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I'm from Greenville, NC and I started getting tattooed when I was fifteen years old. When I was 17, I met Garry Nobles, the owner of Skin Gra-fix Studios. It took a couple of years, but he finally decided to teach me. Garry had a lot of faith in me, even when I didn't deserve it. He is a great man, and I appreciate him more than he knows. He taught me a some, then I moved to Tampa, FL to go to art school. After graduating, I moved back to Greenville to finish my apprenticeship. I worked with Garry for another year while he guided me through the steps to running a successful shop. Then I moved to Charlotte in 1994 to open Immortal Images. I'm not sure why I chose Charlotte really, just a "gut" feeling, I guess. I like Charlotte, and it's been good to me. I really learned a lot when I got here, too. There is a lot of competition. It was time to step up and do what I do, the best way I knew how. Fourteen years later, we're still growing. I'm lucky enough to have worked with many fine artists who have passed through my doors. I enjoy all styles of tattooing, but I'd have to say the realistic is my strongest area. I don't like to limit myself to any one style. Everything is cool and fun to do (well, most of it). I started removing tattoos in 1997 with the Medlite laser. That's been a great help, too. There's no better canvas than living canvas. I love to see an illustration come to life as it lives and breathes in the skin. The sky is the limit on how much someone can learn about how to tattoo. Everyday there is something new to learn, and being around such a broad range of styles here in the shop, something new is always available.
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