Inkers MAGAZINE - Jacob Zamore

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Jacob Zamore

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INTERVIEW JACOB ZAMORE

@pascalbagot

In Uppsala, 30 km from his home town of Stockholm, Swedish tattoo artist Jacob Zamore talks to Inkers about the influences - from Star Wars to video games - that led him to develop his style. He uses it for the spectacular and sparkling animal fights that he never tires of staging, in a graphic style close to new-school and with a strong Asian accent.

What comes first, the drawing or the tattoo ?

I’ve been drawing for whole my life. It was the one thing that could help me focus. All my school books were filled with doodles. But I started drawing more seriously during high school and during the third year I noticed that this is something I want to work with.

What are the graphic references you had with you at the time?

I think the biggest references and influences must have been Star Wars and video games. I loved drawing various battle scenes, dragons and monsters. And I guess that I still draw that today. I love when clients ask for like two animals fighting. When it’s a lot going on and a lot of movement.

How does the influence of Asian culture and iconography come about?

I guess I snapped up the Asian influence while I worked at Imperial Tattoo in Stockholm. The owner of that shop is a brilliant tattooer in the Japanese style and it was very inspiring to see how he connected everything with water or wind as a background and I really like that you have to work with the shape of each client. You can’t just put a stencil on a full sleeve and go to town. You have to make every tattoo unique for that client body part and I guess that is half the beauty of the style.

How would you call your style, new-school?

No, but it is a bit inspired by it and I guess some people would call my style new school. I guess it’s also the movement and the characteristics that I like with that style. If you draw a happy bird you make it extremely happy for example. I want to spread joy with the tattoos that I do and for me new school being that way more than for example realism.

You like to have a great freedom of creation or a little bit less is good for you ?

I love freedom while I design tattoos. But to much freedom can make it worse than if someone ask for something very specific. Some clients says that I have free hands to design the piece, but very rarely that is the case. So I always want something to go for, like if you ask for a bird or a dragon. Then I love to take the liberty of freedom to make that design as great as possible. I have as a rule that I draw all my tattoos my self even if the client have a picture that they want. And it’s because I want every client to each have a unique design but also because if I don’t find the job fun, I wouldn’t want to do it.

What do you focus on when you start a new piece?

I usually start with the dynamics, let’s say I design a dragon. Then I try to decide where I want the head and the claws, and then I try to make a movement in the body to make it interesting but also readable. And after that I can start working with the expressions and emotions. And 9 times out of 10 I will change the design like three or four times before I start to see something that I like.

What about light ? A good colourist needs a good light, right?

I don’t think so much about light very often when I work unless I have like an object in the piece that is shining or glowing. But I guess I usually think the light is slightly above the main character in each design. When I do that I can shade like around the eyes very heavily to make them pop. I think it’s more important with contrast, if I want bright eyes I need dark around them. I paint a lot of Warhammer miniatures on my spare time and that’s a great way to see we’re you should put shadows or highlights. I can see a lot of similarities in my tattoos and my miniature paintings.

Animals are a favorite subject, a personal passion too?

Yes I really do love animals. But it wasn’t until I met my wife who is more knows as Fru Duva that I really started to appreciate to travel just to see new animals and also to live with animals. We have three dogs, a bunch of chickens, turkeys, pigeons, quails, a peacock and a hedgehog. I guess they help me to reset my kind after a long day at work. I think life would be quite boring if you were just surrounded by people all the time.

Creatively, how do you stay fresh and creative?

I play a lot of video games and watch movies like every night. And almost every time I do so I see something that could inspire me. It could be a background in a scene or how a character moves or behaves. I do a lot of conventions at the moment. At least 3-4 tattoo conventions each year and last year we tattooed at comic con. Which was great to combine the things I love and got a lot of fun requests and new clients that you probably wouldn’t find at a tattoo convention. So I’m doing comic con again this year and probably will do for a few more years.

Do you continue to work on your drawing?

Oh definitely, I usually hate the stuff I draw and I think most tattooers do. I always see stuff in my designs that I think should be better or different. I draw almost everyday and I guess each time I learn something new. Even if it’s something for a client that I have drawn a thousand times before or if I want to study and draw something new. I guess when you stop to improve and just stay satisfied with what you do everyday, then it’s time to take a step back and see if this is really want to do. I will never be fully learned in this profession and I guess that’s the beauty of it.

Which tattoo artists do you look at?

My wife inspires me a lot in her designs but other than that I would say that Sneaky Mich, Jee Sayalero and Mike Dorsey. All these four artist are different from each other but it’s something about their art that is so inspiring. + IG : @jacobzamore