Mike Giant is an icon in the realms of tattoo art, bicycling, and illustration. Yet he isn’t the kind of guy who revels in the spotlight; so getting these precious words on paper is quite an honor for Hypebeast. Mike’s insight into tattooing gave us food for thought:
“You just can’t be happy doing street shop stuff your whole life and that can be real thrilling, you always have tons of cash and access to cute girls and all this. There’s definitely a contingent of people who are all about that.
There’s another level to it, there’s a deeper thing then that, it’s heavy I think, you’re marking people, you’re making them bleed and hurt and a lot of the time you’re manifesting things that they feel so compelled in their heart to put into their skin and at the risk of all kinds of financial loss and pain and being judged by their family, all kinds of stupid shit.
It’s a lot different than just drawing on paper, that’s for sure.” -Mike Giant, Hypebeast Interview