This months 9 and 9 is with Alex Trufant. I had the pleasure of meeting Alex recently while he worked at Gold Rush Tattoo for a few days. Even though I only got to work with him briefly I’m glad I got to get to know him a little bit. Alex has a good outlook on tattooing, he’s very humble and has a damn good sense of humor; not to mention he lays down a bad-ass tattoo! I am looking forward to him coming back so I can schedule a few more days to work with him, so I can pick up a little bit of great traditional tattoo style that I love so much. Thanks Alex, for bringing great work to the table of tattooing and thanks for participating in this months 9 and 9.
follow Alex Trufant here:
Instagram – @alextrufant
Facebook – www.facebook.com/alex.trufant
shop Facebook – www.facebook.com/trufantbrostattoo
9 QUESTIONS
1. Who taught you and when? ~ I didn’t serve a traditional apprenticeship, I started tattooing my buddies when I was like 15 or 16 back in like 99… I was so terrible, no guidance no tattoo education, no romodel haha. All my friends were in the lowrider scene back then and everyones dad, or uncle or cousin had tattoos and I thought they were tuff as shit. I tattooed for about 5 years pretty much in the dark haha, before I started to learn anything. My brother Aubrey had done an apprenticeship in Colorado somewhere, and when we started working together I began to learn a lot. In 2006, I met Dean Williams of Elm Street Tattoo in Dallas, Tx, he kind of took me and Aubrey under his wing. Dean brought me out of the dark and put me on a path for success. I owe him so much, Richard Stell and Tony Hundahl both have also bend a tremendous help in my tattooing.
2. What is your favorite style of tattooing to do? ~ I don’t necessarily have a favorite, anything that is strong and bold are gonna be my favorites. I try and tackle every project with a traditional technique, solid black outline and black shading, even when im doing black and gray tattoos.
3. What is your least favorite style of tattooing to do? ~ Im not to big on tattooing tight knot celtic designs, though they look tough as shit when they are done right. Color realism is also a pain in the ass, new school bubbly eyed buck tooth bull shit also one of my least favorites. A wise bald headed white braided beard man taught me a man’s tattoo should be tuff, because a man always wants to feel tuff even when he’s and old man. A woman’s tattoo should always be sexy, cause a woman wants to feel sexy even when she’s old and dried up. haha…
4. I personally believe in solid outlines and black shading. Why do you think a lot of newer tattooers think they can get away without these fundamentals of tattooing? ~ These tattooers are not in tattooing for the long haul, they don’t approach tattoos with the intent that this tattoo has to last 20-40 years. They are attention whores saying ,”look at me and look what I can do with a tattoo machine.”, I think they just want a sweet pic for their portfolio. They probably just lack knowledge of tattoo history and tattooing fundamentals in general. Solid black outlines and black shading will always prevail…
5. Do you think drugs can help your tattooing/painting style? ~ No and Yes… Everyone is capable of different things while under the influence of the poison of their choice. Most people are ridiculous while they are under the influence, but I feel there is a select few who’s artwork and or ideas are brilliant while they are under the influence of certain drugs. I myself don’t think I can tattoo all day without caffeine and cigarettes.
6. If you could own any tattoo-based artifact, past or present, what would it be? ~ There is just way to much stuff I would want to own, to much to name, Anything Greg Irons used to create with, draw with or his tattoo machines, just with the hope he left some kind of magic that I could use haha. Greg Irons was ahead of his time.
7. I heard you were in the military, do you think being in the armed forces helped or hurt your tattooing and/or work ethic? ~ Well before the military I had zero work ethic haha, so yes 100% the military has helped my work ethic. In basic training the tear you down and build you from the ground up, the military taught me how to be a student as well as a leader. I gained so much from my short military career, I was a jet engine mechanic in the Airforce. I use to work on F-15 jet engines. So when you’re working on millions of dollars worth of equipment and the job you do plays a part in the safety of the pilot flying your engine, you have to hold your self to a high standard and take pride your work. The Airforce motto is INTEGRITY FIRST, SERVICE BEFORE SELF, AND EXCELLENCE IN ALL YOU DO. I try and apply that motto in tattooing everytime I show up for work.
8. Do you believe that in any point of human advancement and evolution tattooing might become irrelevant (don’t laugh, I’m serious)? ~ No, tattooing is old as mankind, and it will be here a hundred years from now, even if asshole robots are doing the tattooing in the future haha!
9. I know you own a shop with your brother Aubrey. Does owning a shop with family ever get difficult, or does it help motivate a little healthy competition and tattoo progression between you two? Or both? ~ Both!!!!!!!!! It’s totally awesome working with my brother, and I think we have been vey successful sticking together. We are brothers and we do fight from time to time(fist fight haha), we are lucky to have such great parents that help us mediate our differences when things get to crazy. I think we are lucky to work with each other and be doing so well, he’s the only brother I got, I love him to death. We used to compete with each other all the time and that caused a lot of fights between us… haha. Over time we stopped really competing and just started feeding off of each other and making each other better with every tattoo we put out.
9 PHOTOS
Trufant Brothers Tattoo
1719 Caddo Street
San Angelo, TX 76901
325-655-6500
