The plight of the independent artist is a difficult one. Anyone with a pencil and a crayon considers themselves to be an artist these days, and now with Etsy if they sell a piece they are a professional artist to boot. The reality is that most aren’t really that good and should have their crayons taken away until they take a few art classes. Then you have the flip side of that coin; a really talented artist that sells their work for accessible pricing as they try to get their name out there and break into the big time (which is what all artists would like to achieve, regardless of how many tell you they don’t want to “go mainstream”). One such uber-talented artist is a fellow by the name of Derek Nobbs. Derek works primarily in watercolor and gauche and paints old world images that even I, who doesn’t have a tattoo, am tempted to ink. I encourage you to check out his work and you just might lay down some cash for a piece or two now, before he blows up. I am probably doing myself a disservice, as I don’t own one yet and y’all are probably going to keep me from doing so as you buy them all up. Check out his work at dereknobbs.com. There is a link to his gallery rep on the main page of the website so you can buy up his work. If you can’t afford an original yet, there is a company in the UK (of course, because once again American Companies don’t sell the best duds…) called Sacred Stitches that is making great Tees of his work.