Meet Sam Robichaud of West hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sam Robichaud.

Hi Sam, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’ve been creative and artistic since I was a kid. Both of my parents are talented artists and went to art school but never followed the arts as a career path. My parents have newspaper clippings of me as a kid on career day at school. My career choice was a cartoon artist. When I was in school I never took notes on the subjects that were being held in class, I instead drew pictures and doodled all over my notebooks. When it was time to apply for colleges after high school I knew I wanted to leave my small town and go to an art school. I chose the art institute of Fort Lauderdale in south Florida. It was the only school I applied to. I got accepted and started college around 2007-2008. The art institute was great at first. I met new friends and other like minded artistic types. I learned new skills like graphic design and digital illustration which would come to help my future career even to this day. I graduated in 2010 and won an award for best portfolio in the illustration department. I was even offered a job at a t shirt company on graduation day. I accepted the job offer thinking that I would launch my art career right out of college and make tons of money. I was dead wrong. That job sucked, the owners treated the employees like shit, they used outdated design software and the pay was unsatisfactory. I worked there for a month before putting in my two week notice. They fired me the next day.
I took a few weeks off after that until I stumbled upon an art gallery in Hollywood Florida not to be mistaken with Hollywood California. This company had a website that offered customized digital portraits in different art styles like Andy Warhol for instance. This was right up my alley and I applied and got the job within a few days. I thrived at this job. If I had to guess, I probably created over 1000 portraits for people all over the world including some renounce celebrities in the five years that I worked there. As most things go, the company grew and went through some drastic changes over the years and I became less connected to the job I was doing daily so I decided it was time to move on. I applied for countless jobs in Los Angeles until I finally got a hit. A small tech company in west LA got back to me about an illustration job that I was thrilled to accept. I would’ve done anything to leave south Florida at this point. I also have a brother that has lived in Los Angeles for years so I had a good reason to relocate.
I moved to Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve of 2015-2016. A great way to start off a year. The new company made augmented reality for phone apps and phone games,mainly for advertising and entertainment purposes. They had high profile clients like Disney, Warner Brothers, Sony, Marvel, Star Wars, etc. my main role at the company was to create storyboards and concept art for sales pitches and I would sometimes create graphics for phone apps. All of the skills of digital illustration I learned over the years came in handy and I quickly worked my way up the company to senior concept designer. Although I loved this job, I had my sights set on something bigger. My dream was to work as an illustrator/concept designer or art director for a major video game or movie company. (Hence one of the reasons I wanted to live in Los Angeles). As many other creatives know, getting a job at a major company like that is no easy task. I applied everywhere for years without any luck. My confidence dwindled and the thought of being stuck at a dead end company was becoming a reality.
I think it was between 2019 and 2022 when I was first introduced to mid journey AI from a friend who worked at a similar tech company. He said this app can create art in a matter of seconds and I didn’t believe it until I saw it. I immediately thought that something like this could take my job from me one day and I was right. A few months later I was told that I needed to learn how to use mid journey at work to create images for sales proposals. A few weeks after that in September 2023 I was laid off just a few days after my birthday. AI can create high resolution, detailed images in any style in a matter of seconds when it takes me an entire day or two. I didn’t stand a chance but I did have a trick up my sleeve.
I’ve been getting tattoos since I turned 18. I’ve always loved them and I’ve always loved the way they look on myself and other people. I met a friend in Los Angeles who had a very interesting and very well done tattoo on her arm and I asked who the artist was. She gave me his info and I eventually made an appointment to get a tattoo with him. He worked in a private studio which I had never heard of in my life. It was a medium sized room with a kitchen and bathroom (almost like a studio apartment but more like an office) it had a mini fridge, a huge tv, cool art hung all over the walls, all the proper tattoo equipment essentials and he worked there all by himself. This was the coolest tattoo experience I ever had and we immediately connected. We quickly became friends and I was going back for more and more tattoos (which I was designing myself) I had always designed my own tattoos, as an artist, why would I not?
A few weeks before I got laid off from the tech company (something I was anticipating due to the rapid growth of AI) I asked my friend if I could hang out at his studio on the weekends and watch him tattoo. I thought this was something I could possibly get the hand of given my illustration and artistic background. He said yes and this was the very start of my tattoo career. We agreed to the terms of an apprenticeship where I would come to the studio whenever I had the time and I would watch him tattoo and design tattoos etc. I would also help him clean and learn sanitary practices that come along with tattooing. After a few months of practicing on an assortment of fruits and fake rubber skins I got my tattoo license and It was time for human trials. Luckily I had a few very brave friends that were willing to let me permanently mark them for free of course. Despite practicing my first design on a honeydew melon four or five times, nothing would prepare me for the feel of real skin. A small very simple design of a rising sun with a face inside was his choice. He wanted his tattoo just above his knee which unbeknownst to me is one of the more difficult spots to tattoo. My nerves were 100% calm right until the point where I had the machine in my hand and I was about to touch his skin. This was nothing like a honeydew melon. Skin does not react the same way as a fruit. Skin can be soft and squishy on some parts of the body and rough and taut on others. Skin slices open and heals unlike a fruit. Tattooing real skin was the most humbling artistic experience of my life. The combination of my nervous hand shaking all while holding a vibrating tattoo machine made for very shaky lines on my first tattoo. I immediately thought, “I can’t do this” it was too difficult and I finally met my match in the art world. It took me an hour to do a small two inch tattoo. When I was done I looked up at my mentor in total disappointment and to my surprise he said, “that’s pretty fucking good for a first timer”. I didn’t believe him being my highly self critical self but I already had the taste in my mouth and I don’t give up on things easily.
Two and a half years and about 200 tattoos later I’m still tattooing (I know that’s a very short amount of time in the tattoo world) but I’m trying my best to make a career out of this in one of the busiest most competitive tattoo cities in the country. I work on melrose ave and if you’ve ever taken a stroll down this street you will see a tattoo shop on every corner. I’ve moved on from the private studio life into a public shop so I can take walk ins and learn as much as I can. I’ve been denied by tattoo shops that are owned by grumpy old school tattooers who don’t know how to use an iPad and I’ve been hired by high end tattoo shops with ridiculously high rental fees until I found a perfect spot on melrose ave in West Hollywood. Over these past two and a half years I’ve fallen madly in love with the world of tattooing and all the ups and downs that come with it. I’m fully dedicated to this humbling, difficult, rewarding, whacky craft and I don’t plan on stopping any time soon. Not even if AI tries to take over.
I have a lot more to say about tattooing which we can go over in an actual interview if necessary.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Hardest thing I’ve ever done. Apprenticeships, learning, sanitation, getting my own clients etc.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a career illustrator and graphic designer of over 12 years and now I tattoo full time. I have a unique style that I like to set aside from anything else that can be seen in most tattoo shops.

How do you define success?
Success if living a fulfilling life with the resources you have all while doing something you love. If you don’t love what you do then how can you call that a living?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.samueljrobichaud.com
• Instagram: wolfhound.tattoo

Image Credits
All art was done by me