MARK BLANCHARD

TATTOO ARTIST

- Dan Henk

Dan Henk: So Mark, good to interview you. You seem to be one of the guys, like Jesse Levitt, who has carved out a unique area where you are mainly only tattooing your own illustrations. Would you say that's accurate?

Mark Blanchard: Thanks man, happy to do it. Yeah, I've been doing my current style for a bit now, in fact probably since 2010. Before that I was doing more color with my work, but I wasn't finding it to be as sharp as I wanted, so I stripped the images down to involving solely black contrast and line work. My subject matter has always remained the same, that being mainly pissed off, metal influenced illustrations.

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DH: How long did it take you to get to into that style? And is it what you do mostly now?

MB: I've always been drawn to a dark art style long as I can remember, in fact, ever since I was a little a kid. After tattooing for five years or so I was comfortable enough to start applying what I knew to my original designs. After that, it was all trial and error. Seeing what looked good healed, with the ultimate goal of making every piece sharper than the one before. I would say that's pretty much all I do now. In the mornings I try to get in least an hour in of original drawing before I tattoo. Nine out of ten people just let me do my thing, as they know it will result in a piece that's influenced by my style.

DH: Nice. Sounds like a great place to be! How long would you say you've been tattooing overall?

MB: About 15 years. My daughter is fourteen now and I remember I started a year before she was born. I put pressure on myself to jump head into the industry, as all I was thinking was don't be a shit artist! My being a new dad was even more influence to make me strive to be the best I could be at tattooing.