We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Josh Thurston a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Josh, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I owe a lot of my creativity to my dad. When I was a child he would draw with me every night, which laid the foundation for me becoming an artist. As I grew older and went through middle-high school my art sort of went on the back burners, until I turned 18 and got my first tattoo. Seeing the shop environment and the other tattoo artists, it hit me that I can make a living drawing on people’s skin.

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 Josh Thurston and I am originally from Pennsylvania, but I moved to Texas when I was starting high school. I got into the industry but sort of… snaking my way in. I found out the shop owner’s son liked anime, so I made him this huge Naruto painting. The shop owner saw that and followed me on instagram. I thought to myself, “well not she can see the art that I post!” So I started planting the seeds basically at that point. As time passed and she saw more and more of my work I decided to take the plunge and ask if they were in need of an apprentice at the shop. A few interviews later and the rest is history. I mainly tattoo anime, and some neo-traditional here and there. Doing anime tattoos day in and day out is my passion, and I don’t see myself growing tired of that any time soon. Anime is so creative in itself; there’s a plethora of characters, powers, monsters, and worlds to choose from. I pride myself on not only doing a clean tattoo, but also having the best saturation and color work possible. Color is what I always love in art, so I try my best to perfect it in my tattoos.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

There’s so many things to choose from when it comes to what makes me feel good and rewarded with being a tattoo artist. It makes me happy just drawing what I love, which is anime. I get to literally watch anime to “study” and tattoo it on people for a living. Another thing that makes me feel fulfilled is when the tattoo is finished and the client looks in the mirror, and just smiles and says “wow.” Seeing their positive reaction to what I just spent my time perfecting makes it all worth it.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When growing up adults would always ask us as kids, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” My answer was always “I don’t know…” That stayed true till the day I graduated high school, and even passed that. I barely scraped by two years of college STILL not knowing what I was going to do with my life. I was lazy, I was content barely paying my bills and living with my brother. After numerous talks with my parents about what the hell I was going to make my life; I decided it was time to change. I got my first tattoo and decided this was the business I would like to pursue. It was hard to switch gears for me but after a few months of contemplating I finally finished my sketchbook and made the effort. I am finally happy in life and doing something I love; although the laziness is still kind of there.

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