DOWNLOADS |
By Mike Eaton
East Coast Ink Magazine
While rich colors have come a long way in the
world of tattooing, the decision to stick to the
basics still has an undying appeal among both
collectors and artists alike.
A talented hand with the ability to blend multiple
washes of black and gray’s into a powder clean
image can stand up next to the best of color.
Robert Pho’s eye sees the world not in color, but
shades of gray and his soft, smooth, realistic style
of tattooing commonly topples its colorful rivals at
conventions across the nation.
INK: Tell me a little about your initial exposure to
tattooing?
PHO: I used to watch a lot of my homies back in
the day giving tats to each other, nothing fancy,
just letters & numbers.
INK: What was your reaction the moment you hit
your first patch of skin with a tattoo machine?
PHO: That shit fucking hurts! I was my first guinea
pig. I did my own first tattoo on myself and my
thoughts were, man this is horrible! But I had to
finish. (This was all in jail by the way around 89 or
90). I didn’t know how deep I had to go, so I really
did myself deep. Horrible!
INK: Did you do a formal apprenticeship and if so
then where?
PHO: I never did a formal apprenticeship.
INK: If I had to guess I’d say you did a lot of pencil
drawing at a young age.
PHO: You guessed correctly. I don’t think I’ve
done much of anything else when I was young but
that. I still do mostly pencil drawing at this age.
Sometimes I feel like I’m really so far behind. I
mean do people still draw with pencils?
INK: What do you find so appealing about black
and grey work?
PHO: It’s not that I find black and grey work so
appealing, but after doing it for so long, it’s like
this is all I know and see. Not that I’m colorblind
but I really do look at everything with black & grey
tones. Does that make sense?
Ink: You do a lot of portrait work. Is this what you
enjoy the most or simply what you get the most
requests for?
PHO: It’s probably a little of both. I do get a lot of
request for my black and grey work, portraits I
would say at this point, 50% maybe. But I do
really enjoy portrait work. I don’t know why, I just
do. Even back then when I sucked at portraits, I
enjoyed it.
Ink: It seems that you have a busy convention
schedule lately. With the abundance of new
shows, many artists have mixed feelings about
conventions. What do you think about today’s
average expo?
PHO: Expos are cool man, I don’t really do too
many like it may seem, but mainly to visit friends
and of course to try and make lots of money. I
know there’s a lot of conventions, some more
talent driven, some more money hungry driven,
but at the end if we all can make money, and
have a decent time, that’s what it’s about.
Ink: Tattooing has found its way into the
mainstream in recent years. How do you feel
about tattooing in the media?
PHO: It’s got its good and it’s bad. Good because
it brings more clients to our doors. Bad because
now every non-tattooer wants to open a shop and
hire artists to work and make money for them and
every 16 year old and their grandparent’s wants a
tattoo now cause it’s in. Me personally tattooing in
the media, I couldn’t find the guts
East Coast Ink Magazine
While rich colors have come a long way in the
world of tattooing, the decision to stick to the
basics still has an undying appeal among both
collectors and artists alike.
A talented hand with the ability to blend multiple
washes of black and gray’s into a powder clean
image can stand up next to the best of color.
Robert Pho’s eye sees the world not in color, but
shades of gray and his soft, smooth, realistic style
of tattooing commonly topples its colorful rivals at
conventions across the nation.
INK: Tell me a little about your initial exposure to
tattooing?
PHO: I used to watch a lot of my homies back in
the day giving tats to each other, nothing fancy,
just letters & numbers.
INK: What was your reaction the moment you hit
your first patch of skin with a tattoo machine?
PHO: That shit fucking hurts! I was my first guinea
pig. I did my own first tattoo on myself and my
thoughts were, man this is horrible! But I had to
finish. (This was all in jail by the way around 89 or
90). I didn’t know how deep I had to go, so I really
did myself deep. Horrible!
INK: Did you do a formal apprenticeship and if so
then where?
PHO: I never did a formal apprenticeship.
INK: If I had to guess I’d say you did a lot of pencil
drawing at a young age.
PHO: You guessed correctly. I don’t think I’ve
done much of anything else when I was young but
that. I still do mostly pencil drawing at this age.
Sometimes I feel like I’m really so far behind. I
mean do people still draw with pencils?
INK: What do you find so appealing about black
and grey work?
PHO: It’s not that I find black and grey work so
appealing, but after doing it for so long, it’s like
this is all I know and see. Not that I’m colorblind
but I really do look at everything with black & grey
tones. Does that make sense?
Ink: You do a lot of portrait work. Is this what you
enjoy the most or simply what you get the most
requests for?
PHO: It’s probably a little of both. I do get a lot of
request for my black and grey work, portraits I
would say at this point, 50% maybe. But I do
really enjoy portrait work. I don’t know why, I just
do. Even back then when I sucked at portraits, I
enjoyed it.
Ink: It seems that you have a busy convention
schedule lately. With the abundance of new
shows, many artists have mixed feelings about
conventions. What do you think about today’s
average expo?
PHO: Expos are cool man, I don’t really do too
many like it may seem, but mainly to visit friends
and of course to try and make lots of money. I
know there’s a lot of conventions, some more
talent driven, some more money hungry driven,
but at the end if we all can make money, and
have a decent time, that’s what it’s about.
Ink: Tattooing has found its way into the
mainstream in recent years. How do you feel
about tattooing in the media?
PHO: It’s got its good and it’s bad. Good because
it brings more clients to our doors. Bad because
now every non-tattooer wants to open a shop and
hire artists to work and make money for them and
every 16 year old and their grandparent’s wants a
tattoo now cause it’s in. Me personally tattooing in
the media, I couldn’t find the guts
| ROBERT PHO |
| IN BLACK AND GRAY |
robert pho
All rights reserved. All materials on this site are property of East Coast Ink Magazine
and may not be reproduced without prior written consent by East Coast Ink Magazine.
and may not be reproduced without prior written consent by East Coast Ink Magazine.
