My early years were spent living in a funereal home, where my parents were the caretakers. Where most people would find this weird I feel like it gave me a real appreciation of how fragile human life is, and I remember being truly happy there. Needless to say as the creepy kid who lived in the funereal home I did not have a lot of friends. I spent most of my time drawing and playing music. When I was not doing that I surrounded myself with artists that I found inspiring such as Hieronymus Bosch, Tamara de Lempicka, Gustave Doré, and Alphonse Mucha.

Despite the fact that I had made extra money in high school by drawing portraits and illustrating children's books I never dreamed that I would be able to support myself by my artistic ability. As I grew older I became fascinated by the art of tattooing, and I had even considered doing it myself, but as the son of a Sunday school teacher I had no idea how to go about it. As I sat in a local shop one day waiting for my appointment to begin I pulled out a pad of paper and two pencils and began drawing with both hands at once. This is something that I have been doing since I was a child and has become second nature to me. The owner of the shop was so impressed that he offered me an apprenticeship on the spot.

That is how I came to work at Ink Master and began learning everything I could about tattooing. I started there in August of 1997 and stayed until the shop closed its doors a few years later. I could not have asked for a better experience.