Steve Labofish is a self-taught artist of many talents hailing from Silver Spring MD. In his youth many artistic family members surrounded him. He enjoyed drawing, building, painting models, and customizing his bicycles. After finishing high school, he pursued a degree in criminal justice. While knee deep in his studies, term papers, and exams he found himself wanting something more. Steve soon discovered his love for the art of tattoos after getting a couple of his own which lead him to his true calling.
Steve bought his first tattoo machines and power unit in late 1994 from a friend that had recently ended his apprenticeship. Reading a few books and practicing on any friends that would let him he figured that an apprenticeship was the only way to get his foot in the door. Much to his dismay the tattoo community was very tight lipped and apprenticeships were hard to come by. Although Steve did find a small walk-in shop in silver spring to clean toilets, mop floors etc basically paying his dues. He worked a full time job to pay his bills while pushing full steam ahead to learn as much as he could. While working at this shop he became good friends with fellow tattooer Danielle Obrosler. Danielle began teaching Steve things about needle making, machine building, line work, and black and gray. Working close to Danielle and soaking up all that she would teach was the biggest help. Steve began professionally tattooing in 1996 at Fatty’s Custom Tattooz in Silver Spring MD. There he met many people that influenced him professionally as well as personally.
In 1999, Steve traveled to Winston Salem, NC where he worked at Inkwell Tattoo studio for the summer. There he worked side by side with some of the most up and coming young artists. While at Inkwell Steve continued to learn and share ideas with his fellow tattooers, and always going one step further to create something great. Upon his return to MD area, Steve landed a job at Dragon Moon Tattoo Studio. There he spent the next 5 years continuing to expand and honing his artistic abilities, always searching for more knowledge. It was in those 5 years that he began to explore painting on canvas using acrylic, oils, as well as airbrushing. Soon after creating his own airbrush and painting company called Cool Kustom. Where he can be found doing full custom paint jobs and old school pin striping on motorcycles, helmets, pretty much anything as well as being commissioned for original artwork.
Steve came back in the D.C. area returning to Fatty’s Custom Tattooz in 2004. He has spent the last 13 years working on composition, color theory, and specializing in small and large scale cover-ups. He has taken a special interest in Japanese style tattooing, and has quickly become known in and around the city for this. In mid June of 2009 Steve left Fattys Tattooz and moved into the Bethesda area to work with long time friend James Hughes, owner of Bethesda Tattoo. Settled in and hard at work Steve enjoys creating custom designs for his clients or anything that requires imagination and style, and loves to work with the customer to create an original piece of art.