Nathan Kostechko June 2011

For the newbies here, can you tell us what year you started to tattoo, and the short story?

-I began my apprenticeship when I was 18, I believe it was january/february 2003... I started getting tattooed in the summer of 2002, I had graduated High School early and was attending school(for a short month and a half) for shoe design, I literally made the appointment for my first tattoo on my way home from dropping out of college. I never planned to get tattooed or start tattooing... I basically became obsessed with it after getting my first tattoo. The only reason I started tattooing is... One of the artist at the shop I learned at (skinworks) decided to pack all his stuff up in the middle of the night and bail, without telling anyone but me. I show up the next day to see the owner (Ardee Allen) completely pissed off at the petty escape and in need of a tattooer, so she turns to me and says 'your up!'. Any tattoo that came in that morning was up to me. I ended up tattooing a cross on the back of a kids heal, which you should never do, when finished I ran upstairs to get Ardee anxiously awaiting my critique. She said, 'first off, why the hell did you tattoo his heal? secondly, "not bad you little shit." From that moment on she allowed me to tattoo at her shop.

London(fetal skull lightbulb)

At first london asked for a exploding lightbulb. I happen to have a drawn a lightbulb with a fetal skull glowing inside years ago. When he came by to discuss, I showed him the original art and he was down!!! Ends up the reason he wanted the tattoo was from a song, and in the lyrics they say "we are the children of the light", so he thought the fetal skull inside the bulb was a perfect touch. I just had to add some explosion with light and shards of glass shooting out. In the original art there is no black, but in the tattoo I used a shit ton of it! I saw it recently and it healed perfect, I am very happy with the end result.

We're your parents supportive?

- at first I was scared to ask my parents if they could help me start my apprenticeship, I never thought my dad would be ok with it, seeing how he always said 'if you get tattooed, your not living in this house." but once I asked and he came up to the shop, met with the owner ardee and talked to her about the ins and outs of the business, he figured why not? i'd already dropped out of college, and at the time our family was going through some difficult times, so it was perfect for me to escape to the tattoo world everyday. I was fortunate my dad had money for me to do this, he always said he would help start whatever future 'job' I wanted to go after. it gave me a reason to wake up, do something with my life other than smoke weed, skateboard and work at a coffee shop. he knew I'd always been obsessed with art, painting and drawing my entire life, so he figured it'd be a great career choice for me. plus him seeing me come home every night, excited about what I learned or did that day, it made him happy. I've been pushing my self to be the best I can to show my mom and dad they made the right choice helping me become a tattoo artist.

Do you feel tattooing is a "fine art" or "work for hire"?

- tattooing is 'tattooing'. its not a 'fine art' or 'work for hire', tattooing is it's own entity. the only way to learn is from a master or by just going for it and trying it out. I think everyone needs to stop worrying about being considered an 'artist'. Just tattoo, that's what it is. it's a form of art.

Cody(burning leaf)

Cody asked for a '4 seasons' sleeve. Without using the obvious as ways to visually represent each season, we are using things that remind Cody of each season. For fall, we used a fall leaf that is burning. In the background we are trying to create some blur/lens effects, which is ridiculously hard. We have added more to his arm since, a bird, flowers.... and more. We plan on doing a few more sessions to complete soon.

How do you feel about tattooing being accepted into the mainstream culture?

-for me being a tattoo artist, it helps because more and more people want to get tattooed. unfortunately a lot of people feel they know a lot about tattooing because of TV, but the way they portray it on those shows is actually not how it is at all. I feel every major company out there is jumping on the bandwagon. from energy drinks to designer clothing labels, it's a great way to pin point who's a sell out and doing it just for the money. what does it take to give up what you stand for? MONEY! trust me i've done it, luckily I learned my lesson and backed out of these opportunities I thought were good. it will be funny when mainstream culture gets over it, and all the people who tattoo to be 'rockstars' are not 'rockstars' anymore and there just another tattooer. in the end your gonna have to be good to stick it out. I hope that tattooing become illegal again. that way if your really all about tattooing you will have to hide out underground to continue. The die hard collectors will have to know how to get in touch, it would be amazing. A secret art society.

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How should clients find the perfect artist and design?

-research, if your serious about something you'll put in the research. if you have a specific idea in mind, look around and see if anyone is doing something similar to what you want, not necessarily subject matter, more so the style and way it looks. don't get tattooed until you know it's right. if you can meet with the artist before, do it, sometimes people don't 'click' well with each other and the last thing you want is getting tattooed by someone who doesn't like you.

Preston(ouroboros/snake)

When Preston first came to me with his 'Ouroboros' idea, I thought he was talking about the northern lights. HAHAHA! I'm really stupid at times. Anyways, he explained his idea to me and I was down. Ouroboros is a serpent eating it's own tail. A cycle of recreating yourself. Life is full of a ton of cycles, good and bad, vicious or positive. Over the time span of this sleeve Preston and I have seen each other go through a lot, it's odd when your living the reality of what you are putting on people's skin. Thanks again Preston! PS. This entire sleeve was freehand drawn on skin with marker, referenced from a drawing I created. The snake actually makes an entire cycle, twisting, curling, and spinning around his arm.

Are there common mistakes that you would warn clients to avoid? Any of these lessons you learned yourself?

- don't let people learn to tattoo on you, just because it's cheap or free doesn't mean it's gonna be good. also, don't get a tattoo for someone else, get it for yourself and what you stand for. people get tattoos just to fit in, make others happy, or so other people think your 'cool' or 'hip', in the end you'll be stuck with a tattoo reminding you of how much of a jackass you used to be, if you grow out of it...

What is your first memory of tattoos?

-i've been obsessed with skateboarding since the first day my brother nick let me step on his board when i was in kindergarden, about 5 or 6, i did everything i could to see any and everything about skateboarding. seeing all the photos of pro skaters in magazines i noticed their tattoos, it just made since when i turned 18 that i ended up getting tattooed. i remember when i was about  12 or 13, i was skating a spot in my hometown that everyone ended up at everyday to hang out and skate, this one day an older dude showed up i'd never seen. he was covered, face tattoos and and everything, he scared the shit out of me. it was awesome!!! he didn't give a shit, and killed it at skating. he also brought along some really pretty girl that just chilled and watched him skate.  its so funny to think back on all that and to be where i am now. damn its weird what experiences as a kid end up shaping your future...

Why do you get tattooed?

-I figured getting tattooed would be a way to not be able to change yourself. i've always been changing... Whether if it's the food I eat, clothes I wear, music i'm into... always changing. Tattooing seemed to be the only thing that you couldn't really have control over, and I liked that.

What is the difference between being tattooed and being a tattoo collector.

-passion

Patrick(indian lady head)

I went to the 2011 Musink convention this past february with Jared from Fusion ink.. Patrick is fellow tattooer who approached me about tattooing his neck. He said that he liked my more 'traditional-esque' tattoos, by no means can I do a real traditional tattoo. He wanted a indian girl head for his wife. I was more than happy to do it. I love working shows with nothing planned and getting to do spur of the moment tattoos.

When did you start thinking about your tattoos as a collection?

- when i realized i was getting tattooed by a shitty artist, i didn't know any better.

Has being heavily tattooed changed you as a person?

-I feel being heavily tattooed has changed me a lot! Mostly inside my head and my opinions of how people perceive people other than them selves. I get a lot of really long stares from people. I watch them for a while until they realize they've been caught. I don't mind, I like it, I got tattooed because they look awesome, so it's great that others can enjoy. It's just interesting when people don't enjoy them and change there view of me based on that. It's taught me to not have any opinion of someone until I sit and have a chat with them.

Morgan(framed ship and skull)

Recently I have been very inspired by simple, technical black tattoos. As the years go by I've noticed that black is what looks best in the skin after years and years of growing with a human. Morgan noticed some of my new black work and asked for me to tattoo two identical frames with different images inside all in black lines. One is a sinking ship, the other a skull on a book. She had a few other things that she asked to have incorporated and I did my best to get some of them in there. I used my Seth Ciferri machine on these, and made my life very easy. Great machines!

Any tips for collectors who are planning out their large tattoos?

-Keep it simple.

How do you feel about having or giving tattoos in visible places? Hands, face, neck

- I love tattooing peoples hands, necks, and especially faces. I have no problem with it unless you live a life that these types of tattoos can inhibit. If your truly serious about getting these areas tattooed, you know if you can get a way with it or not. I'm not the judge of that, so if you want it done I'll do it. It's not my fault you decided to screw up, I'm just doing my job.

Do you recommend art schools for aspiring tattooers?

- I recommend any kind of training for whatever it is you plan to start doing. No knowledge or proper training is just a recipe for disaster in any situation.

When people ask you about starter equipment, what do you say?

-I haven't been asked about starter equipment in a while... I just say..'it's a bad idea, but your gonna do whatever you can to start tattooing...' Then they usually ask 'where do I get it?' I just say 'I don't know' or 'it's a secret, sorry.' I worked my ass off to learn this, I'm not just gonna hand it out.

How essential is getting tattooed to learning?

-Getting tattooed was the only way I figured out how to tattoo properly. I am a visual learner, or I have to apply what I'm being taught physically. I'm not the type to read and read about something to figure it out, I go and get involved. Get hands on with whatever it is I'm trying to do, otherwise I'll read all the info on "how to' and when I go to apply it myself it just dosn't work. Its been this way since I was a kid in school.

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Future plans?

- I'm closing my shop this coming summer 2011. I plan to travel the world. I want to learn and see as much as I can. To gain 'Endless inspiration.' I feel it's a waste sitting in a town alone tattooing all day everyday just to make sure bills are paid. I love my work and my clients, so I will be coming back to LA often, but I have nothing tying me down if I want. Just the reassurance of people who know my work back in CA, which I appreciate so much. Tattooing allows us tattoo artist to be able to be a 'rolling stone' and not have a home. I love traveling and seeing new places everyday, so I'm taking advantage of it and going to see what I can get myself into. Hopefully a lot of tattooing, surfing, smoking random types of weed, good food, skateboarding if the ground isn't to rough, exploring, drinking wine,  and spending time not worrying... First stop should be France for a Gypsy Music Festival in June.

tisha(owl cover up)

Tisha and I recently finished up her sleeve. At the end of her sleeve she asked if I could cover up a tattoo she had on her other arm, a tribal design her husband drew and she got tattooed about 15 years ago.
She asked for an owl. With cover ups you usually don't have to much say in the design, because not everything will always work as a cover up. I took a photo of her arm so that I could print it out and be able to draw the design directly on a photo of her arm, so that I can plan the cover up. I started drawing a basic owl on top of the tribal, ignoring the tribal as if it never existed. Portions of the tribal were still visible, so I sat and stared at it until something came to me that would work as a cover up without putting to much nonsense in the design. The top of the tribal stuck out above the owls head, oddly enough it resembled antlers. So I accentuated a few things, and the tribal ended making perfect antlers. Not in our initial plan, but luckily Tisha has an open mind and really loved how it worked out.
We tattooed this in one session, taking about 6 hours. I used mostly black, not any grey wash or dipping in water to lighten the tones of black.

Check out Nathan's website at

after posting this interview, we found this old TattooNOW interview with Nathan from 2007. Enjoy!

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