colorful tattoo Archives - Matt Hodel Tattoo

Codye.

I did Codye’s first tattoo less than a year ago. As I remember he was quite the handful. He was rather nervous and really persistent at communicating the importance of the getting his first tattoo perfect. I don’t mind. I was told a while back that the energy like this just means the client is…

Back Piece Finished!

Congrats to August So much goes into getting your back tattooed. You need to figure out what the idea is, how to design it, how to pay for it, how to commit time to it and how to keep up the energy when your still not finished. Finishing a large tattoo is very hard. I…

Get Weird

A Good Kinda Crazy Team Mullet Louie’s leg is ripe with humor. I guess you could describe him as silly but he looks a serious as a heart attack. Currently he’s shaved bald and looks scary as hell but if he showed you his hidden tattoos it would throw you off. We already did the…

Hunter doesn’t stop.

Heavily Tattooed Hunter has been getting tattooed by me for years. We balanced his arms in a “yin-yang” approach. If we did a skull blue on the left, it was red on the right. We did not mirror his arms, we just paid careful attention to the layout and it turned out great. We started…

Tim’s Coi Fish Sleeve

Finally Finished I really love how this turned out. I actually tattooed Tim in 1995. He was dying for a flaming yin-yang around his navel and I obliged. The 90’s were good for shit like that. It was more about the act of getting tattooed than what you got. That was at Iron Age on…

Becoming Tattooed

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 overestimate the environment and the adjectives don’t quite capture the maximum effect your trying to articulate. The only way someone else can understand is if they have been through…

5 Traits that Hold You Back

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…

Tattooing has Changed, Have You?

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…

Advice for the New Tattooist.

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

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…

Want More Money? Then Stop Worrying about the Money

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…

Become the PRODUCT!

“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…

Tattoos I Tattoodid…

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.…

BLURB’s Online Portfolio Maker

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…

Wanna see some of my older tattoos?

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

The True Tattoo Artist

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,…

I want to be a Tattoo Artist!!

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…

Frank.

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 gets her Fix!

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.

Draw. Tattoo. Draw.

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…

Unpredictable.

Your crystal balls sucks.

…Seriously.

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…

Tattooing versus the Real World

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…

Google Power!

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…

Tips on the Schedule Stuff

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…