I have been a fan of David Corden’s work for quite some time. Every single tattoo is so well executed, every detail is impeccable. If you’re unfamiliar with his work, David is a portrait artist specialising in realism. He currently lives and works in Edinburgh, Scotland. After visiting on a day trip in 2013, he decided to relocate later that same year, he says he just felt like he was meant to be there. Two years later, he opened his own studio, Semper, in 2015.

David is a twin and he is originally from Rochester in Kent and lived in a nearby town called Sittingbourne up until his move to Edinburgh. His tattoo career began rather serendipitously.

Tattooing was never something David considered pursuing. He says, he “studied A level art at school and got a U grade, the lowest grade you can be given.They said my work was so much like a photo that I may as well have submitted a photo and that isn’t what art is. From there, I went to study graphic design in college. I didn’t enjoy it as a subject and after I got my diploma I went to work with a best friend who owned a ventilation company. I intended working with him for a year or so while I found a job in illustration or something similar. I ended up being a ventilation engineer for the next 20 years, and only drawing occasionally as a hobby at home.”

He continues, “I’ve always wanted to be an artist but like so many, I wasn’t certain of the path I wanted my art to take. It was a recession that made me look for alternative work back in 2007 that took me down the tattoo route. I'd gotten a tattoo at a studio called Ritual Art back in 2002 and the owner, Jim Gambell was impressed with my drawings and asked to see more. I forgot to go back; but he was friends with my cousin and when he heard I was looking for work years later, Jim (David’s eventual mentor) offered me an apprenticeship which I gratefully accepted. I had little to no idea that it would become what it has become.”

As of March 30th 2021, the date of this interview, Edinburgh is still on lockdown due to the Covid 19 pandemic, they’ve been shut down since before Christmas. “They may reopen on 26th April but unforeseen things happen, so dates can change as you know. Other than protective screens and taking temperatures little has changed for me personally, work wise. Tattoo studios are already very hygienic places, as you can imagine. We have to be, otherwise we can’t pass health and safety tests. Almost all of the things people had to start doing were things we were doing daily, per the job, so we go about business pretty much as usual. We just clean surfaces and wash our hands with grander gestures now so that people can see we are doing it, haha.”

In his downtime, he’s been drawing portraits of his boys, Bronson and Chopper, his two French Bulldogs. “They’re my life. I take them for big walks and adventures and they’re little celebrities in the city. It’s them that I sing to when I wake up and all around the house, they have no escape, haha. I’ve also done a few design jobs for friends and family so I’ve been pretty busy. I have a dozen ideas each day and have finally had the time to make some of them real. During shutdown, I have been drawing solely on my iPad but my intention ultimately is to learn to oil paint. I’ve always seen artists as people that have exhibitions and hang their art on walls. I know that isn’t strictly true any longer but I’m old fashioned and would very much like to go that route.” He admits, the extra time and isolation is “probably the most peaceful and reflective time I’ve ever spent. I personally thrive being alone.”

I asked David if he thinks social media has improved or hindered the art community, he said both. “It’s enabled people to have a reach globally that they wouldn’t normally have had. Someone in a village in the mountains can produce something that they share online and it can be seen instantly across the globe and bring them fame, opportunities and quite possibly fortune that would never have been available to them otherwise. On the downside, it has created a culture of those that feel worthless without internet recognition but with no discernible talent and willing to do anything, no matter how degrading. I personally hate it. I use social media as a business tool. I find it intrusive and vile in most other respects. The sharing of private data and shadow banning to encourage and pretty much force people to pay for ads simply to reach the audience that is already following them. Despicable. There are generations that have never lived without it and I pity them when the inevitable crash comes and they have to step outside and learn to communicate with human beings.”

Despite his absence from social media, David is around, working, thriving. He says, “I don’t share my day to day life as it doesn’t feel like it’s mine if I do. I’m that person that actually watches events and only thinks afterwards it may have been worth documenting.”

www.sempertattoo.com

Follow @sempertattoo and @davidcorden on Instagram.