Meet Cody Rose

We recently connected with Cody Rose and have shared our conversation below.

Cody, thanks for taking the time to share your lessons with our community today. So, let’s jump right in – one of the most essential skills for unlocking our potential is self-discipline. Where does your self-discipline come from?

I’ve been a creator since I was young. Devoted to the cause. Even with that drive to create, I sometimes struggle to reach my goals until I’m ready. I find myself pulling late-night drawing sessions to reach my goals. Late night is a time when I’m undistracted. I can focus and get into a zone. When I’m in that zone, even I can’t stop myself until I’m finished with what I started. It’s important to make goals at the beginning of sessions and listen to your body when it’s time to stop. Even if that means staying up till 5 am, creating.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’ve been a tattoo artist for 8 years now. I think that, primarily over the last couple of years, I’ve been focusing on clean work. Currently, I’m looking towards finding myself in my work. What are my favorite subjects, what challenges me, and how can I make this piece interesting and flow with the body?

My heavy focus on flow, composition, and contrast makes my work stand out in a crowd of people. I’ve had multiple clients report to me that people stop them in public to admire my work.

I’ve been a creator my whole life, but I never imagined I could have people stop in the street to admire my work. It’s fulfilling.

Currently, I’m working on finishing up a charcoal drawing I’ve been working on for years. It’s one of my most ambitious and largest charcoal pieces I’ve done. I’m so excited to finalize this piece. I’ve also started my first flow concept sleeve. I challenged myself to create a sleeve that was one concept, a battle between a water serpent, a kraken, and the ship caught in between them. I’ve had several concepts I scraped, made my client come in multiple times, and then they went home with nothing.
My client has been so wonderful, and I’ve finally gotten the linework all pulled together. It’ll be a lengthy process, but it’ll be worth it.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Looking back on how I got to where I am today, I see many things that don’t quite add up; yet, somehow, I’ve found my place. My love of anime, passion for art, and interest in digital art paved the way for me to become the tattoo artist I am today.

I believe that the most important aspect of developing any skill is repetition. However, it’s crucial to break the skill down into its smaller components for study. Focus on the areas where you feel you lack proficiency, research your topic, and practice those specific aspects until you understand them thoroughly. The driving force behind any artist is the relentless desire to persevere until they bring to life what they envision in their mind.

I have discovered a wealth of knowledge available through YouTube tutorials, books, and classes.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?

I believe it is important to be a well-rounded artist at the beginning of your career.

A well-rounded artist is a well-fed artist. Being able to fit in where needed can help you develop a clientele list, create foundational skills, build confidence in both your work and workflow, help you learn to work with and direct clientele, and later develop your preferred skillset in the future based on what you enjoy the most. I have been striving to create clean work consistently and efficiently. In my short years as a tattoo artist, I feel I still have not reached where I want to be, but I understand that I’m better off than I was two years ago. I have been blessed with a clientele that allows me to cater to the skills I have developed that can help me do my best work for them and on them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/talkcutetome
• Instagram: talkcutetome