Colors on Black Skin (Skin Paintings)

We are often told "black people can't get color tattoos"... That myth should be put to rest... At City of Ink, we do colorful tattoos on ALL skin tones...from light to dark skin...we were trained to take our time and focus on each color at a time...we are doing "Skin Paintings"









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Location:City of Ink

Filming in Queens, NY

Me and AJ aka Artemus Jenkins have been hard at work on our film project... This film is based on the lives and struggles of black tattoo artists in America....it will teach the people the difference between scratchers, tattooist, and tattoo artists... Me, Artemus, and Corey hit up One Stroke... A tattoo shop in Queens ,NY.....like I said before this film WILL change how the black community view this art form.... We will have to destroy the so-called "urban" tattoo scene and rebuild after the people have a true understanding what tattoos on skin of color suppose to look like, cost, and what training your tattoo artist suppose to have before he or her even touch your skin.... These are stills from the NYC scenes shot by Artemus Jenkins


























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My Film Project "Pain & Tears"

I'm at the stage of my life where I want to be known for being more that just a tattoo artist....I want to show the world ALL of my vision...from books, paintings, fashion, and FILMS...the reason I'm in DC right now is to work on my film project... I hooked up with my homeboy, AJ who did my Vimby video interview because I'm a big fan of his camera work... I drew out some story boards and he can see my vision so it feels like a perfect team...this film is about the struggles and lifestyle of black tattoo artists in america.... They are not a lot of TRAINED professional tattoo artists who stay in own community to serve own people... A lot of them move on because the money is wayyy better when your dealing with a clientele that has a respect and knowledge of this art form we call "Tattooing" I want to show all sides of tattooing... How we never see our children, how our relationships suffers because we don't see our mates....how we don't have a social life outside of the tattoo shop.... When we get off work everyone is sleep so it's always lonely nights... How our own people will still go to tattoo parties, tattooist who dont even understand black skin (lie and say you can't get colors) and scratchers with no professional training to get tattooed because they are CHEAPER when we spend YEARS training to serve the people....these days of filming were VERY emotional... Lots of tears and pain.... The people HAVE to know what tattoo artists go through and how important it really is to support TRAINED black artists in this industry...these tattoo parties, home call scratchers, and the leak of respect for tattooing just for money is really hurting our industry... "Understanding" will be born... And after you see this film I PROMISE...you it will understand why I have to retire and help my fellow tattoo artists teach the people about this ART we call
"tattooing" after this film I will see where I will stand in the tattoo business...if the people don't care about the struggles I see my fellow artists go through daily.. I will forever put down the needle... And won't return to tattooing...and the scratchers can have it...


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