Tattooing Follows the Art — Drawing, Flow & Composition with Ron Smith

This week’s episode is out in video format, and I’m joined by Ron Smith — tattooer from Vancouver, Canada, known online as @crybabyron.

We start with the reality of the last couple years: tattooing feels oversaturated, especially in big cities like Berlin, London, Paris, LA, and Vancouver. But Ron makes a point that matters: it’s not oversaturated with good tattooers — because quality still stands out when the fundamentals are there.

From there we go deep into the stuff that actually makes a tattoo work long-term: drawing, composition, and flow with the body. Ron’s been tattooing for 15+ years, specializes in large-scale Japanese work, and recently started posting drawing breakdowns that exploded online — not “how to tattoo” tutorials, but the foundation behind strong tattooing.

We also talk about gatekeeping vs responsibility, client experiences, fast track learning and why simplicity is so hard.

This episode explains why the best tattoos always come back to the same truth: Tattooing follows the art.

Ron Smith on the socials:IG: @crybabyronSkool: Crybaby Ron Drawing Studio

Under the Skin — The Tattoo PodcastInstagram / Youtube: @under_the_skin_podcast