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Meet Parker Stewart of Zombie Heart in North Phoenix and North Scottsdale

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Parker Stewart.

Parker, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
When I was four years old, I had open heart surgery to fix a hole in my heart which was a birth defect I had. My mom used to tell me that while undergoing surgery, I stopped breathing for 25 minutes and then miraculously, I snapped back. She and I used to always say that I have a zombie’s heart or that I’m an actual zombie because of what happened while I was undergoing surgery.

Fast forward nine years, I was 13 and my favorite hobby was (and still is) drawing. Looking for a new style to draw, I remembered how much I admired Ed Hardy when I was growing up and I thought I would make “Ed Hardy Ads” which were tattoo style drawings that look like they came from Don Ed Hardy himself. After a while, my family stopped me and told me that I need to make my art my own and not copy Ed Hardy’s style, so I changed “Ed Hardy Ads” to “Tattoo Designs”.

That year for my birthday, my mom decided to help me create my own Etsy shop and told me that I needed to come up with a clever name for my new “business”. After days of thinking, I landed on the name “Sinister Ink” and I was off to the races.

Fast forward again five more years, I had just graduated high school, and I decided to fully pursue “Sinister” but change the name from “Sinister Ink” to “Sinister Arts”. I was all in on Sinister and started to work to make it the best brand it can be for what I was creating and what I offered. All was well until one day when I had another owner virtually knock on my door. He told me that I needed to cease and desist using the name “Sinister” as that was a name he’d been using for a while now. Agreeing, I removed everything I had created with the Sinister name and decided to start over with a new name.

It took me a long time to develop my new name and brand idea. I had to think of something that sounded edgy (as tattoo brands do) and that wasn’t already used by anyone or any group. It was toward the end of December 2017 and I decided to use the name I forgot all about but was truly the most personal… Zombie Heart.

In January of 2018, I labeled myself as “Zombie Heart Art Studio” and began creating new and exciting artwork on Instagram and sold it to only family and friends with hopes of getting bigger and better within the tattoo community. Later that year, I had an epiphany. Zombie Heart needed a makeover and he needed it badly.

By the beginning of January 2019, I went bananas. I created a GoDaddy website, I revamped my logo, and I changed “Zombie Heart Art Studio” to “Zombie Heart”. Presently, my name “Zombie Heart” is trademarked through the state of Arizona, I have done over 14 original tattoo flash designs, three major collections, countless tattoo designs for clients, and so much more. Zombie Heart is my life. It’s what I love to do with my nickname attached to it, it can’t be better than this.

In the future, I aim to make Zombie Heart a successful and functioning tattoo shop with a vintage parlor feel similar to the ones from the 1940s when sailors and soldiers alike would sneak into shops, lie about their age, and get traditional tattoos because “it was the cool thing to do”.

Has it been a smooth road?
It’s been relatively smooth for the most part. I think the hardest part was definitely trying to discover and create a name that was really unique and meant something to me that wasn’t already being used by anyone else.

Please tell us about business.
On Zombie Heart, I create traditional tattoo flash themed artwork as well as offer free tattoo designing for clients to take to their artists and get tattooed. Our specialty is our traditional inspired tattoo style that is uniquely our own and unlike any other artist’s variation, as well as our attentiveness to the client and ensuring that we are designing exactly what they want without any exceptions.

I’m so proud to do what I love under my unique name and share my artwork with the world, I think what sets Zombie Heart and me apart from the others is the way we create our artwork as well as the way we handle our clientele. A lot of tattoo artists and creators are very stand-offish and act very macho for no reason and I think it’s honestly so stupid. On Zombie Heart our “Undead Army” is what gives us our business and what keeps us moving forward, without them Zombie Heart wouldn’t be even close to what it is today.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Phoenix is such an interesting place; it has grown so rapidly before my very eyes. I think what I really enjoy is the immense amount of tattoo shops in the valley and how different they all are from one another. The tattoo scene is definitely growing out here and Phoenix is definitely becoming more artsy which is amazing. I also really love the colorful and creative murals of Downtown Phoenix, plus the First Friday events. Those are definitely some of my favorite parts of the city.

There isn’t really anything I don’t like about Phoenix, maybe the heat (chuckles).

Pricing:

  • Zombie Heart “Tattoo Prints”- $4.50-$7.00
  • Zombie Heart “ONE N’ DONE Collection”- $13
  • Zombie Heart “Friday the 13th Flash Special 2019”- $13

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
Zombie Heart™️
zombie-heart.com 

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