Today we’d like to introduce you to Jack Evans.
Jack, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. My family and I moved up to Park City when I was 5 years old. I graduated from PCHS and then immediately moved out and lived on lower “Park Ave.” near “Town Lift” at the bottom of Park City Mountain Resort, where I spent a few years skiing in and out and just being a ski bum with some close friends… backed by simple, fun, and easy odd jobs (Utah Olympic Park, and Park City Pizza Co.), I moved back down to Salt Lake City after a couple of years on Park Ave and attended SLCC.
I spent a little under 2 years in Salt Lake living with a couple of buddies, my brother, and my cat “Mo-B” in a small apartment. It was the summer of 2011 when my younger brother and I decided to move out to Fort Collins, Colorado. I had just gone through a breakup, my brother just finished high school, and we both were looking for something new being that we both grew up in Utah our entire lives.
We had plans of going to college there at CSU. Once out in FOCO he and I both began to find ourselves while going through some hard times financially, which led me to want more for myself. I grew up my entire life making art, I think it was kind of dubbed to be “my thing” at a very young age. I lost a lot of my practice and passion in art through most of grade school. Once high school rolled around I began to find peace and solace in creating. I started doing it for fun again, as an escape in class, or something my friends and I would do outside of school. Draw in sketchbooks while we primarily listened to hip-hop and fucked around on the turntables, make graffiti, draw all over our walls, etc.
One thing I knew from a very young age was that I always wanted tattoos. As far back as I can remember, I think that obsession and appreciation began when I was like 7/8 years old. Now back to FoCo, after a couple of years of struggling and kind of just living day to day- I realized I wanted more for myself but didn’t know what that meant for me. I worked several odd jobs out there that were not fun whatsoever, those jobs were motivation to make a step forward for myself.
Randomly, I decided to drive up to a tattoo convention in Keystone, Colorado by myself with the plan to get tattooed and sleep in my old Mazda Tribute during the winter, with a few shitty blankets and a bottle of Jack Daniels, looking back it is as funny as it was stupid and reckless. And even still, this was a big turning point for me. I went to get tattooed by an awesome tattooer up there, and it opened up Pandora’s Box. Long short, I had an incredible time- I ended up getting tattooed an extra day beyond what I had planned for and met SO MANY incredible artists… At the time I had no concept of who was there, until looking back years later I discovered I was surrounded by some of the world’s heaviest hitters.
Just incredible incredible talent and energy. I met a lot of people there just wandering around and talking to random artists. This led to several people learning my story- everyone there was so encouraging and inspiring! It turned into several different people looking at photos of my art, and essentially giving me the rundown of how to get an apprenticeship at a tattoo shop, I felt like every single person I met was oddly encouraging. These people helped me break out of a shell and helped me see what else could be out there for me. THIS WAS A HUGE TURNING POINT.
I then went home and started obsessively building up my portfolio with a bunch of different marker drawings. Along the way, I would share my work, and just try to have fun with it. That creative bug was electric, that bug carried me through months of day-to-day creation. After completing about 30 or 40 full-page marker drawings and “finished pieces”- I decided to go out and start hunting for an apprenticeship. Reflecting on my portfolio now, I have no idea how I was accepted. Hahaha. I told myself I would go shop to shop until someone/anyone would take me in.
The plan was to start at the “best shop” in the city and work my way down. Luckily enough – the first shop was the one that landed. I admittedly don’t know that I deserved the spot, it is a very exclusive shop and I was only the third apprentice in just under 20 years at the time (and the last one since). I went to that shop every day for a little over a month with no guarantee of a spot, after a month of showing up every day and hanging with everyone, I was told that I would be taken on as an apprentice.
Most days, when I was there I would ask if it was okay that I was hanging out, and the answer I would always get was “Well, I haven’t kicked you out yet have I?” So from the very beginning, I felt I was walking on eggshells, and happily so! This shop carries classic tattoo ethics and tradition, I worked my ass off to stay there, and to feel like I was a part of the shop. I built a very close relationship with my mentor, he felt like a best friend to me, and very quickly my entire life was enveloped in tattooing and everything that came with it! I spent about 18 months there as an apprentice before an abrupt move back to Salt Lake City.
Unfortunately, I was eventually fired, I was a young and dumb 22-year-old who needed to grow up a bit. I was told that as well as that I wasn’t quite prepared to be a part of that quality of the shop. It broke my heart, but in the end, I wouldn’t change anything. It taught me a lot and helped me to get into gear. I had a friend reach out to me, who somehow caught wind and found me a job at the shop he was working at in Salt Lake City before I had any time to adjust or even ask myself. So within three weeks, I went from Foco to SLC, one shop to the other. I was only about 20 tattoos in, and certainly still felt like an apprentice.
It was horrifying, I went from one shop with a bunch of 15-25-year tattooers to a shop with a bunch of new and young tattooers. It was a wake-up call and a blessing. I am very grateful to everyone who has given me a chance over my 9 years of tattooing. They all have a piece of my heart, regardless of where things stand now. Eventually, I was unhappy where I was and again wanted more for myself. I reached out to one of my favorite artists in Utah to see if I could work with them- and to my luck after a coffee hangout – they thought it would be fun to work together just the two of us in a private studio.
We did this for a while, and became very close buddies! We did everything together; Art, traveling, going on trips, working out, everything! I am so lucky and grateful. After a while of working together, we were invited to go over and be a part of the crew that would open up the new “27 sugarhouse location”. And well, I guess you can say the rest is history!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a tattooer who specializes in illustrative/neo-traditional. I am obsessed with anything and everything relating to nature. Specifically animals, plants, and people. I enjoy drawing EVERYTHING without any tracing whatsoever, I find that the notes of imperfections and style found within true illustrators inspire me the most.
I enjoy adding touches of bastardized surrealism, and abstract features to my work that still can be a tattoo that holds up well. I will always adore American and Japanese traditions, but I do enjoy testing the boundaries of tattooing.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Passion.
Contact Info:
- Website: jackevanstattoo.com
- Instagram: @jackevansart & @plump.panther
