Dotting his i's

TATTOOS aren't so scorned upon these days as they used to be, and for Kevin Elijah Tan, tattoos are more than statement makers.
"What better way to express your art than to put it permanently on the skin?" the 28-year-old suggested. A professional tattoo artist best known for incorporating back-to-basics hand poke technique into his works, Tan is a chemical engineer by training who found his place in a world of art, music and poetry.
While he spends most of his time tattooing up to five clients a week at a studio in his home in Petaling Jaya, Tan also deejays as one part of the duo Ape No Kill Ape, performs in a band, writes poetries and narrates them at recitals. Once a full-time programmer as well, Tan now works on a freelance basis to make way for his tattoo art.
How did you get into tattooing?
It happened out of nowhere actually. It started with just with tattoo needles putting on dots, and then after awhile I could do symmetrical shapes like triangles, lines, gradient shading, dot-work shading and brush-stroke designs. Which eventually developed into what it is now.
What's the difference between hand poke tattooing and machine inking?
Hand poke tattooing takes longer. People usually think that hand poke tattooing is more painful but 70% of my clients say otherwise, but whatever I can do with hand poke I can do with a tattoo machine. With machines, I can do colour gradient really nicely but hand poke method lets me do a lot of fine details which I am very particular about.
Which do you prefer?
Hand poke. It gives me a certain peace, a kind of zen moment like when I used to make origami when I was a lot younger. But I love using a tattoo machine too because it gives me the opportunity to experiment with different styles.
Have you tattooed yourself?
Oh yes, multiple times. I did two hand poke ones when I first started about two years ago: one on my wrist and one near my left elbow, and then another one on my thigh using a tattoo machine.
It feels more painful tattooing yourself but I think it's all in your head. It's pretty much like stabbing yourself. (laughs)
What do you do to improve your art?
I practise my drawing skills, pick up new techniques as I go, and I always look around the internet to be inspired by new contemporary designs and styles.
Clients usually come in with a design in mind, so how do you share your tattoo art?
Yeah. And some aren't very receptive to new design ideas but I recently did a promotion where I posted on my Instagram and Facebook a series of tattoo designs I came up with, which I offered to do for really, really cheap for a period of time. This was also when I did the most difficult piece. It was the one of joker which took about 11 to 12 hours to complete and I used line-work as shading, basically multiple lines to create the shadings.