Lucky Draw Tattoo has three tattoo and piercing studios with its newest location making its home on Marietta Square since July 2011.

Part of what sets this tattoo parlor apart is its gallery, which features art from the artists who work at Lucky Draw as well as local artists such as Michael Leidel, Lincoln Stone and Elizabeth Semanisin.

Lucky Draw tries to provide its visitors, "a spa-type atmosphere and a nicer tattoo shop to go to than normal," owner Phillip Duke said.

"This is the only retail shop I have," Duke said of his Marietta location. "The other two are service and destination shops where this one is more of a street shop where people walking might just come in."

In addition to featuring work from local artists and providing, "professional, quality, clean and the best service that you're going to get in this industry in this area," Lucky Draw has made an effort to get further involved in the community. 

Lucky Draw sponsored and painted zombie faces for the first Marietta Zombie Walk. "I'll do the Zombie Walk every year," Duke said. "We raised a lot of money for MUST Ministries, and it was a lot of fun. We did good. We had at least 7,000 zombies out there, and I painted 20 faces at a time for five hours straight."

The best artists are always the most passionate, and there is no shortage of passion at Lucky Draw. "(Tattooing) It's the most challenging art form there is," Duke said. "There's no eraser on these machines. What you do is there permanently on that person until they go to the grave and then some. With paper or anything else you do you can erase it, paint over it, whatever. You've got one chance to do this right, and I love the challenge of that."

Duke said that the most challenging design for him is always the last one. "They are always a challenge," he explained. "You are putting pigment under someone's skin, and they don't know what it's going to turn out like. They have to trust you, and it is a challenge to get them to the point where they're just ecstatic with what they walk out of here with, but you have to get them to that point or they won't be back."

Patch: How did you get started in this business?

Phillip Duke: I use to airbrush back in the late 70s, early 80s and then when that business went down I had to do something else so I started in tattoos.

Patch: When did you open your first shop?

PD: The first shop that I owned opened in '96, and we've had the same phone number ever since. First it was the Lucky 13 and now it's the Lucky Draw.

Patch: This is your third location. How do you decide when or where to open new shops?

PD: Well it's just my area pretty much. I've got people that work for me, I've got apprentices, and if I'm going to promise them a job, I've got to give them a place to work. And if I'm going to give them a place to work, I want it to be a place that I would want to work. So that's why we kind of did it the way we did it. I've had friends, some of Atlanta's greatest artists, come from me. I gave them my skills and so on and so on.

Patch: What attracted you to Marietta Square?

PD: No one else has really tried to bring the Bohemian lifestyle to the Square for one, and you know I just thought it was time for me to come down here.

Patch: When opening your shop, what was your goal?

PD: Just giving everybody more of a spa-type atmosphere and a nicer tattoo shop to go to than normal, and the gallery is here for that reason. It brings people in that would never go to a tattoo shop. Right now I think I've got five artists displayed, and they are mainly my artists that work for me, and I've got some friends from out of town that send stuff in.

Patch: So you mentioned your first business opened in Cobb in 1996. Have you seen a lot of changes in the tattooing business since then?

PD: Oh yeah. Back then there were only three of us, and now there's—wow. I have no idea how many shops are here now. There's another one opening up on the other side of the Square.

Patch: How does your Marietta location compare to your other locations?

PD: It's holding its own. It's paying its bills right now, and I expect it to catch up to the other two shops before long. I mean, there's nothing but great artists that work here. We're doing everything right here.

Patch: What is your favorite part about your job?

PD: The laid-backness of it and dealing with people one-on-one, giving everybody exactly what they want when they come in. I like to give them what they want at a good fair price. And working with these guys, these guys are great, and it's fun. This is just an awesome job to have.

Patch: How do you guys go about coming up with your designs?

PD: We design everything in here. We can all draw. All we need is one good idea from you. If we can get one good idea, we'll draw until you love what we draw.

Patch: Have you seen a lot of foot traffic at this location?

PD: There's been street traffic, which will mean more money down the line because once they walk in they're like, "Wow these guys are nice. It's a nice place, and maybe I'll check them out and let them do my first tattoo." But I would say that most of the clients we have in here now have been to one of our other shops or know us through a friend.

Patch: So the artists here each have their own specialties?

PD: Yeah, if somebody comes in and says they want bold color I'm going to put them on Earl (Noble). If they want new school realism, I'm going to put them on Sam (Hinson). If they want black and grey, I'll put them on Shahki (Knott). Each artist has a niche; and rather than say Sam making money at something he's not good at he's going to send it to the artist that's better and take the next piece, and that will come back around because Earl will do the same thing for him.

I taught Earl how to tattoo seven years ago, and he's been with me since. Shahki has been with me for about two years as well as Sam.

Patch: Is there anything else you'd like our readers to know about you or your business?

PD: We're great at it. That's our whole motto: Try not to suck; tattoos that don't suck. It's important.

Locations:
Marietta Square
11 Atlanta St., Marietta
770-795-9233

Hiram/Dallas
3118 Atlanta Hwy, Dallas
770-505-LUCK

Kennesaw
3060 North Cobb Pkwy, Kennesaw
770-917-0075

Hours: 12 p.m. — ?