Tattoo Artist Magazine - The Quarterly Trade Journal for the Professional Tattooer

Aaron Coleman
Interview by Nathan Parrish

Nathan: How long have you been at it?

Aaron: I've been tattooing 10 years.

Did you apprentice for someone or learn from anyone in particular?

No, not really. I pretty much started things out the wrong way. I've learned from everybody I've worked with, like Lehi & Grime.

Did you ever work up in the Bay Area with them?

Nah, I've pretty much always been in Arizona.

Born & raised?

Yeah.

Who did most of your tattoos?

Mostly Tim Lehi, then Bob Roberts, a bunch of people.

Who are some other tattooers who've influenced you?

Definitely Bob Roberts, especially lately, he's one of my favorite tattooers. Jeff Whitehead, Ed Hardy, of course. Horiyoshi II, Horiyoshi III, Chris Trevino ... I'm saving my chest for Chris. Mike Roper. I was just starting when a lot of these guys out here had just started.

Any non-tattooist influences?

Oh yeah. Clay Wilson- the old underground artist- I just recently met him. He's cool; he's a character. He knew William S. Burroughs & all these guys. Shane McGowan from Zap Comics. Dave Lehman, the L.A. cartoonist; he's done a lot of stuff in Hustler. He and I set out to be underground comic artists back in the day.

Do you remember the first tattoo you ever did?

(laughs) Yeah, it was on my brother in law, a monkey on his back. He won't let me cover it or do anything to it, he just wants to embarrass me or something.

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