I, Poohley Tattooest has been a budding artist since a young child. As a kid growing up in Alabama I was always fascinated with art; all forms of art. I am the kind of artist that looks at the world and sees it for all of it’s shapes and colors. I started off with doodling which grew to full blown creations in my pre-adolescent years. At the tender age of 12 I was shown a different way to express myself and my art by learning how to tattoo. This new art form proved to be very challenging to me at first but like the pro that I am, I caught on pretty quickly. At 12 my first tattoo machine was a needle and thread. With a steady hand and having myself as my first canvas I knew I had little room for mistakes. In my career I met a guy by the name of Vick. Now, Vick was an interesting character but he took his time to show me how to tattoo, using a homemade machine none the less. Now tattooing was challenging in itself but using a homemade machine was exciting, but presented its own set of challenges. The biggest challenge to learning all the aspects of using this machine was how to keep clean and safe for my customers but I managed to accomplish this as well.
The next challenge that presented itself was figuring out how to go from using my homemade machine to using a professionally made machine. While yes I loved using my homemade machine, I also wanted to learn how to use professional equipment. At the age of 18 I was taught to use the professional equipment by a gentleman named Charles. Charles was a different artist that showed me how to get tattoos done efficiently and effectively. He was my mentor and I learned so much underneath his tutelage. He taught me that tattooing was more than just drawing it was an art form that could be in museums if it wasn’t on the body. I came to have a different appreciation for tattooing and I can tell you it hasn’t done anything but grown.
As I got older I had already become a relativity known artist and I wanted to see if I could make it in another city. So, I moved from Alabama to Chicago to set uproots. When I got to Chicago I met a now good friend and well known tattoo artist Malcolm “Solo” Brown. He has his own tattoo shop in University Park, Illinois. It is through him that I learned the business side of tattooing and I feel that things have finally come full circle. So after twenty plus years of tattooing I finally have my dream of owning my own tattoo shop Ink My Image.
