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

Seiji Tattoo, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I have a lifelong background in art and design, from college and then a career. When I finally quite my design agency job to pursue tattooing, I was tattooing out of my laundry room, which sucked; it was cramped and in my home, and I had no community or guidance. I realized I needed those things in order to grow my skills, so I canvassed all of LA and made a list of artists and tattoo studios that I wanted to learn from and work in. Then I literally knocked on doors asking for an apprenticeship. I was lucky enough to land one with the artist at the top of my list: Misha aka @FKMTattoo. He has been an amazing mentor and has guided me in this new journey. I have also been lucky enough to work with him at SashaTattooing, first in Downtown and now in Highland Park. The people there are so skillful and so lovely to work with. I feel incredibly grateful.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’ve been into art and design since I was a little kid. I was drawing since I can remember and I started taking art classes when I was 8. I studied Entertainment Design at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, where I trained and then worked as a concept artist for film and video games. I then pivoted and switched majors to Product Design, and graduated under that major with a Minor in Social Innovation. From there I worked at NASA, various industrial design agencies, and IDEO.org, where I designed healthcare, reproductive healthcare and financial mobility services for marginalized communities in the US, Africa and Asia. Entertainment Design taught me how to draw and paint, make things visually appealing, and tell stories. Product Design and Service Design taught me how to simplify and create good user experiences. I apply all of this to tattooing, so that I can make designs I believe in, and provide an enjoyable and clear experience for my clients, from discovering my work all the way to healing their tattoo.

My work itself draws from both my school/ work experience and my heritage. I am half Japanese and I try to straddle the line between contemporary illustration and traditional Japanese art and tattooing. A lot of my tattoos so far have felt “cool” or “badass,” for lack of better terms, but I want to explore and expand my offerings into tattoos that also feel “beautiful” or even “cute,” and incorporate more storytelling. I’m so excited to keep exploring different vibes, while still keeping within my style of simplifying and keeping things super graphic, with an underlying foundation of form.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

In my opinion, the magic of art (music, food, painting, tattoos, film etc) is knowing that something so remarkable, so moving, was in fact made by a human. Someone just like me, just like you. We humans are capable of creating some truly beautiful things. It’s mind blowing.

AI is blurring this magic. I have people ask me if I made that design with AI or if I drew it. It’s sad for me to hear these questions, and it’s sad for myself to sometimes not be able to tell if the art was made by a person or by a machine copying people. I think society needs to celebrate and support art made by people, and one of the best ways it may be able to do this is by highlighting the human process. Show us the production of that show. Show us the brushstrokes being laid. Tell us about the life experiences they drew on. Process is beautiful and should be put in the spotlight alongside the art.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I wish to keep the art of illustration, something that is fading with the onset of photography and now AI, and traditional Japanese art, alive. I think both are so beautiful and some of the highlights of this human story.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://seijitattoo.com
• Instagram: @seiji_tattoo