Milosch – Black & Gray from the Czech Republic

By Travelin’ Mick

Photos by Milosh and Travelin’ Mick

His flash designs can be found in almost every tattoo studio in Europe, but Milosch’s tattoos are also among the best things coming to us from Czech Republic (except the original Budweiser beer,perhaps). For Tattoo Road Trip, he tells us about his difficult road to success, and throws in some valuable advice as well.

All the European tattoo studio have flash designs of Vikings, American Indians, monsters, demons, skulls or buxom warrior chicks on display for its customers. If these design sheets happen to be meticulously drawn, full of fine details and of the highest quality available anywhere, it is more than likely that, somewhere in the right bottom corner, you will find a signature stating “Milosch.” For the past couple of years, the flash sets of the forty-two-year-old Czech are among the most popular in the business. And for good reason.

What Milosch (whose actual name is Milos Schovanec), an extraordinarily humble and quiet man, hardly ever admits and is reluctant to talk about, are his skills as a tattoist. Actually, Milosch does not really talk a lot in the first place, especially if he is not surrounded by his closest friends or family. He prefers to let his work do the talking. It doesn’t take a lot to recognize his ample talent, simply by looking at his drawings, but Milosch himself doesn’t really have an explanation for this. “In my family, nobody ever had talent. Sometimes I think I am not my father’s son. But when I look in the mirror, I see his face!” he is jokes.

His parents, members of the Socialist “working class,” were clueless about their son’s special skills, even when little, four-year-old Milos pushed away all the Christmas presents, in order to grab hold of some paper and pastel crayons and began to draw. He has not stopped since.

Finding a way of life as an artist was not an option in his home country, then called Czechoslovakia. He could not find any support for his passion, and finally opted for an apprenticeship as a technician. “My father even wanted me to become a member of the Communist party, for career reasons, which I refused,” he remembers. “In Socialism, artists were seen as people, who are too lazy to work!”

But suddenly, everything changed. The Berlin Wall came down, the Czech Republic became an independent and fiercely liberal country overnight, a place where everything seemed possible. Milosch was on his own, ran a fitness gym, built the equipment himself, but never stopped being an artist. “I did terribly kitschy paintings for old ladies, for a handful of dollars each. At this time I didn’t realize that tattooing could make me a living.”

Milosch tattooed a few friends at home, and promptly ran into problems with the authorities. “I was given an ultimatum: Either I pay a huge fine or I open a legal tax-paying studio within two months! So, I opened my first shop in April 2000, without having any idea of what I was doing.”

At this point, he hadn’t even seen a good tattoo, but he drew all his designs himself, since there was no choice. When a German colleague came by and suggested he should sell his drawings as flash, he laughed the idea off until his new partner brought him a stack of Euros a month later. Milosch’s flash had become an instant hit.

Soon, he started going to conventions himself and quickly had to realize the bitter truth that his drawings might be outstanding, but his tattooing skills lagged way behind. “When I look at my old work, now, I feel so bad,” he says with a serious frown.

“Only through going to lots of conventions and watching people like Robert Hernandez and Jack Ribeiro work, I slowly got better. Skin is not like paper, but different from person to person and depends on the spot on the body. Only experience can help, and it will take at least five or six years, even with talent. Sometimes I still think I need to make a certain area darker, but the skin can’t take more, and I have to stop, even if I am not happy. But the tattoo has to heal first.”

He happily explains his preferred technique. “I start the image with a large magnum and shade without doing any water lines first, like Bob Tyrrell prefers. Then I set a few fixed spots with a round needle and slowly build the picture with another magnum from there. I don’t like to use stencils. The lines irritate me too much, but that’s my personal thing. Lines come last for me.”

Today, Milosch is shares his knowledge in seminars, where he explains how his flash is converted into beautiful and durable tattoos. He suggests using his designs merely as a reference, taking the basic elements and filling in the details by themselves to create a unique tattoo. Unfortunately, this often fails, due lack of sufficient drawing skills on the part of his students.

“Realistically seen, my flash is too complicated,” he admits. “But it is popular, because, sadly, many tattooists aren’t able to draw well enough to do the details by themselves. The most important thing about my flash is to do it large enough. Especially in detailed portraits, it is essential not to cram too much into too small a space. Sometimes I have to refuse to tattoo my own designs, not because of arrogance, but because someone wants it too small. Since I can’t just leave out sections or squeeze it all in, I’d rather not do it, because it wouldn’t look good in ten or fifteen years.”

Being the self-critical person that he is, Milosch is never quite happy with what he already achieved. His perfectionism and critical eye lets him think a lot about his own work. In the meantime, he has gained some self-confidence, but still can’t quite bury the nagging doubts. “Look, when you start thinking about yourself as a good artist, it is the beginning of the end. I remember when Boris from Hungary told me that he had still much to learn. This impressed me to hear such a big star say that. I asked myself, when this would end, when would I be good enough? Now I understood that you must never stop learning. There is no end!”

Possessing an excellent visual memory, Milosch has accumulated a huge reference library in his brain, which he can usually rely on. But for realistic tattoos, he does use outside reference material, of course. Lately, he has been daring to approach larger projects. “I have little experience adapting designs to the body. Decin, where I live, is a small town, one hundred kilometres from Prague, close to the German border. Not many people want large work there. I started a few backpieces, but really only a handful.”

After attempting to open several other shops, Milosch now fully concentrates on his work in Decin. Having lost his illusions about starting a larger business, he now realizes that “I am one of those artists, who needs to work alone, like Robert Hernandez, Jack Ribeiro or Bob Tyrrell. Like them, I try to be creative and not to waste energy on other matters. It is difficult, because, after many years of hard work, I now have everything I could ever wish for: Success, money, but no time to spend it. I have to learn how to live now and to concentrate on what really matters. This is why I only work with my wife, and I want to spend time with my family and travel.

With bookings filling the next six months, it seems like he will not find his peace and quiet all too soon. But it does mean that we will be seeing a lot more excellent Milosch tattoos in the future.

Milosch Tattoo

Tyrsova 1

405 02 Decin

Czech Republic

http://www.miloschtattoo.com

http://www.myspace.com/miloschtattoo

info@miloschtattoo.com