Today we’d like to introduce you to Travis Sleeper.
Hi Travis, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I believe I started drawing on the daily around the 3rd grade. Throughout all the years in school, it was very difficult for me to pay attention. Drawing and creating art was pretty much the only thing that could keep me focused… Needless to say, the scholar route was not for me. When I reached high school, I was fortunate enough to have an amazing art teacher who saw something more in me and pushed me to further my artistic endeavors. She went out of her way to make sure I was placed in advanced placement art class even when I wasn’t necessarily up for the challenge and continued to push me all the way out of high school. I actually managed to keep in touch with her over the years in my young adult life because she was a person that would always shoot it to me straight and always pushed me to choose a career path in creating art.
I think it’s important to start there because I’m a firm believer that passion and an obsession for your craft start long before you even realize. Also, I believe it’s incredibly important to find mentors along the way to stay humble and remain teachable.
Before I finally picked up a tattoo machine, I honestly was doing pretty lame in the game of life. I couldn’t really hold a job for too long. I’d get lost in the party scene and months and years went by but throughout all that, I continued to draw… Around the end of 2012 to 2013, I picked up a tattoo machine. To be honest, up until then nothing made sense… I had an unconventional start to tattooing outside an apprenticeship. I spent two years testing out my skills on willing friends before an opportunity arose and I was offered a job in a tattoo shop. Once again, I’d like to say that even though I started outside an apprenticeship, I did not figure things out by myself and had mentors(wherever I could find them along the way). I scoured the resources I had online watching tattoo seminars and endless YouTube videos of big name people in the industry. I familiarized myself with the machines, inks, and needles. Once I got into a shop, I soaked up everything I could about the industry like a sponge. I noted how other artist I could learn from talked to clients, learned all the tricks I could with programs commonly used in shops on prepping a tattoo, I tracked the flow of traffic throughout the change in seasons in a year, I stayed receptive as much as possible to pointers from artists around me, and I’d watch other coworkers techniques while they were tattooing.
I believe confidence, patience and humility are keystones in pursuing a career in tattooing. If one falls off it’s hard to continue to build. I could go on a rant about each one individually with stories attached but that’d be a novel. Although it was a huge confidence leap when I got offered a job at another tattoo shop and took it because up until then, I had this chip on my shoulder that I wasn’t good enough to be able to work anywhere else. I feel like those are important things to talk about because I think every artist walks through those experiences at some point.
I kept up this trend over the years of trying to learn everything I could and remain teachable when coworkers offered pointers, up to this day… I am very fortunate to be where I’m at in my career. I work in a shop where hundreds of awards have came out of. I’m surrounded by top-notch artists. Still around people, I can learn from. I also get the pleasure of apprenticing others in the industry so their path maybe isn’t as long and bumpy as mine was. I have tons of amazing clients that remind me on the daily that I’ve earned their trust(which is a whole other ball game) and I stay very busy doing what I love.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I believe when building a career for yourself (especially in the tattoo industry) people would be lying if they said it was a smooth road. There have been countless struggles along the way and still are. I just feel like with experience, the hurtles start to look less impossible. I could go on a rant about the endless hurdles I went through but to keep it simple, I’ll just throw out a couple.
I like to think it takes tough skin to survive in an industry as competitive as tattooing. I can almost say without a shadow of a doubt if a person has been tattooing or piercing for at least five years, they have gotten into at least one if not more feuds with other artists in other shops. That’s that flip side of confidence when an artist is too full on that humility starts to lack in the priority list. It also becomes very difficult to continue to grow and like I tell my apprentice in an industry that’s constantly growing and evolving to be stagnant is to fail. I am not by any means excluded from that statement.
On that note, because this industry is constantly growing the day to day struggle is am I growing(patience)? Also, when I feel that I’ve grown artistically due to the rise in the demand for tattoos by me how do I properly go about aligning the monetary value for the output of effort and focus I put out? That’s a real struggle for anyone who sticks around in this industry that remains passionate about what they do. I think everyone deep down needs to know they are continuing to move forward or you end up falling into a mental slump… Honesty has helped me along the way with that situation. I am as upfront as I can be these days with my clients. I’ve learned throughout the years that even though I’d like to continue to tattoo on every person, I have in the past sometimes I was just best for certain people at certain moments of life. It is always an honor when you meet people along the way that will stick with you throughout your process of growth. I’m lucky to have a good amount of those. It’s crazy to think how someone can hit you up randomly online wanting a tattoo from you and years down the line, you know all about their life and have probably tattooed on some of their friends and family too.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a tattoo artist at Blindside tattoo and piercings on 6th street in Downtown Austin! I like to say I specialize in black and grey realism with a touch of neotraditional. Although I have such an eclectic group of clients that has made me more of a well-rounded artist and more versatile in many styles of tattooing. It’s definitely not a bad problem to have, lol. If I look back to the bloody beginnings at the skill set, I once held it makes me proud to know I have a pretty firm understanding on the approach to properly accomplish most of the ideas thrown my way by clients.
Also like I’ve mentioned before another thing I’m proud of is the trust I’ve been able to form with people. How that plays out in this industry is I don’t just shut people down when they bring ideas that don’t always translate correctly into a tattoo. I’ll talk them through changes that will need to be made so they will be able to love their tattoo down the road as much as they would when they first get it. At the end of the day, I try to always keep in the back of my mind that it takes a lot for a person to finally commit to something they want on their body forever. By the time they finally show up for the tattoo most people are nervous. A lot of times they say it’s the pain, but unless the person is covered, a lot of the anxiety can come from the amount of mental hurdles they went through to make it into my chair. I definitely try to keep a laid-back vibe when someone’s getting a piece by me. I also refrain from tattatude which is a common thing you hear from clients when they go to an artist and they felt like the artist was a complete asshole.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Honestly, I’m constantly reading books to keep a train of thought in the direction in life I’m striving for. A couple of my favorites that’s helped me are Mastery by Robert Greene, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. Most recently, I just finished Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. All of which I’d recommend to other artists or anyone trying to build something in life.
Contact Info:
- Email: Sleeperzink@gmail.com
- Instagram: @sleeperzink
