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After reading about the explosive growth of the tattoo industry over the last 15 years, I got to wondering: how does one become a tattoo artist? What’s the path? How would you go from doodling on your arm with a ballpoint pen (the only kind of tattoo I’ve ever had or drawn) to, oh say, rendering a large multicolored dragon on someone else’s torso?
Researching the topic, I discovered Bob Baxter and his jam-packed website, Tattoo Road Trip. As the former editor of the international tattoo magazine Skin & Ink, and as the father of no fewer than three professional tattoo artists, Baxter knows the culture and industry of tattoo as well as anyone I might have called. I spoke to him earlier this week from his home in Hood River, Oregon—about an hour from Portland, the fifth-most-tattooed city in the nation.
Image credit: drawing of Bob Baxter by Bob Tyrrell. Used with permission from Bob Baxter.
About Bob Baxter: Baxter is the editor-in-chief of Tattoo Road Trip, a website for tattoo enthusiasts that includes reviews of tattoo artists and tattoo shops. The site also features picture galleries, drawing tips, business tips, and extensive commentary on the history, culture, and industry of tattoo. Previously, Baxter was the longtime (14 years) editor-in-chief of Skin & Ink, an award-winning tattoo magazine that was owned by Larry Flynt at the time.
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