Evolving Art: Authentic Tattoo Journeys in Missoula

The Artist's Journey: When Breaking Your Mold is the Only Way Forward

Hey there, Mickey Schlick here from Montana Tattoo Company. I spend my days in a studio on Higgins Avenue, listening to music, talking about life, and helping people turn their stories into permanent art. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the creative process, not just in tattooing, but in all art forms. It’s impossible not to, living in a place like Missoula where the landscape itself demands evolution, the river constantly carving new paths through ancient rock.

I read an article recently that really stuck with me. It was about musicians claiming they’ve “broken their own mold” to create their “most authentic work yet.” You hear that phrase a lot, don’t you? In music, in film, in visual art. It got me thinking about the tattoos we create here. Every single piece is a claim of authenticity, a moment of personal evolution made visible. But how do you tell the real, raw evolution from just… well, hype? How do you measure a genuine artistic leap?

This isn't just an academic question for me. It's the core of what we do. A client comes in wanting to cover an old tattoo, a piece from a different chapter. They’re literally asking us to help them evolve their skin’s story. Another client wants their first piece, a bold declaration of who they are becoming. In both cases, we’re navigating that delicate, powerful space between who they were, who they are, and who they want to be. It’s about as authentic as it gets.

So, let's talk about it. Let's pull apart this idea of artistic evolution, using the music industry as a mirror, and see what reflections we find for our own creative lives and the marks we choose to wear.

The Blueprint of Authentic Change: It's More Than a New Sound

When an artist says they’ve evolved, what are they really saying? In the article I read, industry thinker Rob Abelow pointed something out that resonated deeply. He said that at a certain point, an artist wants to be the most sampled, the most covered, because that’s how their legacy lives on. Their work becomes a foundation for others. That’s a powerful metric right there. Authentic evolution isn’t a dead end, it’s a new crossroads. It creates a vocabulary that other artists want to use.

Think about it in tattoo terms. There are styles, like American Traditional or Japanese Irezumi, that are foundational. They’ve been sampled and covered for generations. But the artists who truly evolved those styles, like Sailor Jerry or Horiyoshi III, did so from the inside out. They didn’t just add a new color, they understood the soul of the form and expanded its language. Their evolution was intentional, not reactive.

This is the first real test: intentionality versus reaction. The musician Adekunle Gold put it perfectly: “If you live your life for validation, it will be hard to change and when you don’t change, you will forever live in a decorated box where people put you.” Oof. That hits home. How many of us, artists or not, feel the pressure of that decorated box? The expectations of fans, of followers, of even our own past selves.

In my studio, I see this when a client brings in a Pinterest board full of other people’s tattoos. It’s a starting point, sure. But the magic, the real evolution, happens when we start talking about *why* those images speak to them. We move from replication to creation. The authentic piece emerges from their internal necessity, not from external pressure to fit a trend. That’s when we break the mold.

The Resonance Test: Does It Echo Beyond the Moment?

Here’s a beautiful example from the article that illustrates timeless authenticity. Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams.” A song released in 1977, about the specific, messy heartbreak within that band. Then, in 2020, it tops the charts again because of a viral TikTok video of a man skateboarding, drinking cranberry juice. That’s a 43-year gap.

The article pointed out that the subsequent 16.1 million stream increase wasn’t just nostalgia. It was a recognition of a timeless emotional truth. The specific context faded away, but the raw, vulnerable feeling in that song? It transcended. It resonated with a kid on a skateboard in 2020 because the emotion was authentic, not the situation.

This is the ultimate subjective criterion for any art, tattoos included. Does the emotional truth of the piece transcend its literal meaning? I’ve tattooed memorial pieces for lost loved ones. The specific person is known only to the wearer. But the feeling of love, of grief, of remembrance, that the imagery conveys, that can resonate with anyone who sees it. It becomes a universal symbol for a personal truth. That’s authentic creation.

A study cited in the article found that people connect with legacy art (music, in this case) primarily because of “the overall quality and talent… as well as nostalgic feelings for a connection to the past.” When I do a cover-up, we’re not erasing the past. We’re integrating it. The new design acknowledges the old, covers it, but the story, the journey, is still part of the skin’s landscape. That’s quality. That’s connection. The new work has to be so good, so true, that it honors where it came from while firmly establishing where it’s going.

The Courage to Let Some People Go

This might be the hardest part of authentic evolution, and the article didn’t shy away from it. To grow, an artist must be willing to risk alienating their core audience. The musician Akon had a brutally honest take, saying audiences can be fickle, that you have to reinvent yourself to stay relevant. It’s a survival instinct.

The article gave the example of Eminem. As he got sober and his music reflected a cleaner, more mature perspective, some fans complained, saying he was better when he was at “rock bottom.” Think about that for a second. The backlash to his personal growth *became proof* of his authentic evolution. He was no longer meeting their expectation of the self-destructive artist. He had changed. And that change was real because it cost him something.

In the tattoo world, I see this with artists, including myself. Early in your career, you might take any project that walks in the door. You build a fanbase for a certain style. But as you grow, your interests narrow and deepen. You want to explore black and grey realism, or delicate botanical illustrations, or bold geometric patterns. The clients who only wanted your old flash designs might drift away. And that’s okay. It has to be.

It’s a paradox. The superfans who supported you early can become the very people who box you in. The article called this “the superfan dilemma.” Their intense love creates intense expectations. But as another source in the article stated plainly, “Artists are not here to meet our expectations.” Their job is to follow their creative truth. Our job, as appreciators, is to decide if we want to follow them there.

When a client sits in my chair and wants something radically different from their existing work, they’re facing this same courage. They’re risking the “audience” of their own past self, and maybe the opinions of friends who loved their old style. My job is to support that brave evolution, to make sure the new work is so impeccably done, so true to who they are now, that any doubt fades away under the needle’s hum.

The New Conversation: Artists, Fans, and the Digital Dance

The relationship between artist and audience isn’t what it used to be. The article highlighted how the digital age has completely rewritten the rules, creating both new traps and incredible opportunities for authentic connection.

From Monologue to Collaboration

One of the most fascinating examples was about the musician Grimes. Facing the rise of AI voice models, a technology that could easily be seen as a threat to an artist’s unique sound, she flipped the script. She invited her fans to use an AI model of her voice to create their own songs, offering a 50/50 royalty split. Genius.

She transformed a potential threat into a collaborative opportunity. She gave up some control, but in doing so, she deepened the engagement with her audience and expanded the ecosystem of her art. Her voice became a platform, not just a product. That’s evolution in the digital age, understanding that your work can be a starting point for a community’s creativity.

At Montana Tattoo Company, we see this shift too. It’s not just about us designing in a vacuum and presenting a finished sketch. The consultation is everything. It’s a collaboration. A client brings their story, their ideas, their fears. We bring our technical skill, our aesthetic knowledge, our understanding of how ink lives in skin over time. The final design is a co-creation. The client’s skin is the platform, and together, we build the art upon it. That collaborative authenticity is what makes a tattoo truly powerful.

The Legacy Lens: Building Bridges to the Future

How does an artist, or an art form, stay relevant? The article looked at how legacy is maintained. It’s not about embalming the past in amber. It’s about drawing a line from the foundational work to what’s happening right now.

The article mentioned the Les Paul Foundation drawing parallels between Les Paul and Mary Ford’s innovative recording sessions in hotel rooms and the contemporary bedroom productions of Billie Eilish and Finneas. That connection isn’t forced, it’s real. It shows that the spirit of innovation, of intimate collaboration, is the throughline. The technology changes, but the creative impulse connects them across decades.

Traditional tattooing is in a constant dialogue with its own legacy. The bold lines and limited palette of American Traditional aren’t just rules, they’re a language born from practicality and resilience. When a modern artist works in that style, they’re speaking that language. But the best ones, the ones who are evolving authentically, are adding new words, new phrases. They’re respecting the grammar while telling a new story. They’re connecting the legacy to the present moment, making it live and breathe for a new generation.

That’s the long view of authenticity. It’s not about the opening weekend sales or the initial Instagram likes. It’s about creating work that becomes part of the cultural soil, that future artists will draw nutrients from. As Rob Abelow noted, when your work is so powerful it gets “repetitively copied… that brings you back into the culture and brings importance back to who you were as an artist.”

The Unavoidable Truth: Evolve or Stagnate

The article’s conclusion on this point was blunt and unavoidable: “Artists must evolve or die.” It’s a biological imperative applied to creativity. Look at the careers that last: Taylor Swift’s genre migrations, Beyoncé’s visual and sonic reinventions, even the chaotic stylistic transformations of a Kanye West. Longevity is a product of motion, even if that motion sometimes loses people along the way.

The critical distinction, the article argued, is whether the evolution serves the artist’s own authentic creative journey or if it’s just a frantic chase after the next trend. One has a center. The other is just centrifugal force, spinning out until nothing coherent remains.

In tattooing, we see both. We see artists who chase every fleeting Instagram trend, their portfolios becoming a confusing mosaic of disconnected styles. And we see artists who dive deeper and deeper into their chosen path, their work getting more refined, more confident, more *theirs* with every passing year. The latter builds a legacy. The former builds a feed.

For the person getting tattooed, this is your imperative, too. Your skin is your lifelong gallery. The pieces you choose should reflect your own evolution. They should tell the story of a person in motion, learning, growing, shedding old skins and integrating new truths. A cohesive sleeve isn’t about everything matching perfectly, it’s about the chapters flowing together to tell the whole story of you.

Bringing It Home to the Studio

Sitting here in Missoula, with the Clark Fork River rolling by outside, this all feels very immediate. The river doesn’t stop. It carves new banks every spring. The mountains change with the light and the season. Stagnation isn’t natural here. It’s a place that demands authenticity, that can spot a facade from a mile away.

That’s the environment we try to cultivate at Montana Tattoo Company. It’s not a factory for trendy flash. It’s a collective of independent artists, each running their own business, each on their own evolutionary path. My role is to facilitate that, to handle the studio logistics so they can focus on their craft. I’ve automated the systems, the booking, the aftercare instructions, so that the human energy is spent where it matters most, in the creative collaboration between artist and client.

When you’re considering a tattoo, you’re not just picking an image. You’re choosing a collaborator for a moment of your evolution. You’re looking for an artist whose own journey, whose authenticity and skill, resonates with your vision.

So, how do you measure real artistic evolution, in music, in tattooing, in life? You look for the marks of a true journey.

• Look for Intentionality, Not Noise: Is the change a deep, purposeful exploration, or just a reaction to what’s popular?
• Feel for Emotional Resonance: Does the work hit you in the gut with a truth that feels timeless, not just timely?
• Respect the Courage: Has the creator risked something, comfort or approval, to make this change?
• See if it Invites Conversation: Does the work feel like a monologue or the start of a dialogue? Does it inspire others?
• Watch the Integration: Does the new work acknowledge where it came from, building on a foundation rather than pretending the past doesn’t exist?

Authenticity isn’t a product you buy. It’s a process you live. It’s the river, not the rock. And the art that lasts, the tattoos that stay meaningful for a lifetime, are the ones that have the courage to flow.

This post topic was inspired by the Inked Magazine Blog. At Montana Tattoo Company we host independent tattoo artists who run their own businesses and create work with intention. Call 406-626-8688 or visit any of our artist pages to start the consultation process. Every project starts with a conversation and a vision. Choose the artist whose style fits your idea and reach out directly. Connect with Mickey Schlick, James Strickland, Noelin Wheeler, Nicole Miller, and boldbooking.io" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BoldBooking. Book a consultation, explore portfolios, and bring your idea to life. I have completely automated the studio side. Aftercare, directions, booking links 24 hours a day with completely consistent customer service. At any interaction you are welcome to ask to talk to Mickey directly and you will either be connected to me or I will get back to you asap.