WILL THOMAS

TATTOO ARTIST

Will Thomas can only be described as cool. But proper cool: laid-back, authentic, super friendly, outrageously talented. Based on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Will spends his 9–5 inking skin and having a great time in the small, tight community around the shop he works out of, Hen’s Teeth Tattoo Co. Losing his Zoom-ginity to FIELDS (we’re honoured), the creative sat down to chat all things tattooing – how he got to where he is, honing artistic craft, Insta-marketing and the highs and lows of the industry – with a few fun stories (see: face tats and first tats) thrown in, too. Have a read, book a tat, maybe take a leaf outta Will’s book and pivot your career to fit your lifestyle goals and your interests. Power move.

There he is! Will! Hey!

As you can tell I’m still working this out. This is my first time using Zoom!

Whoa! You’re really out there in the world, living that face-to-face life. So, tell us how got into the tattoo biz!

I started working at the shop in 2017, but it all started maybe five years prior to that. I was getting tattooed quite frequently and I’d made friends within the industry, trying to gain some sort of foot in the door. Not in a way of trying to get a job, just when I would go in and get a tattoo, I would ask lots of questions. Just by being polite and friendly and spending your money with them, you can get a little bit of knowledge.

I would practice painting and drawing at home, then when I’d go in to get tattooed, I’d take my folio in, ask for feedback, take that on board, re-jig, throw some stuff out, do some other stuff. By doing that with a few different studios and a few different artists, I made friends with a few guys and they really helped me out. They shared their painting techniques and some reference material.

I was probably painting for about five years before
I actually started working in a shop.

Have you always been super into drawing and art?

No. Not at all.

WHAAAT?! That’s shocking.

I didn’t do art at school. I enjoyed art subjects in the early years of school, but I didn’t do them towards the end of high school. 

I wanted a job where I could be at home. I wanted to get a dog, I wanted to have a girlfriend who I could live with and see and be at home. It was ticking over in the back of my head... what would be the next move for me? I was getting tattooed and was like ‘Oh, this seems like a pretty cool job’.

That’s a lot of foresight that I don’t think a lot of people have.

I guess coming into it and being a little bit more mature helped me out a lot in terms of knowing what I wanted, and thinking about how I would get there. I think a lot of people these days are 18 and are like ‘I wanna be a tattooer’. I get messages on my Instagram and we get messages at the shop saying ‘Hey, can I get an apprenticeship?’. I guess because there’s no Tafe qualification or uni course, it’s this kind of weird hidden world. It’s always been an industry where people are a bit underground, there’s no rules and you can do whatever you want.

Some of the old school guys are pretty protective of their
knowledge. Anybody can tattoo and there’s been a resurgence
of people doing it from home, or people teaching themselves and not necessarily going down the apprenticeship route.

So there aren’t regulations around it?

It depends on different states. In Victoria you don’t have to have a qualification or license. Obviously your shop has certain standards from the council that they have to meet.

So, as a client, I’m trusting you because you’re in the shop?

Yeah, exactly. The shop is insured and it’s their responsibility that artists are up to date with everything, but there’s no licensing for artists. In NSW and Queensland, maybe SA, you have to obtain a license before you can tattoo, but with that said, you just go online and pay whatever it is… They do
a background check and police check to make sure you’re not involved in any bikie affiliations or clubs. But that’s about it. No one comes and checks the quality of your work, that’s more governed by whoever is running your shop.

That is surprisingly relaxed.

I guess it’s one of those industries that’s self-governing. If you’re making a mess of people, you’re not going to get a job in studios and you’re not going to have any clients… well, return clients. The industry is built on word of mouth as well. If you don’t have people talking about you, or suggesting you to other people, then you’re probably not very busy.

What kind of advice were you given when you were first thinking about tattooing?

I found referencing material really helpful. Initially I had no idea where to find stuff, I was just trying to draw off the top of my head. That’s what got me really interested, when I realised there’s this whole unlimited stack of tattooing designs and ideas that’ve been passed down since the start of electric tattooing, back in the early 1900s. I’ve got stuff that I’ve collected and I’ll drip feed our apprentice stuff if she comes asking for it, or if I think that something she’s drawing could be helped by something that I’ve got.

Do you have any faves, what’s your bible?

There’s a book called Folk Art Tattoo Flash: Rosie. It’s a book by a guy named Rosie Camanga, he’s a Filipino guy who started working in Honolulu. He’s got these quirky little folk art drawings.

The guys even helped me with things like what sort of paper to paint on.

Really pragmatic stuff like that makes a huge difference.

Huge difference. I was there in the art shop scrounging around through stuff. The guys just being able to tell me like ‘oh dude, use this paper. Use this type of paint’. I was like ohhh… Now my stuff is starting to look like these other guy’s who I’m looking up to.

Trade secrets!

Yeah. As well as layout for my folio. Just people being able to say ‘this is great from an artistic point of view, but not so relevant to a tattoo.... so cross that out.’

It’s always good to show your versatility in your folio, but there was some stuff I had in there that wasn’t relevant.

I always assume that the creativity is innate, that you’ve always been doing it. But you’re self-taught later in life?

Yep. I was probably mid-twenties, 23-24, I’d taken an interest in tattooing. I started getting tattooed and not necessarily knowing what it was that I was asking for; not knowing the intricacies of it. The more I would talk with tattooists as I was getting tattooed, the more I started to understand how a tattoo was structured. I’d seen similar designs popping up around different studios and wondered why no one’s saying ‘hey why are you copying me?’.

All these designs have just been ripped off from tattooists from the early 1900s, reimagined over the generations. I guess the cool thing about traditional tattooing is in 100 years they’ll still be doing the same designs and it will still be fucking cool.

Timeless!
So what would you say if someone hadn’t considered becoming a tattooist because they felt they couldn’t draw well enough?

In terms of the actual drawing, that’s the hardest part of the job. I guess trying to use people’s ideas but also give it your own flavour, without looking like it’s been ripped off somebody else, while still fitting within this model of traditional tattooing… that’s the trickiest part. In terms of actually applying the tattoo, I guess that’s just like any other trade. Once you learn how to use the tools, it’s just going through the motions of doing the tattoo.

Tell us about your first tattoo.

I wasn’t too scared. I did a little flower on one of my mentors’ legs. He had also tattooed his own leg when he was starting there, and his wife had tattooed his leg when she was starting. So there was no pressure because it was this leg of people’s first tats.

Beginner’s leg!

I had been around the shop for probably 6-8 months and during that time I’d been soaking everything in like a sponge. By the time I got to actually tattooing, I’d done it in my head a thousand times. So I was pretty confident.

You can’t hesitate when you’re tattooing – you’re either
doing it or you’re not.

Do you practice on something before skin?

You can tattoo pretty much anything. I practiced on fruit, it has an organic skin and I guess because it’s round as well. You can use a tattoo machine on paper or whatever you want. It’s more about getting used to the weight of the machine in your hand and working on a non-flat surface. When you first start, and realise you’re not just on a flat piece of paper, that there’s elbows and things sticking out. It’s tricky!

Do you have a creative process? When you’re drawing or coming up with your flash sheets?

I go through phases. I’ll get excited and buy a new reference book or find a new website that’s got cool stuff on it. Or for some reason I’ll just be thinking about peacocks all the time and just start drawing peacocks. I start off with a piece of tracing paper and sketch out a shape, then I’ll get another piece of tracing paper on top and keep refining it. Once I get a sheet all lined up, then I’ll paint it. They become available designs. I chuck them up in the shop or post them on my instagram and people can just choose them from there. That’s my favourite way of tattooing. People just coming in and picking a design from the books of designs that I have at the shop.

Will and Juney.

How do you go with marketing yourself?

I try to keep it interesting and coordinated, but not pushing things too much. I follow other tattooists and artists and sometimes I feel, as a follower, there’s a line of when people are trying to push something too much. It’s a hard line to toe, because if someone cancels an appointment tomorrow, my best option for filling that appointment is posting something online. But at the same time. you don’t want to be that person whose followers are like ‘ugh, this guy’s always posting ads for himself! Give it a rest!’

I like putting my work up there because I like people seeing it and I like getting feedback on it. It’s always interesting – the stuff you get feedback on isn’t necessarily the stuff that you’re most proud of. Sometimes you post those tattoos that you’re not 100% happy with and people are like ‘this is awesome’ or ‘can I book in for something similar to this?’ You’ve gotta take your own tattooer glasses off.

We’re our own worst critics! Are return clients a big proportion of your client base?

Yeah for sure. I’m still pretty young in the industry, I’ve only been tattooing full-time for four and a bit years but I can confidently say that I can keep my job as a tattooer now. A lot of the time people are so focused on how many instagram followers you have – they’ll choose their artist that way. But I’ve been pretty lucky in terms of the local community where I live – I’ve built up a little client base here. I have 18-year-olds coming in to get their first tattoo, then there’s a middle aged tradie group of guys who get a tattoo every month. Then on the other end of the spectrum, I call them the wine mums… they come in and get their granddaughter’s name or infinity or whatever it is haha. It’s always a good time though, because they’re nice and friendly and you know that if you treat them well, you’re going to have five more of them coming in looking for an appointment next week. They may not be getting tattoos in the style that I love, but they’re great appointments to have in between the other ones.

Do you like the collaborative process?

Yeah I do. I like it when people have their own ideas. As long as they’re open to working with me as well. If people come to me with something that I think is outside of my wheelhouse then I’ll suggest another artist who is going to do a better job of it. Rather than me trying to hack job it for the sake of 200 bucks, I’d rather the person has a good experience and maybe then when they’re looking for something more in my style they’ll come back.

You’re a good human! Have there been any tattoos that you’ve been like ‘absolutely not’?

Well… not that I’ve been asked for it, but I wouldn’t do any hate speech or symbols. I don’t know what else I wouldn’t do.

Have you tattooed a face?

Yeah. A couple of faces. We’ve actually got a guy that comes in the shop, he’s 70-years-old and he’s done time in prison, he’s lived on the streets, he’s just an absolute character and comes in with these crazy ideas. He’s such a nice guy, such a gentleman. Just a really lovely grandad. He’s just constantly getting tattooed, so he’s now at the point where the only free spots on his body are his neck and face.

I’ve tattooed a big flower in the middle of his forehead, and he’s got two butterflies on the side of his temples – his theory behind getting those was he wanted to soften his face. He gets these ideas and he’s so set in his ways. He’ll just ring the shop on the landline and push you until you say
‘OK. Yes. OK, I’ll do the tattoo.’

Well if he’s stoked on them, mission accomplished.

Oh he’s covered! He started getting tattooed when he was 14. So he’s like covered. And they’re so cool. He’s got some real doozies.

How old were you when you got your first tattoo and what was it?

I got some bands around my leg on the day of my 18th birthday. I didn’t know what to get and didn’t realise you could walk into a tattoo shop and pick something off the wall. I thought you had to take in a picture of what you wanted. I just thought I’d get something easy. Little did I know that what I asked for – two parallel bands around my leg – is actually quite tricky to do.

Looking back now, I have a memory of it being an apprentice doing it, cos it was a pretty young guy and I remember them having some trouble lining it up. That’s happened to me many times in my apprenticeship. People being like ‘oh, I’ve got an easy one for you, I just want a couple of parallel lines’ and you’re just like ‘HA!’.

So easy, so simple. Actually, SO difficult.
As soon as someone projects to you about how hard or easy your job is, it’s just like… no!

We get that SO often. People ring the shop and it’s usually at 4:45 on a Saturday afternoon and they’re like ‘I’m just in the area, I’ve just got a 15 minute job for you, what’s the shop minimum?’. And they’re always reluctant to give you the details. They’re like ‘oh it’s just a small one. It’s just a letter.’ And you finally get to the root of it and it’s not an easy thing. It might be small, but they want it tucked behind their ear. And it’s just like, this is not what you think it is…

Was learning to operate as your own business a steep learning curve?

It was a learning curve – keeping track of expenses and keeping track of exactly what I’m doing every day and how long it’s taking me. I’m super forgetful, so I write it down at the end of every day. If it gets to Friday and I haven’t written down what I did on Tuesday, it’s gone. 

Working out pricing, that’s tricky. Especially starting out – as an apprentice you obviously have to work for less money. For the first year of my apprenticeship I didn’t make a dollar. I was just there hoping that somebody wouldn’t finish their lunch and they would be like ‘hey do you want
these chips?’. I was pretty lucky that the girls that mentored me were very nice, if we had a super busy week they’d chop me out a $50 note.

What do you think cons to the tattooing trade that people don’t really know about or are spoken about much? 

I’m not sure. I think a lot of it is what you make it, it can be as flexible as you want it to be. You are your own boss and it’s a creative thing. There are guys at the shop who are new parents, so they'll take afternoons off to be with their families… and then they’ll crack on with full-time work again once the kids are at school.

No-shows are the worst. Again, I’m pretty lucky, I’ve put systems in place to make sure that doesn’t happen. And after a while you work out the type
of people who aren’t going to show up. Maybe they're a bit flaky in their messaging, or maybe they’ve asked you for their appointment at like 1am
on a Saturday night.

How weird!

You can pick up some little red flags here and there, you use your discretion.

Do people just chicken out?

You can get a whole host of reasons. The favourite is ‘my car’s broken’. The amount of cars that break down on the way to tattoo appointments…
I’ve not been stranded in my car in the 15 years I’ve been driving, but somehow, once a month, my clients’ cars are breaking down.

What do you love about tattooing? What's your favourite thing about your job?

The best thing about tattooing is that you get to be creative
and you can mould it into whatever you want it to be.
You never get bored.

And the other bonus is you make these relationships with people and it’s like you're just hanging out with your friends everyday. It's just fun, and our shop’s quite open as well so you’ve got ten people all hanging out, the radio on, one big conversation. Clients are having fun cos they’re hanging out at a cool place, I’m having fun because I’m getting paid to muck around with people and do some tats and listen to music. That’s the best thing – the vibes in the shop. When it’s kicking off in the shop, that’s the best.

Look at your smile, you’re so stoked. What do you love about getting tattooed?

Oh I don’t like getting tattooed at all. Yeah, no. I used to get that excitement that I see in my clients. Like that ‘oh yes! It’s tat day!’ You’ve been saving up and you’re like ‘yes I can get this, and I’m gonna get it here, and I get to go hang out with cool tat shop guy’ haha.

I think I’m at the point now, where I walk in and smell the tat shop and it smells like work. It just hurts now as well. I swear once you turn 30 things just hurt. It doesn’t matter what it is, you wake up in the morning, you’ve got a sore back for no reason. Getting tats hurts. Going for a run? That hurts.

What’s your favourite tattoo that you have? 

Oh… I don’t necessarily have a favourite. If you get tattooed by multiple people, it’s like each one is it’s own little experience. Each of them has a fond memory of where it was: a convention, overseas, a trip here. I like collecting tattoos.

A scrapbook on your body.

Yeah exactly!

We want tattoos!

We’ll have to set some machines up one day.

Check out Will’s work here – our pick is the panther wrestling a snake and this lush lady wrestling a snake – and all the cool “tat shop guys” at Hen’s Teeth Tattoo Co.

Interview & edit Haylee Poppi & Grace MacKenzie