Meet Brett Herman

Seems like many people are still searching for their dream job. I say figure out what is calling your name and go for it. If it’s not working out (even after an honest effort) , reassess the issues that are keeping you from your dreams and go even harder until you make it happen! Find what you need in this life, it is short and not guaranteed. I feel lucky enough to say that I have found my purpose, almost two decades ago. Actually, it didn’t find me, I worked my butt off to make it my reality. Most people are unaware or confused of the path they want to lead in their early adolescence, at least that was the case for me. I was young and filled with an endless imagination of all the possibilities, it frustrated me when being asked what I wanted to do after my school days. You can be anything in this life, how do you choose? Being an artistic and empathetic person makes it hard to choose between important life decisions. All I know is whether I was playing heavy music with my friends or drawing for my art projects, creation was essential to my upbringing. If I have to reflect for a moment, As I think back to my years as a young child, I found that I was always filling my time with creative activities, recreating artworks from skateboard magazines or my favorite characters from the scary movies I grew up on. I was always being drawn towards expressing myself through art and music. Growing up I was conflicted between smart life decisions and hard fun decisions, I was either going to be joining the Navy, Going to the Denver institute of Art or moving to California to play music with some of my friends. I passed the Navy test with flying colors, but felt pressured to comply by the recruiters. I felt weary of the salesman approach and I decided to try a summer course at the Denver Institute of Art! Art school was kind of fun but I was frustrated to see that this college was pushing digital art. I never knew what an atelier was or that art school could still include paintbrushes and charcoal drawing. So with much confusion to where my path ahead may lead, I made up my mind to find my purpose! With much deliberation, I moved to California to follow my dreams of playing music with some friends. My real path laid just around the corner. Music was a time filled with an exuberant amount of unforgettable memories and good times. My dreams of being an artist instead of a performing artist were starting to come into focus. I always knew I was good at art, since I was designing flyers and album covers for bands and drawing tattoos for all of my friends, It helped me realize that I am a better artist than I am a guitar player! Plus, playing heavy metal music in one of the most expensive cities would probably yield more unsatisfactory results then I was willing to deal with. I decided to give a tattoo apprenticeship a try. With all of the tattoo shows coming around and the rise of tattoo popularity in the early 2000’s, I knew my time to strike was either now or never. I started an apprenticeship in 2006 but it was a questionable experience. I still knew I was going to make it happen, when 2007 came around the guy I really wanted to apprentice with called me and asked me to come have a chat! I knew what that chat was going to be about. I started a real apprenticeship in 2007 and graduated a year later. I worked three jobs to make the money to afford my apprenticeship. I worked Monday through Friday 8am-4pm at Cedars Sinai Hospital gathering the entire campus’s confidential paper bins and delivering them to the loading docks. After an exhausting day at my main job, I apprenticed from 5-10pm Monday through Thursday. When Friday rolled around I would go back to work at the hospital, but then after my shift I would head off to do a graveyard shift at another hospital. After a double shift and what should definitely be an end to the work week, I pushed even harder and instead of resting, I would get picked up after my graveyard shift for a third shift in a row! I would help shred expired lottery tickets all day Saturday from 8am-6pm! I remember I would call my mom on Saturday night on my way home from three consecutive shifts to help me from falling asleep behind the wheel. I would have one day off on Sunday to do laundry and draw for my upcoming week before it started all over. I went through that for almost a year and a half in order to earn my purpose! It was quite the feat and I thank my lucky stars every week for the opportunity. I’m grateful for the position I’m in now because of it and appreciate the courage I had to endure the process and remain inspired.

After my struggle to attain my art career the next focus was creating a voice as an artist and generating a style I could work in for the remainder of my years. It took time trying to get good at what I was doing, but was already pretty developed from my early years. I was fortunate enough to have so many people knocking at my door for my work. Putting out work that I thought was good but was actually garbage gave me a bit of appreciation for the skill involved in my craft. I was still figuring out what made a good piece of art or a tattoo that would last a lifetime. After a few years of endless reflection and self teachings, I was finally off and running. I have had the opportunity of creating art for so many wonderful individuals of all walks of life. I have so many wonderful stories from these years. There are almost too many silly, wild or insane memories! I’ve tattooed a few celebrities, but most notable is Brittany Spears! Yep and she is actually the only person who has ever chickened out midway through a tattoo! I tattooed three lines on the mega star before she tapped out, it was supposed to be a nautical star. It ended up becoming more like a oblong triangle on her hand! This was at the beginning of my career but my career was growing! My abstract creation even made it all the way to the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine. Although this wasn’t a feature on me, my story was just beginning! I ended up leaving the nest of my mentor after 5 years and opening a shop with some friends out of necessity. Up to this point, I finally felt like my work was starting to become exciting. My knack for creating art with dark undertones and copious amounts of detail was starting to develop. I’ve continued to expand my horizons and work in numerous styles. I mainly specialize in animal art, dark art and illustrative works. After opening my first business, I published my own book the same year and even started curating and painting for art shows. Fast forward a few years later and I was on my third publication and exhibiting in some of the best galleries in the world. I have published two tattoo coloring books with all my art friends and also created a collaborative sketch book. I have now shown in over 85 gallery exhibitions and have fetched multiple awards in both mediums. I strive to become better with each new project and stay humble while focusing on creating good work for my collectors. My positive outlook and overall happy go lucky attitude has definitely opened doors for me, I have so many wonderful friends from this career. My failures have led to my successes and I continue to be blessed with big things coming down the pipeline. I don’t wanna drop the whole calendar on you but I do wanna promote a few things if I may. I am currently in the works on my third commissioned album cover for Nashville musician Taylor McCall. He is insanely talented and this release is going to be a great one! I actually did the artwork for Taylor’s first release “Black Powder Soul” which is available on all platforms. I also have a booth at this year’s Midsummer Scream in July at the Long Beach convention center with my brother. We are bringing his haunted house, The Wicker Manor from Denver, Colorado all the way to Long Beach, California, I will also have a booth to showcase and sell my newest works and apparel. I will also showcasing my second solo exhibition, which will host some of my best works yet!! It’s happening October 7th, 2023 at the Copro Gallery in Santa Monica’s Bergamot Station. This is huge for me, as Copro  is my favorite art gallery and with this invite proves my hard work and unrelenting output is starting to get noticed! As exciting of an announcement as that is, it also means the work for me is just beginning.

I have developed three very important skills that have helped get me to where I am now. The first and hardest is obviously becoming good at art! Hahah, But second and most important is hard work, rarely is anything handed to you on a silver platter and if so it means it’ll be that much easier to take it away! I found what I am good at and gave it my damndest to grow these skills into a career, it took lots of hard work. It still takes hard work, being in business for yourself is a huge job and it is not always glorious and rarely ever easy. Do not be deterred from the next seemingly impossible challenge, instead give it your all. If you fall short, learn from it and become better. Last and definitely not least is a positive mental attitude! I think this is really the key to my success. If I was to drop any important knowledge to the readers, I would say that hard work and some direction are only as good as the person delivering it. Now more than ever we all need good vibes! Pay life forward, you can have all the talent in the world and be the hardest working person in the city but if you have a stinky attitude or think you’re too cool, you’re probably only going to get so far. Be grateful for this time, having the opportunity to live this life and have an amazing job is a blessing! So continue to work hard and get better each day but always try to spread positivity and lift people up around you! If you love what you do, it will show. Make sure you do it with a smile so you can keep doing what you love for as long as possible! People will tell 10 people how amazing an experience they had was, but that same person will tell 100 people how bad an experience was. Remember who you are and remember we’re all in this together. No matter where you are in your journey there is always room for growth and positivity.

If you’re ever at the point of your career where you feel worn down or you’re feeling uninspired, you’ve more than likely over extended yourself. Take a deep breath and don’t feel so much pressure to create the next best thing. Allow yourself time to decompress between big projects. I guess that’s an easier one for me to say than to practice as I’m basically melting all my candles, However I’ve figured out how to run it in a healthy and manageable way. It’s easy to let your passion become more like regular old work. Some nights it’s an all out sprint to the deadline, remember it’s not a race to the finish line, it’s all about endurance. Think to yourself, what brought you this passion for creation? Probably not to get rich, but to be like your early influencers! Look back on your early creations and reflect on how far you’ve come. Revisit old ideas that brought you previous success! There’s so much pressure now a days to generate the next best thing, take a some time to fall back in love with what you do! Everyone knows the saying “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life”, this is not true, as every job has its moments. What it should say is” Love what you do because it will make your work a lot more fun!” Artists often shine bright and fade away, I think it’s because they are not allowing themselves the time to do the work. One of our biggest obstacles as artists is staying in your comfort zone. Constantly push your limits of creative expression and try new things. Artists also have a very warranted fear of staying relevant. Without pushing yourself into new territories you will not stay relevant, this industry and honestly every industry is evolving into the next best generation. If you’re too focused on how you compare to someone else you’ll get left behind, if you’re busy wasting time focusing on the wrong subjects, the people that are doing the work will be the only ones still standing. Focus on what you do and do it well! I’ve seen people who weren’t happy with themselves because they thought they deserved the same attention as the next guy or girl, everyone has a different path to success. Don’t change your direction to be like someone else, it will only lead to more frustration, Be happy with what you’ve accomplished! When the workload gets heavy, you have the power and control to manage that time wisely, just remain in love with what you do and try not to burn out. As artists we must push our careers forward as much as we must push our mental clarity forward. Take on all opportunities and take them on for yourself. Say yes to every show, say yes to every client and make the time! It may be your only chance to create something like that! So dive in and cut the distractions, it will help you stay involved with your artistic mission. Always be confident in your skills and share that energy with potential clients, it will lead people in the direction you want to go and make your job most fun. If you’re saying yes to more opportunities, the more opportunities will arise! The lesson is constantly study your profession, remain inspired and always strategize your output and creative flow, the work will come! It’s your job to learn how to juggle it, hit deadlines and make the most of your profession. Make work fun and make life fun!