After his 20 years anniversary in tattooing, Shane Tan, the Singapore born tattoo-er, tells us more about what it takes to pursue the final goal for someone like him specialised in Japanese tattooing: a collection of body-suits.
You started 21 years ago when you were 16, where do you feel at now, in your ca-reer?
It feels like I’m just getting started. I’m uncomfortable with where I am because I haven’t achieved some personal goals. I’d like to finish a few more bodysuits, get my book out, start more body suits, paint more, and then do another book. Please remind me to take a long holiday when all that is done.
Hahaha, yeah, sure. What keeps you motivated after all these years?
Curiosity and passion. Having a family definitely pushes me to work harder. There is a lot of competition actually, and it can be quite overwhelming. But I’m trying to keep up and learn from the younger generation. I face competition with positivity. There’s still so much I need to learn and it’s always fun to see amazing stuff popping up all over the world. It definitely keeps me on my toes. If there weren’t constant new talents occupying the tattoo scene, we’d all be very lazy and bored. We’re constantly getting our asses kicked by the new generation and I think that’s a good thing. I respect that.
Talking about body-suits, the new generations get to do these big works right away now. How do you feel about that?
I really admire their courage to work on a back piece at the start of their career. I re-member it took me at least 7 or 8 years of tattooing before attempting to do a proper back piece. Tattooing was a lot more intimidating in the past because information was not so readily available. There weren’t enough books, nor did we have Facebook, Insta-gram or You Tube. And of course, when you tried to google “tattoos”, you’d find mostly bikers tats but very few good references. I spent a lot of time in the library digging for books that I could use. It took me a very long time to get my first back piece done. I just didn’t have enough balls to do it at the start of my career.
Since you started, the material has changed. Which technical improvements (ma-chine, inks, etc.) significantly increased the possibilities of doing body-suits?
The development of new machines played a big part in the improvement of my tattoo-ing. I started with coil machines but now I’ use rotaries which are easier on my hands. I wouldn’t say it’s more efficient than coils but definitely lighter which makes it easier to work for longer hours (especially on body-suits). The Bishop Fantom and Swash Drive are my current favourites. It didn’t change the way I work but it definitely helped in making tattooing more comfortable.
You have quite a collection of big works now. How difficult is the way to achieve that for a tattooer?
I’m still at the early stages of my tattoo career. 19 years is a very short time to have a good collection of body-suits. Maybe in 15 years I can accurately answer this question. Hopefully by then, I’d have a decent collection. But for now, here’s what I can share with you. I wouldn’t say it was difficult but it sure took a whole lot of effort and time. I guess once you get into the Japanese style, the goal is to tattoo body-suits. So, in 2007 or 2008, I decided to start a few. I couldn’t find anyone willing to get an entire suit so I did it for free. I did two in fact. Without charging a single cent. And I did a few more back pieces in Singapore and in Zürich for little or no money. Because there was no money involved, I managed to finish them real quick. That kind of started it all. I didn’t have to support a family back then, so money was never really an issue for me.
What reactions did you get?
Well, nothing drastic really. It took a few months for people to notice because I wasn’t active on social media at that time. I didn’t really care what people think nor did I care if they liked it. I did it because I wanted to learn how to construct bigger tattoos : It was the next step I had to take. Anyways, after finishing a few large pieces, I set up an ama-teur website, had some photos printed and gave out as many cards as I could. It caught the attention of a few and eventually I got requests to start more back pieces. It was a little different back then. I didn’t have a smart phone to shoot and upload pictures right away. There weren’t any social media ‘likes’ or ‘followers’. I relied mostly on word of mouth.
You were talking about a decent collection of body-suits, what would it look like?
I’d say about 20 would be a good collection. I have more than 30 back pieces but only a few body-suits which are still in progress. A full body-suit is so fucking difficult to achieve. Because it takes ages and some clients need a break after 2 or 3 years of con-stant tattooing.
How many hours does it represent to get one from you?
50 to 60 hours for a back piece and maybe 200 hours for a body suit? Depends on the size of your body. A majority of clients start with a back piece which progresses into a bodysuit. And some do the sleeves first and move on to the back. They rarely come in and decide on a body suit right away, but there’s a small number, maybe 3 or 4 guys who came to me with no tattoos and wanting a body suit. That’s amazing.
What makes a good body-suit?
It must have a visible impact when seen from a distance. The use of enough black is essential, because without it, a suit will look very weak. The sleeves and legs must support the main subject on the back piece and not steal or fight for attention from it.
What did the Japanese teach you about it?
I’ve learned that balance is everything. When one understands balance, everything falls into place. If you study and analyse what makes a good body-suit, you’ll realize that the blank spaces or the white is as important as the black lines and shading. If a design is too cluttered, leaving no space for the tattoo to breathe, it’s not going to be easy to look at. The mind will lose interest and move on. But if there’s a good balance and the different elements tell a simple story, we’re going to continue looking at the piece with interest and curiosity.
Your work is very simplified nowadays but it has not always been the case - you tended to have a less contrasted works too. How did your approach evolved through the years?
In my first 14 or 15 years, I was eager to show all the fancy details I could achieve in my designs but in the last 4 years, I’ve toned it down a lot and stopped being too flashy. I cut down on my color palette, in fact these days I try to use only black and red. After seeing some work I’ve done 10 years ago, I didn’t really like the way the colors aged. So I decided to go with only black and red. I still do colors sometimes but I try to stay away from it as much as I can. By taking out all the fancy details, I’m actually preparing the tattoo for its aging process. 10 to 15 years later, it’s still going to look solid if the design is simplified. Let’s face it, no matter how good your technique is, tattoos will fade. Excessive details will crumble over time. It’s been tested and proven. Trust me. We have to be responsible to our clients and give them something that will last a lifetime. Not some elaborate nonsense that has to be touched up very two years. That’s fake tattooing.
We were talking recently with Filip Leu about the short lifespan of the tattooer’s creation. How does the artist you are feel about it?
We spend a lifetime building sand castles and watch them fall apart as the tide rushes in. Death is inevitable – very emo sounding but true!- I try my very best to photograph my work. But looking at a tattoo in real life is definitely a hundred times more interesting. It’s like comparing a museum catalogue to the actual work on display. + IG : @shane_tan @feather.cloud.tattoo
