“Around 1989, I went into the army after some trouble at home, and was stationed in Germany for a while. After I got out, I started teaching myself to tattoo for about two years. This tattoo, of the muscled man with the small head, is one that I did myself. It was one of my first ones ever. I was about twenty at the time.

For me, it represents all the false valuations people place on the external. They want a better car, better muscles, bigger boobs, nicer teeth and it’s all really bullsh-t. Do you want to end up with all that and still be thinking small little thoughts? No.

After about two years, a German tattoo artist named Kevin Heath took me under his wing, and I did my apprenticeship with him. I started a tattoo studio there, then moved back to the states and started another studio, Tattoo Revolution, in Las Vegas.

I tattooed Jesse’s sleeve, from INKED and also taught Big E (from Ultimate Fighting Championship), to tattoo. Now I work at Raven Tattoo.”