Arts in Focus on PBS Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.

Coming up, we'll talk with tattoo artist Memphis Manco and artist and illustrator Michael Collins.

It's all next on Arts in Focus.

Welcome to Arts in Focus.

I'm Emilie Henry.

Memphis Manco is the son of legendary Fort Wayne tattoo artist Donnie Manco.

He grew up in his father's tattoo shop and developed a love for the art form at an early age.

Memphis would go on to follow in his father's footsteps and become a successful tattoo artist himself, working side by side with his dad.

We recently sat down with Memphis to learn all about the tattoo process and the Manco Family Business of tattooing.

Memphis Thank you so much for having me today.

We were just talking about how being in this space like, makes you want a tattoo.

As I was looking through your work, I was thinking, This is so detailed.

It's it's line art on somebody's skin.

It's wild.

So has that kind of always been your esthetic or did you get into that niche?

That's a hard question to answer, because when I first started, I. I had no direction.

Honestly, I just kind of tattooed and whoever came to me is just what I ended up tattooing was whatever work I could get.

And then eventually I kind of found what I was a little bit more passionate about in tattooing and I feel like it was like, what happened first, the chicken or the egg?

Because people were coming to me for a lot of fine line stuff.

So I got pretty good at doing like fine line tattooing.

And from there I kind of developed a style that I think is unique to me.

People seek me out for it and that's kind of how that developed.

But at first I was just doing everything and anything that came through the door.

My dad's been tattooing for 30 years.

He kind of raised me on like you appease any potential client that comes to the door and then whatever style they may want, something that you conform to and learn it.

And so I'm proud to say that I have many styles that I'm proficient at, but I definitely excel mostly at like line work stippling, fine lines, kind of where I gravitate towards.

So let's go back before that.

Your dad has been tattooing for years.

Did you always know that this was something that you were interested in and at what point did you go, okay, I could do this?

It's a great question and it's because my mom, my mother insisted on me not being a tattoo artist.

As crazy as that sounds She said it was a curse, that I was good and artistically inclined because I was destined just to become a tattoo artist, which I thought just be a tattoo artist.

My dad's my idol.

Yeah.

And of course, my dad is who is a very talented artist.

But growing up, I just idolized my father.

I thought everything he did was awesome.

I grew up in a tattoo shop.

I was there.

This high, I heard stories all the time, I was just in the elevator yesterday.

And she was like, are you Memphis, is like I remember you were yay high, your dad tattooed me and you were walking around the tattoo shop.

Anyways, I hear stories like that all the time, and I think that's what probably embedded the idea that I wanted to be a tattoo artist at such a young age.

Yeah.

So knowing that your dad has been tattooing for 30 years, when did you actually start tattooing?

Too young, perhaps?

No, I wouldn't say too young.

I don't.

It's funny cause people used to say, Oh, have you ever done your you have your first tattoo yet?

Dude, I'm in fifth grade bro of course I dont have my first tattoo, at least it would be good.

Yeah, exactly.

At least I know a guy.

But, yeah, it took until I was about 16.

I was playing football for a second, and it took all my after school time.

I was like, Dude, it's time to start my apprenticeship.

So then I just came in the shop, did, like, normal, busy tasks, like sweeping floors, wiping down the windows, helping out, and it slowly kind of merged into an apprenticeship.

And the typical way you do an apprenticeship and this is old school, but I'm happy I learned old school is that you don't even touch a tattoo machine for the first two years.

So the first few years I helping out the shop, you're learning the ways on your own time.

Learn how to clean tubes.

You learn how to use autoclave, you learn how stencils work, you learn the design process.

You're also developing your own, your own art style in the meantime.

But I did it for three years, not even touching a tattoo machine.

And eventually when I was like 18 and a half, I started tattooing and it was nerve wracking as heck.

I tell you, I was overprepared, obviously, but no amount of pigskin can get you ready to tattoo a person.

We just had a thing.

You practice on pigskin?

Yeah, absolutely.

Fake skin, pigskin, silicone.

It sucks.

I don't recommend it.

I think it gives you a false inclination of what it's going to be like to tattoo.

Oh, but it is a good way to just get used to like handling a machine and just going through the entire process and just maybe ignore the fact that it's fake skin.

Right.

Right.

But okay, Tell me about the process before you get to the machine.

When it comes to designing a tattoo, we talked about sort of the collaboration, but how do you what what are the nuts and bolts of designing something that you were then going to transfer onto skin?

For me, I view it heavily based on the collaboration between the artist and the client, and I always note that the client tends to be more satisfied with the tattoo if they felt like they were part of the collaboration of the design.

Sure.

So they know the reasons why you did something like that, even if their initial idea is a no from you.

If you walk them through why it's a no, they'll be even more impressed on how you came up with what you came up with, right?

And oftentimes you'll design something and you come in the day of and present it to the client and they'll have questions.

But I think designing in collaboration with the client eases those questions so they understand the reason.

The thought process behind going into all the decisions you made in the design and also leaves room for, Hey, what if, what if we did this?

And what if we did that?

Yeah, and also leaves a lot of room for no's and whynots and then yeses and including them in very unique ways.

And I think artists undermine sometimes how creative the clients can be, and sometimes not knowing anything about the art form itself can be the biggest form of creativity.

Because when you start to learn the ropes, it can kind of conform you inside and then you have boundaries.

To have someone come in with no boundaries or just have a wild idea and your like, No, well actually Thats kinda good.

Yeah So are you sketching on paper to begin with?

And then you transfer that to a stencil or.

Well, I started like that.

I started like that.

But now it's all iPads all iPads Oh, of course.

How does it work when it comes from the iPad and then to the stencil to the skin?

Thats a good question.

Usually we start with I'll just take a picture of someone's arm and obviously there's no amount of like 3D modeling you can do on an iPad to see how itd really layout.

But it gives a really good idea of how you're going to draw something to fit in certain areas.

So from there, I would draw something on the iPad and then we'd print it off, make sure the scale is right, and then it's wrapping around and the right areas like how you plan on the iPad.

So there's a level of engineering between step one and step two oftentimes can take a little bit longer than you expected.

So people will come in and we'll have the design already and they think it's just sit down and get tattooed.

But really there's a level of engineering and figuring out how this stuff is going to fit in around other tattoos or on your anatomy.

Sometimes people are built real big and strong and they got like all this topography you have to work around and that could add some time to the process.

But it's also good because then you get to see, Hey, there's this little gap right through here.

I think it'd be nice to add this little detail in there and you end up with a little surprise that that can end up good.

We go to the stencil, so we make a stencil from the print out and the rest is history.

We tattoo it.

Okay.

You mentioned how depending on somebody's topography, it can the design can vary.

How much thought are you putting in to how a tattoo is going to age?

I look, thats where all the thought goes.

Really.

That's that's where it starts.

So you you design a tattoo based off the initial inclination of how it's going to age.

And that's what we call the formula.

There's a many ways you can learn the formula.

The best way is at the very beginning.

You want to learn it after you've been tattooing five years and have to go relearn the formula.

Yeah, but it's nice to build your empire based on the original formula that you know and understand.

And the best way to do that is through traditional tattooing.

So you see, like the old sailor, tattoos, sailor Jerrys, a few names that come to mind when you think of tattoos like that, almost think of it as like a cliches tattoo style.

Yeah, now, but that's the bread and butter of tattooing.

And oftentimes if you learn that, you'll understand why tattoos are designed the way they are.

You'll understand why certain tattoos age good, why the saying bold will hold is even a thing.

And based on those properties, you can develop anything from there.

But it's really hard to start here and then work your way back.

And also it's really unfortunate for the people who get tattooed inbetween that space okay.

You just said bold will hold and immediately what comes to mind is the tattoo of the McDonald's receipt.

Yeah.

Which I loved.

Did you?

I did.

But that's so.

I mean, that is all detail.

So is that going to age well or is that just one of those?

That's hilarious, because that's actually.

Yeah.

So the McDonald's receipt, it all starts, it all starts the whole social media thing with a tattoo I did on my dad's forehead, which if you see him, he doesn't have that tattoo.

And it was the Fortnite face tattoo and it blew up and became this huge thing.

And he was on Dailymail.

We did interviews the whole the whole nine yards.

And so I really understood that you can capitalize on a certain level with shock value and the influx of eyes is only beneficial for everyone in the of community, even if the video is inherently bad.

So then I really start to push the boundaries with these videos where I start doing real tattoos and I incorporated a dartboard and I just filled it up with the worst tattoos you can meme So the McDonald's tattoo is the worst tattoo I've ever done, but by design.

So there's, I've tried to beat it and excel but that McDonald's receipt if you if you notice the details non of the math adds, it's not even a real receipt.

I design that receipt I spell misspelled things on purpose.

Yeah I made sure the math didnt add up made sure the taxes didn't add up.

I made sure the total is outrageous.

And also I changed the phone number because I was expecting it to go viral.

But just like predicted, I posted it and it got millions of views.

And the best part, as you look through the comments and what really boosted the engagement of that video, was everyone trying to correct me on the math?

What an idiot, restaurant is spelled restraint or whatever.

And then the totals the math aint mathn And those comments were all farmed like so and that's I'm happy to see that.

Yeah.

In the meantime, I'm getting DMs like, your work is amazing.

Why would you do a horrible tattoo?

So there's like a silver lining to this content.

And eventually the people, the people who are triggered by it are the people were laughing at honestly.

So yes, there were a certain amount of people who were triggered thought it was disrespectful to the art of tattooing.

But at the end of the day, the person who got that tattoo was so tickled by that tattoo, he'll forever have a story behind it.

He loves it.

And who is to say that's not art itself?

I mean, we're really just pushing the boundaries on the conventional ideologies of tattooing from the most traditional tattooers and some they don't like it.

And I'm dead serious when I say I love that tattoo.

I love it too.

I don't want it on my body, but I I thought it was hilarious.

Exactly.

Thats the point.

But also that speaks to again, what a businessman you are because there was so much strategy behind that post.

And so what happens to the shop and your artistry when things like that blow up?

Are you now so busy that you can't?

Yeah, and that's what people don't see how you post a video like that.

And initially you're like, who would want a tattoo from a guy who misspells tattoos?

But what they don't see are the people who are like, I think that's hilarious.

The people who get it.

Yeah, I think that's hilarious.

And I'm I'm willing to fly in and get a tattoo from you.

I've looked at your work.

It's beautiful.

And also they don't see my DMs flooded with people who want to get a crappy tattoo like that from the dartboard.

Right.

Which is just funny because I got to see the scope and the reach of making viral videos and added value to just doing something that gets people talking and good or bad.

At the end of day.

I know I stand on a lineage of good artwork, so to do a few funny videos where I do a bad example of tattooing is all for the good in the big picture.

So knowing that you are great at what you do and that you have created this this reach, are you going to stay here?

I hear that question a lot and absolutely I want to stay.

I always at least have one foot in the door here no matter what.

My dad's here, my business is here.

Of course, I want to explore and travel and probably open up businesses elsewhere.

But that's all going to be with the best interests of this town.

Fort Wayne.

I love Fort Wayne.

I don't want to turn my back on it.

I don't want to forget what it's done for me and my dad and our business.

And at the end of the day, I will always be proud to say I'm from here.

Wow.

I could talk with you all day.

Rarely do I get an artist that I feel like is is equal parts businessman and artist and able to kind of articulate it so this was really fun.

Thank you so much.

Congratulations on all your success and thank you for staying in Fort Wayne.

We need beautiful artists to stay here.

So thank you so much.

I appreciate you having me.

It was a pleasure talking to you.

For more information find Memphis Manco on Instagram.

I'm joined now by artist Michael Collins.

Michael, thank you for being here.

I'm excited because your stuff is different than anything that I have looked at really recently.

You are an illustrator painter.

How do you describe yourself?

All around artist is kind of how I do it.

Just dabbling.

But I've always been like Illustrator kind of goes back to like I've always drawn as a kid.

So that's kind of the root of it all.

Okay, I hear that a lot.

Lots of artists tell me that they started with doodling or just drawing.

Did you kind of feel right away like you were good at it or did you?

It's definitely one of the first things, like I remember as a kid, like getting attention from other people, being like, Oh, this is something you're good at.

And like, so it was something I always did, and it was kind of like a form of escapism from class too, because no kid really wants to be in class.

I mean, some kids do, some kid.

I was definitely daydreaming and drawing and doodling.

And then what about What about art class was that?

I did some in high school.

I wish I would have done more and gotten more involved in the programs.

And then I actually did three years of college IPFW and their art program, which is amazing.

So I've had some a couple of professors over there that were great.

So how do you describe your work?

Do you have an esthetic or?

It all kind of like comes I can kind of show my influences.

And I think when I explain my influences, it kind of makes sense to people.

Like I always read Calvin and Hobbes and like Charles Schulz's Peanuts growing up.

So like, I have that, like childhood innocence fact of it that I love, like the childlike wonder of looking at the world.

And then when I got in high school, I also found the artist Ralph Steadman, who did a lot of Hunter Thompson's work and is kind of that zany, crazier style.

And then Robert Crumb, which is like a 60s 70s kind of alternative artist that's kind of like comic books, but a little bit weirder and out there and stuff like that.

And with those influences combined with like I grew up watching like nineties cartoons and stuff like that, that kind of all comes together and coalesces to what I do.

Yeah.

When you set out to create a piece, are you, are you trying to infuse some social commentary?

Do you want it to say something?

Occasionally.

Sometimes it does that, sometimes it doesn't do that.

Sometimes it just happens by a happy little accident.

Or sometimes I'll sneak it in there kind of subtly because I do want it to be approachable for other people, and I want people to take their own meaning away from it instead of I don't always necessarily like the people, like the idea of like preaching to people or having that that that idea is never fun to me.

Tell me about your process.

I mean, you are multi-disciplinary, so I'm sure that it's different depending on what you're creating.

But for an illustration, for example, how how does it work?

Do you have the idea first, do you sit down knowing what you're going to create.

A lot of the time it's I doodle.

So I have all these different characters and settings that I can pull from.

And a lot of the time when I start because I do a lot of event posters for bands and stuff like that.

Before I start the painting, I'll do some rough sketches, but a lot of the time I just kind of hop into it and start really lose pencil, and then I'll go in with pen and sketch out more distinct figures and stuff like that and then finish with paint.

What?

I'm assuming it's acrylic paint.

Yeah.

And then what is the what is the best part of taking an idea and and then having something tangible at the end of it.

The, the pushing past the like.

I hate this moment because like there's a lot of that.

I think with any kind of art form or any kind of work you do, you're like, this is this is not what I thought it was going to be.

This isn't looking exactly how I wanted.

And if you keep pushing through that a lot of the time, you'll get to the point where I like, okay, this is what I this is how I want it to look.

Or it's better than what I thought it was going to be.

Do you know when you're finished?

So many artists tell me that they have a hard time discerning when they're done.

Yeah, I could usually keep going.

Usually when the due date is when I'm finished I guess Yeah I could keep it on a project for a while and add something here and there.

And I have paintings around the house that I've like had probably for four or five years and every once in a while and like, do something different on and change a little bit.

Do you prefer doing your own work or doing commission work?

Is it?

I imagine it's harder to do commissions because it's not your vision.

I'm always grateful for the commissions I get and they're fun to do and I have a lot of people who do get them from me who are they're always great and easy to deal with.

And posters are always fun too, because I get a lot of freedom with that.

But ultimately of doing if I could just sit down and have no like I guess customer in mind or this is going to someone specific and I can just do whatever I want, that's the most fun for me at least.

And how often are you creating?

I try and do at least, at least be drawing once a day.

It's because I do work full time, so I've been trying to fit that in as well.

So and it falls in and out of practice.

And I'm at my happiest when I am drawing or doing something.

So even if it's something small every day, that's what I try and do.

So you've been drawing forever.

When did you start painting your drawings?

I used to work for Bravas the and I started doing posters for them, and that was kind of the push for me to start doing more full color and stuff like that.

They kind of expected a little more.

And that's kind of when I started getting paid to do it, too.

So that was the push for me to kind of change and explore more stuff.

And I had a little more money at my disposal then to branch out.

And then from there I met the local band Bee Colony, and I do a lot of posters for them and they're kind of a psychedelic psychedelic rock band, so the color kind of has to go with it.

I'm sure those two are probably the two that pushed me to do the most like color painting and reach out.

So you've been you've been drawing slash painting pretty much forever.

How have you seen your style and your skill evolve over the years?

It's funny because I look back and a lot of it still does look the same, but I've gotten a lot better with paint.

I've noticed I look back at some of my college work and it's just all the lessons that my professors were telling me in college.

I think I apply to my work now because I look back and I see my college work and I'm like, Oh, this is lacking in that.

Or like, Yeah, I can hear them saying like, Oh, make this darker.

Like, you know, like, take it as dark as you can.

Like if you're going to make something black and like, have your, like highlights and your shadows, like stark contrast and stuff like that.

Yeah, but in terms of changing, I've gotten a little more loose and confident, I think, in terms of my painting style, and that's been nice to be able to explore that and feel more confident in what I am doing.

Actually, as I was looking at your work, I was like, Oh, this would lend itself so well to murals.

I actually did one downtown at Papi's Pizza.

Did you?

Yeah, that was my first one I've done.

And that was that was an experience that was really cool.

Yeah.

Tell me how that works.

How do you go from a small canvas to.

I kind of approached it the same way I approach my posters, too.

And I just started sketching and then I started drawing on the wall.

A lot of people were surprised when they were like, Oh, you didn't use like a projector or anything.

Yeah, I just kind of went for it and it was just like drawing on a big piece of paper.

Did you did you have it on a at least on a small piece first?

I had a very rough sketch and because yeah, he was they were asking for like, ideas, and I only have like three or four.

They were like, Yeah, let me see what you got so far.

And I was like, I had these very rough sketches and I kind of had to be like, It's going to be cool.

I promise I know these sketches aren't showing a lot, but it's all in my head, I promise.

And then you have the, the confidence to know that what's in your head is going to.

Sometimes I have the confidence and other times you just fake it.

You're like, Yeah, I'm going to do this.

I'm going to do this, I'm going to do my best job and it's going to turn out great.

Yeah, it was a big learning lesson, but I had a lot of a lot of help from my girlfriend.

She was support the entire time and would help fill in areas for me.

Sometimes I'd be like I'd have a section that was like, okay, this just has to be a solid color.

I just need you to put paint down.

It's the pushing through it.

It's just like, I just got to keep doing this.

It's that perseverance.

I've always been a really optimistic person.

I've always been able to be like, This is going to turn out.

Everything's going to turn out.

And so if you can just keep working through it, usually a lot of the time it does.

Tell me about the hardest part of getting from start to finish.

You've mentioned the pushing through, but is there is the starting ever hard?

Is there sometimes looking at that blank paper or a blank canvas can be pretty intimidating.

I've learned and I've started by starting on smaller pieces and just doing them.

I've kind of been able to like move up to bigger pieces and apply that same thing.

I'm just like, You got to just hop in and start doing it.

And that's you're probably your biggest setback.

Is you holding yourself back or that's easy to find reasons to procrastinate.

There's always like, Oh, I'm tired or I worked all day or and so if you can push past that, that's usually the hardest part honestly.

Isnt that funny how you can know that being creative is good for you mentally, and yet sometimes it's just hard to get through it.

It's just so much.

It's it's it doesn't necessarily have the instant reward that like putting your favorite TV show on and sitting down after that long day.

Yeah.

does.

Do you feel like when you think about your art, do you want to continue to learn in a formal sense?

Do you try to learn new techniques or are always I'm always soaking in in things from other artists, looking at their techniques in the way they do it.

And I think a lot of artists are this way as you kind of you have to be a little bit of like a sponge to be any kind of creative.

Honestly, you're always hearing something.

You're like, I kind of like that.

How do I make my own version of that?

Or I take that and apply that to my practice?

Yeah.

So.

And does that come easily to you?

I think it's hard to walk a line of like just straight up doing someone else's style.

Sure.

And and kind of finding your own.

And it takes practice.

I think everyone, especially as like a young artist.

I think my art probably looked more like someone else's art, but the more I did it, I found that niche of where I fit in to take those influence and not make them scream at you like, Oh, he's just redoing this ya know, right I've got a dog character.

I kind of always like drawing.

That's, that'll probably always stick with me and it kind of like grew.

And that's probably if you could look at anything I'd say that screams your influences.

It probably looks incredibly like Snoopy, but that's not a bad thing.

What do you think art and your art in particular has taught you about yourself?

It's taught me that I that I am happiest when I'm doing something creative and to tap into that kind of goofy, silly side of stuff.

But you can kind of embed some serious commentary into that, but also to just kind of have fun.

And the world is kind of crazy and you just kind of have to have a good time while you can and look out for others and be kind is just like the I feel like if you could put all my art into that a couple of words or try and put it in the sentence or something like that, it's something like that.

I as a viewer, I would definitely agree with that.

I was scrolling through your Instagram thinking, this is just happy.

Like, I'm just I enjoy looking at this work.

Michael, You are a pleasure.

I appreciate you coming in, sitting down with me.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

It's been a pleasure to be here and talk with you for more information, find Michael Collins Art on Instagram.

Our thanks to Memphis, Manco and Michael Collins.

Be sure to join us next week for Arts in Focus.

You can catch this and other episodes at PBS Fort Wayne dot org or through our app, and be sure to check out our YouTube channel.

Thank you for watching.

And in the meantime, enjoy something beautiful Arts in Focus on PBS Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.