Meet Trevion Campbell | Tattoo Artist, Painter, Graphic Design, Creative Guide

We had the good fortune of connecting with Trevion Campbell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Trevion, can you share the most important lesson you’ve learned over the course of your career?
The most important lesson that my business has taught me was that you have to get up and get stuff done. If you don’t build it, they will not come.

First impression is everything. If I don’t put in even 1% of the work to show up how I want to authentically. Then how can I expect anyone to see me at a high level in any aspect not just business.

In the beginning, I had to learn that I can’t just sit around and wait for my clients to find me. I would have week stretches where I wouldn’t do any tattoos and that kind of got to me. I would think that people just didn’t like my tattoos or didn’t want to work with me and that wasn’t the case at all. I had a small pool of clients at the time. So, I had to learn to get up and get out and go meet those clients where they were. Not just any clients but, my dream clients. If I was going to meet my dream client where they were then I had to show up as a tattoo artist they’ve always been looking for. And, when I meet them I need them to feel my energy come across and they feel motivated to possibly working with me in some kind of way. Or just supporting what I’m doing at the end of the day.

I need to show up confidently. I need to show a calculated and ready to go so they know that I mean business. And I need to make sure I handle all of the small things beforehand so that I can show up in my most true self everyday. Self-awareness might be the biggest lesson that I’ve learned from my business.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Art for me is very broad. Art is the process of making something, anything beautiful.

My art journey started when I was young. I use to get in “trouble” a lot a kid. I put trouble in parentheses because trouble as a child could’ve just been what your parents disliked or didn’t want to deal with at the time. My father figure was in the Army and has been deployed I think five times in my life that I can remember. I’d get in trouble at school so much that eventually, I guess my mom got tired of punishing me. After a while she would just drop me off at my grandparents house for my grandfather to step in and help because I was too much to handle. After he would whoop me I’d have to sit at the dining table and write over and over “ I will not…” whatever I did. Hundreds of times to where I fell in love with the sound of pencil going across paper. Once I was finished writing like Bart Simpson I’d get to the empty pages and still wanting to hear the pencil so I’d make random squiggly lines write random words. Doing that I realized I can create what I see in my head on paper. To the point where I would look forward to drawing once I finished writing, and the graham crackers and peanut butter my grandpa would make for me. I think he felt bad for me after a while and make me a snack after sitting there for what felt like hours. Little did he know I loved that silence because I’d get to practice drawing, my new found love at that age of maybe seven or eight. Unfortunately that love was on the back of getting in trouble but, I had recognized the pattern early.

That turned into me discovering things like graffiti and getting into cars and how they were put together. I started drawing in class, and that actually kind of help me get in less trouble. I remember in fourth grade I would draw whole cars at an angle with shading and everything. That was probably the first time I can remember experiencing my classmates liking what I didn’t know at the time was called art. Even with loving art that age I had learned about Picasso and how most artists didn’t make money or a living until they died. I also played football, and that love of sports slowly started to outgrow the love of art at the time. So I would draw in my free time, but I didn’t really take it seriously all the way up until playing football in college. Towards the end of my second year in college, I was attempting to be a full-time student, have a part-time job, be a collegiate athlete, and learn how to tattoo. That was a lot of things to have on my plate all at once, so I became ineligible for the upcoming football season. By this point, being a football player was how I gaged on how I was doing in life and making my parents proud so to have to call them and tell them I was not going to be playing football that next season was devastating to say the least and one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. I had to do it though because I knew they were going to send a letter to the address on file, which of course was my parents house. And, I couldn’t let my mom find out from someone else something with some much gravity about her own son. I had to make that call. Luckily in this moment, I had very loving parents and they were just concerned about me finishing school. Knowing that I still had to decide to do some thing, ultimately was tattooing and art is where I decided to put all of my time and effort into.

I was terrified to tattoo, realism and portraits, but that was the style of tattooing that I saw, and wanted to do. In the beginning Eli had told me that if I wanted to tattoo portraits that I had to be able to draw them and I took her very literally. Around this time Covid lockdowns were happening, so I had nothing but time to teach myself and learn everything from YouTube university on how to draw and tattoo realism/portraits. I call it the pandemic catalyst because that time elevated my drawing game, artistic ability and business mindset tenfold. Showing me that we have a lot more time in a day than we think. This started opening my mind up to a seemingly unlimited amount of opportunities for my creativity that I saw for myself. A year or so later I graduated from Colorado State University- Pueblo (CSU-Pueblo) with my bachelors degree in business administration in Spring of 2021.

After graduating were most people stopped learning I had a thirst for knowledge in handful of areas like business, art, self improvement and tattooing. What sets my art apart from others is my level of detail when manipulating 2-D and 3-D objects. Combining subjects marvel characters, anime, realism portraits, graffiti, fine art in a fun, abstract, unique way.

What I’m most proud of is All of the lives that my art has touched in some kind of way whether it be through tattooing painting, making clothes, making rugs and accessories, or just words of wisdom.

I would say the road to getting to where I am at professionally was definitely not easy. There were a lot of times and points where I thought of quitting and was second-guessing myself. The path of being professional artists is unimaginably curvy, has pot holes, sometimes gets very dark with no street lights nor a map. But, is lined with golden moments and has a numerous amount of gems to pick up if you can find them. Learning to manage my own business and be my own boss has definitely has it’s obstacles as well. A lot of obstacles that I didn’t think I would be encountering, but I am also glad I did because it shows me more of myself and made me go deeper within in myself, so I could start forming some type of understanding to either weather the storm or get off my ass and get stuff done making me the man that I vision myself . For me something that helped directly with some problems was I started to read more books. I wasn’t very much of a reader growing up but, after college, my frequency of reading spike dramatically.

Some of the lessons that I’ve learned are that there can’t be any paralysis through analysis. Don’t miss out on present opportunities thinking about possible future obstacles and opportunities. If it was easy everybody would do it. Sometimes you just gotta get the paint on a canvas and figure it out later. And lastly, if you don’t think you’re the best, how can you expect someone else to think that you’re the best? Or even good enough to spend their time and money with?

There’s not enough creators in the world. A lot of doers, a lot of observers, but not enough creators. A creator is someone who makes something out of nothing something like a wizard or a magician. A visionary. Someone that can turn a white canvas or a blank space into something beautiful. A rose in the concrete. A lot of us have that inner creator, and it’s drummed out of us somehow often as children through a laundry list of ways. Some being vile and even unspeakable means that should shouldn’t happen to anyone, but through that we can still prevail and make life beautiful. Make our time that we’re experiencing in life right now as beautiful as possible in whatever area we put our heart to. Everything is possible. No matter what you look like, sound like, smell like, you can do it. The only thing that matters over here is integrity, authenticity, our health, self improvement, self righteousness and standing on what you say. Be you, that’s the best version. That’s what I want the world to know about my brand and I.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m a little bit of a homebody so this is actually kind of hard for me because I’ve tjj hioight of this before. But, if my best friend Jarryn or Armani was visiting we probably get something to eat and I love pastas and seafood or a steakhouse. I’d take them to my one of my favorites Biaggi’s it’s an Italian restaurant Adriana and I like to go to. Maybe taste some different beers at Beast and Brews. My friends and I love Music so I’d do my best to find a concert we could go to and enjoy together. We are all ex athletes so working out together would be dope. Being here in Colorado Springs we may try the incline or a hike on one of them many trails here. I’m also a big fan of breakfast food even though I don’t always eat breakfast so, I like brunch at Snooze. One last thing I think it’d be super dope to go to a Smash Room and have fun breaking some things.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There’s so many I can thank for that being there at times when I was oblivious to the amount of love they gave me.

I’d like to start by thanking my girlfriend Adriana. She was there in the very beginning of me starting my creative career. As well as she taught me how to love and stop being so docile and nonchalant all the time. My best friends Jarryn and Armani for keeping me grounded. Elixannette, my tattoo artist for introducing me to tattooing. My Aunt Toi and my Uncle Kenny. My Grandparents. All of my football teammates in college that were brave enough to let me tattoo them in the beginning. All the coaches I’ve ever had they taught me something in one way or another. My good friends I’ve come to know over the years, they really don’t know how much they’ve helped me at times. A laundry list of tattooers and creatives who work I admire online and in person. Names like TattooAngelo, The art of Reese, Shine at Peaks and Valley, Poch, Inkbypnut and the 1up crew, Steve Weibe, Ghinkos, Pony Lawson, Sluv.co, and Zone of Separation. Lastly I’d like to thank my parents.

Website: Inkbytre.com

Instagram: @Inkbytre

Linkedin: Trevion Campbell

Twitter: TretheArtiiist

Facebook: Inkbytre

Youtube: @inkbytre

Other: Tiktok: @inkbytre

Image Credits
Cj Lane Steven O’Malley