com I love Blurb. I just got done making another portfolio. In the past I have used Adobe InDesign to layout my books. Doing it this way gives me a lot of control of the layout. Today I decided to use their HTML book making option. I was surprised at how much control I really…

It’s Throw Back Thursday! I found a memory card from 2008. I guess I didn’t like taking straight photos in back then.

When Nathan was ask what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said “A professional baseball player”. His fourth grade teacher told him to pick something real. I think this pushed him harder. She was right that he wouldn’t become a Ballplayer. My brother ended up spending 9 years with the Arizona Cardinals,…

Why I don’t want my kids to tattoo. Tattooing is not for everyone. I get asked about letting my kids get tattooed or what if my kids want to tattoo for a living. The answer is No. As long as my kids are kids, they are not getting tattooed. The state says 18, so I’m…

This is the closest I get to a portrait. Franky and Madison have been getting tattooed from me for almost a decade. Here is Franky’s new tattoo! It is a tribute to his love, Madison. www.matthodeltattoo.com

Sammie was disappointed with the direction her tattoo was going. She needed someone to cover-up, fix-up, and finish her Elephant! I helped Sammie get a tattoo she is no longer embarrassed by.

The first years of tattooing are tricky. Your focus should be on technical ability. Can you make the machines do what you want them to do? The first few years are just a challenge to figure out why what worked on Monday will not work on Wednesday. Consider the novice tattooist. There is an urgency…

Your crystal balls sucks.

by Mark DeNicola at collective-evolution.com In a world where people are regularly commended for things such as hard work, dedication and focus, the idea of not taking life seriously can sound preposterous. But is a serious mentality really at the core of the previously mentioned good habits? Or is it what’s potentially getting in the…

For all its ups and downs, tattooing has been the only constant in my life. I started tattooing before I could legally drink. I had to borrow Mark Andrew state ID to get into the events of the Houston Convention in 1996. They were not only my formative years of tattooing, they were my formative…

I want to revisit a Blog post from a few years ago. I think Google is a great place to start. It’s very useful in getting your brain emerged into a visual library. We know that any image you can think of is up on the internet but how you use google is important. Google…

Just make the time. We’ve been talking a lot lately about getting on track, optimizing time, being productive, and other goal-achieving tips. I thought it would be good to be a little more specific about some of these ideas. It’s pretty easy to just think, “I need to [insert thing that never gets done],” but…

They say having kids will change you. This is Emma and I. In these photos I have been a father for 6 months. I was broke and we lived in a hotel in Albuquerque New Mexico. Our neighbors were Junkies and Whores. Something had to change. I really thought that one day I would wake…

It’s Monday, and there’s usually a mixed sense of optimism and exhaustion with what lies ahead for the week. A fresh start, and a new mountain of work. Here’s a few simple reminders about how to keep stress at bay and use it to your advantage. Found over at Psych Central, this quick article will…

I miss my friend Max. He lives in Austria. He is awesome. Check him out: Tattoos to the Maxx

Despite the best intentions… …the best efforts, the most thorough plans, life just does what it wants. We don’t ALWAYS accomplish what we set out to do. We fail. We are reminded that what we want isn’t necessarily going to become ours in the way we had imagined, or even at all. Times like these…

“People over estimate their uniqueness so that commonalities seem like small miracles.” Google has already found your tattoo. It has already found the same tattoo for hundreds of other people wanting a bird and stars. After a quick Google search you quickly realize how many people had your idea. It is no big deal. Don’t…