Subtitles section Play video
-
I've also tattooed buttholes and put flames on them.
-
I've done all kinds of interesting things with my career.
-
(funky music)
-
My name is Ralph Rosa.
-
My name is Jason Ackerman.
-
My name is Rafael Marte.
-
And I'm a tattoo artist.
-
Professional tattoo artist.
-
I am a professional tattoo artist.
-
I got my first tattoo at the age of seventeen.
-
When I was eighteen years old.
-
At eighteen, and it was a design that I had made myself when I got to the tattoo shop.
-
And it was a squid-octopus, I picked it off the wall.
-
What made me wanna get that first tattoo?
-
I walked into a shop, saw it on the wall, pointed at it, said, "Hey, I want that."
-
(laughing)
-
So the weirdest tattoo I've ever done on someone was, this woman came in and she wanted to get chocolate-covered strawberries and it was dripping chocolate, and it was all over her vagina.
-
The weird thing about that was that she brought her eighteen year-old daughter and she was like, 45 years-old and she brought her daughter as moral support.
-
I'd have to say the most awkward for me was tattooing a gentleman's cock.
-
It turned literally the entire thing, from tip to balls, into a snake, it was surreal.
-
I absolutely hate it when I'm sitting in the shop and a client walks in and they have no idea what they wanna get.
-
They tell us we can do whatever we want and then we start drawing stuff up and it's never what they want, so that makes no sense to us.
-
Nobody ever really means do what you want.
-
What they mean is do what they want, as long as you can figure it out, which is next to impossible.
-
"I need a tattoo, what do you think I should get?"
-
"Oh, by the way, my flight leaves in three hours."
-
Getting a tattoo does hurt.
-
Whoever doesn't say it doesn't hurt, they're a little weird.
-
But, you know, everyone takes pain differently.
-
It's not terrible.
-
It's not as bad as people think.
-
It's all about your state of mind, honestly.
-
Everybody's different.
-
Literally, like where I think the most painful spot on the body is, which would be like ribs or lower back for me personally.
-
I tattoo people all day that sit like that's nothing.
-
(laughing)
-
Of course!
-
Yeah. (off-camera laughter)
-
Who doesn't?
-
Who wouldn't?
-
As a professional, I'm supposed to be objective and not judge people.
-
However, as a human, I judge everybody that walks through the door.
-
As artists we have to, you know, give them what they want.
-
We're just gonna give you a good piece.
-
We want you to walk out with a great piece.
-
If you come in with an idea, you're going to an artist that you like their style, and if you like their work, then you're gonna get something really good.
-
I think if the tattoo is composed really well and it's a very dynamic tattoo, as an artist I think that makes for a really great tattoo.
-
For as far as a client goes, my end goal is to have a client leave with a smile on their face.
-
If they're happy, and they love what I did, then that's perfect.
-
I'd say before you get a tattoo, you definitely need to think about it.
-
Look for artists that you like so that you know what style you're looking for.
-
At this day and age, if you get a bad tattoo, you kinda deserve it.
-
It's because you didn't do the research.
-
A lot of people get, like, small tattoos to start off, to feel the pain and all that.
-
I always say don't do that.
-
If you want something big, get it big.
-
And don't be a stickler about money.
-
We put years into our craft and we're worth what we ask for.
-
Good tattoos aren't cheap and cheap tattoos aren't good.
-
If you know somebody that can do it in their garage, by all means go get it, but I'm gonna charge you a lot to fix it.
-
(upbeat music)