New Kid on the Choppin Block - Nick Chaboya
by Damian McGrath

This past summer while I was on the road with Tattoos.com I got a chance to meet California Tattoo Artist Nick Chaboya at the Edmonton Tattoo & Arts Festival. I had heard his name bounced around by several artists but really hadn’t seen his work. His tattoo work had a distinct style and bold contrast, it drew me in. We got to hang out some and I took an instant shine to his laid back, open attitude and friendly demeanor. Recently I caught up with him...

D - So let's start with the most obvious question, how long you been tattooing?

Nick  - Tattooing seven years

D - It's pretty obvious from the artwork I've seen and what's online that art was something that has been in your life long before tattooing.

Nick - Yeah, I started painting as a kid, in china with my grandma in the seniors center at around age five, and it went from there, art classes right through school, and on to college to get a Bachelors degree in fine arts from the California College of the Arts.

D - And how old are you now?

Nick – Twenty nine.

D - So being from an artistic background and growin' up in the San Francisco, the Bay area, you were pretty well exposed to one of America's contemporary tattoo meccas.

Nick - Yeah, San Francisco, look around and see, I mean it was a huge tattoo city but even early on with a painting background, I would look around and ask myself, "How come tattoos couldn’t look like paintings?", San Fran was more of a traditional tattoo style or Japanese tattoo style town.

Then came along guys like New Skool and Adrian Lee in San Jose, where I was raised which just pushed the whole envelope.

D - So when did you start getting tattooed?

Nick - During college I started gettin tattooed by Mike Davis and Eddy Deutsche from Everlasting Tattoo. 

I gotta credit from Eddy just from getting tattooed by him. He was open with his information, it was a completely different vibe for me, more about the application and the craft.

Just getting a sleeve done and hangin' out, bringing drawings and so, collaborating on the design. I mean, I had what you can loosely describe as an apprenticeship, not a traditional apprenticeship, in the sense of the word. I needed more info and to find info, I had to get tattooed and talk with guys like Eddy.

D - So what are the fine art mediums you work with?

Nick - Usually I work in oil and acrylic.

D - Yeah, I spoke with Safwan, form Imago Tattoo in Montreal, he's a great tattooist and machine builder and we talked about aspiring tattooists being such great artists, but Safwan was quick to point out the obvious, that there is so much skill and craft with tattooing besides just being a traditional artist. How some great painters just can't help but muddy up tattoos.

Nick -  It’s a huge thing, often I see these great tattoos kinda painted on that after a while are just these pastel colors that wash out. That's why I wanna do the whole tattoo in black and grey first, then let the contrast hold up. When I see the black and grey then with color it holds up over time.. if my client will let me, black and grey first, then add the color.

D - It's pretty obvious you have taken in so much of the knowledge other artists have offered as well as developed your own rhyme and reason. Your exposure to the tattooing has been a brisk pace. But you have started gettin out to the conventions now.

Nick - Yeah, the first couple years of my shop apprenticeship I was just learning what my boss had to offer, and it was the basic skills and technical tattooing. But then I got out to shows and met so many other people that had so much to offer, I mean the conventions just stoked me out, cause you meet person, who introduces you to other people, then other people, and they all have more doorways into what's going on. It's just one thing always leading to the other. It's great. 

D - So you are touring with Bob Tyrrell?

Nick - It’s not a tour we are just sharing some booths together for a few shows.

D - It's an interesting dynamic you two. So similar overall, but such distinct styles between you.

Nick - Yeah, he has such a precise way, and I am much looser, and with Bob, he is so cool , and at shows, everyone comes up and Bob works late, and it’s such a good vibe, I mean hangin with him, I get to meet so many great artists, he's such a nice guy everyone comes up and hangs with you. It's like I've been so blessed with guys like him and Grime and Fillip Leu open with their info, and Eddy Deutsche...

D - But you guys do have your own styles.

Nick - I think Bob is so silly efficient and clean but you know, he's so precise, and with me the contrast is that I am approaching it more like a painting. I allow accidents to happen and then try to make it a beautiful accident. So a lot of the time I will stencil and then go back with a wet paper towel and manipulate the stencil and let that change the whole dynamic. I'm not scared of doing that, and clients are “You're the artist, do what you do", and that opens door to so much freedom. . .

D - The tools of the trade today are so vast, giant needle configurations, machine of all shapes and structure. What do you work with?

Nick - I use whatever tool is best for the job, whatever I can work with. Up to a 29 mag in all shapes and sizes. I am still learning, I stopped using the premaid needles, just because using hand made needles to spec, by a craftsman, someone that uses an eyeloop and cares, it makes a huge difference, so the quality control is so much better than mass manufacturing. I mean it’s a huge part of it, the point of interaction between the skin and the needle, it's all about how it goes in. You see a tattoo, it went in great, but one needle was barbed, and as an artist you didn't even see it, and the heal is so hard, so it fades the tattoo.

I mean, we are paid well to do what we do, and the needle is an intricate part of it, so shelling out a bit more for needles or any other part of the process, it makes sense for the artist, you want to get the best result form the best tools.

Usually, depending on the piece.. I will use four or five machines, coil and rotary, I use a rotary to fill in color, it seems to have less pain inflammation for clients... I mean artists and others both say they feel that way.

I generally stick to coils for lining; for that harder hit or punch that seems necessary for an outline. I will sometimes use single needle for the rotary, but if I am using a nine, I need that hit the coils have, the rotaries just don’t seem to have it yet. 

D - So now you're at Seventh Sun tattoo? Nickchaboya.com is a new site, and the Seventh Sun Tattoo website, in San Francisco?

Nick - Yeah, I started working there a few months ago, it's great. I was in Northern California for four years. I learned a bunch from Cory Norris, who owns Classic Tattoo, in Grass Valley, and Aaron Cain lives up there buildin machines. I got so much info from both of them. Then I moved back to the bay area, and just started up at Seventh Sun a few months ago, and the line up at the shop is phenomenal, it’s an open play ground, so many San Fran artists are into traditional and Japanese style, so I am doing portraits and abstracts. I am liking the shop so much, and home, it’s like a convention at the shop every day, they're will be seven or eight of us drawing and tattooing and critiquing each others work, and everyone is open to that, so it’s such a great flow. .

D - Yeah when were are out west and I met Trevor from here, the snowboard designer guy, and saw the work  you did on him.

Nick - Yeah like the skulls on Trevor, he's so loose. I took reference and usedphotoshop to overlay things and play with them, and get a good flow, and cool contrast, he just said I want a skull piece. not how many, or how how to do them. He trusts me and I just go from there.

D - It was great work, I was so drawn into it. I know your going to the Cape Town show in South Africa, what else is planned?

Nick - I had a bunch of shows booked, but I am just gonna focus now on these shows. Heading to Australia – I am gonna work at Trevor Mcstays Dynamic Tattoo in Melbourne,  and then heading to the show in Cape Town for the convention, and then back to the Bay area, and the normal line up. Excited about that and of course going to The Toronto convention, I've been wanting to go to that one for years.

D - Thanks so Much Nick, we will see you on the road...

Nick Chaboya will be at Southern Ink Xposure and Northern Ink Xposure

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