For those of you with tattoos, or those considering them, you know how difficult it is to articulate the tattoo image in your head to the artist. You ask the artist for a Chinese dragon, thinking he'll draw you something badass, and he comes up with Mushu from "Mulan." A similar situation happened to entrepreneur Cristin Davis.
"I asked for a devil pig and an angel pig," David tells MTV Clutch. "I go to my friend's house and he drew a cartoon pig with a pitchfork. I just wanted a real looking pig with horns or something."
This sparked his idea for Interactive Tattoo, a software program he created housing artwork and artist portfolios in one user-friendly space. The customer can choose aspects of each image to create a unique tattoo while quickly and easily conveying their ideas to the artist.
For an industry that's deeply rooted in tradition, Davis is mixing things up.
"When we launched it at Club Tattoo in Tempe, Arizona, we started off with two screens. People were coming into the shop just to use the software because their friends told them about it," he said.
The Club Tattoo shops have a rock star vibe, since they're partly owned by Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington, and Interactive Tattoo mirrors that vibe. At Club Tattoo in Vegas, the artists tattoo customers on a stage with five Interactive Tattoo kiosks in front, where users surf through piercing jewelry, tattoo designs, fonts and aftercare. When Davis first created the software, he uploaded 50,000 images; now the system has about 120,000 images. In addition to tattoo art, the software includes work by famous artists like Leonardo da Vinci and portraits of celebrities like Elvis and Gandhi.
"[Interactive Tattoo] doesn't just help the customers, but the shop owners and artists as well," Davis says. "Previously, they were limited with the space on their wall, but now everything is in one place."
The system allows artists to upload their portfolio, including videos and panoramic views. No one can steal the portfolio book because it's all virtual and multiple people can look at the portfolio at once. If you're planning on getting a tattoo in the future, you'll definitely be seeing this product.
"The artists aren't making money when they're drawing," Davis said. "They're making money when they're tattooing."
Davis' final pig product.