Talking Passions: Conan Ball Tattoo

This weeks Talking Passions interview is with another incredible Bristol talent! Adam first met Conan Ball when he was recommended to him by a friend, he wanted to start work on a tattoo sleeve and they said Conan was the man for the job. They were right and, though painful at times, his steady hand and eye for detail created a beautiful piece of art that will be with him for life. Adam managed to catch up with Conan recently for a pint and a chat about his love and passion for art and tattooing.

Adam Chisman (TP). “As a young boy what did you want to be when you grew up and how did you get to where you are now?”

Conan Ball (CB). “When I was younger, weirdly, I think the first thing I ever wanted to be was a gymnast. The idea of perfection, watching gymnasts on TV on a Sunday afternoon and watching these boys be able to do these superhuman things, I thought it was incredible. So that was one of the first things I ever wanted to be. As it turns out, after doing GCSEs and A Levels, I ended up making quite a cynical decision to become an architect. Because, with the people I knew who were artists, and I’ve always been into art and always been reasonably good at art, but the people I knew in my parents social circles, all the artists were one of two things, or both; drunks, poor, or both. So it didn’t seem like the right avenue to go down so I became an architect. After I went through the drawn out process of architectural education, I then became an architect, did quite well to begin with, and then just slowly lost the love of buildings really, and the process procuring a building. And then, it was almost like a midlife crisis when I started tattooing. I’d gotten to a point where I was pretty deeply unhappy where I was, I had a young family, and I kind of wanted to present the idea to my kids that you can chase your dreams and you can make things happen around what you’re passionate about and what you love, and so I decided to have a pop at becoming a tattoo artist. So I picked up an old kit, started practicing on a bit of pig skin, and then, with all the nefarious mates that I’ve got, I had many many opportunities to practice. I did that for a while, and slowly researched and developed the idea of what it might be like to be a tattoo artists, and then it kind of snowballed from there, and we ended up where we are now really.”

TP. “Fantastic. Now all artists tend to gather inspiration from everywhere, plus living in Bristol with its amazing arts and music scene, not to mention the street art culture has probably had a part to play. Can you tell me about some of your influences in art and tattooing?”

CB. “Anywhere, absolutely anywhere. All sorts of places. I watch quite a lot of quite interesting TV, I look at a lot of websites, I look around the city, I read a lot of magazines. My inspiration’s image-based so it’s not hard to find an image that will tickle your fancy, or can incite some idea that you can springboard off, and then that can turn into something which is hopefully a bit more your own idea etc. Yeah, absolutely anywhere and everywhere. I mean a lot of the time when I’m sitting on the toilet, I’ll have a stock of books, and I’ll just be going through them, and ideas will be trickling into my head. I’ll let them fester in there, and then at some point, I’m not sure exactly how the process works in detail, but sometimes you’ll get these little things come through. You don’t remember where they come from or where they are, you’ve just got this memory bank of images that have excited or tantalized you. I think that most artists store up a bank of this stuff, and then they just pilfer and raid them as and when they can.”

TP. “Amazing! Well I know that you’re an amazing artist, I’ve got proof on my arm, and one of the things I enjoy most about your work is your flexibility and range of styles. What is it about the art that you love it so much and how have you found this ability to draw anything?”

CB. “I think it’s the inclusive approach to styles and genres, and different kinds of tattoos. That’s been quite a deliberate decision, in that I’m quite greedy and ambitious and I want to be able to do everything really. And I’m not saying that I can do everything, I’m not making that claim at all, but ambition is quite a strong seated thing in my head. There’s also a very practical reason for that, and it’s that I want to be able to work, and from the offset I’ve got a mortgage, I’ve got a family. I can’t take a year out, or two years out chasing my flight of fancy, some stylistic ways, this, that, and the other. So I’ve got to be practical, I’ve got to be pragmatic and I’ve got to deliver. I’ve got to put bread on that table. There’s another side to it as well. It’s a very personal personal occupation, you spend a lot of time with people. It’s quite an intimate process, and people will tell you all sorts of stuff about their lives which is amazing, and fascinating. It’s one of the benefits of the job, and it’s constantly entertaining in that way. And delivering something for someone, which is about them, more so than me. And me having an arsenal of skills, hopefully, so that I can take their brief, their stylistic want, and turn that into something which is very personal, very particular for them. And so they go through that process, that little journey with you, and you end up with a piece which is just theirs, it means something to them; not that all tattoos have to have meaning, that’s a fallacy I think. But it’s about them and me, and the kind of communion that we have while we’re working, talking, padding out ideas, and then taking it from that inception point to a completion point. And they walk out the door, despite being through hours of pain with a smile on their face, and happy to pay me.” 

TP. “Well talking about all of the people that you meet, amazing people here in Bristol that have gone under your tattoo needle, it must have opened up some doors for you. Can you tell me about any amazing opportunities it’s led to?”

CB. “There’s been a lot of offshoots. At the moment, deliberately, I’m just focusing on the tattooing. I still need to be a lot better than I am, in my head. I think that kind of insecurity goes hand in hand with any creative. So I need to be a lot better. I’ve had some stuff come through, I did some graphics for the Eurovision Song Contest the other day, but that was through my Missus who works in the industry anyway. There’s videos, a lot of music videos which I’ve been on, which have been quite good fun… it’s quite good for profile and all that nonsense. But yeah, at the moment I do concentrate specifically on just being a tattoo artist. I don’t publish any of my art, or any of that sort of thing, I just don’t consider that to be where I’m at now, or what I want to do. It may happen, there may be some little exhibitions. I like the idea of putting on an exhibition of my own stuff, so people can see a little bit more of the kind of stuff that really floats my boat, and I think’s quite exciting and interesting, but at the moment I’m still just concentrating on the discipline of tattooing. Tattooing people, developing relationships with really good clients, and knocking out as good a work as I can do. I think it will get to a point soon where, yeah, there may be opportunities to diversify a little bit, but at the moment, just the tattoo game’s fascinating and interesting enough.” 

TP. “Amazing. Well tattoos, now more than ever, are becoming more mainstream in society and accepted in pop-culture, and more and more people wanting to become artists themselves. What advice would you give to someone thinking about starting out in the tattoo industry?”

CB. “Draw, just draw. Get excited about images, graphics, art. Make sure you’re actually into it. The tattooing thing is just another medium for art, or for drawing, stuff like that. The basis is create images so just concentrate on that. If you haven’t got that love don’t bother, I mean it’s just not gonna work, you’re not gonna please people, you’re gonna knock out rubbish. You’ve got to be into images, and the production of images, and the ideas behind images. just images, get excited by pictures. If you do have that then chase it, and don’t give up. If it’s your thing just don’t give up. Do it, do it, do it, do it! You’re gonna get knock backs, everyone gets knock backs, but just keep on doing it. If it’s there and it’s true enough to you and your soul, you’ll find a way through it. You’ll find a way to deliver whatever it is you wanna do. It’s a fun journey if it’s true, and there’s integrity about it.”

TP. “I like that answer. I was just wondering if there are are any pivotal people in your life that have helped you to get to where you are?”

CB. “Yeah, there’s been two or three. I’m not gonna name names, but knocking about with a lot of musicians who operate in a very similar world, in some ways. Although there world’s a lot harder to make dollar out of. There’s been people who have pushed me when I first started exploring the idea. I did faff around, or appeared to be faffing around, but I was actually doing a lot of research, a lot of thinking, and just setting myself up so I could make the shift from taking quite a comfortable steady job, you know, in a comfortable family unit, and then taking quite a big leap into tattooing, because I thought it might be a better way for me to keep my sanity. There have been notable people along the way, people that have offered to lend me money to buy all the kit I needed, because at points I wasn’t as affluent as I wanted to be. And a lot of creatives, mostly musicians that I’ve knocked about with, that have been incredibly supportive, and incredibly open to the idea, that have helped push me through a few little hurdles that I was setting up myself. Yeah, just there when I needed them, and also there with their bodies and their skin for me to practice. And my Missus. My Missus has just been intensely supportive, always so positive, and always so helpful. And always like, ‘We’ll get through it whatever’, when I’m starting to worry about the fiscal ramifications she’s like, ‘Don’t worry about it, we’ll survive. We will survive and we’ll get through it.’ She’s been there all the way through. I think that’s the backbone of where I am now, because of her, as well as my mates, and all the other people around me. So yeah, a shout-out to my lovely lady Alex.” 

TP. “Aw, I’m still yet to meet her actually, bless. Well finally Conan, what do you have in store for us over the next few months?”

CB. “I keep saying it, just get better. I’m working on quite a few big larger pieces, so the canvasses, or the areas that I’m working on are getting larger, which is exciting. All sorts. That’s on a personal level. I like doing the bigger pieces, there’s a lot of impact behind them so they’re a good sell if people wanna come see your work, all that kind of stuff. On business levels we’re looking at another shop. We’ve been down this process of looking at shops a few times, which has fallen through for whatever reason, and has been slightly disappointing. I now want to be in an environment where I’m around other artists, so I can bounce and feed off them a little bit, as hopefully they can do off me, if I’ve got anything to give them, and I think it’s gonna be a healthy way to develop, and develop my skills, being around people. I’m ready for that now, having done my kind of self-imposed apprenticeship a little bit at home. I just wanna learn more, get better, and just excite myself by what the potentials can be with tattooing, and where I can push it. Get better, get bigger, stronger, bolder, everything.”

If you’d like to get in touch with Conan about his work you can find him on Facebook and Instagram.

Words: Adam Chisman (Talking Passions)

Pictures: Conan Ball

Here’s a feature on Bristol24/7 called Talking Passions. It’s a Bristol-based interview series that hopes to inspire your creative side by interviewing passionate individuals in Bristol’s arts and music scenes. The driving force behind the series is a belief that within each of us is a creative soul with untold capabilities. It’s not always easy to follow your dreams, to believe in yourself and try to make it work, and it should be celebrated!

Started by local journalist Adam Chisman, and with links to various Collectives in the city including Liquifyah, The Coconut Collective, as well as Irish online magazine Ceol Caint, Talking Passions comes in two weekly parts, with brand new written interviews on talkingpassions.com and Bristol24/7 and audio interviews on BCFM’s The Bristol Music Show and Soundcloud.

Be sure to check out Talking Passions on Facebook and Twitter @PassionsTalking to keep up to date with the latest interviews, and email [email protected] or use the hashtag #talkingpassions if you’d like to know more or recommend someone for a future interview. You can also become a patron and sponsor Talking Passions at www.patreon.com/talkingpassions