Meet Matt Pittman | Tattoo Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Matt Pittman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Matt, what do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to the people I surround myself with, and my clients. Without my clients trusting me and allowing me to create custom and permanent art on their body, we wouldn’t be doing this article, but like I said before the people that surround me also play a large role in it as well. They push me to do better and create better art and be more creative.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My career as a tattoo artist is interesting and possibly relatable to some other artists. I started out as a scratcher, ( someone who tattoos out of their house ) i eventually was able to find an apprenticeship and that lasted maybe a month. I then got a normal job for about a year before finally getting back into a shop to try to start an apprenticeship again. Well I kinda just got thrown to the wolves. I started tattooing people with little experience and as many Tattoo artists have done them selves, I made some mistakes. I worked my up to finally getting fairly good at tattooing but not the best. Years went by working shop to shop before I finally settled at the one I currently work at now. The Golden Mantis tattoo and Piercing studio, and until I open my own studio I don’t plan on working anywhere else.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’d definitely take them to downtown athens to any one of the bars out there. I’d introduce them to my club and then at some point during the week I’d end up tattooing them.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The Steel Horsemen Motorcycle Club definitely deserves a lot of credit in where I am now. When I joined the club, I wasn’t very good at tattooing, and they let me know it! I worked and studied and practiced until finally one of the members came and allowed me to tattoo them. When i finished the tattoo he said. That had been waiting for me to get good enough before he would get a tattoo from me. Another group the deserves credit is The Golden Mantis Tattoo and Piercing Studio. That shop has an amazing group of artists that made me want to do better. The amount of talent that I get to surround myself with everyday, is overwhelming. I’m greatful that I got to call both of these two groups of people my friends and my extended family

Website: https://www.thegoldenmantis.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inkbyredd/