At the ripe age of 16 with 30 bucks in his pocket, Scott Campbell got his first tattoo: a tribal lizard on his leg– “the cheesiest most clichéd Daytona Spring break tattoo you can get,” he admits. But we’ll forgive him for the adolescent lapse in judgment, since the artist who used to tattoo dirty punk rock friends out of his own apartment went on to start one of Brooklyn’s most coveted tattoo shops, Saved, where he’s inked some of Hollywood and the fashion industry’s biggest names, including Marc Jacobs, Vera Wang, Helena Christensen, Lily Cole, and the late Heath Ledger and his family. And for a kid who started out studying biochemistry in college and “couldn’t get laid to save [his] life,” Scott now serves as one of today’s most in-demand tattoo authorities, with a five-year wait list just to get a slot on his chair. While busy with his newly-opened Manhattan outpost, Scott’s also got his hands full pursuing another great love– fine art, debuting his solo show “Make it Rain” in Miami from April 11th - May 9th. To get the inside word on getting tatted and finding Jesus in a tortilla, we spoke with the ink-master Scott Campbell himself:

How do you decide what to get as a first tattoo?
People will say, “I’d never get tattooed because I can’t pick something I’ll like forever”—but you get to a point where you get everything you like instead of pinpointing it to one thing.

What’s the freshest ink on your own body?
My most recent tattoo was done by a friend of mine, Justin Theroux, an actor/writer. We were doing a motorcycle trip across Europe, hanging out in France for a while, and met this guy who had these amazing stories about how his grandfather and great grandfather fought with the French resistance. We just pulled over on the side of the road and commandeered the local tattoo shop, and I did a French resistance cross on him and he did one on me. Like a souvenir from the trip. It’s more the experience and the person who’s giving it to me– the sentiment behind it– more than the actual aesthetic.

Do you feel like there are types of tattoos that are dated and others that are timeless?
One of my first tattoos was a purple chrome scarab on my arm. You couldn’t come up with something that was more 1992. You look at it and think ‘ninth grade.’ But I kind of like that. It doesn’t always have to be new and crispy. One of the amazing things about it is that it has such history. You can look at people and see their chronology.

Just like in any other artistic genres like fashion and painting, do you see tattoo trends evolve out of different time periods?
I’ve traveled a lot, and I’ve seen trends come and go because of time, but also because of location. People in Europe generally have a different taste than people in Asia or the US, but the motivation behind getting tattooed is the same everywhere. People will get their boyfriend or girlfriend’s name tattooed on them, but each place has it’s own preference of how it’s executed. Europeans will get a lot of black and grey– soft and really flowing. In Japan, they prefer designs that are very hard, crisp, and colorful.

Do you ever get invested in someone else’s tattoo while you were working on it?
Tattooing can be pretty exhausting emotionally. You have your hands on someone and there is an intense exchange. After you tattoo someone a few times, you’re friends. You can’t help but sympathize or connect with them. I connect emotionally with a lot of my clients, which can be good and bad. There are people I met that I’ll love until the day I die, whereas there are other people that I poured my heart into and realize after that they’re dicks.

The fashion world seems to have adopted you as their tattoo artist of choice. What are some of the memorable pieces you’ve done for fashion figures?
I am embraced by the fashion world because art and fashion have kind of blurred. Marc Jacobs is probably the biggest name I tattoo regularly, and he’s been a huge inspiration. I’ve learned a lot about art through him. Dash Snow is one of the first people I met when I moved to New York, and in getting set up here, he opened my eyes into how big New York can be. I’ve tattooed half that kid’s body. I did a huge “Beast of Burden” written across his shoulder and an eagle carrying off a little girl on his forearm. I’ve done Olivier Zahm, of Purple Magazine, and all the European guys. I did a series with a bunch of famous characters wearing 3-D glasses. Marc Jacobs got Elizabeth Taylor, and Jake Sumner got Frankenstein.

Do you have any favorite designers?
Margiela’s pretty awesome. He made my favorite boots in the world. I love Marc’s stuff. And if I do actually break out of my studio and go shopping, I’ll go to Opening Ceremony.

What are some of the other projects you’ve been working on?
I’ve been focusing on fine arts stuff. It’s one of those things you always daydream about– being able to make a living making art– so I’ve been pouring all my energy into that right now. I’ve done a bunch of different cut-out dollar bill sculptures and large-scale watercolor paintings. All the paintings have a certain tattoo-sensibility, not in that they look like tattoos, but have a similar narrative quality. They definitely draw from tattoo culture, but in no means are tattoos drawn onto paper. I’ve been doing this project where I cook pictures into tortillas—super realistic portraits of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. It’s like the ‘miracle phenomenon’—with someone finding the face of Mary in a grilled cheese sandwich. I’m also featuring photographs of the 3D glasses series of the tattoos that I did.

And these pieces all come together under the title for your show “Make it Rain.” What’s the meaning behind that?
I’ve always liked the term “rainmaker” even before Lil’ Wayne got a hold of it. It’s one of those things that my grandfather and father would use. I like it as a term of someone who makes things happen, who doesn’t just sit around– someone who has ambition and a sense of purpose. There’s that merit to the phrase, and there is a nod to pop culture.

For more info on Scott and his work, visit www.savedtattoo.com

-Leann Peterson