09/19/2026
There's a difference between being a tattooer and just doing tattoos.
For me, tattooing has never been about chasing trends, building an internet persona, or trying to be something I'm not. It's about the craft. The history. The people. The freedom to take an idea and turn it into something somebody will carry for the rest of their life.
20 years in, and I'm still chasing that same feeling I had when I first picked up a machine.
The art has taken me places I never imagined. It's introduced me to people I would've never met and given me a life I couldn't have built any other way.
But the longer I do this, the more I realize that the artist and the art are inseparable. Every experience, every mistake, every mile traveled, and every lesson learned finds its way into the work.
I'm not here to reinvent tattooing. I'm here to respect what came before me, keep pushing my own abilities, and leave behind work I'm proud to put my name on.
The artist is always a work in progress. So is the art.
— Mickelson Tattoos
