Chris May didn't find tattooing, it found him. Perhaps the planets were aligned or the excreted pheromones of two locusts fucking sent a deer on a rampage, 100 miles from a 19 -year-old kid looking to get a tattoo of a flaming ant. Probably not. One thing is certain, May considers himself very lucky. It was his first few trips to a tattoo shop that sealed the deal; May would bring a sketchbook full of tattoo ideas to his local artist who thought the drawings inside were "pretty damn good". After a couple of job offers from the local tat-guy (and some weed) Chris May dropped out of community college, quit his exciting career at Wal-Mart and traded a super sweet mountain bike for a Mickey Sharps T-Dial. This was 11 years ago. Now May finds himself at the helm of his own tattoo shop, Proton Studio, nestled in rural Illinois. May focuses on a more illustrated feel with traditional sensibilities, solid lines,smooth shading and solid colors. He's not trying to reinvent the wheel, but rather put kick ass mags on it.

Well versed in many styles of tattooing, May favors the more obtuse ideas, unfortunately for him not many people want retarded robots wrestling sweaty businessmen. A good sense of humor is lacking in tattoos and Chris May wants to help change that. When not stabbing pictures on people May is an amateur filmmaker and wanna be stand up comedian who likes cocktail shrimp and Stephen King. Above all these things he is a loving father and an awesome husband... awww.

The following interview is a series of InkedNation user submitted questions. Check out Chris May's InkedNation profile here.


Mimi: Did you start off in this biz with any kind of formal art education?

Chris May: I really liked to draw Garfield and Voltron when I was a kid. Then I went to community college and drew fruit. So no, not really.

Mimi: What, at this point in your career, do you think was the most important factor you took from that educational experience?

Chris May: I dropped out of college to become a tattoo artist, actually. I think a large part of being good at making pictures of stuff is practice. Not that school is bunk or anything; I think about going back from time to time.

Mimi: As with most design/art based industries, trends play a huge factor in what is being produced. What do you think is the biggest trend in tattooing, today? Any trends and/or styles you predict making a "comeback"?

Chris May: One of the biggest trends lately is blue-faced, bloody-headed women with earthworm lips. I see alot of color portraits as well. As far as things making a comeback?Outlines.

Mimi: With the rise of television tattoo shows, comes an influx of dabblers, non-professionals or "scratchers" doing cut-rate work on people who don't know better (or don't care.) How does one deal with the frustration of this?

Chris May: Hand grenades? I was pretty frustrated for a while; I'd see all these shitty things come into the shop that need fixin and get really pissed off and cuss words into the air like, "FUCK", "SHIT", and "balls" too. I would also say "balls". I am now leaning more toward the ideal of fighting bad tattoos with good tattoos. I figure I will just try my best to be as kick ass as I can, so people will see what good tattoos look like and you won't get ass herpes. Scratchers are ass herpes.

Mimi: Do you think making changes to legalities surrounding the industry would help? Should there be a national standard?

Chris May: It would help to a certain degree, there are shit-tons of crap shops that would have to step it up or shut it down. I'm just not too sure it would remedy the out of house types. No matter how many regulations they put on the legitimate business end, you will always be able to get a sweet Insane Clown Posse tattoo for a warm sixer of Schlitz in some guy's kitchen. Oh, and ass herpes, you would get those too.

Mimi: How can the average (non-creatively inclined) person learn how to seek-out quality tattoo work?

Chris May: Start by finding the name of someone who is awesome like a Kore Flatmo or a Scotty Lowe, then go to their respective website, look at what they do, then go to their links page and look at what all their friends do. That's good tattin. Just take notes on why those tattoos rule then eat the note.

Mimi: What/who are your non-tattoo influences/inspirations for the artistic work you do?

Chris May:Alphonse Mucha, Bernie Wrightson, Stephen King and dead notes. For the last month I've been listening to a lot of audio books while I draw or tattoo. It rules. The whole time you're doing your thing you are being fed all these awesome descriptions of things you have to see in your head. They enter the cavern and are immediately struck by a pungent odor reminiscent of beef bullion and lit matches. Dark stalactites glisten with wetness as if fattened eels were hung from the ceiling, blacks and purples tink with moist highlights... or some kinda shit like that.

vinniedonuts: Is the industry is getting too diluted?

Chris May:Yes it is, and I have a hard time with the word "industry". We should call it the magical realm.

vinniedonuts: What was his first tattoo he ever did?

Chris May: It was a tribal tattoo, I started in '96, I think that was when that hemmoroid started to flare it's strongest.

vinniedonuts: What was your best and worst tattoo experience?

Chris May: They were actually at the same time. I was hired by a swingers club to go to their den (or whatever the hell you call it) and do a bunch of their swinger symbols on them. It was pretty hilarious for the first couple of hours but then all you saw were old balls, massive pubes and sad looking penises. One would like to think a swingers club was full of sexy humans but no, it's your grandma and your weird looking uncle type folks. There were different types of themed rooms and stuff, it was like smelling weird cooking in an apartment hallway. But the place I set up to tattoo was really nice. Old vaginas aren't much different from younger ones however.

vinniedonuts: What convention do you like the best?

Chris May: So far I like Motor City the best. I don't really do a lot of conventions but I will soon.

vinniedonuts: Who's the biggest celebrity you've tattooed?

Chris May: One of the Chicago Bears and one of the guys who won "The Bachelor". We had a some people from "All My Children" at the shop but one of the other guys tattooed them. This question has ass herpes. And old balls.

vinniedonuts: What is your favorite type of tattoo to do?

Chris May: I like to go for a more illustrative style. I like outlines, varying weights and such. I do like a lot of traditional values, like lots of black. I like when you get to use your imagination and draw goofy shit or stuff that doesn't belong together. It seems like with Japanese imagery or traditional imagery your kind of confined to how it is supposed to be done. I'm not saying people haven't been really innovative with that stuff it just seems that the few that have made it different get bitten on pretty hard. All the Japanese stories are really cool but I feel that a lot of the customers I deal with that want it don't really connect with it. I think it would be cool to do some more familiar stories we grew up with like Brothers Grimm stuff, or Pecos Bill type tall tales. A "Jack and the Bean Stalk" tattoo would be pretty sweet.

vinniedonuts: We're at a bar and I'm offering, what shall I order for you?

Chris May: I like vodka drinks, cranberry or O.J. and a bowl of maraschino cherries with some plastic swords to poke each other with.

vinniedonuts:Tell us about your the studio you work at. Are you the owner? Where is it located? How's the vibe?

Chris May: I am a co-owner, My partner is a long time friend, from kindergarten actually, named Jon Bowman. We are in the middle of corn country in a really small town. The sign on the edge of town says it's the third largest small town in Illinois or something lame like that. Boast what you can I suppose. Our shop is really relaxed, no rushing to get 'em in and out. It's dominantly a custom type deal so we have a sweet drawing room. If anyone wants to come over and spend the night my mom says it's cool, we can stay up all night and stuff.

vinniedonuts: Who was your mentor?

Chris May: My first bossman was Craig Murphy at Skin of A Different Color, that was in Aurora, Illinois... Wayne's World. It was cool, he got a lot of work from Guy Aitchison and I would go with and watch. Hannah Aitchison started it out there too, a lot of good people made their way through that place when I was there: Jon Clue, James Kern, Kevin Harden -- I'm not trying to be a name dropper, I just think they were very influential, to say the least. After a weird, typical bout of tattoo shop drama (insert your own story here) I ended up working with Kevin Harden at Ronin Tattoo, also in Wayne's World.

vinniedonuts: Have you tutored many apprentices?

Chris May: I have helped a few half-assed guys become better, most of which was showing them the good tools of the trade. And I currently have one apprentice. After that, there will be no more. It is really frustrating.

vinniedonuts: Any exciting new projects in development for you?

Chris May: I am one of those guys that likes to dick around with a bunch of stuff here and there. My partner and I are trying to make a comedy DVD, I just recently got hooked on digital painting. Exciting to me, I guess. It's kinda hard to do so much and do it well while running a shop and being a dad, but I can be tenacious at times. I also want to start an annual farting contest, I just think it could be the next big thing like UFC or tattoo TV shows, only with more soul. And farts.

For more information on Chris May and his work, check out PROTONTATTOOSTUDIO.com.