What is a tattoo convention anyway?
If tattooing was a religion, what would be our sacred pilgrimage? The place where all the greatest come to show off their skills and artistic talents or a place you can buy all the wares your particular tastes in the dark require? That would be a tattoo convention my friend, and would you believe it there are many many around.
Conventions really are just that, a place designed purely for the desires of adults and I don't mean in an ‘adult’ kind of way. The buzz of a hundred machines working, the laughter of people meeting and greeting each other, whether they are getting in a good chat with their favourite artist or finding that vendor who has that one item they didn't know they needed. Now, I could write out a list of dos and don'ts for a tattoo convention. I could tell you how best to prepare and what to expect but where would the fun be in that? So instead here's my experience of my first tattoo convention with a few tidbits of useful information you can learn from.
I remember my first time in a tattoo shop, a young 19 year old who wanted a cool Warhammer tattoo but was secretly terrified the whole time. It's one of those experiences you only have once becoming more and more confident each time you come back. After stumbling across 7th circle during covid and a good handful of tattoos done at the shop, I heard Kevin talking about needing someone to do a piece for a competition, and like the proverbial lamb to the slaughter my hand raised of its own volition. I thought I’d never get that fearful feeling like I did that first day, but as the car rolled into the car park at my first convention, ready for a 15 hour two day tattoo I felt it. That misplaced fear I’m sure everyone knows, was immediately quashed as I walked into the hall.
Now, I can only speak about my first tattoo convention at Tattooed Planet in Manchester last year, but I hope to visit many more in the future. The feeling of seeing so many artists working at the same time was one of those first time experiences again but luckily for me being a human canvas for Kevin meant I was able to get in early and mingle with some of the other artists before the day kicked off. It almost felt like going along with your dad to work and watching him talk to all his other big work friends, as I watched Kevin catch up with old friends and familiar faces. After my first morning in the convention hall I’d cracked the code. Sometimes striking up a conversation with a stranger in public can be hard or jarring, but at a convention it's as simple as ‘What are you working on?’ or ‘What are you getting done?’ and you will lose a good ten minutes of your life, maybe more if you permit it, listening to the stories, personal styles and inspirations from artists and customers alike.
Amongst the awesomeness of all the artists and customers alike, these conventions do actually have a purpose. They serve as a kind of competition circuit where tattooists can go and show off their best work. Humans aren't like a gallery, you can't see them all lined up perfectly as the day they were inked. What you can do is get a whole bunch of artists with some willing friends/customers and have their work judged by a respected panel of artists from the industry based on different categories. For someone who doesn't know their trad from their realism, they will really benefit from seeing this process and it’s worth hanging around for the judging ceremony. This gives you a real scope of the talent but also the range of styles that are out there. Personally, my tattoo was entered into the Anime category with a shin piece of Senshi from Delicious in Dungeons (I’m not a mega anime fan, much to Kevins dismay but was very happy to get the Dwarven Chef extraordinaire done).
I was under the impression that I could go in, have a look around and get that cool little tattoo I’d been wanting but I soon learnt that conventions are more a celebration of the artist, their style and some of their own designs. You may find an artist who can be flexible but ultimately you go there to see the wares of the vendors, not design the perfect tattoo you've been thinking about in your head. If I’d had time I would definitely have got a space marine helmet in an American Trad style from an artist that I found whilst wandering around.
This leads me onto another thing I discovered, cash is king. People don't usually have a machine or if they do, the signal is terrible. So it's wise to bring some…impulse money let's call it. Bring more than you think you’ll need!
You can safely assume that a tattoo convention will have tattoo artists but what I wasn’t banking on was the world of weird I was about to walk into.
As it turns out, a tattoo convention is a festival of all the weird, wonderful and often dark commodities, trinkets and paraphernalia you could imagine. I went to the convention for a tattoo butI left with 6 prints, a taxidermied moth and a new shirt.Think of it like going to freshers back in university but you leave with cool stuff not just some pens and rubbers, and if you need stickers for your laptop or whatever surface, you will walk away with a treasure trove.
Amongst all the bustling and whirring of the tattooists, you have a wave of entertainment that turns this from a shopping hall into a living event with things worth waiting around for in between talking to artists or being tattooed. Tattooed Planet hosted a range of entertainment such as burlesque dancers, Taiko Drummers, Strongmen and Fire Breathers. Unfortunately for me, I was having the aforementioned 15 hour tattoo over the two days so I only got to make minimal interactions across both the halls the convention occupied but when I did get to hobble around it was the best break ever from a gnarly tattoo.
The headlining act for a retro themed convention, Black Lace did a fantastic job even attempting to complete a Guiness world record for the longest tattooed conga line with some of their classic songs. One of Kevin's favourite highlights from the day was when I awkwardly walked through the semi circle surrounding Black Lace to get my bag I’d left behind. I palmed off my half eaten pizza box onto a very perplexed member, mid song. I didn’t catch his reaction but Kevin told me it was very memorable.
The team who put together tattooed Planet did a great job in providing a convention that pushed the boundaries with over 160 artists from around the globe packing out two whole convention halls, making for an extremely memorable first convention for me. All of this against the backdrop of England going into the final of the Euros in the next hall provided an interesting collection of social groups as half naked people wrapped in plastic mingled with half drunken fans ready to watch England go ahead. Unfortunately, Spain beat England and football didn't come home, thankfully I was high tailing it home by that point.
The feeling of your first convention may have some interesting features that provide a nostalgic memory like mine, but you can almost guarantee that the feeling of walking into that hall will be worth it. Whether you’re after some cool new clothes, prints directly from the artists, dark furnishings for your home or you are indeed looking for that sick flash tattoo that you didn't know you wanted, taking the plunge into the world of tattoo conventions is something you won’t regret.
This year Kevin will working at both York International tattoo convention on June 21st & 22nd and Tattooed Planet on August 23 & 24th.
