Freshly Inked Interview with James Mullin

Where do you currently tattoo?
I own and tattoo out of Lotus Tattoo in Hemet, California. I’ve been tattooing there for over 20 years, and I’ve owned it now for 10 years.

When you're not tattooing in CA, you often attend tattoo events. Do you prefer tattooing on the road or in the studio, and why?
I love doing both actually, it’s hard to pick one over the other. At my shop, I have the luxury feel right at home and all my equipment is within arms reach and all my clients that I’ve built up over the last 20 years have me booked out, doing all kinds of awesome and fun projects. But on the other hand, After being in the shop for over 20 years I like to get out once in a while to see different places, and tattoo people that aren’t able to travel out to see me. And I love Tattoo Convention’s because I get to see all my friends I’ve made over the years. Some tattoo artists don’t like the vibe at tattoo conventions but I love it, everyone is always super cool to me, and it’s always nice to network with other artists in different states to be able to set up a guest spot when you want to. It’s just inspiring to work with other artists, we push each other and the competitions are fun too. 

What style of tattooing do you focus on?
I focus more on Neo-traditional. My style is more illustrative than anything but if you had to label it I guess it would be in Neo-traditional. But I don’t stay strictly to that, I like to do many styles like black and grey as well. I just mostly post on social media the stuff I like and I want to keep doing. Also anything to do with pop culture always gets me super pumped, I’m a nerd at heart.

What are three words you want associated with your work?
Bright, bold and clean. My favorite compliments I get about my work is that they say it’s so clean it looks like a sticker. 

Tell us about the most recent tattoo you've done.
I just did a really cool Mandolorian piece with his ship the Razorcrest. The show literally just came out and I started drawing it up and by episode 3 he just got his chrome armor so I stylized the tattoo after that. After I posted the illustration on my Instagram account, I ended up tattooing the next day. The series isn't even over yet and I’m already doing awesome tattoos from it. I’m stoked I have clients that are into Star Wars just as much as I am. 

Any bizarre or funny stories from your tattoo shop?
Yes.. haha one time I was tattooing in my station and in the next booth over is the piercing station. Our body Piercer just did a tongue piercing on somebody, they gagged and projectile vomited all the way over into my station. I felt some of the spray on the back of my neck, luckily it didn’t hit the area I was tattooing as my body shielded it. Unfortunately, I had to stop what I was doing and clean up the mess and change my clothing before I can finish the tattoo. 

You've done many awesome dinosaurs tattoos so we must ask, what is your dinosaur spirit animal and why?
Definitely a T-Rex. There are the most intimidating, and badass dinosaurs hands down. I’ve just been fascinated with dinosaurs ever since I was a little kid. There was an old TV show called Land of the Lost that I was infatuated with and got into dinosaurs. And ever since I could pick up a crayon that was one of the first things I could draw, and actually really enjoy drawing. So I’d just try to draw all the species of dinosaurs I could. And just a few years ago I decided I would start drawing some dinosaur inspired Tattoos and see if anyone would want to get them and once it started it just snowballed into something I do all the time now. People just love them and I get to relive my childhood with these dinosaur Tattoos. It’s fantastic! 

You've also done movie-inspired tattoos like Back to the future. If you could be the main character in a movie, who would you choose and why?
I would be Doc Brown for sure, I always wondered what type of stuff he got to see while he was off time traveling with the DeLorean. They could’ve made a whole show about just those adventures. Marty was cool, but he was a little too whiny for me. Haha, I love doing movie-inspired tattoos though, especially Sci-fi or Anime! 

With the new year approaching, do you have any big trips planned? Or, what is something you hope to accomplish in 2020? 
I’m currently working on my tour schedule for next year I plan on hitting about two conventions a month and I’ll be posting it on my social media like Instagram and Facebook. So if I’m going to be in your neck of the woods hit me up and will do some cool tats!