We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jeremy D’Agostino. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jeremy below.

Jeremy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

it was difficult to get started. extremely. i began my apprenticeship at 18 years old in 2001 and had to work two full time jobs to support myself. I worked a coffee shop from 5am to 11am, then a sign shop doing vinyl wraps and installations from noon to 5ish, then the tattoo studio from 5 until 2 or 3 am. most nights i’d catch a few hours sleep on the couch at the tattoo shop then get up and do it all over again. after 5 months of this my apartment lease came up for renewal, i thought it was pointless to pay rent for a place i was never at. canceled my lease, put some things in storage and was “homeless” by choice for almost a year just trying to learn the craft and the trade. after a year i was able to quit the coffee shop and change my schedule a bit to focus on tattooing and art. still difficult, finding the time to bulk up my art portfolio and expand my clientele base. this was before any social media so all new clients were built personally, having to go out, go places, srop off cards or flyers, or word of mouth. it took an additional two years after that before my tattoo income was enough so that i no longer needed another job to support myself and could focus solely on art and client base. although the first two years only tattooing were very slow money wise, incredibly scary, inconsistent income and barely enough to get by, I pushed through believing i could make it work. now i run my own studio with two artists and an apprentice and booked out regularly three to four months in advance. made it work somehow

Jeremy, 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 honestly fell into tattooing. grew up in kind of an old school biker household with family friends that tattooed. always had a sketch book with me from a young age, had my dads friends constantly looking through my art telling me i need to tattoo. everything i do is custom, hand drawn from scratch for every project. sometimes clients come with reference material, sometimes i have to pick their brain and create their visions from scratch just from a description. i’m incredibly proud of my ability to connect with people, understand what they’re striving to convey through their artwork requests, i absolutely love the look on my clients faces when i present them art that started as just an idea in their head, then i get to hear their stories throughout the application process. it’s the connection for me, the human connection and interaction. it’s priceless

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

i’ve worked for 6 different studios over the years before i opened my own. have had issues with almost every studio owner, not getting paid what i was promised, feeling like the studio wasn’t being run or advertised properly, being taken advantage of. leaving to go somewhere else is always approached with trepidation, will it be worse than before, sometimes yes. i’ve seen numerous artists over the years give up on the industry and move on to other things. sometimes i’m certain it would have been easier to quit, find something else. but i wouldn’t trade it for anything, i wouldn’t go back and change anything if i could. power through it and make it work

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

again, human connection and interaction. picking someone’s brain in order to bring to life a general idea in their head. then learning from them what inspired it. i’ve heard stories of life and death and love and loss all across the board. i love the people, and their hearts and minds and ideas.

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