Where were you born and where
are you from?
I
was born and raised in Tampa, Florida.
How did you get introduced to
the tattoo culture?
I didn’t get
introduced into tattooing until I was in college and started getting somewhat
heavily tattooed. This is when I got introduced to custom tattooing as well. I
had never realized you didn’t have to pick something out, that the tattooers
could actually draw (I think a lot of people still have these ideas).
When did you get started?
I started
tattooing around September 2007 under Travis Franklin at Oddity Tattoo in
Sarasota, Florida which is where I still can be found.
Do you remember the first
tattoo that you did?
The first
tattoo I ever did was a skull and top hat on my buddy Wayne, who worked at City
Pizza with me where I slung pizza dough to help pay bills. It took me about 3
hours to do and was about a half dollar size.
How would you describe your
style of tattooing?
I would
describe my style of tattooing as cartoony in a general sense. Some people say new
school, but it’s mostly character based and colorful. I like doing other styles
of tattooing as well, like black and grey and some evil stuff , but I usually
get asked to do cute or cuddly things which I have a lot of fun doing.
What were you doing before
you got into the tattoo business, and what made you change?
Before I got into tattooing, I was making pizza for about 5
years. I liked that job, but it’s kind of repetitive and you are only making
money for the pizza shop owner. Not doing anything exciting. I always wanted to
tattoo, so it was just buying time for me.
What influences your artwork?
My biggest
influences as far as other artists are Travis Franklin, Greg Simkins as the
main ones. There are far too many artists I can name that I look up to or am
influenced by, but I would leave someone off and feel bad, so those two are the
main ones who deserve the credit. I have a 9 month old son and 2 English
bulldogs, so their day to day lives influence me. I love cartoons and ninja
turtles and animation movies and all that fun stuff. Humor also plays a large
role in influencing me.
What would you say is the
best part about tattooing?
There are so
many great things about tattooing. Meeting new people and being my own boss. I
can do art for a living and not live with my parents.
What advice would you give to
someone looking to get their first tattoo?
If someone was
looking to get a first tattoo, my advice would be to ask a lot of questions,
look at portfolios. Talk to different people. Believe what your eyes and
instincts are telling you. Don’t just go to a shop because it’s around the
corner or your buddy got a tattoo there that looks okay. Don’t call and price
shop over the phone, It’s so hard to give an accurate price over the phone. If
you make a decision based off one phone quote being $20 cheaper, that’s dumb!
What’s your biggest
inspiration, what keeps you going?
The things that
keep me going are my son and wife. Besides that just being a man and going out
and making a living is what I was taught to do. I was taught to have a work
ethic and not sit around so making myself and my parents and family proud also
plays a large roll even if I didn’t have my own family.
What is one thing that life
has taught you?
Not really sure what life has taught me. I’ve always been a
pretty happy relaxed person. I just usually roll with the punches and try not
to get too worked up over the small stuff. That will work its way out
eventually. If you’re good to people they’ll be good to you, and if they’re not,
they don’t deserve to be around you.
Where do you see the tattoo
culture 10 years from now?
I’m not sure
where I see the tattoo culture 10 years from now. 10 years ago I was just
trying to get my foot in the door and there wasn’t a lot of information. Now
the info is everywhere. There is a larger gap between people doing good tattoos
and people who shouldn’t be tattooing. There’s a lot more tattoo artists and a
lot more people tattooing, I expect both of those numbers to rise. There will
probably be more cliques in the tattoo industry, where people will group
themselves by style and these people might look down on other groups based on
their own style; either way there will always be a different opinion from
people in the industry 20 plus years from now and from those people who are
just getting started.
Anything else you would like
to add?
You can check me out at Oddity Tattoo in Sarasota, Florida.
Also I’m on instagram @scottolive and post a lot of in progress
stuff there that I don’t put other places.