We recently connected with Ozgur Yesilbas and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Ozgur thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Being defined and defining myself as a shy and reserved person, even writing about myself I would classify as taking a risk withouth assessing how big or how small it is. The biggest one that I would say is when I decided use the opportunity provided by my brother to become a tattoo artist.

Just like my older brother, I too graduated from one of the top high schools in my country and immediately enrolled in university. Graduating from university and getting a diploma is universally perceived as a prestigious and necessary path to becoming someone in society and I believe that it is far more important in Turkey. Just like many generation of people before me I was raised with the idea that if I get a “good” education and a diploma, career-wise I would not have to worry about anything in the future. My initial dream or goal was to become an army officer, an idea which was never truly supported by any of my family members and understandably for obvious reasons. The political situation of my country did not help my cause either and once I had to give up on that dream I never actually knew what I wanted to become in life. I held on to the idea that if I successfully complete my education in four years that alone would open many doors for me and I would not have to worry about anything. I decided on pursuing an academic career after graduation and again enrolled in one of the top universities in my country and got my master’s degree in history. During a ten year period of studying I worked in various fields as part-timer. I worked at a bookshop, translated texts and books, became an English teacher but throughtout this perioud I found out that getting a job was extremely difficult (at least for me) and once you got one, I had to do anything to not lose it.

Once I was done with school and working in traditional fields of profession, I went to the USA to visit my brother and hopefully enroll in one of the universities as a PhD student but that was not meant to be. I had started doodling, drawing again before the covid pandemic and my brother half serious and half joking told me to become a tattoo artist and even gave me the necessary tools like the tattoo gun to practice at home. And I did that, maybe not consistently but I did and come 2022, I was not just the little brother but also the tattoo apprentice. I would say that was a big risk for me because I always thought that I would play it safe, get a white-collar desk job, work 9 to 5 but circumstances never allowed it. For some reason the employers also never liked me I guess, out of hundreds of job applications and tens of interviews, I could never get hired so it can be said that I was meant to take this risky path. It has been almost one year since I started and so far I am having the best experience of my life doing something so fun and learning, trying to get better everyday.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I always liked drawing, painting and it was one of my favorite activities up until high school. Until around 2018, 2019 I had not drawn nor painted anything and even if I did, whatever skill I had was no longer there. After I opened my personal instagram account I started discovering and following certain people; artists that drew, tattoo artists, painters, illustrators and their work prompted me to take up a pen and pencil again and start drawing. I was and still am extremely fascinated by pen and ink, egnraving, hatching style drawing and people who draw in that style and wanted to be like those artist and tried to copy, emulate them so as to learn how to draw in that very style. When I decided to share my not-so-good drawings on instagram, I guess it also prompted my brother to encourage me to pursue becoming a tattoo artist. During one of his visits to Turkey, he brought me one of his tattoo machines and other necessary tools to practice and that was the way I started. I tattooed lemons, oranges, grapefruits, drawing lines, circles. learning how to hold and control the machine itself. And once I got the chance to unite with him he took on the role of my mentor, master and I started tattooing actual, live people.

One of my favorite aspects of tattooing is that when I start the tattooing process I do not think of anything else. The whole experience for me is just extremely meditative. I view myself as an overthinker, at all times and it can get quite tiring as mostly negative thoughts surround my brain. That is why when I am tattooing a person I feel the most relieved and at comfort, and when I see my clients’ faces with happy and satisfied expressions, I feel the most proud because it gives me the feedback that I did a good job and that is a very rewarding experience.

At this point, I am very new, still an apprentice learning the skills to become a complete tattoo artist and I have a far far long way to go. I do not quite know if I possess anything that sets me apart but I would say that I am and I try to be completely honest with my clients in every phase of tattooing.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

Definitely. I never thought that a profession could have such a positive, healing aspect in itself. Just like I said, when I start tattooing I am one hundred percent concentrated on it and no other thoughts enter my brain. I do not torture myself with any negative, ill and unproductive thoughts.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

Patience. As in all professions with high competition, frustrations are common place and being new to the scene can make you feel like you will not ever be good or successful. Even though I view myself a patient man, I still need to be more patient than what I am now. When you do not rush and take your time, your chance of delivering a satisfying job increases, both for you and your clients.      

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/yesilbas.ozgur/