PROTON TATTOO

rnBy: Stephen Haberko Proton Tattoo Ac claimed Tat to o A rt is t W as DeKalb Co unt y’ s F ir st 12 | FEBRUARY 2020 | DEKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE

DeKalb County’s first tattoo shop, Proton Tattoo, which recently celebrated its 17th anniversary, features a celebrity tattoo artist with humble beginnings. Chris May grew up in Waterman, Illinois and graduated from Indian Creek High School in 1994. As a youngster, he was into art as long as he could remember. “That was the best poor kid activity,” said May. “[All you needed] was printer paper and #2 pencils.” At age 17, May started getting tattooed at Skin of a Different Color in Aurora. “It was one of the few places to go back then,” said May. He would bring in drawings of the tattoos he wanted, and Craig Murphy, his tattoo artist, noticed his talent and told him he should consider becoming one as well and offered May an apprenticeship. In 2002 Chris and his friend Jon Bowman, opened their own business, Proton Tattoo in Cortland. It was the first tattoo shop in DeKalb County. It was actually illegal to tattoo in the City of DeKalb at that time, but a change in the law in 2009 cleared the way for Proton Tattoo to open a studio at their current location at 120 S. Fourth Street in Downtown DeKalb in February of 2010.

Business was always good for the partners at Proton Tattoo, right from the first day. But a phone call out of the blue would take things up a notch.

Ink Master In 2012, a producer for “Tattoo Nightmares,” a new realitybased show on Spike TV, contacted May about auditioning for the show. They flew him out to Los Angeles along with about 50 other people and May made it to the final two people. Even though producers chose the other contestant, they really like May. They called him shortly after and asked him to audition for another show called “Ink Master.” He interviewed in Chicago and was chosen to appear in the reality show during its 3rd season, which initially aired between July and October of 2013. May was one of 16 tattoo artists selected for the popular show, from 28,000 applicants. He ended up making it through seven episodes before being eliminated, but was then brought back for that season’s finale to compete against another artist for a chance to return the following season. Unfortunately, the other artist was chosen. “He was on the show longer than me and had a much bigger following,” said May. The TV show was great exposure for May’s business. “It was

a free commercial every week for 45 minutes,” May said. “People still bring it up, even though it’s been seven years.” The episodes on which he appeared are still occasionally shown in reruns. They also air in different countries and he still gets emails from people in places like Argentina telling him they saw him on Ink Master. “It was cool, but it’s also a double-edged sword, because a lot of people think because of that I’m busy all the time,” said May. He said people often assume they won’t be able to get an appointment with him for months, when in actuality he’s usually only booked up three weeks at a time, at most. May was also lucky enough to tattoo a couple celebrities through a contest that his wife, Nina, won back in 2007. His then fiancé was a big fan of the soap opera, “All My Children,” and won a contest to swap jobs for a day with an actor on the show. She worked as a receptionist at Proton Tattoo at the time. The couple went to New York and Nina got to do some soap opera scenes. Then Jeff Branson, who played Jonathan Lavery on the show, came to the Proton studio in Cortland to answer phones and work at the shop. While he was there, he got an Elvis tattoo. May also inked Branson’s girlfriend, who accompanied him on the trip. Bob Guiney, winner of season four of “The Bachelor,” was hosting the event and got a tattoo from May as well. Big and Bold is Better May says that he prefers to do largescale, illustrative-looking color tattoos that tell a story, but he’ll do whatever people want, including smaller, trendy tattoos. With a larger tattoo, said May, you’re going to have better results. Consequently, he is really happy any time he can do a full sleeve or a big leg piece. “The bigger it is, the more things you can pull off,” said May. “It’s like a megapixel photo; if it’s bigger, you’ll be able to see more detail and definition.” The tattoo master said that he spends a lot of time learning to draw better and trying to come up with unique designs. “It would be nice to get to do those things and change the landscape of what’s acceptable to get as a tattoo,” said May. “You can get a little risky and do something kind of crazy. You’re going to love that more in the long run.” He says many people choose to get a trendy tattoo for their first one because they view it as “safer,” since it’s more popular. According to May, many people are getting all the same tattoos that they see somewhere like Pinterest. “I think you should be mindful of what’s trendy and avoid it,” said May. He said he’s seen many people, including himself, later regret their first tattoo, not because tattoos aren’t cool, but because they just got something trendy that wasn’t unique or personal. For the last few years, small tattoos like infinity symbols and arrows have been popular, but May said tiny symbols and things with fine lines and little details end up looking bad later on as your skin ages. Other things that are currently popular include positive statements and quotations. “It is positive, but can you really commit to that one saying for the rest of your life?” questioned May. “I always tell people, ‘A picture’s worth a thousand words, but a picture with ten words is worth ten words.’” May said that trying to tell people that their idea for a tattoo is bad is a craft in itself. “It’s hard to shoot someone’s idea down when they’re dead set on it,” said May. “It doesn’t matter to them that you’ve been doing it for 22 years.” “You have to be willing to work with the artist,” said Madeline Disz of Waterman, “because they’re just trying to make sure you get the best tattoo. If they tell you something’s not going to work, they know it’s not going to work and you’re not going to be happy with it later.” If someone is unhappy with a tattoo, Proton is not equipped to do removals; however, they can do cover ups. A coverup is where you tattoo something new over the old tattoo. “You have to be kind of tricky with it,” said May. “It’s like a puzzle. You have to do something that’s

busy and confusing to the old design to really mask it well.” In addition, May also does touch ups on a daily basis. Beware of “Scratchers” May said that the tattoo industry has expanded like crazy since he’s been doing it. “Before, we used to call it ‘the craft,’ but now it is an industry,” said May. Now there are many suppliers, aftercare products and tattoo machines available. There are also Chinese knockoffs of everything and fly-by-night schools, according to May. “You can buy a kit on eBay and mess people up,” May said. Much like in other growing industries, such as craft beer, May believes that the proliferation of tattoo parlors due to its increased popularity has actually hurt the overall quality of tattoos, as many sketchy shops have popped up. “There’salot more people doing it, and as a result, there’s a lot more bad tattoos being done,” said May. “It’s kind of sad, honestly—especially when you put your heart and soul into something and anybody can get something off eBay and start tattooing people out of their house.” People who tattoo outside of a shop are called “scratchers.” May said that scratchers can not only mess up people’s tattoos, but also infect them with things like hepatitis. Licensed tattoo artists have to update their blood borne pathogen training every year and get a health inspection yearly. They are also required to have insurance. Proton’s business has grown over the years. When they first opened it was just May and his partner. They now have four tattoo artists working out of their shop, as well as someone who does body piercings. There are currently four tattoo parlors in the DeKalb area—some of which have ties to Proton. May doesn’t worry about tattoos losing their popularity, though. “I hope that someday it’s less popular and it kind of takes a nosedive and all these people who aren’t very good at it will have to find [another job],” said May. “If there’sadive in popularity, it will really separate the wheat from the chaff.” There are, however, many great tattoo artists out there. May said people will go to school now for art just to become tattoo artists, and then use those art skills to take them up to the next level. May said that what helps him to keep advancing his skills is just spending time being a creative person and making artwork, whether it be drawing or painting, and then honestly critiquing himself. “I love my job,” said May. “I’m one of the few people that I know who loves going to work every day. It’s taken me places that I never thought I’d go.” In fact, May has been all over the country for his work. For instance, he tattoos at the Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota every year. “It’s like two weeks of constant tattooing,” said May. May is a multi-talented artist. Besides doing tattoos, he also sells prints of his paintings, plays several rock instruments and wrote and produced music, and performs stand-up comedy and writes comedy sketches. He even completed the Improv and Writing Program at Second City in Chicago. His newest project is an animated sci-fi show on the streaming platform, Twitch. He even found a way to combine tattoos and comedy by producing “Scabbed Up Comedy,” where stand- up comedians perform sets while getting painful tattoos. Now Everybody Gets Them May compares the demographics of people who get tattoos to musical preferences. “Everyone listens to music, but they listen to different kinds of music,” said May. “A lot of people get tattooed, but there are different kinds of people who get tattooed, from people who get that little tattoo here and there, to people who get their whole body tattooed.” Proton clients range in age from 18 up until their 80s. May recently tattooed an 81-year-old woman who came in with her

daughter and granddaughter and got matching tattoos. He says there are slightly more women than men coming in for tattoos. Joel Aspinwall, 44, of DeKalb was 17 when he got his first tattoo. He has so many tattoos now that he’s lost count. Chris May did his entire back and about ten other tattoos. “Back when I was young, it was different than it is now,” said Aspinwall. “It was artists and rockers that got them. Now, everybody gets them.” What Aspinwall likes about tattoos is that each one gives you “a little snapshot” of that period in your life when you got it. He considers his body to be an artistic canvas. “Why walk around with a blank canvas when you can decorate yourself?” Aspinwall asked. His back piece, a mantis fighting a drunken monkey, isatribute to his study of Kung Fu. “I just gave him the concept and he knocked it out of the park,” said Aspinwall. He described May’s style as very bold. “His ability to layer color and texture is really like nobody else. Everybody at his shop is really talented, really good people. If you’re stopping in, anybody that’s going to help you is going to take good care of you.” Madeline Disz has 26 tattoos, the bulk of which have been done at Proton Tattoo. “I think [tattoos] are fun,” said Disz. “My dad gets them. My brother has them, so it just kind of became a family bonding thing.” Disz’s brother actually works at Proton Tattoo. “I love it there,” said Disz. “There’salot going on, so you’ve got a lot of visual distractions when you’re getting tattooed. Everyone’s really accommodating and they always seem pretty excited to do a tattoo. I’ve liked everything I’ve gotten from them. I’ve never had a bad experience.” Clinton Garland, 33, from Sterling originally saw one of May’s tattoos on Myspace and figured it was by some well-known tattoo artist in Los Angeles. He was amazed to learn that May was located in DeKalb. Since then, he has had plenty of tattoos done at Proton. “Growing up, my parents told me if I ever got a tattoo I’d get kicked out of the house,” said Garland. “My dad’s old school, blue collar. He’s even cool with tattoos now, too.” Garland is happy to have found a tattoo shop he can trust. “Chris is awesome,” said Garland. “I just describe something I have pictured in my head, and every single time Chris draws it even better than I had it pictured.” Advice for People Considering Getting a Tattoo May advises people to check out the portfolios of tattoo artists. Most of them have samples of their work on their Instagram account. He said it’s worth the extra money to get a tattoo done by a better artist. “Don’t let price dictate who you end up going with,” said May. “If you see a better guy and he’s $100 more than the guy who’s ok, go to the better guy.” Large tattoos are not cheap and it’s a big commitment. A full sleeve color tattoo could cost you $3,000-$5,000. It’s also 30-40 hours of work. They are done in sessions. You will do a session and then wait a couple weeks for it to heal before continuing with another session. Some tattoos take 8-12 months to finish. Typically, May said, you pay for the day’s work each time you come in, so you don’t have to pay for an entire sleeve in advance. Lastly, prepare to endure some pain. Dylan Foord of Sycamore, who got a tattoo on his chest touched up by May, compared the pain to a constant bee sting. “It’s going to hurt, but it’s worth it.” No pain…no gain.