From Aspiring Artist to Rising Star: Ankit’s Journey to Winning the Young Talent Award at a Tattoo Convention
Upcoming tattoo artists are the vibrant and innovative souls who are breathing fresh life into the world of body art. They bring a unique blend of passion, creativity, and a deep appreciation for the rich history of tattooing. We too have such an emerging talent at Sam Tattoo India, this person is not just an ink slinger; he is a story teller, using the human canvas as his medium to craft narratives, express emotions, and create visual masterpieces. With a keen eye for detail and a commitment to mastering his craft, he constantly pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in the realm of tattooing. As he carves his path in this age-old art form, we can see that the world of tattooing is always evolving and discovering new creative ways to narrate your perspective through body art.
November 2022 was a very important year for our artist Ankit Parmar. Like many up and coming artists, especially artists who are very young and don’t have any or enough experience in the industry aspire to make a name for themselves early into the business. But, this doesn’t come true for a lot of artists. Ankit was an exception, his hard work and attention to detail in everything that he does had brought him to a point where he could see one of his dreams coming true.
Ankit had participated in a category that was introduced for the first time at any convention, the YOUNG TALENT CATEGORY Where all the artists were preparing their designs and starting to do the stencil on their human canvases, Ankit had no idea if he was even going to participate as he had already participated in calligraphy tattoo category the previous day and we didn’t have any human canvas for him to tattoo on. But as luck would have it, he decided to enter the YOUNG TALENT CATEGORY and we started looking for a canvas, we asked around the convention to the people who had only come to see the festival, we asked other artists participating if they had someone available who would become a canvas for Ankit. Finally, we found a woman who agreed to get a tattoo from Ankit for the category he was competing in. While all the young artists who were in the same category were doing tattoos that were no less than a half sleeve tattoo, our resident artist Ankit chose to do a tattoo that was maybe 5-6 inches in size overall. Ankit had decided to do a minimal realistic tattoo, which he is great at. He has been tattooing for only 2 years and was 22 at the time of the convention.
The tattoo was of “Jordan’s” the famous Nike shoes. A black and grey design but realistic. After many hours of tattooing nonstop, it was finally time to head to the stage where the judging would happen. Like every round, the judges walked the stage and looked at the tattoos done by the artists participating in the Young Talent category. Some of the artists had managed to finish tattoos that were covering more than half the arm or leg. We were very nervous when the judges were looking at the tattoo done by Ankit, it was the smallest tattoo in the entire convention done by an artist in any of the categories. To say that we were nervous would be an understatement. Soon enough, the judges started giving our canvas the cards and really squatting to see the tattoo up close. Finally, the results were being announced and held our breaths, Ankit was a nervous wreck and finally hearing the host announce that Ankit had won the 2nd runner up in the YOUNG TALENT CATEGORY made us all jump with sheer happiness and pride. This was the second win of the day for team Sam Tattoo India. To see Ankit run up the stage and accept the award has us all in tears. The judges were having a hard time believing that he was only 22, seeing the kind of detailed tattoo he had finished in the given time frame had the judges all shocked. They say you never forget your firsts and I am sure Ankit will remember this exact moment for many years to come.