jason.

fifteen years behind the machine, and co-owner of shade. studio since 2025. before that he ran living sins for the best part of a decade, which is where most of what he does now got settled.

his work is high contrast black and grey — chicano lettering and imagery, women's faces, religious and cultural iconography — plus large scale projects that build over multiple sessions rather than getting rushed into one sitting. he tattoos for longevity above all else: a piece has to still read cleanly in twenty years, not just look sharp on the day it heals, which means bold enough linework and enough contrast that it won't blur out as skin ages.

a consultation with jason is mostly about scale and pacing before it's about imagery. if an idea is genuinely a half-sleeve, he'll say so rather than compress it onto a forearm because that's what was asked for — a piece that's too small for what it's carrying tends to blur first and disappoint fastest. bigger projects get mapped out across sessions from the start, so you know roughly what you're committing to before the first one begins.

he doesn't take on colour or fine line work — there are people here who do that far better than he would, and he'll point you straight at them rather than take a piece that isn't his to do well. lettering, portraits, large scale black and grey composition: that's the lane, and it's a deliberately narrow one.

he also runs the life project, tattooing one person free of charge each month based on nominations from people who know them — a separate thing entirely from the booking book, but part of why people trust him with the bigger pieces.

currently taking bookings.

see jason's work in black and grey and chicano.