Honest Tattooer Podcast
The Honest Tattooer Podcast is a show where tattoo artists and tattoo lovers discuss tattoos, art, and most of all keep it real. Keep it honest!
When Do You Feel Like a “Real” Tattooer with Amanda Malia and Jacob Satterlee
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On the Honest Tattooer podcast, hosts Jon Mesa and Matt Truiano talk with guest tattooer/shop owner Amanda Malia and her apprentice Jacob Satterly. They discuss blurred style lines, Amanda’s nontraditional early apprenticeships and how long it took to feel like a “real tattooer,” imposter syndrome, and how environment and competition affect growth. The episode covers how social media has changed perceptions of legitimacy, differences between Facebook and Instagram, and Meta pushing Reels. They share art and tattoo process habits, longevity-driven simplification, stippling/shading tips, and advice for getting an apprenticeship (draw/paint...
Will Biotech, Robots & AI Shape Tattooing’s Future with Joe Capobainco
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On the Honest Tattooer podcast, Jon Mesa, Matt Truiano, and guests Joe Capobianco, Ermis and Matt Buck discuss who will shape tattooing’s future as outside biotech and tech companies push new products faster than the tattoo community. They react Pain-Free Tattoo microneedle stamp concept. They also cover Black Dot’s venture-backed automated tattooing system, its current limitations, and skepticism about small-scale fine-line results without long-term healed examples. The group critiques Melanoir’s costly single-use synthetic melanin ink and broader corporate cash-grab motives, then pivots to affirm the lasting value of human-made craft, coils...
Looking At Your Tattoos 10 Years Later with Lalo Yunda
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This week we take a look at an instagram post that shows Michelle DiDonato Quinones' tattoos fresh vs healed as we learn what works and what doesn't.
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What Makes a Tattooer Hireable with Aaron Davis
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Jon Mesa, Matt Truiano, and guest Aaron Davis (Atlanta-based tattooer specializing in Afro-Americana, tattooing 7+ years) discuss what makes a tattooer hireable if they had no reputation, including how shop hiring has changed, the importance of portfolio, attitude, reliability, and the ability to pay rent by bringing in clients. They weigh social media presence versus consistent walk-ins, emphasize professionalism and respecting clients’ time, and name major red flags like drug/alcohol issues and personal drama spilling into the shop. The conversation covers the value of peer critique and being around strong artists, how apprenticeships ha...
Fineline Tattooing with Joe Redding
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Jon Mesa and Matt Truiano sit down with special guest Joe Redding (@coyoteeyes), a fine line and black-and-gray micro realism tattooer who apprenticed in 2017 and went full time during COVID after bartending and other work. They break down misconceptions about fine line tattoos by reacting to a reel and its polarized comments, then discuss what makes fine line work last: consistent depth control, avoiding blowouts, using “bloodlines/train tracks” and “scrubbing” to create a pocket for ink, and often lining with diluted black or grey wash to reduce pigment spread while selectively adding contrast...
Coming to America with Eoghann McGregor
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On the Honest Tattoo Podcast, Jon Mesa and Matt Truiano welcome guest tattooer Eoghann McGregor, a Scottish artist now working in New York, who has been tattooing about seven and a half years and describes his style as “weirdo trad” The group recaps the intimate Third Coast show in Chicago, talks about convention tattooing, walk-ups, and how body positioning can drastically change stencil size and placement. Eoghann shares how he got into tattooing through hanging around a shop, losing an early opportunity, eventually landing an apprenticeship, and then moving from Scotland to England and to...
Neo-Pre-Eckelism with Russ Abbott
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Jon Mesa, Matt Truiano welcome guest Russ Abbott back to the Honest Tattooer podcast and discuss his major fitness changes, how improved health impacts tattooing, and the ergonomic setup he uses to stand while tattooing. Russ explains his magnifying dental-style glasses, reading glasses, and custom prescription polarized lenses with a polarized headlamp to reduce glare. The conversation shifts to the Abbott Color Wheel, why ink pigment transparency and lightfastness matter, and Russ’s plan to redesign the wheel by learning ink bases and building a more intentional palette. He also talks about focusing on...
Heads Up! with Michael L.
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Jon Mesa, Matt Truiano, Gabe (“G Money”), and guests Michael L. and Matt Buck play Heads Up Tattoo artist edition hosted by Vega to identify tattoo-related “personalities” taped to their foreheads—some real tattooers and some decoys. They debate messy rules, points, and whether questions should be strictly yes/no, while correctly landing names. Afterward they discuss how to refine the game with clearer themes and fewer points, then each shares recent tattoos and broader reflections on staying inspired, fundamentals, client popularity, apprenticeships, and adapting technique for difficult healers, before plugging the Patreon aftershow...
Shop Managing with Bunnie Lebowski
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Jon Mesa and Matt Truiano talk with special guest Bunny about her path through tattoo culture from the early 1990s to New York City. Bunny recalls getting a first hand tattoo at 14 in Milan, then finding a safe community working around a Milan shop as a teen alongside misfits and bikers. She describes moving to Scotland and London, returning to Milan to see tattooing dramatically evolve, and how Instagram and shifting social acceptance helped tattoos become mainstream and trend-driven. After moving to NYC, she began working in shops including Armageddon, Magic Cobra, and...
What Keeps A Tattooer Going For Hours with David Martinez and Dat
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The Honest Tattooer podcast welcomes guests David and Dat discussing their backgrounds, preferred styles, and the realities of long back-to-back tattoo sessions, including managing skin trauma and the mental side of sitting. They talk about building deep client relationships through honest conversation, navigating fear of judgment around politics and religion, and the importance of expressing love and respect even with opposing views. David shares plans to serve overseas on a mission trip to Vietnam and explains his shift from industry influence to spreading hope through faith in Christ, ending with a concise presentation o...
West Coast Tats In Jersey with Ses
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The hosts interview Ses about how tattooing was harder to enter in the early ’90s without the internet, leading him to start underground as a “scratcher,” build a mail-order tattoo supply/flash hustle, and eventually learn by hanging around Fat Mike’s biker shop, where he began tattooing with a homemade machine and later inherited clients after Fat Mike died. Ses describes the importance of flash to shop identity, collecting and drawing flash, and meeting key artists like Jack Rudy and later collaborating with Boog and Nemo on a major flash set after connecti...
Solving Your Problems with Pony Lawson
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On the Honest Tattooer podcast, Jon, Matt, Ermes, and Pony read listener letters about common tattoo shop problems: shops favoring artists with big social followings, two artists dating and bringing relationship tension into the workplace, and a shop owner whose talented friend drives away managers and staff through harsh communication. They discuss balancing shop promotion across artists, encouraging simple, consistent content for introverted tattooers, and separating business from friendship when addressing behavior that harms shop culture. They also talk about posting frequency and algorithms, show examples of a fresh-to-healed tattoo with online criticism...
The Corporate Takeover with Pony Lawson
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Tooling Around with Joshua Bowers
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We back guest Joshua Bowers about a year after his last appearance, this time with show-and-tell including the Steel Driver rotary that emulates a coil stroke, the Heavy Hand weighted pencil grip (plus an Apple Pencil prototype), and a battery adapter that turns a battery into a power supply and can shift weight off the machine. They discuss foot switches vs wireless/constant-on setups, cord management, and why many artists return to coil-style performance after starting on pen machines. The conversation shifts to how social media escalates tattoo drama into public “movements,” online vali...
Painting With Blood with Vincent Castiglia
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In this podcast episode, tattooer and fine artist Vincent Castiglia explains how he began using blood as a medium, describing its unique kinetic energy and personal connection. He details the technical process—collecting blood (initially via diabetic lancets), preventing clotting, storing it refrigerated in airtight vials, diluting only with water, and using decomposition stages to control hue and value. Castiglia discusses public reactions, misconceptions, and the spiritual and historical context of blood in art, including cave paintings, and shares commissions using others’ blood. The conversation covers imagination, synchronicity, trauma, Giger’s insight into a pain...
A Couple Of Funny Guys with Phil Luck and Stevie Wells
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This week we welcome guests Stevie “Crazy Stevie” Wells and Phil Luck. They discuss the overhead of large shops, a global slowdown in tattooing, and how social media has changed community and communication. The conversation contrasts street shops and private studios, arguing tattooers should educate clients and that younger generations struggle with in-person communication and expectations of permanence. They define a good tattoo as readable and built to last, compare tattoos to fast fashion, and share stories about consent forms, safety practices, and handling difficult walk-ins.
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Everything Happens for a Reason with Jeremy Schad
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On the Honest Tattooer Podcast, we talk with special guest Jeremy Schad from Syracuse, New York, who started tattooing in 2019 during COVID through an informal mentorship that drilled clean linework and helped him become known for fine, crisp lines. Jeremy shares his background in digital art and music, how a blown-off tattoo appointment led him to meet his mentor Michael Conklin (now his shop co-owner), and how he transitioned from working at Apple’s Genius Bar to full-time tattooing with support from his now-wife while facing skepticism from a previous marriage. The group di...
Talking About Art with Matt Buck
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The hosts celebrate Matt Buck’s birthday and apprenticeship “graduation day,” reflecting on his years tattooing and how his perspective changed after realizing the medium’s limitations and longevity needs. Buck discusses his fine art training, the value of academic realism fundamentals, and why tattooing often requires breaking painting “rules” (like avoiding outlines) to embrace tattoo rules that age well. The conversation explores how illustration and visual storytelling translate into tattooing, plus a bar story where Matt draws a “meaningful, risky, sexual tiger.” The episode shifts to mental health and accountability in tattooing, reacting to a pu...
American Tattooing To The Roots with Zach Grimm
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Being A Lifelong Creative with Roman Abrego
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This week we talk with realism and biomechanical pioneer Roman Abrego, who has tattooed for about 25 years, including in prison and on the streets. Roman shares his early life as a standout baseball athlete, his roots in San Bernardino and time in Wisconsin, and how meeting artists like Mike Cole, Carson Hill, Nick Baxter, shaped his path into hyperrealism and biomech. He reflects on building and running multiple shops (including in Yucaipa, Melrose, and Brazil), nonstop travel, long tattoo sessions, burnout, and the sacrifices tattooing can demand from family life. Roman discusses stepping b...
Starting With An Ebay Kit with Nico Negron
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This week we talk with realism tattooer Nico Negron from Northport, New York, about starting tattooing with an eBay kit in 2006, how tattoo culture has changed, and the opening of his new shop, Icon Tattoo.
The group reacts to viral tattoo “hot takes,” arguing that “bold will hold” still matters, fine line can last when tattooed correctly, and different styles often attract different clients. They criticize content that glamorizes poor technique, discuss spiritual “energy” claims about tattooing, and debate artist loyalty when working between multiple shops
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Tattooing Is Too Accessible with Nick Bones
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The hosts welcome Las Vegas tattooer Nick Bones, who has tattooed for 20 years in a traditional-ish pop culture style and plans to spend the next two years traveling in a self-built camper van doing guest spots, promoting stops like a band on tour, and starting a van-recorded podcast, “Between Appointments,” about what tattooers do outside tattooing and their favorite local spots. The conversation covers rock climbing and hand/grip training, convention seminars and networking, and the economics and quality issues of $10 tattoo shops. They debate tattoo “literacy,” how clients perceive good vs bad work, tr...
Tattoo Pricing with Justin Reid
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Is Tattoo Culture Shifting? with Missi Blue
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The hosts discuss a shift back to Instagram from TikTok for tattoo discovery, debating new Instagram features like trial reels and follower-only early release posts. They critique content-first tattoo marketing, low engagement on strong tattoo work versus casual videos, and the use of shirtless “hooks.” Conversation turns to cultural and economic forces behind minimalist/fine-line trends, tattoo pricing inflation, and how reduced disposable income affects demand, with historical parallels to past tattoo cycles. They criticize poor fine-line technique tutorials and “expert” posturing, debate tattoo permanence and removal, and react to videos of tiny micro tat...
Tattoo Hoedown with Joe Capobianco
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Joe Capobianco returns to discuss how business has been slow and how social media algorithms, influencer culture, and corporate consolidation are warping tattooing, client expectations, and pricing. The conversation critiques low-quality “content” tattoos, oversharing trade knowledge for likes, and companies using AI imagery for tattoo conventions and product ads, while noting AI can be a useful tool when used responsibly. They debate originality being punished, clients driving copycat demand and lower budgets, and how rising costs are colliding with downward pressure on tattoo prices. The hosts react to viral posts about extreme tattoo pric...
Revisiting Nikki Simpson 2023
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Throw Back to Nikki Simpson from 2023
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This was the first episode we every shot with Nikki Simpson aired in 2023. Enjoy
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Philadelphia Tattoo Convention 2026 And Reactions To INSANE Videos with Maggie Serpica
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The Honest Tattoo Podcast recaps this year’s Philadelphia Tattoo Convention with returning guest Maggie, comparing it to last year’s poorly reviewed event. Maggie reports the convention was moved into a smaller, more manageable room with fewer booths, and despite a major snowstorm weekend the energy and turnout on Friday and Saturday were good, with Sunday largely emptied out though the show still ran.
They then roast several bad tattoos found online, including an infected-looking tattoo image, a poorly executed idea incorporating a raised keloid scar into a butterfly and plent...
Mastering Social Media With Vicky Stoner
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In this episode of the Honest Tattooer Podcast, we dive deep into the world of social media with Vicky Stoner as she shares her journey from managing a tattoo shop to becoming a proficient tattoo artist, emphasizing the importance of social media. We explore the challenges and successes of maintaining an authentic online presence and how it impacts client relationships. Get insights into the strategies for staying booked out, the importance of work ethic, and the role of conventions in a tattoo artist's career. Don't miss out on Vicky's practical advice for aspiring ta...
How To Succeed In Tattooing In 2026
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In this episode, we discuss why talent alone doesn't build a successful tattooing career. The conversation explores the importance of handling business basics, such as communication, timeliness, and follow-up, and how these simple practices can greatly enhance a tattoo artist's career longevity. We delve into the current and future landscape of the tattoo industry, comparing it to other professions like real estate, and emphasize the significance of treating tattooing as a business. The discussion involves personal anecdotes about the challenges and strategies in the profession and examines the impact of different working styles...
Japanese Tattooing with Roy Singh
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Join us in this episode as we sit down with Roy Singh, an experienced Japanese style tattoo artist based in New York City. Roy shares deep insights into the art, history, and cultural significance of Japanese tattooing, highlighting his personal journey and experiences. We discuss the nuances of designing tattoos that flow with the human form, the importance of backgrounds in Japanese tattooing, and the challenges and joys of maintaining this ancient tradition in the modern world. Whether you're a tattoo aficionado or simply curious about the art form, this episode offers a...
Blackout Tattoos with Hoode
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Join us on this week's episode of the Honest Tattooer Podcast as we dive deep into the enigmatic world of blackout tattoos with Philadelphia-based tattoo artist Hoode. Specializing in black work, Hoode shares his journey from hand poking tattoos in 1992 to becoming a master of blackout sleeves. We discuss the craftsmanship, pain, and misconceptions surrounding blackout tattoos and get a glimpse into Hoode's tattooing techniques, including his preferences in ink, needles and machines. Learn how he transitioned into blackout tattoos, handles client consultations, and his approach to perfecting large-scale blackout work. Plus, discover...
First Tats Of The Year
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In this episode, the hosts discuss their extensive podcast statistics for 2025, The conversation then shifts to tattooing, where the hosts share details about their recent works, including handling cover-ups, merging different tattoo styles, and reflecting on their techniques. The episode wraps up with insights into visualization techniques for enduring pain during tattoo sessions and some light-hearted banter about everyday life.
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Reflecting on 2025 and Plans for 2026
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In this episode of Honest Tattoo, the hosts discuss their experiences and reflections from 2025, touching on what they plan to quit, keep, and start in 2026. The conversation ranges from personal growth and mental well-being to tattoo techniques and industry insights. The hosts share their thoughts on balancing life, improving their craft, and staying motivated, offering listeners a blend of professional advice and personal anecdotes. Tune in for an engaging and reflective session as we look ahead to a new year in the world of tattooing.
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If I Had to Start Tattooing From Scratch in 2026
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In this episode, we break down exactly what we’d do differently if we were starting tattooing today. From learning how to draw, choosing (or avoiding) tattoo schools, and finding the right kind of apprenticeship, to pricing your work, specializing too early, buying equipment, and navigating social media, branding, and AI.
We talk honestly about cutting corners, making mistakes, getting criticized early on, and why fundamentals still matter, no matter how much the industry has changed. This episode is for new tattooers, apprentices, and anyone feeling stuck or questioning their path.
...This Is Why Tattooers Are Quitting with Matt Buck
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Getting Tattooed on Ink Master with Lalo Yunda and Evan Duswalt
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In this episode, we welcome Evan, a tattoo collector, to share his intriguing tattoo journey. They delve into Evan's experiences with getting tattooed at conventions, including a memorable stint on Ink Master where he was inked by Megan G. Morris. Evan reveals how he discovered Ink Master through a Craigslist ad and discusses his fascinating time on both Ink Master and Ink Master Redemption. The conversation touches on the importance of communication between clients and tattoo artists, the experience of getting tattooed for multiple days, and the challenges and rewards of participating in...
Scratching to Being Pro with Trav
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In this episode of the Honest Tattooer Podcast, the hosts welcome a special guest, Travis, a tattoo artist with 27 years of experience. Travis shares his unique journey into the world of tattooing, from making his first prison-style tattoo machine at 13 to professional tattooing. The conversation explores the evolution of tattooing, building DIY tattoo machines, and notable experiences both inside and outside the shop. Trav also talks about his commitment to giving back through various charity initiatives, including food drives and Toys for Tats. The episode wraps up with a humorous discussion on encounters...
Navigating the Tattoo Industry During the Holidays
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In this episode of the Honest Tattooer Podcast, the hosts discuss the unique challenges and opportunities that arise during the holiday season for tattoo artists. They reflect on how the industry has changed over the years and share anecdotes about their own experiences. The conversation shifts towards practical financial advice for tattoo artists, including managing expenses and investments, and the importance of being financially savvy. They also touch on the significance of enjoying life's moments, particularly during the holiday season.
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Crafting and Innovating with Joshua Bowers
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Welcome to the Honest Tattooer podcast! This week, we sit down with the multi-talented Joshua Bowers, a seasoned tattoo artist, and machine builder. Joshua shares his 21-year journey in the tattooing industry, emphasizing the significance of illustrative tattoos and maintaining a sketchbook journal. We delve into his process from sketching to digital art, the meticulous work involved in machine building, and his philosophy on innovation and maintenance. Discover insights on the first-time creation of tools, the impact of rotary versus coil machines, and Joshua's views on the future of tattoo craftsmanship. For all...
