Artist opens tattoo studio in Mount Holly

Dennis Hamilton was interested in art for years before he became a tattoo artist, but the profession didn't occur to him as a possible career path until the show Miami Ink came out in 2005.

"(Art is) something I do to keep myself sane-ish," he said.

Hamilton, 42, is originally from Oceanside, California, but he opened a tattoo parlor in Mount Holly in October. Hamilton studied video game design at The Art Institute of San Diego, but then when friends suggested he consider tattooing, it opened up a new avenue of possibility.

"I didn't really think much about tattooing as an avenue because I wasn't really into that," he said. "I didn't really have any tattoos or anything at the time. My understanding because just what I was seeing at the time was just a lot of like, old school Americana work and tribal stuff. And that wasn't really appealing to me. I like more black and gray realism.

"So that show showed me like, oh, there's a lot more you can do with it. So friends pushed me into it. They bought me a bunch of the equipment, and I put together a portfolio and shopped around for an apprenticeship."

After working as a tattoo artist in California for more than a decade, Hamilton and his wife, April, became interested in living in North Carolina after considering the cost of living, which is less expensive than California.

"You don't realize how raw the deal you got is until you kind of do a little traveling and you realize, 'Oh, s---, we're getting screwed,'" Hamilton said. "So me and my wife were just like, you know, we're gonna be on this treadmill, and we're not getting younger."

After considering several options, they landed on North Carolina, moving to Charlotte in 2021 and then to Mount Holly in 2023.

"It's green. There's trees. You know, California… most of the time, it's just brown and gray, not gray like the sky, but gray like concrete and dirt. And unless you're along the coast, everything's pretty much that," he said.

Hamilton these days takes clients by appointment only, and he is able to draw the kinds of things that interest him, like fantasy art and surrealism.

"People do kind of do a lot of the same stuff sometimes. But what's interesting is trying to put a new twist on it, and the idea might be redundant or common or something like that," he said. "And then it's like, OK, well, 'How can I make this new and interesting? How can I make something unique for each client?' I could draw the same thing over and over again, but I don't."

The kind of thing he likes to draw changes constantly. Currently, it's fantasy, "usually something with a darker edge," like gothic fantasy, he said.

Outside of tattooing, Hamilton also paints and makes sculptures.

"I do all kinds of stuff," he said, adding that his house is filled with half-finished projects.

"It's sometimes just a study. I'll be painting something, and it's more or less just trying to capture light and shadow, a sort of mood, or whatever little thing I'm trying to get," he said. "I've gotten it, and I have this piece, and sometimes I finish it, sometimes I don't."

Hamilton can be found on Instagram at @dh_tatt2.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Artist opens tattoo studio in Mount Holly