I've done all kinds of interesting things with my career.

(funky music)

My name is Ralph Rosa.

My name is Jason Ackerman.

My name is Rafael Marte.

And I'm a tattoo artist.

Professional tattoo artist.

I am a professional tattoo artist.

I got my first tattoo at the age of seventeen.

When I was eighteen years old.

At eighteen, and it was a design that I had made myself when I got to the tattoo shop.

And it was a squid-octopus, I picked it off the wall.

What made me wanna get that first tattoo?

I walked into a shop, saw it on the wall, pointed at it, said, "Hey, I want that."

(laughing)

So the weirdest tattoo I've ever done on someone was, this woman came in and she wanted to get chocolate-covered strawberries and it was dripping chocolate, and it was all over her vagina.

The weird thing about that was that she brought her eighteen year-old daughter and she was like, 45 years-old and she brought her daughter as moral support.

I'd have to say the most awkward for me was tattooing a gentleman's cock.

It turned literally the entire thing, from tip to balls, into a snake, it was surreal.

I absolutely hate it when I'm sitting in the shop and a client walks in and they have no idea what they wanna get.

They tell us we can do whatever we want and then we start drawing stuff up and it's never what they want, so that makes no sense to us.

Nobody ever really means do what you want.

What they mean is do what they want, as long as you can figure it out, which is next to impossible.

"I need a tattoo, what do you think I should get?"

"Oh, by the way, my flight leaves in three hours."

Getting a tattoo does hurt.

Whoever doesn't say it doesn't hurt, they're a little weird.

But, you know, everyone takes pain differently.

It's not terrible.

It's not as bad as people think.

It's all about your state of mind, honestly.

Everybody's different.

Literally, like where I think the most painful spot on the body is, which would be like ribs or lower back for me personally.

I tattoo people all day that sit like that's nothing.

(laughing)

Of course!

Yeah. (off-camera laughter)

Who doesn't?

Who wouldn't?

As a professional, I'm supposed to be objective and not judge people.

However, as a human, I judge everybody that walks through the door.

As artists we have to, you know, give them what they want.

We're just gonna give you a good piece.

We want you to walk out with a great piece.

If you come in with an idea, you're going to an artist that you like their style, and if you like their work, then you're gonna get something really good.

I think if the tattoo is composed really well and it's a very dynamic tattoo, as an artist I think that makes for a really great tattoo.

For as far as a client goes, my end goal is to have a client leave with a smile on their face.

If they're happy, and they love what I did, then that's perfect.

I'd say before you get a tattoo, you definitely need to think about it.

Look for artists that you like so that you know what style you're looking for.

At this day and age, if you get a bad tattoo, you kinda deserve it.

It's because you didn't do the research.

A lot of people get, like, small tattoos to start off, to feel the pain and all that.

I always say don't do that.

If you want something big, get it big.

And don't be a stickler about money.

We put years into our craft and we're worth what we ask for.

Good tattoos aren't cheap and cheap tattoos aren't good.

If you know somebody that can do it in their garage, by all means go get it, but I'm gonna charge you a lot to fix it.

(upbeat music)