We were lucky to catch up with Russ Quinn recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Russ, thanks for joining us today. 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?

Earning a living as a tattooist is no easy task. I have been tattooing for 28 years and was a self taught artist. When I started tattooing it wasn’t a mainstream or popular career path. Nor was it a very well paid career either. There were many winters where I had to get a normal job just to get by, but fortunately it has become very popular in the last 10 years, and folks have figured out the best time to get tattooed is in the winter when your not exposing you fresh tattoos to the sun.

Finally tattooing has become a steady career for many, myself and my wife are booked for several months keeping financial stability..Spending many years mastering many styles has greatly helped my career, being able to tell clients and show them that I can tattoo any style pristine.

Russ, 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 am a happily married man, with 6 kids in the house, that lives in a smaller town right outside Kansas city, I grew up in Kansas City Northland my whole life, I’ve been tattooing for 28 years and have worked at several shops in KC over the years. I opened up Divine Tattoo Parlor 7 years ago in my childhood neighborhood, and I feel that greatly helped jump my career, tattooing on folks I grew up with and there kids that have grown to be adults.
What sets us apart from others is our customer service, we listen to what the clients want and try to create there vision, artists that work at Divine are the best of the best..
Were fair priced and I’d say the overall vibe of the shop is what really sets us apart, a nice family feel with artists that listen and always give there professional opinion is what counts ,giving the customers a tattoo that will last, that is timeless and creative.
From that 4 booth shop , 2 years later I was able to expand it to an 8 booth shop, 2 years after that was able to fill the shop up and open another shop 30 min north of that shop in kearney mo.
There are 13 artists that work between both shops that call it home. We have also opened up Kansas city’s 1st locally ran tattoo convention that me and my wife Audrey Quinn host and run, a convention for artist by artists.
Between the 2 shops we attend several tattoo convention around the U.S. and live to compete, we have hundreds of awards between the 2 shops that are on display lining the walls that we hang proudly, showing we Excel in every category of tattooing.
We have a lot of reoccurring customers that love Divine and our services, our reviews reflect how we run our business as a team.

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

In my career as an artist , tattooing has evolved so much. When I started tattooing there were only traditional style artists, Japanese Chinese style tattooing. Traditional style tattoos are a great base to evolve though, giving artists a basic understanding of color palettes and design.
Having been a traditional style artist for so many years and as it evolved watching realism artist bloom in the industry, it was difficult and quite the learning curve for me.
Equipment and inks have evolved so much also having to relearn application, and going from a traditional coil machine, to a rotary pen was quite the struggle.
Having to go from hand drawing to using an iPad for design has been quite the learning curve also, going from a traditional style shop to a more modern shop has been an experience also.
As tattooing evolves artists must evolve an adapt also or be stuck in the past, which new is scary at first but worth the change. If your not uncomfortable your not growing..
So with every design I approach I keep myself uncomfortable so I’m learning also, that’s also my approach to life as a dad, husband and a business owner, change is good!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I love being able to create tattoos that folks will wear proudly the rest of there lives! The smile on the face afterwards says it all for me and that satisfaction of a properly executed tattoo that is different from others..

Contact Info:

• Website: www.divinetattooparlor.com & www.divineinterventiontattooconvention.com
• Instagram: @killintattoos. @divineinterventiontc. @divinetattooparlor. @divinetattooparlornorth
• Facebook: Russ”Theboss” Quinn. Audrey”mrsboss”quinn divinetattooparlor. divinetattooparlornorth divineinterventiontattooconvention