Artist, Photographer, TravelerTumblr (3.0; @robertpesina)http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/57357580ac925e57f28cfc665868cb75/tumblr_mloeqc4Mlx1qh4c64o1_400.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>We will be attending the 9th annual Fresno tattoo Convention. This weekend, April 27th & 28th! Natasha Erickson, Sean and Robert Pesina. will be working the booth. Let us know if you will be there!</p>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/48639453720http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/48639453720Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:37:24 -0400<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/78f98b1245ed7107056d1bbd3b42d2e2/tumblr_meunan6re21qh4c64o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Owen Jensen</p>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/37693982512http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/37693982512Mon, 10 Dec 2012 23:32:46 -0500<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/256fbafa080da1d2e1a749430daa4cc0/tumblr_meu71v6lY71qh4c64o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/37665840189http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/37665840189Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:41:55 -0500floralflowerflowerstattootattooingtattoostattooedcolorfultriedandtruetattoobeautifulfashionswaggerrobertpesina<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/f6a8309febb303754076127b3c924547/tumblr_meu6nkRiuY1qh4c64o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/37665175800http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/37665175800Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:33:18 -0500tattootattooingtattooedtattoosfishfishsjapanesejapanesetattoowindbarblackandgrayswaggerstylefaashiontriedandtruetattootattooshop<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_meh9p1QFTJ1r9uhrso1_500.gif"/><br/><br/><p>Awesome</p>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/37175111426http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/37175111426Tue, 04 Dec 2012 02:00:18 -0500<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mec94xjqUK1qh4c64o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/36935515325http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/36935515325Sat, 01 Dec 2012 01:10:09 -0500<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_me6ladJ9vE1qh4c64o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/36719785722http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/36719785722Tue, 27 Nov 2012 23:47:01 -0500tattootattoostattooingjapanesejapanesetattooasianasiantattoodragondragontattoo<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_me4c6uU58W1qh4c64o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/36622861324http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/36622861324Mon, 26 Nov 2012 18:35:18 -0500yoloswagswaggerskulltattoosexytitsnudestylehiphophashtag<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_me47iiiejd1qh4c64o1_400.jpg"/><br/><br/>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/36614998734http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/36614998734Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:54:18 -0500tattoostattootraditionaltattoorosetattootattooing<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_me46440JzN1qh4c64o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/36612694061http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/36612694061Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:24:03 -0500tattootattoostattstattooedrobertpesina<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdytsmq4Rg1qh4c64o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/36388405709http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/36388405709Fri, 23 Nov 2012 19:09:00 -0500tattootattoostattooingmemorialblackandwhiterobertpesinatriedandtruetattootraditionaltattooed<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdgbe5pn5U1qh4c64o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>at Tried and True Tattoo</p>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/35668329317http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/35668329317Tue, 13 Nov 2012 19:15:40 -0500<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdfrnpeLWl1qh4c64o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Sometimes I love my job (at Tried and True Tattoo)</p>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/35641584995http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/35641584995Tue, 13 Nov 2012 12:12:41 -0500<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md74yh3F0K1qh4c64o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>at Tried and True Tattoo</p>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/35307691312http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/35307691312Thu, 08 Nov 2012 20:18:17 -0500<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md743thQeE1qh4c64o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Done over 4 years ago (at Tried and True Tattoo)</p>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/35306377627http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/35306377627Thu, 08 Nov 2012 19:59:53 -0500<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md3bjhL2Vk1qh4c64o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>at Tried and True Tattoo</p>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/35159979152http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/35159979152Tue, 06 Nov 2012 18:50:05 -0500<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md2pl1Sbos1qh4c64o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>at Tried and True Tattoo</p>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/35130176790http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/35130176790Tue, 06 Nov 2012 10:55:49 -0500<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md1qn6YlHu1qh4c64o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>at Tried and True Tattoo</p>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/35103966323http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/35103966323Mon, 05 Nov 2012 22:21:06 -0500<p>With the inven­tion of tat­too “real­i­ty” shows, the aver­age un-tattooed or mild­ly tat­tooed per­son is led to believe that tat­too artists are super­heroes: they can draw an entire back piece in 15 min­utes, go out to the clubs all night and still come to work on time, able to tat­too what­ev­er you want, wher­ev­er you want it.</p> <p>That sounds awful­ly appeal­ing to some kids–but it couldn’t be any fur­ther from the truth. Any­one who has spent time in a tat­too shop knows that most tat­too­ers are your aver­age hard­work­ing dads and moms with mort­gages, car pay­ments and phone bills, not pre-madonna rock­stars that get VIP every­where and drive Lam­borgh­i­ni’s. Those TV shows make a mock­ery of our pro­fes­sion and because of them, our trade has been dilut­ed by half-ass, mediocre tat­too­ers. Not only have these hacks not paid their dues, but they pump out crap­py $20 tat­toos that the aver­age joes doesn’t even real­ize are shit.</p> <p>Before decid­ing you want to be a tat­too­er, think about this: Say my appoint­ment for the day doesn’t show up, so that $400 I need­ed to pay rent and put food on my table will just have to wait. If YOU go to work and no one shows up, YOU still get paid and so you can afford to sit home home and watch “TAT­TOO SCHOOL” and say to your stoned room­mate “bro, I can total­ly do that shit!”. You get breaks and paid hol­i­days, insur­ance and an guar­an­teed pay­check every week. We don’t. We work 50-60 hours a week tat­too­ing, draw­ing and paint­ing with no med­ical ben­e­fits and no retire­ment funds.</p> <p>Don’t lis­ten to your fam­i­ly. That skull with the light­ning bolts and a joint in its mouth you drew in the 8th grade ISN’T amaz­ing. Your par­ents, close fam­i­ly mem­bers and friends are always going to tell you that you are a nat­ur­al artist. Their bias encour­age­ment will only give you the false con­fi­dence to go into a tat­too shop and get your feel­ings hurt. Tat­too­ing isn’t a hobby or some­thing just to pass the time. It is a pro­fes­sion and a sole means of income, so if you think we will wel­come you and your “tat guns” into our trade with open arms you are sore­ly mis­tak­en. Appren­tice­ships are meant to be hard and to weed out the undis­erv­ing. If you are lucky enough to get one, and I mean lucky, you will be taught a skill that can carry you for the rest of your life and you are for­ev­er indebt­ed to the per­son who taught you. There are those dip-shits that don’t have the balls to go into a tat­too shop and try to get an appren­tice­ship or they did and were tossed out, just order some “guns” online and “do tats” out of their house. Not only is this com­plete­ly dis­gust­ing, unsan­i­tary and uneth­i­cal, but also ille­gal. Don’t even think about doing that. Those fuck­tards can do some real and irre­versible dam­age to some­one not to men­tion poten­tial­ly spread dis­ease.</p> <p>Most tat­too artists don’t make a lot of money. Tat­too­ers get paid by the hour but that money isn’t dumped right into our pock­ets. We have to give a per­cent­age to the shop and pay for sup­plies and what-not. In real­i­ty we only get a frac­tion of what we charge for your tat­too. So when you tell me “Dannnng $100?… Thats a lot, you must be rich!” and I want to run a steel spike through your head you will under­stand why. As men­tioned before if an appoint­ment doesn’t show up or you don’t have any­thing sched­uled, you don’t get paid. Imag­ine going to your job at Home Depot or where ever and work­ing a full day with­out pay.</p> <p>So next time you have the urge to be like Kat Von D or what­ev­er rock­star tat­too­er is the fla­vor of the week… remem­ber this: Count­less hours of work for min­i­mal pay and no ben­e­fits is the life that we have cho­sen and will defend with extreme prej­u­dice. So do your­self a favor: keep your day job, and leave our pro­fes­sion alone.</p>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/35060492101http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/35060492101Mon, 05 Nov 2012 11:20:17 -0500<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcvo7aH9YJ1qh4c64o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>at Tried and True Tattoo</p>http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/34849382553http://robertpesina.tumblr.com/post/34849382553Fri, 02 Nov 2012 16:42:46 -0400