The goal of this workshop with Freddy Corbin is to help early to mid-career tattooers hone their skills and gain a better understanding of the culture and business side of working in and/or running a classic street level shop. By offering a truly unique perspective on a sacred tradition, Corbin will offer his opinions, perspective, stories and thoughts on his style of tattooing.  

 

Corbin will lead group discussions on the importance of establishing a realistic approach as a tattooer, finding one’s own unique approach as an artist, and delivering a clean, well-thought-out tattoo to an increasingly oversaturated market.  

 

Coveted one-on-one time with Freddy to troubleshoot, share your working portfolio, and get direct feedback on your future goals will be a core component to the week's activities. Guests will also be spending time in a local shop as Corbin  tattoos you and the other workshop guests (!!!). As a group you will go on outings to local farms, tour a private, historic photo collection, go to hot springs and explore and relax together.

 

While not entirely a vacation and not a “tattoo course,” this workshop intends to be a very personal and customized opportunity to hang out, ask questions, watch, listen, learn, eat, laugh, party, relax and most importantly be human with Freddy and a great mix of fellow tattooers from all over the globe. 

 

Applicants must be currently tattooing or apprenticing for a minimum of two years to apply.

Freddy Corbin, a.k.a., Mr. Nice Guy, has been tattooing for over three decades. In 1986 Corbin moved to San Francisco after having seen a copy of Ed Hardy's magazine Tattootime. In 1987 he began tattooing and in 1990 he started  working for Hardy at the famed Realistic Studio and later, Tattoo City, respectively.  Working alongside legends like Ed Hardy, Eddy Deutsch, Igor Mortis, and Danielle Higgs, Corbin methodically carved out a distinct style and approach to the trade. In 1996 he went to work for another mentor, the legendary Henk Schiffmacher, a.k.a. Hanky Panky,  in Amsterdam, eventually saving up enough money to open his own shop in Oakland, California in 1998 (Temple Tattoo) with the sole purpose of “serving the tattooing needs of the greater East Bay.” Two years later he opened a second location, Tattoo 13, in North Oakland and the rest is history. Today Corbin is mostly known for doing perfectly executed black and gray religious tattoos of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, sacred hearts, and crosses with a precision and lasting beauty uniquely his own.