Corey Miller Main
Corey Miller (Born in 1967) He never had a formal apprenticeship, as many tattoo artists do, but instead got his education by “going on my own and falling on my face and doing it all again on my own terms.”
Beginnings
At fifteen Corey was playing drums in a punk rock band and he decided he needed a tattoo. So he carved out his first tattoo on himself using a needle with thread wrapped around it. This inspired Corey to build his own tattooing machine, which consisted of a fish tank pump motor, a bent toothbrush, the tip of a Bic pen, and some guitar string as a needle. He used to carry his homemade contraption around in a Vans shoe box with a bottle of Pelican ink.
A year later he went to his first real tattoo parlor, Spotlight Tattoo, run by the venerable Bob Roberts. Spotlight Tattoo a punk rock tattoo shop that specialized in aggressive dark designs. He was impressed with their skulls and their technology. He knew he was seing his future.
A year after that, Corey went to Franco’s, the local tattoo parlor in Ontario, California. The shop became a hang out for him and his friends and by summertime, Corey was drawing designs and taking out the trash at the shop, and Franco and the boys started calling him the shop hand.
Three years later he met tattoo artist Mark Mahoney at a house party. After watching him work he realized that thier was a whole other level to tattooing. He started hanging out at the shop where Mahoney worked. The shop was called Fat George’s Tattoo Gallery, and it wasn’t long before he was tring to get a job as a tattoo artist. At long last, Fat George gave Corey his big break. Mahoney was making plans to open a new shop out in Los Angeles, and that meant that a chair was opening up. All of a sudden, Corey Miller had his first real job tattoing.
While his friends were getting busted for anything from drunk driving to serious felonies, Corey was busy in the safe haven of the shop inking up to ten tattoos a day. The next milestone in his career was two years later when Dick Warsocki walked into the shop. Warsocki was known for his beautiful Native American fine-line tattoos. That day Corey just so happened to be working on a Indian Head tattoo on a customer’s back, Warsocki complimented him on the design and ask he to come with to a tattoo convention in New Orleans. Corey took him up on the offer, and at the convention Corey found a whole new realm of tattoo artistry. There met famed artists such as Guy Atchison and Eddie Deutsche. They tattooed with a style that Corey says had “absolutely no boundaries” and that was “limited only to imagination.” Corey also met one of his closest friends at the convention, Suzanne Fauser.
When his return from that first tattoo convention in New Orleans, Corey got a break from the one and only Jack Rudy, who gave him a job at Good Time Charlie’s Tattooland in Anaheim, California. Good Time Charlie’s was an institution in the tattoo world. Artists such as Mark Mahoney, Freddy Negrete, and Dick Warsocki had previously worked at Good Time Charlie’s, and it was there that Corey got the chance to work with Jack Rudy and Mike Brown—artists whom Corey collectively refers to as “the Kings of Black and Grey.”
He then opened his own shop in California in 1991 with two business partners, it was called “Optic Overdrive” The shop lasted about two years. After traveling for a while he ended up tattooing in his basement. It was in that dank, underground dungeon that the name “Six Feet Under” was born. Corey opened his own tattoo parlor, in his own building in downtown Upland. He hired Henry Powell and Six Feet Under Tattoo Parlor was born.
Career
Six Feet Under Tattoo Parlor
LA INK
Style
Corey Miller in Popular Culture
His career would take Corey Miller all over the United States, from Los Angeles to New York to Hawaii, and to a host of worldwide destinations such as Canada, France, Amsterdam, and Japan. He would eventually become one of the most sought-after purveyors of ink in modern times. You know you are popular when Kat Von D wants you to be on her show LA INK.
For Corey, a couple of the highlights of his career include being sought out by two incredible artists. The first was when he tattooed James Hetfield of Metallica and designed a dragon for Hetfield’s Gibson Les Paul guitar. The second highlight was when custom motorcycle artist Jesse James asked him to tattoo the $100 bill on James’s back.
He continues to break new ground by engineering cutting-edge tattooing tools.
Business Ventures
In 1991, Corey Miller and two business partners opened “Optic Overdrive”, the first tattoo shop in Upland, California. The shop lasted about two years.
Second shop “Six Feet Under Tattoo Parlor”
Honors
Comments
There are 3 comments for this post.
Hey,
I’m married and about to have a baby… I’m a fairly decent artist with pencil and paper but I’m very interested in getting into the business. It’s been like my dream ever since I was younger. I’m a Classicaly trained Pianist and I’ve been into art and music all my life. Do you have any tips for me? I’m kinda like a noob when it comes to all of this stuff.
Thanks again,
Steve
flooppild
Знакомства с иностранцами
Flulkitte
http://needman.ru
So glad Corey Miller is included in this bio! Not only is he experienced with all the aspects of tattooing, but he has traveled and worked with the best in the industry.