Tattoo Artist Joshua Coetzee

Producing incredible Black and Grey tattoos, we bring you Joshua Coetzee as our featured Tattoo Artist. Get the know more about the talented artist in our interview feature below.
Brought to you by Zappa.

Full name: Joshua Coetzee
Shop: Descriptive Art Collective
Years tattooing: 1
Tattoo style: Black and Grey Realism/ Fineline
Hourly rate: R1000

Give us some insight into your journey of becoming a full time tattoo artist?
Before entering into this world of tattooing I was a Structural Engineer. It took me working in that field to realise how desperately I needed to get out of it and find a career that made me happy. It was during my time at my previous job that I rediscovered my love for drawing and the visual arts. I began doing it just to unwind after a long day but it quickly became an obsession and something I couldn’t stop thinking about. I realised that I needed to find a way to be creative every day and somehow make a living out of it. Tattooing seemed like the best fit for what I was wanting out of a career in art.

What first attracted you to the industry and sparked your passion for it?
I have been getting tattooed since I was about 19/20 years old and I have always loved the culture and art of it but I never really considered becoming an artist until I started drawing again in 2019. But, I think growing up and being incredibly passionate about music and anything counter-culture related, I would see these people that I idolised covered in tattoos and I just knew that there was something special about them. To me they were like a uniform for the rebels, the punks, the disenfranchised and the ones who felt like they didn’t fit in. Tattoos are a way to be honest with the world and with yourself and I think there’s something really special about that.

How do you like to ensure you keep progressing as an artist?
I think the most important thing is to strive each day to do better than you did the day before. To review your work and be critical is important. We are our own biggest critics after all and so we might as well use that to our advantage by figuring out what we could improve on. I also enjoy consuming as much content as possible, whether its tutorials on YouTube, livestream videos, podcasts, etc. Anything that can offer insight and information from another artist is crucial to helping me figure things out in my own work. And I think one last thing is to keep trying new things, keep pushing the envelope and to keep challenging myself whether it be with subject matter, scale of the piece or placement. I don’t want to get complacent and so it’s important to be challenged regularly.

What style of tattoo do you enjoy creating the most and why?
I love doing black and grey realism, it’s the style I feel most comfortable in at the moment. I love it because there’s always a new challenge, there’s always something you haven’t tried to emulate before and there’s a great joy in bringing pieces to life on someone’s skin. I also love just watching the piece slowly come together over the course of a session, layer by layer, section by section.

What do you feel have been some of the hardest skills to master?
All of them (he laughs nervously). Honestly, I have such a great respect for fine line artists because the tattoos where I’m sweating the most are the ones where I’m doing fine line script or flowers. There is no room for error with those tattoos. It requires finesse, knowledge of your machine and such a steady hand in order to get those fine lines in cleanly and there’s nowhere to hide if you don’t do it right.
Another challenging skill/ technique is anything colour related. I would love to learn about and do more colour as I thoroughly enjoy painting.

What does a day in your life usually consist of?
I usually get up around 7:30, have coffee and finish off my design for the day before getting ready to head through to the shop at 10:00. Clients usually roll in around 11:00 and then I tattoo all day. I’ll head home, eat dinner, get in around 2 hours of catching up on series with my lady and then I head into my home studio to design for the next day. I’ll try to read a bit before bed, but I’m usually up until around 12:00/1:00am.

How would you best explain the experience of working out of Descriptive Art Collective?
It’s a great environment with great coffee, incredible artists, phenomenal clients, a lot of laughs and ridiculous conversations. Everyone was so welcoming when I joined the studio and they’ve helped me grow a lot during my time there. I’m so grateful to be a part of the family.

Given the opportunity to tattoo any one person, who would it be and why?
It would have to be a legendary musician, maybe Travis Barker. Seeing his tattoos as a kid made me want to get tattooed. He seems like a cool dude and I’m sure he’s got some insane stories. I doubt he has any space left for more tattoos though.

What advice would you give someone looking to book their first tattoo?
I would tell them to do their research and to not be scared to get something unique and original. There’s a lot of people out there who don’t scroll past the first google image results page or who just pick the first thing they see on Pinterest. No hate to using Pinterest for inspiration, I think it’s a given at this point that everyone gets their ideas from there, but I think it’s important to be open to letting the artist either put their spin on it or at least guide you to finding something that is unique for you. I would also tell them not to be scared to ask questions. We would much rather our clients be knowledgeable and aware of the process so that it is as seamless as possible for both parties involved. Collaboration is key.

For anyone wanting to book an appointment with you, what’s the next step?
Email descriptiveart@gmail.com. Rebecca (our shop manager) is great at what she does and she will help you through the process.

Descriptive Art Collective
Contact: descriptiveart@gmail.com
Address: 15 Oxbow Crescent, Ibis House, Century City, Cape Town.
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