Today we’d like to introduce you to John Alaw.
John, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
My tattooing career started when I was 17 back in my home country Syria.
I used to do graffiti tribal and traditional Arabic script, and sometimes I combine to two in a cool way, and one day in high school my friend asked me to do that with his name so could get it tattooed.
On the day of his tattoo I went with him to the shop and the owner asked me if this was all I can draw or if I can do other things and I said no I draw pretty much anything so he asked me to set down and draw a skull and roses for him to check it out after he was done with my friends tattoo, at the time I thought he was trying to get rid of me so he can work in piece but I did it, and after he was done he looked at it and said ok I’ll add it to these available designs I have and if someone gets it tattooed you will get paid for it, he took my number, and we left.
A couple of weeks later he called me and said hey someone picked your design come get your money, I was shocked for a minute because that was the first time ever that got paid for anything art related.
When I got to the shop he gave me 1000 Syrian pounds which is 2 dollars, but it meant the world to me, and I asked him if I could do more drawings to get paid for them when they get picked, and he said I could do one better for you if you’re interested, you can come here every day after school and on the weekends and clean the shop and keep it organized and on your spare time I’ll teach you how to tattoo, I said Hell Yes!!! And that’s how my apprenticeship started.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
There isn’t really a specific style of art that I specialize in but my favorite thing to draw since I was four years old is Anime.
I’ve recently started doing black and Grey realism tattoos and am falling more and more in love with that style every day.
When I draw, the style and subject matter goes with whatever comes to mind in the day off, my ultimate goal on the long term is to master every style of tattooing from classic traditional styles to full-color hyper-realism and everything in between.
How do you think about success, as an artist, and what do quality do you feel is most helpful?
Success isn’t easy to come by, hard work every day and passion for what you do is essential to every artist’s career and growth.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
You can check out my latest work alway on my Instagram page @john.alaw.tattoo and you can support my career as a tattooer and an artist by getting tattooed by me, I work in Arlington Texas at DaKandyShop tattoo and piercing studio.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3610 s Cooper St #124 , Arlington, TX 76015
- Email: johnalawtattoo@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john.alaw.tattoo/
Image Credit:
John Alaw
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