We were lucky to catch up with Donny Lobisomem recently and have shared our conversation below.

Donny, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

I came up with Ink & ELBOW through my love for Art and Martial Arts. My favorite moments in the process of creating is laying down the Ink and fine details.

Whether it be Tattooing or Illustrating..

Elbow, came from it being my favorite move to use when training or sparring.

I put them together because what i’m creating is for the Warriors with Artistic abilities.
A message that its still cool to be creative, and you can still be strong while being creative.

Donny, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I got into to Tattooing through my first Mentor A.J. (Anton Johnson). And here I am 12+ years later still tattooing in Atlanta GA.
I’ve always appreciated Art being an Anime fan, Manga Reader and Gamer..
and after realizing I could learn how to do these things myself AND tattoo using the same style,
I dove in.

Being in this creative world with those inspirations has allowed me to provide people with
my vision. A lot of Tattoo Artist frown upon anime, and thin line work, And I love being able to see my clients faces
once it’s done. I also have a lot of fun doing portraits and my own way of putting together African/Tribal/and Portrait work
together with a dash of Illustrative marks. This in turn also sets me apart from the average tattoo artist that just tattoos
what they see instead of going that extra mile to be more unique.

(I know it sounds weird but it works and its my style)

Being able to hear what people are asking for and see what people want and being able to have the creative freedom
to make it my own and more unique for them makes me proud that I have went this route…

I pray that everyone see’s my work and the amount of work i put in and appreciates it as much as I do.
As much as everyone does.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

There was a time where I was a fork lift driver living with my mother trying to figure out how to continue my tattoo career after the death of my Mentor.

My mother was stuck on keeping me at a 12hr gig, and all i could think about was being a creative.
Soon i was given an opportunity to Tattoo out of Studio 219 Ink, and was pretty much left with an choice.
Be a forklift driver and have a roof over my head, or be HOMELESS.. and go for what I knew I wanted.

I was homeless for 2-3 years.

Living out of a 91′ Honda civic hatchback i had just built.

I spent hours mastering my craft.
Tattooed until sometimes 5 in the morning..

And didn’t eat too much because I was too busy trying to invest in better supplies.

Anyone that knows me knows there aint no quit in me.
During this time it was self torture.. but it was worth more than anything.

I’m my own boss, I make what I made in a week in just a few hours, and now I run 2 more businesses.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that you can’t do it all alone. Not just that, but the people you start with ain’t always the people you end with.
I have the biggest problem with seeing the best in people so bad I tend to look past their flaws.
No matter how grimy they just are.

I’ve given so much I’ve ended up with NOTHING, and in being in that position I’ve mastered key words like:
“No”, “I don’t have it”, “Kick rocks”.., etc.

It’s hard out here for genuine kindness.
We MUST find a balance..
And make peace with saying NO.

Contact Info:

• Website: thewolvezden.com
• Instagram: @donnylobisomem
• Facebook: Donny Lobisomem
• Twitter: @donnylobisomem
• Other: My TikTok is the same lol.

Image Credits
Huge s/o to Mino Tehren for the dope photo of me holding the Katana.