When The King of Staten Island Needed Real Tattoo Artists, They Called Ink Different
How did Ink Different end up consulting on a major motion picture?
If you love tattoo culture and you have not seen Judd Apatow’s The King of Staten Island, add it to your list. The film stars Pete Davidson as an aspiring Tattoo Artist stuck in the early scratcher phase of his career, alongside Marisa Tomei, Bill Burr, and Steve Buscemi. Like any Apatow film, it blends humanity and humor from start to finish.
Because Pete’s character is an aspiring Tattoo Artist, Ink Different was fortunate to get a call one day from Judd’s office asking for help. The timing felt serendipitous: I had just told my cousin I needed to reach Judd Apatow, and about ten minutes later one of our shops called to say his office had reached out to us first.
At a glance: our work on the film
What did our Tattoo Artists actually do for the movie?
After a few calls back and forth, our Tattoo Artists and Tattoo Apprentices set to work sketching deliberately clumsy scratcher tattoos: art made to look like it came from someone (Pete Davidson’s character) who never had a real tattoo apprenticeship and was fumbling through teaching himself to tattoo.
Here is how a request like that comes together:
Understand the character
the tattoos had to read as amateur work, not polished professional pieces.
Unlearn the training
our team briefly set aside years of technique to sketch believably bad flash.
Deliver the designs
we handed off custom pieces the production could use on screen.
Our team found it genuinely tricky to unlearn their craft on purpose, and they had a lot of fun doing it. For more behind-the-scenes trivia, watch Screen Rant’s video, “25 Things You Missed In The King Of Staten Island.”
Note: If you are a filmmaker who needs tattoo experts to create amazing (or hilariously bad) tattoos for a production, we are happy to help.
What is the real lesson in Pete’s character?
The movie plays the bad tattoos for laughs, and on screen they are funny. In real life, they are not. Teaching yourself on friends means years of terrible work and skin you cannot take back.
The alternative is simple: learn the craft properly, in a licensed studio, under a Mentor who has done the work. That is what a real tattoo apprenticeship is for. Do not be like Pete’s character. Learn it right, then go watch the movie.
Learn to tattoo with Ink Different
Tattooing is a hands-on, AI-proof creative career: a Professional Tattoo Artist can earn over $106,000 a year according to ZipRecruiter. You cannot build that from YouTube videos and guesswork. A proper apprenticeship in a licensed studio, guided by a working Mentor, is how you actually become job-ready and grow into the craft.
The Traditional Apprenticeship
The Traditional Tattoo Apprenticeship runs 18 to 24 months across four phases and starts remote, so you can begin from wherever you are. It welcomes beginners, career-changers, and anyone serious about doing this the right way, with licensing support built in as you progress. Ink Different now has 50+ locations across the United States.
Think of it as the college alternative for people who want to make art for a living. When you are ready, connect with a Mentor near one of our 50+ locations and take the first real step. Seats are limited, so reach out when the time feels right.
