Evan Jones

📍 Downington, PA

@evjonestattoos

Get ready to meet Evan Jones, an artist whose journey into tattooing was as unexpected as it was ultimately fulfilling! Unlike many who dream of tattooing from day one, Evan "sort of fell into it" - but what a fortunate fall it was.

After graduating art school and struggling with unfulfilling graphic and product design jobs (and even recovering from an emergency appendectomy!), a friend's timely call changed everything. Offered an apprenticeship in New Jersey, Evan, who hadn't even considered tattooing before, decided to take a leap of faith. It was "seriously the best decision I've ever made."

From the moment he started, Evan knew he'd found his calling. The technical side came naturally, and he discovered a deep passion for the daily creative challenges, connecting with clients, and the profound privilege of creating deeply personal art. Despite feeling a touch of "imposter syndrome" due to his accidental entry into the industry, Evan's immense "love, devotion, and passion" for his craft shines through in every piece. 

Make sure to read below to learn more about Evan! 

What made you realize you wanted to be a tattoo artist?

To be honest, I sort of fell into it. Before getting my apprenticeship I was living back at home with my mom after graduating art school (because student loans + art degree = zero income). I found work doing graphic design and product design for a large camping and vacation supply distributor and HATED it. Not only because I was underpaid for the work I was doing, but it was not at all what I wanted to do or where I wanted to be. All I ever wanted in life was to make a living doing art, but I struggled for years trying to figure out where my passion was. I was always drawing from a young age and had tried all varieties of freelance work ranging from commissioned paintings and murals, to t-shirt design, gig posters, coloring comics, and working every other type of job you could think of that was related to art in some way (screen printing, photo editing, art framing, etc etc.) But nothing ever stuck or felt like it filled that creative hole. Then one day, I was chilling in a hospital room recovering from an emergency appendectomy (just to add another layer to how awesome and not at all depressing my life was at the time), when a friend I’d graduated art school with called me up and asked if I wanted to move to New Jersey and learn to tattoo. Turned out she had fallen into it herself after making friends with a tattoo shop owner and, due to being insanely talented herself, was able to progress very quickly through her apprenticeship. Her mentor asked if she knew anybody else like her, showed him my work online, and they reached out to offer me an apprenticeship as long as I could get my ass from upstate NY to NJ. 

Even though I’d been tattooed before, I for some reason never even considered tattooing as an option.  Probably because I either felt I wasn’t cool enough and/or tattooed enough at the time to fit the image, or didn’t feel confident enough in myself to do the actual work. But I hated where I was living and hated what I was doing, so it was hard to really see a downside. So I said “Fuck it!’  I put all my eggs in that basket and moved to New Jersey, and it was seriously the best decision Ive ever made. 

As soon as I started learning to tattoo, it was clear that this was the thing that I had been searching for.  Not only did the technical side of it seem to come easily, but I loved that every day brought a new fun and interesting design challenge. I loved connecting with clients and hearing their stories and being given their trust and the privilege to provide a service that is so deeply personal and meaningful for them. It just checked so many boxes I didn't even know I had, and my passion for it grew fast. 

Although this all happened by accident, I could never imagine myself doing anything else. I think I’ll probably always feel a little bit like an imposter or like I somehow cheated my way into this career. I know there are so many artists that pay out the ass or fight tooth and nail just to have an opportunity at an apprenticeship because tattooing is their goal and focus from the very beginning.  What happened for me is incredibly rare and I am acutely aware of just how lucky I am. But even if this all happened by accident, I think my output proves just how much love, devotion, and passion I have for this craft and shows just how hard I work to continuously learn and improve on my craft. Not only to provide the best for my clients, but to honor the incredible life that this career has gifted me. 

I’m sure there are much more meaningful tattoos and moments I’ve helped create for people over the years, but the first that always come to mind is one day during my first year tattooing: We got a call at the shop and were asked what the age limit was for someone’s first tattoo. We explained that any client must be 18 or older,  or at least 16 with parental permission. To which they answered “No, I mean what’s the OLDEST age you can tattoo”. Their grandmother had just turned 90, and when visiting her at her retirement home on her birthday, they asked her if there was anything she’d never done that she had always wanted to do as a way to help her celebrate such a huge milestone. Next thing you know, she’s shuffling through the front door of the shop and, to this day, was the sweetest, toughest, and most sharp witted 90 year old I’ve ever met. I had just tattooed her great granddaughter a week before, so the idea was fresh in her mind. She said she remembered when she was a little girl and saw a woman with a shamrock tattoo and always thought it was so cute, and if she’d ever had the opportunity, she’d get the same tattoo in the same spot on her ankle. She figured she probably wouldn’t have many other chances after turning 90, so that’s what we did! But as many reading this will know, tattooing any skin over the age of about 60 can get a bit dicey in terms of the quality. So is it an amazing tattoo? Not at all. But she couldn’t have been a better client and couldn’t have been happier or more grateful for the experience. It was one of the simplest tattoos I’ve ever done, but it was so rewarding to be able to help someone fulfill that lifelong wish at such an old age. And that’s sort of the point of all this, right? I know we’re all artists who have such an intense desire to express ourselves and just want to do sick tattoos all day every day.  But it means so much more to the people that wear them and it can be so easy to lose sight of that when you’re in it every day and you’re grinding so hard just to make cool shit and keep up with your schedule. We all should work hard and be proud of the work we produce, but its creating moments like giving that 90 year old woman her firs that are the real reward.

It might not sound like much, but one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced was simply learning to say “no.” I spent a decade grinding at a busy street shop, where the mentality was: take everything that walks in or you’re letting money walk out. My mentor was incredibly supportive and I’m forever grateful to him for giving me the opportunity to build this life for myself, but proving your value to the business was definitely a numbers game, and the pressure to constantly produce made it hard to set boundaries. I felt indebted—not just to him, but to tattooing itself and the incredible life and purpose it had given me. But it also inflamed my imposter syndrome. I had convinced myself that if I didn’t bend over backwards to please every client, I’d risk losing it all.

In many ways, I’m thankful for getting pushed into that mindset early on. Fear is a powerful motivator, and it helped me grow very fast. I worked hard, built a loyal following, and got great at adapting. But it also burned me out. HARD. I was just a tattoo factory, taking any request that came my way, and churning it out in any style requested. Jack of all trades and a master of none. Even when I tried to inject my own voice, I just couldn’t see me in my work. I sacrificed too much of myself. So after years of anxiety, burnouts, and two herniated discs from busting my ass for others, I finally put up stronger boundaries and learned to say no.

I wish I’d done it much sooner.  I think I probably missed a lot of great opportunities that I would have benefited from much earlier in my career. But I got trapped in my little bubble and had no influence outside of my environment to guide me or convince me to do otherwise. I was tattooing and I was busy, so I was grateful just for that. It didn’t make sense to rock the boat and put that at risk.

Now, I’m more selective with the work I take on. I focus on tattoos that align with my interests and allow me room to learn, grow, and challenge myself as an artist. Ive been tattooing for 13 years now but it’s only in the last three that I feel I’ve finally started to see myself in my work. And for the first time, I’m genuinely excited about where things are heading.