“It’s a misconception that tattoo is a hobby and there’s no income in tattooing and people who are doing nothing and sitting at home are becoming tattoo artists.”
A veteran celebrity tattoo artist; credited with over thousands of tattoos and more than 150 piercings – meet Vikas Malani, one of the first pioneers and today leading the tattoo industry in India. With his own atelier named ‘BodyCanvas’, Vikas is renowned for his work in linework, dotwork, freestyle, traditional designs, water-color, and geometric tattoos. BodyCanvas is established in Mumbai, Delhi, and London and it also provides “Satellite BodyCanvas Studio” service to clients who can’t visit their prime locations.
Not just passionate about just art, the veteran massively supports woman empowerment and working with acid attack fighter Laxmi Aggarwal to get their voice across.
In conversation with PEAKLIFE, here’s Vikas Malani on how determination, hard work, and a little support can transform a vocation into a thriving business:
1.) Starting off, how did your journey as a tattoo artist begin?
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A. I started school with doodling and drawings. It was like therapy to keep me cheerful and happy. I continued this to college where the cultural committee saw my passion for art and asked me to participate in Inter College drawing and painting competitions. At that moment somebody recognized my talent and asked me to do body painting for their college fashion show for which I got paid pretty well. This gave a boost to my career and I realized tattooing and body painting can be a source for my earning. I participated in the contest named “Malhar Festival” from Xavier’s College and won that competition as best Body Painting and Tattooing.
After that, I never looked back. I started to work with event companies doing tattoos and body painting in TV commercials and Bollywood movies with my brother Micky Malani. We started to build a team of artists, expanding to new horizons, and cultivating every opportunity.
2.) How tough was it to take the initiative and begin your own tattoo studio?
A. Initially, it was quite difficult because of lack of finance, so I started working in pharmaceutical BPO (night shift), then after my work during the day I used to make tattoos for my clients. Micky Malani, my brother came up with the idea to start a professional tattoo studio. He used to handle the studio and I used to work in my BPO at night. Then I used to come back in the day and make tattoos, we struggled a lot and earned some money then gradually we started with a chain of studios across the globe.
3.) When customers walk in with a specific idea, what is your approach towards them? How do you manage to best create what they’re looking for?
A. Firstly we try to understand where is the customer coming from, what is their lifestyle, ask about their research they have already done on Google or Pinterest, but we explain to them that these designs have already gone to millions of people so we’ll do some customized art for you. Once they get convinced with the work and style, they get to know what is good for them ideally.
4.) Tell us a little about your collaboration with Laxmi Agarwal. How did that come about?
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A. I think about Women’s Day 2017 we decided to have a program for women called “Social Stigma”. We realized that a lot of women are attacked in India by acid so we decided to run a campaign where we can get some tattoos to cover their burn marks. We realized that is such an important aspect which has not been highlighted yet, and that’s how I met “Laxmi Didi” after which we kind of got a very good comfort zone to talk about life & philosophy. The best part is that we now share a beautiful brother-sister relationship with the grace of God.
5.) As an artist, what or who is your biggest inspiration?
A. As an artist my biggest inspiration in old times has been “Leonardo Da Vinci” and I have also liked “Salvador Dali”. They bought revolution to art and then I also like tattoo artists who are really great. Some of them I really follow is Alex de Paso from Italy and female artist Jo Harrison from the UK. The list is actually never-ending.
6.) What are some myths you’d like people to stop believing about tattoos?
A. Myths like “people get HIV, blood poisoning, you cannot donate blood after having a tattoo, or people who have tattoos are rebellious, drug dealers, outlaw and they don’t get jobs, they are not clean people, who will marry you?” These are all wrong assumptions. People who make tattoos are considering it as a full-fledged profession now. It’s very big in international markets, so there’s a lot of growth and development in tattooing. It’s a misconception that tattoo is a hobby and there’s no income in tattooing and people who are doing nothing and sitting at home are becoming tattoo artists.
7.) Lastly, any advice for those venturing in the same sphere as you?
A. Just be ready and take the whole responsibility of what you want to become in life, overall “HOPE” is the moral of the story because a lot of people here want easy success and it’s not possible. Success takes a lot of hard work & dedication, so people have to understand they need to work hard to reach there where they want to be. Nobody has become successful in this tattooing world in one day.
Image Credits: Instagram.com
