Today we’d like to introduce you to Dallas Clifton.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
This is the story of how I became a tattoo artist. I lived in this dinky little town called Alvin, TX, which is south of Houston. While attending the Art Institute of Houston, I drew my butt off. After graduating and starting that eternal search for a job, I sold pages of tattoo flash art to various tattoo shops in the surrounding area. Some buddies and I moved to Austin for a year or two– I tried to sell some flash art there too… unsuccessfully.
When I moved back home, there was a tattoo shop in my tiny town that I’d never seen before so I paid it a visit. Upon entering the shop, I saw my old flash art hanging on the walls amongst other flash art. So, I turned to the man who greeted me, a grey-haired man with a stern weathered face named John, and asked, “Where did you get that art?” and pointed at my own art on the wall. His response was, “What the fuck do you care?” “Well, it’s mine,” I replied. “No, it isn’t. I bought it,” he said gruffly. At this point, you should know that John previously had other two co-owners, one of whom I had sold flash art to at a different shop. Those two ended up not being the greatest influence on the shop, so John got rid of them. When they left and took their belongings with them, they left certain things behind– one of those things was my collection of flash. John assumed that I was somehow connected to those two undesirables. I whipped out the originals from my ever-present backpack, after showing him the sketches and proving to him that it was indeed my artwork, he offered to teach me how to do tattoos in exchange for doing custom designs for customers on the spot.
I worked with John for a few years until I met this super sexy girl who lived in New Orleans. I eventually moved to New Orleans to be with her while she finished college. I was employed by an excellent tattoo shop in the area called Twisted Addictions. After she graduated, we made plans to move back to Texas. We moved here to Denton, I successfully found a job at the best tattoo shop in town, smiling’ Rick’s and I’ve been here for 8 years with no plans of leaving… unless I can get the wife to move to Hawaii.
Please tell us about your art.
About my art, hmm? Well, the first thing I would say is that I’m heavily influenced by cartoons. If it’s animated, I will watch it and take something positive away from that experience. My greatest influence is 1980’s and 1990’s WB cartoons.
What do I do? I’ve already told you that my profession is doing tattoos, and my cartoony influence definitely still comes out in that job. However, for the past decade I have been designing t-shirts and album covers under the pseudonym Poofler. Those bands include folks such as Dog Fashion Disco and Polkadot Cadaver.
While in New Orleans I helped create a comic book called Hungry for Stink. After moving to Denton, the wife and I dressed up as Krampuses for Krampus Day and handed out Christmas presents on the town square three years in a row. We were ADORABLE and caused giant smiles on the faces of children and adults. We had a large group of friends helping us, so we were able to hand out hundreds of gifts each year.
Another time when we had a large group of people helping us was for “Bad Wolf Day.” It’s a celebration that only people who love Doctor Who know about. At about 2am, our group went around with chalk and wrote the phrase “Bad Wolf” all over Denton. The next morning no one knew who had done it, but lots of people were talking about it. Why do I art? Fun! Most, if not all, of my art work is greatly motivated by fun. Even when I’m asked to do art for money, if it’s not fun, the project proves difficult for me to get into.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing artists today?
There are lots of artists in the world, and lots of people who want art done for them. The people wanting to pay you for your skill often have a certain price range in mind and a certain quality they expect for that price. As everyone knows, artists are not created equally. As an example, some artists get paid by Disney because their art is fantastic enough to get purchased by the top buyer. Other artists, such as myself, get paid to make slightly less exquisite art– usually to imitate and poke fun at large companies like Disney. Artists really need to know how much their art is worth. And the worth of that art is truly in the eyes of the buyer.
My beautiful wife thinks so highly of my art that she often tells me that I don’t charge enough. But like most artists, I am my own worst critic. The things that I see in my artwork as mistakes cause me to feel less boastful about my creations, therefore causing me to treat it as if it is worth less. The biggest challenge I feel facing artists today is being able to accurately estimate the worth of our art.
Just because your grandma tells you that you draw pretty pictures doesn’t mean you should do that for a living. But also, just because you don’t work for Disney doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to get a decent price for your art. Make art. Have fun. Get paid.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I work at the fabulous Smilin’ Rick’s Tattoo Parlor in Denton, Texas. I work there 4 days a week just like the other artists there. Also like the other artists there, I don’t know how to properly take days off so I end up there at random times throughout the week.
Want to see my art? Denton is a tiny big-city, so you can go just about anywhere in town and find someone with my art on their skin. If people truly want to support my artwork, they can come visit me at the shop and let me stab them or someone they love for a couple of hours.
Contact Info:
- Address: Dallas Clifton aka Poofler Smilin’ Rick’s Tattoo Parlor
115 W Eagle Drive Denton, TX 76201 - Website: http://dallastattooclifton.com/
- Phone: 940-243-9010 (Smilin’ Rick’s)
- Email: dallastattooclifton@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dallastattooclifton/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dallastattoo.clifton
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/pg/smilinricks/photos/?tab=album&album_id=240853275970384
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