This concept of keeping tattooing as an art form and maintaining close ties is the reason why Phantom 8 has been operating in the Englewood community for nearly a decade.

"We're definitely one of the older shops in South Denver," J'Tot said.

People who go to Phantom 8 are more or less customers for life, according to J'Tot. "I have lots of returning customers since I started here and some from Greeley (where he began professionally tattooing) as well," he said.

The night of April 6, J'Tot was working on Brian Himes, 31, of Lakewood, who has been going to Phantom 8 for the past two years. Himes said he heard about Phantom 8 through friends.

"I know five or six people who come here to see Chris alone," he added.

Himes is getting a full sleeve tattoo on his right arm, and he has already had four sessions totaling about 10 hours getting the design completed. The sleeve is a colorful biomechanical design that Himes and J'Tot collaborated on together.

"We have a reputation for doing custom work," J'Tot said. "We prefer when someone brings in an idea and then we have artistic run of it."

J'Tot has been a professional tattoo artist for 14 years, getting his start as an apprentice at Skibo's Tattooing in Greeley.

"I always knew I wanted a career in art," J'Tot said. "I've been doing it (tattooing) as a hobby and I got lucky when this apprenticeship opened up."

Fellow artist and longtime friend, Nik Pew, also worked as an apprentice at Skibo's and joined J'Tot and Krisha at Phantom 8. April 6 he was tattooing Sara McMurry, 30, of Thornton, who has been a customer there since the shop opened back in 1998.

"I have five tattoos, all done by Nik," she said. That night, he was working on a koi fish design on her shoulder.

When asked if she'll keep getting tattoos, McMurry said "absolutely."

"I'll keep getting more," said Himes. "The cliché is they're addictive. They multiply."

In addition to tattoos, Phantom 8 offers body piercing. Currently, Krisha is the sole piercer for the shop, but she is "looking for another body piercer." Krisha, who has about 16 piercings and eight tattoos, also got her start as an apprentice at Skibo's 11 years ago.

"I have a lot of respect for this industry," she said. "The art form and body modification, it's all something that's important to me."

At the shop, she said the most popular piercings that customers have done lately are nostrils.

"They come in waves," she said about piercing fads. "I think they (piercings) are becoming more accepted. People tend to get piercings because they think, 'I can take it out.' For me, these piercings will stay with me. I feel them; they're a part of me."

As for the popularity of tattoos, J'Tot said it is "becoming more mainstream."

"As good tattooing becomes more available, people get more excited," he said.

J'Tot said the more popular designs that he does at Phantom 8 are tribal and black work, or tattoos done only in black ink. He added that he sees a good number of Asian themes, and noted that, "in Japan, they're doing western styles. It's been a big cultural swap in the past 15 years. They're now doing sailor tattoos or are full body suit-oriented."

As J'Tot worked on Himes' sleeve, he spent about an hour drawing the design on his arm before he did any actual tattooing.

"About 90 percent of what we do is freehand," he said. "We do more freehand work rather than transfers. Transfers are good for lettering and portraits."

A few interesting portrait designs J'Tot mentioned included people's pets and serial killers. Another bizarre tattoo J'Tot recalled was of a rooster making love to a chicken with "True Romance" lettered with it. J'Tot's apprentice, Mike Bennett, once did a tattoo of a robber wearing a mask of President Bush and holding a gun.

J'Tot said Phantom 8 doesn't really have any restrictions or stipulations with regards to tattoo designs.

"We're not moral advisers," J'Tot said. "We just make sure it looks good. We won't do it if it's bad artwork."

"Anything that looks like a tattoo is up my alley," said Nik. He said he enjoys doing designs ranging from hot rods to cartoons, spider webs to Asian art and early Americana to pinups.

A big challenge for J'Tot is finding artists to work at Phantom 8. Luckily, he pulled Nik from his previous work in Greeley and another artist at the shop, Aaron Burns, was someone whom he also pulled from that area.

"I hire people who are experienced and I know about their reputation already," J'Tot said. "And we have to get along because it's a family atmosphere here. It's hard to move forward without more people."

"But a lot of people gravitate toward our shop," added Nik. "They want to be a part of it."

To keep their image fresh and interactive with the community, Phantom 8 hosts an annual Halloween party with music by Leadbeater, a band that J'Tot, Nik and another artist, J.D. are members.

Additionally, J'Tot said Phantom 8 will be hosting a tattoo convention at the Adams Mark Hotel in Sept. 2008. He said national and local tattoo artists will be participating in the three-day event, where attendees can view booths and displays of artist portfolios and even set up an appointment to get a tattoo.

If you are thinking of getting a tattoo at Phantom 8, sign up for an appointment early. J'Tot said he is booked until October. However, he said artists would work on walk-in customers if they have time between appointments.

For more information about Phantom 8, call 303-762-0660 or visit www.phantom8.com.