Ryan Scarpino ( aka Newz ) scratched his first tattoo on his leg when he was
12 years old using a homemade tattoo machine made from a walkman motor . Little did he know he was going to become a full time tattooer !
ARTISTS
RYAN
NEWZ
SCARPINO
by JORDAN PRINGLE
Ryan Scarpino ( aka Newz ) scratched his first tattoo on his leg when he was
12 years old using a homemade tattoo machine made from a walkman motor . Little did he know he was going to become a full time tattooer !
How did you get into it ? Is there anyone who helped mentor you ? I had always thought about getting into tattooing , so one day I just decided to order myself a tattoo kit from Ebay . I got the kit in the mail and immediately went home to tattoo myself . A few days later , I ran into a friend and told her about my new machine and how I wanted to learn to tattoo . She pointed me in the direction of Jeremy Papove at a shop called Young Guns Tattoo in Kelowna . I went in to show him some of my artwork and he asked me if I had any tattoo equipment . I showed him my Ebay purchase and it went straight into the garbage can ! His exact words were “ you are not using this cheap crap in my shop .” I had no clue what was good and what wasn ’ t , so we ordered better gear and he took me in as his apprentice .
When did you open your shop ? Around the end of my apprenticeship , Jeremy told me he was moving to Edmonton to open a new shop and asked me to take over Young Guns . I took over the studio space but it didn ’ t last long as I was too new to the industry and had no idea how to run a business . I closed the doors less than a year later and went on the road tattooing , doing guest spots in various shops throughout western Canada for about 2 years . After traveling , I was ready to be settled
into a shop and focus on building my business at home . I approached a shop in Kelowna called Shinobi Studios that was owned by an artist named Ryan Cardinal . Luckily , he had room for me and I began tattooing there right away . After a year , Ryan decided to move to Vancouver and pitched the idea of me taking over his shop . I felt more prepared to be a shop owner at this point , so I took over the space in 2012 and renamed it Dynamic Studios . It ’ s been 4 years now and I am very happy with my staff and the direction the shop is heading in .
How do you compare being a shop owner to just tattooing ? Being a shop owner is a whole different game
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