To end up with the name Troll, one’s parents have to really hate him.  That, or you get caught one time hiding under a bridge with a goat, and you’ll never live it down (photos coming soon.)  Either way, that is how I am known now.  Mostly, truth be told, is I just hate spelling my name for everyone and still not having them spell it right.  Either way, the name has stuck, and most of the community knows me as such.

I have done many odd jobs in the past, and most people remember me from either call center jobs or fast food jobs that I have worked in the past.  In June of 2005, I started my apprenticeship at Underground Tattoo under Christian, and graduated as a learning artist in 2006, just before the shop name was changed to Synergy.   I had the privilege of learning under the distinct styles of Christian and Arnie, and one thing that was instilled in me was “do everything well, but pick something and do it better than the rest.”   Under their direction, I started looking at several styles of tattooing, looking for something that resembled how I already drew.  I looked at several greats in tattooing and art, but nothing seemed to grab my attention until we had a client come in to talk about getting a tattoo.  He mentioned a style that I had not heard of up to that point called New Skool.  I researched it, but it was still relatively new and nobody in the area really focused on it.  Seeing my dilemma, Christian arranged for a guest artist to come to Idaho Falls, I got my first lesson on New Skool, thanks to Jay O’leary from Boise.  The lesson was simple.  Exaggeration with proportioning, movement, bold and deliberate lines, heavy shadowing, and how many colors can you get in there?

Since that lesson, I have pushed myself to do better with every tattoo than I have done in the past.  No matter the size or the subject matter, it would be something that I wouldn’t mind having on myself.   Because of that, I have adopted a slight variation to New Skool called American Illustrative, which is a marriage between New Skool, Traditional, and realism.  My personal approach is to color everything with the New Skool flair, getting it as bright as possible, no matter the style of the tattoo or the artwork.  This works best with your classic tattoo themes, or just your random ideas that come to life.

I am always open to talk, so if you have any questions, feel free to hit me up.