Episodios
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It's a word every outsider loves to hate. But, I'd argue that, in an unregulated craft, some gates are the only thing keeping standards from collapsing.
Tattooing doesnât belong to any single artist. None of us âownâ it. But that doesnât make it a free-for-all either. Tattooing is a culture and a skilled trade, and right now the working artists are its custodians. That comes with a responsibility: protect the craft from hype cycles, cash-grabs, and the slow slide into chaos â and pass it on in better shape than we found it.
This episode asks the uncomfortable question: when future generations look back, will they see us as the artists who defended quality⊠or the ones who watched tattooing get hollowed out and sold as lifestyle content?
At its best, gatekeeping isnât ego. Itâs standards. Itâs being able to say: this is what safe, skilled tattooing looks like â and if youâre not there yet, you need more training, more time, and more respect for the work.
We pull examples from outside tattooing to show what âhealthy gatesâ look like: historic guild systems that required apprenticeships before artists could sell publicly, and performance arts like ballet and classical music where years of training and auditions arenât cruelty â theyâre respect for the art and the audience.
Then we bring it home with modern, real-world gates: Wales introducing mandatory licensing for tattooists and premises (including infection prevention training), and the EU restricting thousands of hazardous substances in tattoo inks under REACH.
Gatekeeping can be abused, yes. But no gates at all? Thatâs worse. Thatâs how standards collapse â and clients get hurt.
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A warning shot for anyone whoâs starting to feel like tattooing is becoming a perfectly lit factory.
On the surface, the craft has never looked better. Open Instagram and within seconds youâre hit with flawless blends, razor lines, and photos that look like product ads. Everything is crisp. Everything is polished. Everything is performing.
It looks like evolution. Like tattooing has levelled up into some high-definition utopia.
But look closer.
Something darker is happening under all that perfection: the work is starting to blur into one aesthetic. Different artists, same output. Different studios, same âvibe.â The feed becomes a loopâendless dĂ©jĂ vu. Not growth. Stagnation wearing a filter. An algorithmic treadmill that convinces you youâre moving forward while youâre actually standing still.
This episode pulls apart how âcontent thinkingâ quietly rewires the craft. When the goal becomes the postânot the pieceâyou start designing for the grid, not the body. You chase whatâs proven, not whatâs true. You optimise for likes, saves, and shareability⊠and the work gets safer, smoother, and less human.
Because content wants repeatable. Art wants risk.
And tattooingâat its bestâhas always been risk. Taste. Collision. A living thing made between two people in a room, not a thumbnail built to survive an algorithm.
So the call here is simple: stop making work that only exists to be seen. Make work that exists to last. Make tattoos that donât rely on perfect lighting to feel alive. Make choices the feed canât predict. Let the work be messy. Let it be personal. Let it be yours.
Make art, not contentâbecause content gets consumed.
Art gets remembered.
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A reality check for anyone doom-scrolling their way into believing the craft is finished.
Everywhere you look, someoneâs yelling âitâs over.â Blogs, podcasts, Instagram celebrities, TikTok prophetsâsame recycled headline: the end of tattooing. And I canât help thinking⊠Iâve heard this song before. Every era swears itâs the last one. Bans came and went. Moral panics came and went. New tech arrived, and the craft didnât dieâit sharpened.
Whatâs different now isnât the threat. Itâs the volume knob.
Social media amplifies fear because panic performs. One loud opinion becomes âsocial proof,â then turns into 10,000 nervous DMs. Not because itâs trueâbecause itâs viral. Collective stupidity drowns out critical thinking. And in the outrage economy, being calm doesnât sell courses, quick fixes, or snake oil.
So this episode zooms out.
Before you react, check your numbers. Ask whatâs actually happening in your world, not on your phone. Ask who benefits from the panic. Follow the incentives and youâll usually find the answer. Then get practical: make work thatâs hard to automate or scale. Build routes the algorithm canât throttle. Focus on craft, not clout. Hype fades. Mastery endures.
Tattooists survive by thinking, questioning, and resisting the pull of instant outrage. The outrage economy wants reactive artists. The craft needs reflective onesâpeople who keep showing up, sharpening their skill in silence, and making the art instead of chasing the headline.
Because tattooing isnât ending. Itâs mutatingâlike it always has. Weâre just the next chapter in a story thatâs been evolving for 150 years.
And when the chorus starts yelling âItâs over!â weâll be in our boothsâmachines tuned, minds quietâbuilding what comes next.
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A blunt look at what happens when machines stop being âa future thingâ and start rearranging the present.
AI is here. And in the short term, itâs going to shake the worldâbecause a lot of people are about to try getting rich by replacing humans wherever they can. Jobs will disappear. Efficiency will spike. The already wealthy will likely do what they always do: get wealthier.
But the bigger story isnât the tech. Itâs the feeling.
After more than a decade working in marketing, Iâm less interested in predicting which tools win, and more interested in predicting what people will crave when the dust settlesâbased on how we feel about the recent past. For the last century, the world has pivoted hard into a productivity-first model. Weâre âbetter offâ on paper than ever⊠and yet so many people feel lonely, numb, and directionless.
Our scarcest resource isnât time or money. Itâs meaning.
Not because machines existâbut because of how greedy humans choose to use them. Instead of solving real problems, weâre heading toward a culture stuffed with synthetic replacements: AI music built on equations, galleries of machine-made âart,â fake news, fake stars, fake influencers⊠fake everything. A polished, perfectly optimised void.
So where does tattooing fit?
Right in the middle of the backlash.
The next 5â10 years will reward the people and businesses who double down on what canât be automated: honesty, presence, taste, imperfection, local culture, real conversations, real experiences. Slow content. Live music. Messy art. No snapping to guides. No performance for the algorithm.
Sweat the small stuff. Treat people well. Nurture fans, not followers. Be human. Be silly. Do what machines canât.
Because the future might belong to the efficientâŠ
âŠbut the loved will win.
And, Iâd rather be loved than efficient any day.
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Rich Harris isnât selling shortcuts. Heâs building a system.
We start with an unexpected blueprint: sports biographies. Not the highlight reels, the grind. The training blocks. The boredom. The sacrifice. Rich reads athletes the way tattooers should study tattooing: as a long game of discipline, preparation, and showing up when no oneâs clapping.
That spills straight into how he works. Craft over chaos. Reps over hype. If you want a better tattoo life, you donât need a new style, you need a stronger standard.
Then we get into the modern noise. AI, social media, and the weird pressure to perform your career like itâs a reality show. Richâs take is grounded: AI can be a tool for breaking creative deadlocks, but it canât replace taste, judgement, or the hours. And social media? Useful, sure but itâll turn you into a polished avatar if you let it. The point is to stay human.
We also talk about authenticity, what it actually looks like when youâre not curating a persona and how personal connection still does more for your work than any algorithm ever will.
From there it gets bigger: government, industry pressures, and why the people doing the work need to have a say in the world theyâre working inside.
By the end, Rich is looking forward to new seminars & new projects but the theme stays the same:
Do the work. Stay real. Build something that lasts.
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Tattooing doesnât stand still, even when we do. A long-term view on staying curious, avoiding dogma, and building a career that lasts.
I talk about tattoos a lot. Iâve written about them in my Total Tattoo column for over a decade now. A lot has changed in that time. Iâve talked about tattooing into cameras, over bar tables at conventions, in lateânight hotel rooms, and on podcasts that probably should never have existed.
When I started, I didnât have a complete view of tattooing. Not even close. I had opinions, strong ones at that, but perspective only comes with time.
If youâre early in your tattoo career, a year in, two years in, maybe just finding your feet, this isnât advice in the usual sense. Itâs not a checklist or a set of rules. Itâs a warning, and some encouragement, offered quietly.
Follow me on Instagram: @thisisourstodestroy
Email me if you want: [email protected]
You can read more of Pauls thoughts on his blog at: thisisourstodestroy.com
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"You can't outwork the stress of that kind of job."
In this engaging conversation, Joe Swanson, a former California Highway Patrol officer and tattoo artist, shares his unique experiences and insights on the intersection of law enforcement and tattooing. He discusses the challenges of stress and mental health in law enforcement, the evolving perceptions of tattoos in the profession, and the importance of tactical resilience training. Joe emphasizes the need for personal responsibility and growth, both in law enforcement and tattooing, and highlights the significance of community and connection in overcoming mental health challenges. The conversation also touches on the changing business models in the tattoo industry and the potential for mental health resources tailored to tattoo artists.
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joeswansontactical.com
@joeswansontactical
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In this episode of MRKD, Paul and Liam Hunter go deep into the realities of being a tattoo artist. From physical health and yoga to mastering techniques and color theory, they cover the grind that keeps tattoos looking real and artists staying sane.
They tackle imposter syndrome, online criticism, and sponsorships, exploring how authenticity, humility, and ongoing learning define success in the industry. Every tattoo deserves the same care, every artist deserves support, and personal growth is key â this episode is about thriving in tattooing, not just surviving it.
Honest, gritty, and solution-focused, if youâre an artist looking to level up your craft and mindset, this oneâs for you.
FIND OUT MORE: paulfuckintalbot.com
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@paultlbt
@liamhuntertattoos
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In this episode of MRKD, Paul and Dave dive into the mess social media has made of the tattoo world. With influencers, viral trends, and attention-grabbing gimmicks taking center stage, authentic tattooing is being treated more like a performance than craft.
They break down the tension between staying true to your work and playing the game for likes, asking whether itâs still possible to make real art for real people without getting lost in the chaos. Solutions, strategies, and honest conversation â this isnât about moaning, itâs about finding the line.
If youâre a tattooer trying to navigate trends without losing your soul, this oneâs for you.
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@paultlbt
@littledavetattoo
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Joshua Black is a tattooist from Baltimore, now working out of Gypsy Skull Tattoo in Hanover, Pennsylvania â a shop run by Brian Fuentes.
His decision to finally start his journey into tattooing came at a time when he wasnât even certain heâd be able to walk that path. Literally. Stuck in a hospital bed during the early days of the pandemic, alone, battling scoliosis, and watching the world fall apart, the first steps of his journey were uncertain in every sense â physically, mentally, and emotionally.
When he finally left the hospital, he made a choice: he was done being a wage slave. He was going to make art, not excuses.
We talked about becoming a tattooist later in life, about rediscovering happiness, and about sometimes having to blow everything up just to save yourself. Josh also reflects on the old school, their influence, and how tattoo TV and the rise of celebrity culture have shifted the perception of what tattooing is really about.
Because the truth is â weâre not the cool ones. The tattoos are. And Josh hasnât forgotten that.
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Paul sits down with Iuri Waitzberg to unpack a journey that begins in biology and ends in tattooing. Iuri talks about falling out of love with academia, falling headfirst into tattoo culture, and teaching himself the basics the only way most people do â badly, experimentally, and without permission.
They also get into tattoo culture in Brazil â how itâs shifted over time, how itâs viewed socially, and why a tropical country with visible skin naturally develops a strong relationship with tattoos.
This episode is about curiosity, cultural context, and listening to the pull when something grabs you harder than the path you were supposed to be on.
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A wide-ranging conversation with Sam Barber about why making things with your hands still matters. From diving head-first into oil painting, to deliberately choosing analog processes over digital convenience, to a shared love-hate relationship with social media as a business necessity.
We talk about creativity as research, obsession, and storytelling â why the design process is the real joy of tattooing, and why turning artists into output machines kills the work.
The episode closes with an unfiltered, England-specific conversation about tattoo schools, regulation, money, and why so much of it feels broken. No American takes, no global claims â just an honest look at whatâs going wrong locally, and why so many artists have stopped pretending otherwise.
Expect strong opinions, laughs, and zero interest in playing nice.
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Paul talks with Gabe Ripley about bad tattoos, good tattooers, the long road between the two and how a computer-programming geek end up in tattooing in the first place?.
From a $60 dove on the ankle in the early â90s, to discovering that not all tattooers are equal, to realising that coding could be traded for skin when cash was short.
This episode digs into class, skills, value, and the quiet overlaps between technology and tattooing. Itâs about figuring things out the hard way, recognising quality when you see it, and learning that sometimes the thing that gets you tattooed isnât money â itâs what you can build with your hands and your brain.
Expect stories, honesty, and a reminder that tattooing has always attracted outsiders, geeks included.
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A deep dive into making for the sake of making. Paul chats with Jason Butcher, exploring how authenticity defines art, why labels fail, and why feeling ârealâ matters more than liking it.
Expect stories about unexpected interruptions, childhood memories resurfacing, and how the act of creation itself can be its own reward. This isnât about perfection or approval â itâs about honesty in making, and the chaos that comes with it.
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A grounded conversation about space, craft, and stubborn creativity. Paul sits down with Jamie Lee Knott to unpack the story behind Chapters, a once derelict, Grade II listed building in Birminghamâs Jewellery Quarter, slowly brought back to life with help, graft, and a refusal to quit.
From tearing a studio down to the bone, to living with unfinished work, to turning a historic building into a home for tattooing and painting, this episode is about building a place that holds both art and a life.
Expect talk of restoration, neighbourhood energy, and the simple truth that studios are never finished â we just stop abandoning them for a while.
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A loose, honest conversation between longtime friends Paul and Tanya Buxton â tracing her path from apprenticeship chatter on social media to specialised medical tattooing, private studio space, and the first pink, one-woman version of Paradise during lockdown.
Itâs about growth, adaptation, saying yes when the world was closing down, and turning a back-room studio into the start of something bigger. Expect laughter, stories, nipple tattoos, pandemic pivots, and a reminder that the best moves often start in tiny rooms no one sees coming.
