Tampa Bay tattoo artist competes in second season of Spike TV's reality show 'Ink Master'

Tampa Bay tattoo artist competes in second season of Spike TV's reality show 'Ink Master'
Article by: SlingerVille Staff
October 09, 2012

29-year old Thomas "T.J." Halvorsen, co-owner of the Foolish Pride Tattoo shop on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg, is one of the most skilled artists around. When you first meet Halvorsen, you may not even think he even has any tattoos at first look.

"I'm a big believer that visible tattoos are a preference, you know, and everybody has to make that decision," said Halvorsen, who has pulls off a clean-cut look. "I like being the diet cola of tattoo artists; the anti-artist."

Halvorsen spent five years a sniper and gunner in the U.S. Army and his image mocks that of a professional war veteran.

Halvorsen has been chosen as a contestant in the second season of Spike TV’s Ink Master reality show that is debuting tonight.

The show features Halvorsen and 15 other promising artists competing for a $100,000 grand prize and feature story in Inked magazine through a competition that unfolds like an eccentric mix of Chopped, Big Brother and Sons of Anarchy.

The competing artists all went to New York City for 11 weeks over the summer to film this seasons Ink Master. They completed a series of challenges such as tattooing in a morgue and putting body art on “virgins” – people who have no tattoos and are unaware of the pain that it can bring, according to TampaBay.com.

"(Show producers) said I brought a different face to tattooing, which made me feel really good," said Halvorsen, billed as "T.J. Hal" on the show, whose upper back, shoulder, and leg tattoos are easily covered by clothes.

Halvorsen even stated that he would not tattoo a face or finger without having a long conversation with the client about how they can be “job killers”.

"A lot of my buddies from the comic book industry are now becoming tattoo artists," he added. "It's the one industry where an artist can do whatever they want, make good money and draw every day."

Jane’s Addiction guitarist and longtime tattoo enthusiast Dave Navarro host the show and the goal is for its competitors to create great TV.

“The tattoo reality shows are the best and worst things that can happen to the industry. You can turn on TV and watch a dude get tattooed (but) by the same point, it kind of loses its seriousness," he said. "Everybody 20 years ago got tattoos because Mommy and Daddy didn't like it. What happens in 20 years when Mommy and Daddy have a ton of tattoos?"

According to TampaBay.com, a bunch of tattoo artists and clients have protested online about tattoo-centered reality TV shows because they believe they are full of fake drama that makes the subculture look bad.

However, in the first episode of Ink Master’s new season, the drama is not fake. You will see how the artists all struggle with not only the shows challenges, but also with dealing with all the other artists’ personalities.

"I think they had enough characters. We brought the drama ourselves," said Halvorsen, who acknowledged producers sometimes tried to push contestants into talking trash about other competitors with leading questions. "You put six people into a house with two bathrooms … that's enough to make drama right there. I felt like I was back in Iraq in a tent with 80 guys."

A native of New Jersey, Halvorsen learned to draw at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, landing jobs illustrating the Nightwing and Incredible Hulk books for D.C. and Marvel comics by age 20.

Just months after the 9/11 attacks, Halvorsen joined the U.S. Army and learned how to tattoo while he was stationed in Colorado.

In 2006, he was forced to leave after an explosion that killed two of his fellow soldier and injured his back. Once he was back, he decided to open a shop with one of his longtime tattoo clients, who is a piercer, in the Tampa Bay area.

"If that (explosion) hadn't happened, I wouldn't have this," he said, noting that he was among the lucky ones who survived the blast, though back problems occasionally resurface. "Like I said on the show, I have to live my life to the fullest for the guys who can't."

The process of developing involved tattoos for clients — consulting with them, drawing a sketch, putting it on stencil paper and applying it over multiple sessions — is drastically compressed for the show, where sleep-deprived artists have six hours to ink a tattoo.

"This canvas, instead of just sitting there, it moves, screams, bleeds, cries, plus you can interact with it, talk to it, learn their stories and bond with them," he said. "I think it's the ultimate compliment that somebody wants your art on them for the rest of their lives."

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/features/media/tampa-bay-tattoo-artist-competes-in-second-season-of-spike-tvs-reality/1255429

Comments
No comments yet.