Honest Tattooer Podcast

Send us Fan Mail On the Honest Tattooer podcast, Jon Mesa and Matt Truiano,  welcome back Ryan Roi for his fourth appearance to discuss why tattooers’ bookings dropped and how he pivoted from financial advising to full-time marketing coaching for tattooers. Ryan explains the difference between content and marketing, focusing on deposits over views or followers, and emphasizes local leads, clear lo...

Send us Fan Mail Jon Mesa and Matt Truiano welcome Josh Adams, creator and host of the tattoo docuseries Skin Deep, to discuss how the show documents tattoo artists, shop culture, and personal stories across seasons in the U.S., New York/LA, and an upcoming London season. Josh shares getting his first tattoo at 14 as rebellion, his background filming musicians and comedians on tour, and why he wan...

Send us Fan Mail Jon Mesa and Matt Truiano host the Honest Tattoo Podcast with guests Daniela Segal and Gordo. They reminisce about meeting years ago through the No Idols/Bowery shop circle, then discuss a social media project by @martindninja featuring honeycomb-like hexagon tattoos from many artists, using it to compare how different styles and pigments age, including tiny realism, traditional w...

Send us Fan Mail Jon Mesa and Matt Truiano do a one-on-one episode about when tattooers need to say no, including turning down projects outside their strengths, designs that are too small, ideas that won’t age well, and clients who change direction or message-bomb before appointments. They discuss balancing honesty with opportunity, sometimes doing simple walk-ins for the experience can lead to bi...

Send us Fan Mail Jon Mesa and Matt Truiano are joined by guest tattooer Edoardo Taglioretti, a 12-year artist from Italy who specializes in new school and bio-organic tattoos. They discuss whether current tattoo trends will become classics or future coverups, framing how tattoos “age” physically in skin, culturally, and personally. The episode critiques post-ironic meme/joke tattoos, brand and sho...

Send us Fan Mail This week we talk about the importance of choosing the right artist for the job, what makes a good portrait reference, lining at the end of a large, multi session piece, the cost of a good tattoo in Bali and what is goin on what that back piece? Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Jon Mesa, Matt Truiano, and Matt Buck talk with guest tattooer Charles Arizmendy  and later Skylar Phung about how AI is affecting tattooing, especially as clients bring AI-generated references that look polished but often aren’t tattooable due to skin, body flow, aging, and detail limitations. They compare AI references to Pinterest/Google, discuss when AI is a helpful springboar...

Send us Fan Mail On the Honest Tattooer podcast, Jon Mesa and Matt Truiano sit down with Matt Buck  and guest Fabian, a New York tattooer of 13 years with a graffiti background who now focuses on mostly freehand blackwork sigils—turning phrases into symbols by removing vowels and repeated consonants. The group reacts to a thread about what’s “cringe” in tattooing and debates whether artists who le...

Send us Fan Mail 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 me...

Send us Fan Mail 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 limitation...

Send us Fan Mail 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.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail 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 w...

Send us Fan Mail 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: consisten...

Send us Fan Mail 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 cha...

Send us Fan Mail 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 conve...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 imp...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

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Send us Fan Mail 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 s...

Send us Fan Mail 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 t...

Send us Fan Mail 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 exp...

Send us Fan Mail 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...