REVOLUTION DAILY

So how many years have you been tattooing now?

It’s been about… last December was 9 years, so just a little bit over 9 years.

Did you start in South Africa or in the States?

I didn’t really have an opportunity to be able to start in Africa. I didn’t think I would be able to get a spot drawing things, you know, so… I mean I’d always had it kinda in the back of my mind to do it in high school, but yeah, it was never seriously like an option until I left England and went to the States. And then I managed to weave my way into a shop there by hanging around and scrubbing tubes and stuff, and just selling stuff. They all knew that I could draw and wanted to tattoo and everything, and finally I was lucky enough to get an apprenticeship. That was in 2001.

So then did you work in different shops or…

No no, I stayed at that shop pretty much until I started traveling a few years ago, but that was home base for a long time.

What made you want to travel?

I just figured there’s so much to see and do in the States, you know. It was a good opportunity at the time to hit the road and meet tons of people and make up new friends and connections and that kinda thing. There’s just so much cool stuff to do out there.

Another tattoo artist that I spoke to told me that it’s really important to travel as a tattoo artist, as your experiences travelling are part of what make you a good tattoo artist. What do you think?

Yeah for sure, I mean the more you travel, the more it helps to enhance your skills by seeing different ways of doing things, different styles and that kinda thing so yeah it’s good to travel and kinda get yourself out there, just so that you don’t get too stuck in your little rut, and you’ll become more varied as an artist.

A lot of tattoo artists have been saying how the Cape Town International Tattoo Convention has really helped to grow the tattoo community and make it stronger. How do you feel about it?

It’s awesome. Manuela (Gray/Wildfire) has done so much to make it happen in the last few years for the tattoo community. You get guys that, a few years ago, were pretty good at what they did, and now they’ve grown so much because of the conventions and being exposed to international plateaus, and then going overseas and meeting other people. So it’s great that things are happening for South Africa. It’s awesome cause South Africa’s kinda closed off from the rest of the world, and has been for a long time, including tattooing, so it’s good to get all the international exposure. Plus it’s awesome coming home for a convention, to great weather. It’s usually winter when we come out. Yeah, it’s a good excuse to come home and just enjoy it and travel, and work. We’re all really busy when we come here cause everybody wants to get tattooed.

How have people found out about you here? Because you haven’t been in the country for a while. Was last year’s convention your first time?

No, I’ve been coming every year… this is my third one. I mean, obviously I’ve known some of the guys that tattoo here in Cape Town, like Tyler (Murphy/Sins of Style) and Derek (Baker/Metal Machine) and those guys for a long time. I’m friends with those guys. Obviously Manuela is very good at putting everybody’s name out there with the website and with promotion and that kinda thing. We get tons of people e-mailing us just off the website, so it’s pretty awesome. She’s done a really good job.

With all your travels and your years on the road, is there any one experience that stands out? You must have had some pretty crazy experiences, and met weird people and that kind of thing.

No matter where you go, you’re gonna run into some weird people. It seems like every city has their weird people. I try stay out of trouble as much as I can, though. I don’t look for trouble, so I try to avoid the wierdo’s and crazy people. But there’s nothing really that sticks out you know. Stuff happens on the road, just driving you know… everyday, someone’s gonna cut you off or something. There’s always stuff going on, but I just try and stay out of trouble as much as possible.

Talking about your tattooing, do you draw inspiration from anything speicifically?

Um… yeah, I try to stick with being based in traditional American tattooing, and I take some inspiration from Japanese tattooing, using lots of black, heavy outlines, strong contrast, bold colour, keeping it really simple… Also, when you’re trying to draw something, you don’t draw from somebody else’s drawing. Like, when I try and draw a rose, I don’t look at somebody else’s tattoo of a rose and draw from that. I’ll try and draw it from a picture of an actual rose, and translate that into my version of a traditional tattoo. I’m not copying. Also, I’m constantly learning how to draw new things, as I try and draw from reality every time, and then just translate it into tattooing.

Is that how’s you’ve worked from the beginning?

Yeah, for the most part. At least for the last 7 years or so, that’s how I’ve been working. I got critiqued really hard really early on by a really well-known tattooist, and he told me that’s what to do. You don’t look at other people’s tattoos and draw them, you look at reality.

Because that’s the easy way…

Yeah…

Do you have a website or something we can check out?

Yeah, I have shaunnel.com. It has my portfolio, but it’s more of a blog actually. I post on it pretty regularly, usually at least one a month, if not more. It’s all the stuff I’ve been doing and places I’ve been.

Will you be back again soon?

Definitely. I mean, as long as there’s a convention on I’ll be here, you know. I almost didn’t make it this year, but I definitely want to try and make it out here as much as possible.