Today we’d like to introduce you to Bret Johnson.
Hi Bret, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My journey starts as a young Mormon boy from Kearns Utah, I was introduced to tattoos through my great-grandfather, he had one tattoo on his arm from ww2 and I absolutely loved it! The thought that you could wear art on your skin for life just was the coolest thing to me. My mother is extremely creative and supported and encouraged me to pursue my passion for art, she enrolled me in any art class or advanced class that she could, and she made sure I always had paper/markers/pencils, etc. my mother is a big reason why I am where I am:) so I have endless thanks and love for my mom. 🙂
I quickly figured out that the church wasn’t for me and I went chasing my own path, I knew tattooing was all I wanted to do as a career but there wasn’t a clear path on how you get into it, so I started drawing tattoos for my friends, anytime I heard of someone I knew wanted a tattoo I begged them to let me draw it and let me come watch them get it.
Some tattoo shops wouldn’t let me watch, some would, I’d verbally overwhelm the tattoo artist with a million questions till they were fed up with me
Being there, lol, I finally got the courage to put a portfolio together and I dressed in my nicest clothes to look professional, and I walked into lost art to talk to Nate drew the owner, I was a very Mormon clean cut looking kid with zero tattoos wearing a white shirt and tie carrying an art portfolio, we will just say I wasn’t received well, but Nate was very kind, took the time to look at my art, gave me tips and advice on where I should improve, then looked me dead in the eye and said first though you gotta get tattooed, no one’s hiring you without tattoos, he said I’ll learn more by getting tattooed so go get tattooed. So I did, I’m an all-in or nothing type of person, so I got the biggest tattoo I could think of and I was hooked. Life happened and I ended up having to put my tattoo dream on hold and I got a normal job, I got married then moved to New York City, there I was in a very toxic marriage, I was unhappy, extremely depressed and I was tired of not chasing my dream, I found a tattoo supply store on canal street, and I walked in there with all.
The confidence in the world and lied my way into buying everything I would need to start tattooing (now teaching yourself how to tattoo is a horrible way to get into tattooing but I was determined) so this was the end of 2009 going into 2010, YouTube wasn’t what it was today, but I found a video back then on how to set up coil machines, so I watch set up, then attempted to tattoo fruit, once I built enough confidence I Tattooer myself and instantly regretted it, so I practiced more than would con friends into letting me tattoo them, and each time it went horrible, but over the next year I slowly figured it out to the point I was doing mediocre tattoos, so I started to harass anyone who was a tattoo artist into teaching me or giving me any kind of little nugget of into to getting better, 99 percent they would tell me to kick rocks, lol. Fast forward to 2012 , my ex-wife and I decided to get divorced, I quickly moved back to Utah , and decided to try and lie my way into my first tattoo shop , I put together a horrible portfolio and I got hired at a small studio , they quickly figured out I didn’t know what I was doing and we’re kind enough to teach me some things , then from there I started reaching out to tattoo artists I looked up to locally and begged them to teach me things , they all were super kind and helped me out a ton , so I just started learning from anyone and everyone who was willing to show me something , eventually I got an opportunity to work and learn from the guy who gave me my first tattoo , so I moved shops and had the best and worst time of my life, he showed me so many valuable skills , but he also showed me the ugly side of tattooing , I learned real quick that I needed to move on, ( I also met the love of my life during all of this and we got married and are still happily married today ) so my wife and if opened a small private studio and ran that for 2 yrs. , then we relocated to be closer to home, we teamed up with some friends and help open a large custom tattoo/piercing studio in Orem, Utah, and that’s where I currently work today. 🙂
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Oh, it’s been a very bumpy road, but a lot of the bumps were self-inflicted, art/tattooing is such a personal reflection of yourself. You spend so much energy creating art, every tattoo or piece of art you make is like a child, then you have to send it off into the world to be judged by all, so my insecurities sometimes caused me to say something dumb, then create problems with other artists, the fact that I chose to teach myself caused myself problems, slowed my progression, I taught myself bad habits that my peers/mentors would have to break me of, sometimes id burn bridges because of my insecurities. But I’m a big believer that every situation leads you to grow and learn, so I’ve tried to better myself each time I’ve hit a bump, learn from it, good or bad, and continue to progress and grind.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a tattoo artist. I specialize in illustrative work/bold color. I am known for bright, bold color, pop culture-referenced art/anime. I am most proud of just not giving up. I think my color tattoos is what people tell me stands out the most and what I get complimented on the most.
What does success mean to you?
I define success on several things, One by being loved by my wife and children. Having the love from my beautiful wife and us both working hard as a team is what brings me the most joy. Being able to provide a wonderful life for my kids makes me feel like I’m succeeding. Also leaving a kind/loving interaction with the people I cross means the world to me. Money comes and goes but when people speak about you and they say kind things, that means I must have done something right.
Pricing:
- $600 dollars for a half day session
- $1000 dollars for an all day session
Contact Info:
- Website: www.heartsandhandstattoo.com
- Instagram: Bretjohnsontattoos
Image Credits
Bret Johnson
