Freshly Inked Interview with Lefty Tattooer

Lefty tattooer is a phenomenal fine line, single line, and anime tattoo artist. We got to catch up with him and ask him about where he got his cool name, what he loves about tattooing & his tips for new artists.

You have done some anime inspired tattoos, who is your anime spirit animal and why?

Shikamaru from Naruto. Need I say more? Haha! Basically, I am extremely lazy and pretty much never want to do anything. Anyone that knows me just knows that he and I are basically the same.

When did you start going by lefty tattooer? And why?

When I started working at Iron Spade my boss started calling me that cause Jayson was too normal of a name and my Instagram handle was Lefty tattooer already.

What's an everyday challenge as a tattoo artist? Just picking apart my own work and figuring out where I need to improve my work. I also have a hard time marketing myself so that's a challenge as well. 

What keeps you passionate about the tattoo industry? Almost everything about it; the people I meet, the friends I've made. Once I start tattooing, nothing stresses me out. I enjoy what I do every day and I love my crew and my peers in this trade. I can go on and on.

It must be more challenging to fit all these details on a small piece, what motivated you to learn this? I've always been amazed at artwork but in such a small space. I use to do be a nail tech so I was pretty used to doing small artwork already.

How many tattoos do you have?
I've lost count years ago.

What do you look for in a new client? Someone easy to get along with and to work with, someone who has great ideas for pieces too and that I can have great conversations with. 

And what is one golden rule for you or one tip you have for new artists? Check your ego. If you already think you know it all and that you no longer have nothing left to learn then you'll never get far.

See more from Lefty on his Instagram: @leftytattooer