There's days when I wake up, I wonder who I am and, you know, what got me to this point.
Does your mom ever wonder where she went wrong?
I didn't want to go places because I didn't want to have to deal with the people's looks,
the people judging me.
My outside appearance has never changed my inside appearance.
I'm Jeff Hanks.
I'm 24 years old and I got my first tattoo when I was 18.
Tattoo artists will even tell people, well, don't get it on your neck.
You know, you only have a few.
So why go for your neck or your knuckles or your hands, because that's like prime real
state right there.
That's what's going to stand out.
You could cover it up with like long sleeves every day.
It's out there.
You've got to find something that will accept you.
Every day is a struggle, you know.
It's what people think of you.
What is an average person that comes through that runs into me think of me?
The difference is obviously I stand out more, but what are you thinking when I'm walking
by?
Is that your child away from you or do you think I'm going to rob this place?
My family kind of took a long time for them to accept this is my lifestyle now, you know.
I can't make these go away, these don't disappear.
Tattoos can be an addiction.
Maybe not addicted to the pain, addicted to the outcome of the artwork and knowing that
you're sitting there and bonding with this person for six or seven hours and you're getting
something amazing out of it.
You learn so much about them, you learn so much about the trade too, you learn so much
about the tattooed world.
There is so much to tattooing that society doesn't know.
It's the biggest pet peeve is people's ignorance, people talking and saying, wow you have a lot
of tattoos and what do your parents think or what are you going to do later in life?
Are you, you know, how much money do you have invested?
I have the 1927 and my grandmother's initials which are F and D and I was really close to
my grandparents.
I have tons on both my thumbs and it kind of just all goes together when I put my hands
together if I was praying and I think that's just my favorite piece out of all the big
pieces that I have even though it's so small it just really means something.
I am pretty much a business card for different artists because people will approach me and
ask me where I get my artwork done.
I think I counted and I've had over 13 different artists work on me.
It's just slowly changing but it's going to take a long time for the world to accept.
It's going to take a long time for the world to accept and it's going to take a long time
for the world to accept and it's going to take a long time for the world to accept.
