Today we’d like to introduce you to Quinten Harper.
Hi Quinten , can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Detroit on 9-4-85. Single mom. Spent most of my youth over my grandparents house. The home was loving but militant. I was taught the value of a dollar and discipline through daily chores at a young age. My mom taught me how to draw when I was very young so art has always been my main hobby since I can remember. I spent my youth honing in on my art so by the time I was a senior in high school I was considered to be a master of my craft. Using pencil and charcoal to create realistic portraits on paper. My mother also introduced me to my first hustle in middle school. I made a pretty good income for a kid selling candy. Then in high school I got my first job as a dishwasher and started bootlegging music cds until I eventually graduated from summer school in 2003. After that I worked a couple odd jobs and ended up in Focus Hope Machinist Training Institute. A local trade school in Detroit. I ended up landing a job as a CNC machinist at Dart making cylinder heads and intake manifolds. Here I would make a lot of life long connections. One of which was my boy Ed who took me to get my first tattoo. This opened up a entire new world for me because I had given up on any possibility to use my artistic skills to make money until this point. I was immediately intrigued and spent the next 3 years getting covered with ink and studying everything I could about the tattoo industry. I started tattooing out of my apartment at the age of 23. At age 26 I got the opportunity to work at the shop I had been getting tattooed at. The owner Billie gave me a informal apprenticeship and it was on every since. Now I’ve been tattooing full time for over 18 years. I met my current business partner Krissy at the shop and we eventually went on to open our own studio Bloodline Dynasty. We’ve been in business since Jan. 2016 in 2022 we moved into our new shop and expanded our services.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
When I look back it has been kind of smooth honestly.. of course there have been challenges along the way but I’ve never had a problem that I wasn’t able to solve. Anyone getting into entrepreneurship is going to have ups and downs.. the transition from easy to hard happened when we went from independent contractors to business owners.. at that point you go from being the most important thing to the last on the list . It’s about the shop, the bills, and the people who are under your leadership.. delayed gratification, uncertainty and stress come along with the territory. I also had my first kids the same year I started tattooing. Twin girls. They eventually moved to Minnesota which created a whole other layer of complications. I have two young daughters as well now. I’m lucky to be able to have them around on a regular basis but again young children although amazing require a lot of extra sacrifice on top of the demands of a tattoo business
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a black and gray realism artist. My favorite subject is the human figure. I’m obsessed with trying to push the limits of what’s possible on skin. Most of my clients have a darker skin tone which presents a particular set of challenges in the tattoo world. I’ve spent the last two decades finding ways to get tattoos to not only look realistic but pop out on darker skin tones. Our use of scale and heavy contrast makes our work stand out in a crowd of mediocre body art.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
The tattoo industry has been taken over by the instant access social media mind. People are more concerned with the speed in which they can get art done and how entertained they can be during the process. Old school artists like myself are much more concerned with creating world class highly detailed pieces of art that connect to the collector in a special way. AI is a amazing tool but it can be confusing to those who don’t have classical art training.. I think the baseline quality for new artists is way up because of the access to so much information online. But on the flip side because most people are decent out of the gate it makes people think they can be completely self taught.. and it works for some but most people will drastically benefit from a in person apprenticeship, workshops, mentors etc. the artist who knows how to create timeless designs will stand out in this new AI generated world we’re evolving into.
Pricing:
- $150 per hour with a $150 deposit.
- $1000 Full day 8 hour session $500 deposit
- $1500 two day 8 hour sessions $750 deposit
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Bloodlinedynasty.com
- Instagram: @bloodlinedynasty
- Facebook: @bloodlinedynastytattoos
