We recently connected with Josh Forshey and have shared our conversation below.

Josh, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Leaving my mentor’s shop to start my own was the biggest risk I took. It was calculated though. I spent months asking clients how they found me and once the overwhelming answer was instagram/word of mouth and not the shop I was working at, I knew I could make it on my own. It’s definitely tough, there’s a lot of problems you don’t expect when owning a shop. Managing people has by far been the hardest part. It’s not all about me anymore. I have wonderful people that work for me and I never want to let them down. Building a good shop cost lots of money and takes a lot of patience. It’s not for everyone and I constantly remind myself of how lucky I am to be in this position.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

my name is Forshe and I am a tattoo artist and the owner of the Kansas City Tattoo Club, located in the Crossroads. I got into tattooing about five years ago. I was initially introduced to tattooing from my involvement in graffiti and graphic design.

tattooing has been the best thing that has ever happened to me and it has given me endless joy to be able to help bring peoples ideas to life while making beautiful art along the way. I’m extremely proud of the Kansas City tattoo club and the artists and clients inside. I don’t take time to recognize my own achievements since the job isn’t done. We aim to be the best shop in Kansas City and we’re definitely going to be just that.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

AI art is a big topic in the tattoo community right now. I’m definitely pro AI. I use it all the time in my tattoos as it gives me completely unique references and allows me to customize my clients tattoo 100%. Being a realistic artist, I tend to use a lot of photo references in my works and this makes my life 1000 times easier.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Carl Grace’s Live Sullen Tattoo Session on youtube is a goldmine to an aspiring tattooer. I probably watched that video five or six times all the way through. If you want to be a tattoo artist or you’re currently learning, watch that video..

Contact Info:

• Website: kctattooclub.com
• Instagram: @forshetattoos
• Facebook: Forshe Tattoos