We recently had a short interaction with Yujhi, who is from South Korea. Currently, he is working in LA. We asked him a few questions, let’s look at his responses.
1. What inspired you to become a tattoo artist and when did you started it as a career?
When I was in high school, I got a strong impression of tattoos when my friend got an Irezumi tattoo on his arm and showed it to me. After that, I always imagined how fun it would be to get a tattoo with my own artwork, but after I left the army, I was encouraged by my friends and the tattoo fad spreading in Korea, so I started to become a tattooist about 7 years ago.
2. How many tattoos do you have on your body and what’s your favourite one?
(JinQ’s work) I think there are about 10-20 revisions of large and small tattoos.
Personally, I think this tattoo is the best tattoo I’ve ever received, the design, coloring, everything was perfect in my standards and the most amazing thing is that he completed this tattoo in only 5 hours, which is very surprising and it was fun to watch the process. If you are curious about this artist or want to see his work, you can visit his Instagram.
3. Which is your favourite client tattoo, what was the story behind it and how much time it took?
I have so many, it’s hard to choose just one! I’ll just share two of them.
The first one is a tattoo that I had just started tattooing and I was struggling with how to express my personality as a tattooist. I was asked to design a client’s favorite teddy bear, and I wanted to depict something darker and more grotesque than the usual teddy bear. The client gave me a lot of advice along the way and trusted me enough to let me create this design. And thankfully, this teddy bear has become my symbol and trademark.
It is one of my most precious and special designs.
Secondly, I had been designing with teddy bears for a while and I kept thinking to myself, “I need another new design”. My customers and my followers felt like the teddy bear designs were not feeling fresh anymore.
Having grown up admiring and often copying Japanese cartoons from the 80s and 90s, I thought it would be a good idea to capitalize on this, so I ditched the old design and tried a new style.
I was afraid that it wouldn’t be well received by customers or that I would be rejected, but I tried to design with conviction because I was just doing what I love.
4. What do you do in your free time when not tattooing people?
Sometimes I get bored of drawing only tattoo-related pictures, so I also draw pictures that I want to draw in general, and sometimes I accidentally come up with a good idea and apply it to my tattoo design.
When I have a complicated head and an unstable mind, I tend to go mountain climbing, and when the weather is good, I travel to various places in Korea that I haven’t been to before. (Busan is my favorite) Now, when spring comes, I plan to go fishing.
5. Why do you think people get a tattoo, even though it’s a painful process?
Nowadays, tattoos have become a popular culture even in my country (Korea), which is somewhat conservative about tattoos, but most people are still hesitant to get tattoos because of the pain. However, I think it is a work of art that only those who have overcome the pain can have, so I think it is worth it. (Personally, I highly respect people who have tattoos all over their bodies.)
6. Who is your favourite tattoo artist?
JinQ. As I mentioned in question 2, this is an artist who has inspired me in many ways, both directly and indirectly. His ability to interpret a design and his technique in executing it is very impressive to me, and when I got tattooed by him in person, I was amazed at how fast he was able to do it, and I admired the vivid colors and controlled lines in a very short amount of time. If you are a fan of oriental tattooing and are visiting Seoul, I highly recommend contacting JinQ.
7. What are different styles of tattoos do you make?
Nowadays, I am designing a style that is oriented towards ‘biomechanism’ and combines organic and mechanical elements. You may feel that the drawings are somewhat detailed and complex, but I put a lot of effort into making the structure and form easy for the viewer to see.
The advantage of this style is that it is very easy to incorporate into any subject matter, and the clients seem to like it because it allows me to work at a much faster pace than traditional dotwork.
It’s also a lot of fun and a lot of fun to discuss with the clients how to present various themes.
8. Where do you see the future of Tattoos?
I think that tattooing with various colors is popular these days, and there are many artists using A.I technology. I haven’t used them properly yet, but I think that if I study these two fields in the future and use them appropriately, I can create a good synergy.
9. Where do you see yourself in next 5 years?
Well, tattoo trends are changing rapidly these days, so it’s not easy to predict 5 years from now.
However, I would like to say that in 5 years, I would like to live the life of a tattooist in my hometown of Daejeon, and like my seniors who helped me in my tattoo apprenticeship days when I had a lot of difficulties without any return, I would like to give a lot to non-ginners and those who have just started if I can.
10. If you get a choice, which celebrity would you like to Tattoo and any specific design?
10. Elon Musk. I would like to design my favorite Martian and give him a tattoo.
I would like to give Elon Musk a tattoo of the Martian that I imagine him to be, because a lot of people call him a geek, but he is doing things that no one else would even try, and I am impressed by how he follows his beliefs and is not afraid of failure.
11. Please share your social handles and how to reach out to get a tattoo?
I only accept inquiries via my Instagram and email. If you want to make memories with me, please contact me on instagram: nowthisyujhi or email: [email protected].