5-question interview with tattoo artist Kobay from Turkey

Describe how you go about creating a realistic tattoo from concept to finished design. And also describe how you try to put your own unique touch on your tattoos?

The most important thing in realistic tattoo is recommendations.The reference will show the quality of the tattoo. Because in realistic tattoo how good your reference is and also combined with your effort/work the results will be much better. I add my signature to the tattoo by adding all the visual art perspectives. Photography and Oil paintings technique are an example to this.

What do you think a client should expect from you as a tattoo artist and what do you on the other hand expect from a client to make a successful tattoo and a good collaboration

First of all to have successful tattoo, the customer should show respect to the artist and listen to his/her advices. For me the best way to work is that the customer should have an opinion, idea about the topic of tattoo and leave the rest to the artist this way the results will be much better.

<What criteria do you think that a tattoo convention shall have to be really successful, both for you as a tattoo artist, but also for the visitors? Can you give some examples of conventions which meet these criteria really well?

To make the artist comfortable in technical ways are nowadays all the same. The one thing that is still ignored, that on the tattoo shows you can just see tattoos of that culture and its totally prepared for their own culture and people. And also it has the image that the only people who are getting tattoos are people who listen to Rock music and with edgy attitudes.

I think the real purpose should be to get people attention who are very far from this territory. People who are in this tattoo business somehow already know a lot of things, to make this hype and attention bigger by the general audience convention commercials should be planned more strategical. Honestly I couldn’t attend many conventions but I’m following them on the social networks and I’m looking into every invitation I get.

Tv shows, Internet and especially social networks like Facebook and Twitter has become an extremely widely spread phenomenon recent years. What positive and negative impacts do you think it has for the future development of the tattoo industry

I’m definitely supporting the social network. I have never been anybodies apprentice, I learned this art by myself and I owe the social media and Internet my evolution. When i first started this job I didn’t have the chance to go overseas and meet different artists and thanks to social media I could see there are very talented artist out there and I was influenced by them. I owe the social media where I am today.

To give an example to the negatives sides would be that production companies are showing bad art by using their power.