Artist J.J. Ohlinger makes a living at fine art, tattoos
Greenville artist J.J. Ohlinger has always made his living creatively, whether it was illustrations for the music industry or graphic design. However, over the last few years, he has been able to shift to producing fine art full time.
The Nebraska native began his career as an illustrator for an archaeology firm after training in scientific illustration at the University of Georgia. While living in California, he created illustrations for the music industry and in computer software.
He later moved to Charleston in the late 1990s and started his own graphic design and Web development firm, eventually employing nine people. However, he was frustrated with dealing with clients who commissioned an essential service for their business only to later deprioritize it.
When he met his wife and fellow artist Darlene Fuhst, they started to use extra office space for an art show. In early 2003, he began shrinking the commercial business and focusing on art. Fuhst took a post as an editor in Greenville and that’s when Ohlinger began to create fine art full time. He gives Fuhst much credit for her support and helping him take the plunge. Nearly two years ago, Ohlinger also branched out into a new medium: tattoos.
You do commission portraits of people and pets. How do you obtain that work?
There are some galleries I work with, and you do get some gallery sales. I think a lot of people think you make art and put it out there and someone will want it. It’s not that at all – it takes a lot of legwork. I don’t know a lot of people who work as hard as many of the artists that I know. The portrait work is a lot of word-of-mouth and doing shows, letting them know I’m available.
I don’t do art fairs and it’s a tremendous amount of work. There’s a woman I know who does it and she can spend up to $20,000 a year just on entry fees. At that point it is product. A lot of people don’t want to think of the art world as working like that, but unless you want to eat Ramen noodles every day, there is that aspect to it. There’s sort of that sacrifice between what I want to make just because it’s art that I enjoy and what can I do to help pay some bills.
How did you move into working in the tattoo field?
I’ve always been interested and drawn up friends’ tattoos for them, but was not jazzed about how they were looking. About two years ago, thanks to my wife’s full-time job, we were at the point of meeting bills and I was free to tackle this new medium and experiment. I think I’ve still got a long way as far as learning, but I feel very fortunate that I’ve been able to cultivate a support group that is so interested in helping me through this.
How do the mediums overlap?
I approach a tattoo how I approach a painting. I like to have background information [for both] – I don’t always get it, but I think those come out as the strongest pieces. I think one of the biggest issues is customer service. You don’t think about that with art or tattooing. I call people after they’ve had a painting for a while. I want somebody to feel like they’re getting the concentration they deserve. I did a show where a lot of the paintings I’ve done lately are people I’ve tattooed. Some of my art clients have become tattoo clients.
It’s very humbling to have somebody expose their body to you and say, “Change it.” There’s a big responsibility that comes along with that and I don’t take that lightly.
Has the tattooing contributed financially?
Tattooing pays the bills now. It’s a big stress relief. Now I don’t have to do as much commission work and can concentrate on painting. I’m curious how to see how my work [painting] evolves over the next few years.
What has surprised you about this new medium?
People agonize over spending money on a painting, but have not thought as much on a tattoo – and they may still spend thousands on tattoo work. There are also people who have come back to me for 12 tattoos in just two years. The fact that they’re willing to keep coming back, I think, is really incredible. Eighty percent of my time is booked a month out and for only doing this for nearly two years, that’s pretty amazing.
What advice would you give to other artists looking to make a go at full time art creation?
The only way to make a go of it is to go all in. Now that takes a healthy dose of self-confidence, an intense work effort, a talent and a lot of stupidity, but if that describes you, then ditch the backup plan. A backup plan only gives you permission to fall back. Also: Marry really, really well.
