Bastards of Art: Too polished for folk art, too punk for fine art‪.‬ Matt Hodel presents: The Bastards of Art

Episode 70













Gratitude List for the Artist













As 2020 comes to an end I am reflecting as an artist all that I have learned. I cannot throw the baby out with the bath water by complain about what went wrong this year. I think a lot of stuff still went right because of the situation 2020 put me in.

As an artist, we have a job to give perspective to others. If we mope and bitch all day, we are only letting the world win. Taking time to make a conscience effort to the the existential view of the world is our duty.

I hope everyone is safe an has the ability to gain a new perspective on life as we end 2020.















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Bastards of Art Host: Matt Hodel













Matt Hodel is the owner of Ragtime Tattoo and Lillian Press in St. Louis Missouri. Working as a self-employed artist since 1995, he left his fine arts degree for a path in the low brow art world. He apprenticed for tattooing in the 90's at Iron Age Studios. From there he has traveled the globe working as an artist.

Today Matt splits his time between St. Louis and the Ozark Mountains. He enjoys Risograph Printing, landscape painting, and digital painting. Matt brings these podcasts to you the listener in hopes to inspire and motivate.

For other projects vist: Matt Hodel Design

Episode 69













































Interview with EDM Artist Alex Bochel













Sometimes the only way to follow your dreams is to jump in with both feet. Alex Bochel is an EDM artist from Washington DC that left his computer science degree behind to pursue his passion in music. In Alex’s words , “There was no backup plan.”

It takes a different skill set to be the product. There are no guarantees so staying motivated and energetic requires a balance of time management, humility and confidence. In this episode of the Bastards of Art, Alex shares how he developed these traits but more importantly he shares with us how he is still learning.

I was extremely impressed with the vision and energy Alex has acquired. Listen to this episode and find out for yourself.

 













Find Alex Bochel at:

https://www.alexbochelmusic.com/

https://soundbetter.com/profiles/220033-alex-bochel

And every social media platform @alexbochelmusic

 















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Contact

























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Bastards of Art Host: Matt Hodel













Matt Hodel is the owner of Ragtime Tattoo and Lillian Press in St. Louis Missouri. Working as a self-employed artist since 1995, he left his fine arts degree for a path in the low brow art world. He apprenticed for tattooing in the 90's at Iron Age Studios. From there he has traveled the globe working as an artist.

Today Matt splits his time between St. Louis and the Ozark Mountains. He enjoys Risograph Printing, landscape painting, and digital painting. Matt brings these podcasts to you the listener in hopes to inspire and motivate.

For other projects vist: Matt Hodel Design

Episode 68













How to navigate a Toxic work Environment













I received a test message from a listener. He asked me to do an episode on the unhealthy work environment that tattoo shops can have. Here is his text:

“Here’s an idea for a topic:

How to navigate toxic work environment in a tattoo shop. Egos, drugs, booze, general bad attitudes in tatt shops”

There was a point in time where tattooing was a small niche tribe. The culture ran by its own rules and policed itself. I do not accept this as a legitimate excuse to allow an unhealthy environment to exsist. The edgy-ness of tattooing has dulled and with that the gruff attitudes have lost their purpose.

Tattooing is a very mainstream business. Artist are citing their professionalism as a selling points to clients Often they themselves do not reflect the healthy values needed in todays workplace. Working in a shop that is still fueled with machismo rather than creativity and professionalism often leads to toxic environments.

My answer to the text is simple. Become the best version of yourself. By doing this you will attract other like-minded people. You will never be able to change other people’s attitudes or temperaments, nut you have 100% control over yours.

Change always starts with you.

-Matt Hodel















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Contact

























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Bastards of Art Host: Matt Hodel













Matt Hodel is the owner of Ragtime Tattoo and Lillian Press in St. Louis Missouri. Working as a self-employed artist since 1995, he left his fine arts degree for a path in the low brow art world. He apprenticed for tattooing in the 90's at Iron Age Studios. From there he has traveled the globe working as an artist.

Today Matt splits his time between St. Louis and the Ozark Mountains. He enjoys Risograph Printing, landscape painting, and digital painting. Matt brings these podcasts to you the listener in hopes to inspire and motivate.

For other projects vist: Matt Hodel Design

Episode 67













Steps to a Creative Workflow













There is nothing worse than being inspired to art but not being able to art. I can not count how many times I would see something on YouTube that would make me want to draw. I happed to often and it was so frustrating. I was so stoked to create something but after I set up my drawing table, nothing. Nothing happened. I just stared at my page.

I still do this.

The difference is, now when it happens, I have a plan of attack. I have a workflow that I can fall back on to help me get going and reach my art moment of ZEN. I chase the artist high. It is what I live for. My advice to those that get stumped is to set up a few steps to bring you into art mode.

Preparation

This is the part that will pay off in the long run but feels like work in the beginning. Take a minute to make a guide of what you are trying to say. Visually or literally. Make some small sketches, do not commit to anything and try to make a quick blueprint for your ideas to attach themselves to.

Incubation

We have our conscious and our sub-conscious minds that we live with. If you do the preparation phase, you are allowing your two worlds to collaborate on an idea. Therefore, the preparation phase is important. While you are in the incubation phase, ideas will loosely fly around your brain. You are slowly finding the chord that ties it all together.

Illumination

The “AH-HA” moment. You are now focused. You know how to get to your goals and the only thing left to do, is to do it. This step is when your artist high kicks in. Time slows down and you obtain tunnel vision. This is why we art.

Implementation

This is your reward for following a path. You are no longer lost. The words spill onto the page, your fingers move quickly on the piano and your brushes have a mind of their own. Congratulations you are making art.

Let your voice be heard.

Matt Hodel















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Bastards of Art Host: Matt Hodel













Matt Hodel is the owner of Ragtime Tattoo and Lillian Press in St. Louis Missouri. Working as a self-employed artist since 1995,

Episode 66













Know your Client Churn













You have spent so much time and effort into getting clients. Now it is time to keep them. It takes more time energy and money to build a client base than it does to retain those clients that are already doing business with you.

Customer churn is one of the most important metrics for a growing business to evaluate. It is a number that can give your company the hard truth about its customer retention.

In this podcast I use the tattoo career as my model to discuss the churn of clientele. You can relate this concept to any business that involves people and that is almost all of them.

Customer churn is the percentage of customers that stopped using your company's product or service during a certain time frame. You can calculate churn rate by dividing the number of customers you lost during that time period -- say a quarter -- by the number of customers you had at the beginning of that time period.

There are a few things you want to avoid if you want to improve your client retention. This podcast will help you understand how to work smarter and more efficiently so you can spend more time doing art.

-Matt Hodel















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Read More at NGDATA. Here is a great article from Molly Galetto.

What is Customer Churn?





























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Bastards of Art Host: Matt Hodel













Matt Hodel is the owner of Ragtime Tattoo and Lillian Press in St. Louis Missouri. Working as a self-employed artist since 1995, he left his fine arts degree for a path in the low brow art world. He apprenticed for tattooing in the 90's at Iron Age Studios. From there he has traveled the globe working as an artist.

Today Matt splits his time between St. Louis and the Ozark Mountains. He enjoys Risograph Printing, landscape painting, and digital painting. Matt brings these podcasts to you the listener in hopes to inspire and motivate.

For other projects vist: Matt Hodel Design

Episode 65













Tattoo Education













Most fields that require a license to operate also require some form of continuous education. The benefit to this is not only for the practitioner’s sake but it raises the industry standards as well.

In the tattoo industry, formal education is frowned upon. From time to time a tattoo school will open with the intent to take an artist from no previous experience to licensed tattooist but I am not concerned with these monkey factories. What I am referring to is the abyss that looms over an artist after his first years of practicing.

For the most part, it is up to the individual to be responsible for bettering themselves. The problem lies in not know what needing improvement and what resources are available to them. For those who entered tattooing by apprenticing in a street shop, the lines are blurred to what comes after the formative years of their career. If you are wanting to continue to specialize in your field there is not a lot of programs for continuous education.

Matt Hodel















Bastardsart · BOA65





























Itunes

























Soundcloud

























Contact

























Youtube





























Bastards of Art Host: Matt Hodel













Matt Hodel is the owner of Ragtime Tattoo and Lillian Press in St. Louis Missouri. Working as a self-employed artist since 1995, he left his fine arts degree for a path in the low brow art world. He apprenticed for tattooing in the 90's at Iron Age Studios. From there he has traveled the globe working as an artist.

Today Matt splits his time between St. Louis and the Ozark Mountains. He enjoys Risograph Printing, landscape painting, and digital painting. Matt brings these podcasts to you the listener in hopes to inspire and motivate.

For other projects vist: Matt Hodel Design