Before Monster Garage and the whole Jesse James explosion, you would be hard-pressed to find any information on this underground celebrity, but he's a living legend in the tattoo community. Jack Rudy is a master of "Black and Gray", a term used to describe a style of tattooing, limited to different shades of black ink (Most believe this technique to have originated in the prisons of North America where black was the only color available to prisoners). For a good part of the last 30 years, Jack Rudy has pioneered and reinvented Black and Gray, and single-needle tattooing, insuring his status as one of the top tattoo artists in the world.
When I met Jack Rudy, he was kicking back in his booth at this year's tattoo convention in Miami, Florida. The Associated Press badge didn't impress him much, as I introduced myself and asked for an interview. He wasn't exactly anxious to talk to me. He mentioned he didn't really give interviews and I tried my best to convince him that I wasn't your average journalist, to which he responded, "That's what they all say."
After a short conversation (strictly off-record) I noticed Mrs. Rudy come into the booth with a few bags of burgers. I told him I'd come back when he was done with lunch. I left the convention center and went out to have my own lunch, no burgers though, strictly green liquids. After all, I had an important interview to conduct, maybe.
When I got back I wasn't interested in covering the tattoo convention anymore, I just wanted the interview. There were more people in the convention by now, and they all seemed to be around Jack's booth, but I waited for the crowd to die down a bit. I didn't want to start begging in front of everyone. After some ugly noise he finally agreed, so here it is, an extremely casual Q&A session with Jack Rudy.

CDG: How long have you been tattooing?

JR: 28 years.

CDG: How long have you been an artist?

JR: For as long as I could hold a pencil.

CDG: What do you think is the future of tattooing?

JR: Hard to say, It's really saturated, there's too many tattoo artists and too many shops. It was never supposed to be this popular, but it is.

CDG: Do you think tattooing has gone commercial?

JR: Absolutely.

CDG: Are you bitter about that?

JR: No, it is what it is, like a lot of things, it's evolved over the last 25 years and nobody could have predicted what would happen, but I'm still doing it and I still enjoy it. But it's completely changed, the whole face of tattooing has completely changed, including the faces.

CDG: How would you describe your style?

JR: What I'm known for is fine line, black and gray, realistic portraits, and even big, bold black and gray. That's more of what I'm known for.

CDG: Can you estimate how many hours out of the week you spend tattooing?

JR: No, it's always different I still tattoo a lot though, after 28 years I'm still tattooing full-time.

CDG: Do you think there's any future in black light or glow-in-the-dark tattoos?
JR: No.

CDG: Will you do those types of tattoos?

JR: No.

CDG: Are women attracted to men with tattoos?

JR: Yeah, women who like tattoos are, they don't necessarily need to have tattoos themselves to be attracted to guys who have tattoos, but more women than ever have them nowadays.

CDG: Are tattoos addictive?

JR: Some people would consider that to be true, I don't know if addictive is the right word, but some consider that to be true.

CDG: Would you tattoo a Looney Tunes character on someone if they paid you the right amount of money?

JR: "Sure, it would just be what I normally charge anyway, it wouldn't be any extra, I've done several Looney Tune characters over the years.

CDG: Do you charge extra money if somebody cries while you're tattooing them?

JR: (Jokingly) Yeah about triple, but I usually don't make them cry. What annoys a tattoo artist is when somebody is moving around, and of course if someone's crying then they're going to be moving , so yeah, about triple.

Want to get tattooed by a legend? Jack Rudy is still tattooing full-time at "Goodtime Charlie's Tattooland" located at 2641 W. Lincoln Ave. Anaheim, California 92801.
Make your appointment by calling 714-827-2071. Remember to bring some extra cash if you plan on crying.