Electric Panda: new tattoo shop owner makes award-winning work and a major contribution to his community
James “J-Bird” Gannon began professionally tattooing ten years ago. In October of last year, he opened his own shop, Electric Panda Tattoo Company (5751 Milgen Road, next to Soho). J-Bird’s path to entrepreneurship has been long, winding and often rocky. As you know, we at this magazine love a good redemption story, and when one of those stories culminates in good people providing killer body art to the community? Check it out:
As a juvenile, J-Bird said, “I was really bad in the streets. In and out of institutions.” Even then, J-Bird had artistic inclinations who tried to keep himself busy as a graffiti artist. Realizing his life was moving in the wrong direction, he tried to escape his ne’er-do-well life by moving to Atlanta. Changing locations doesn’t always change habits, and J-Bird found himself falling into the same routines. He was desperate. “I was on a one-way trip to the penitentiary or the graveyard,” he recalls. A second move, this time to Indianapolis, Indiana, was just what he needed.
In Indianapolis, J-Bird’s first child was born. He began tattooing out of his home. Though life was not easy, J-Bird remembers looking around him and thinking, “I have something to look forward to.” He was able to climb out of bad habits from the past. While providing for his new family, J-Bird taught himself tattooing and soon established some notoriety for his work. Because of his work, a local tattoo shop recruited him for a short internship, which allowed him to take his underground art into legitimate spaces.
Today, J-Bird is fourteen years clean. He has three children and will soon get married to his fiancé, Dominique. Watching him at his shop, smiling and cutting up with customers, spending time with his mother (who frequently checks in on her son), you can feel the pride J-Bird has in entrepreneurship, providing for his family and providing jobs for others in his community. You can feel the positive energy that helps make Electric Panda a special place.
J-Bird works in all styles of tattooing, but specializes in realistic black and gray, custom lettering and portraits. One of his focuses in opening Electric Panda is “trying to make sure everything coming out of the shop is original.” Also working at Electric Panda is John “Sketch” Snyder, formerly of Iron Rose and Atomic. Sketch specializes in neo-traditional and custom lettering, and is busy learning more about realistic black and gray from J-Bird.
In the case on your right as you enter Electric Panda, you’ll notice a host of awards from the Atlanta Tattoo Arts Convention, four from 2018 alone. And remember those gum-ball machines with temporary tattoos in them, the kind you got when you were a kid? J-Bird has an adult version, called ‘get-what-you-get,’ and all the designs are custom and cost only $80 (regular value of $150). J-Bird also offers 10% discount for all active duty military, veterans, law enforcement and firefighters.
J-Bird sees Electric Panda as a community. For four years, he has been active with Toys For Tots; while he is humble about his work, I won’t be: he has certificates of appreciate for each four years of giving. J-Bird is also attune to the needs of the homeless and at-risk population in Columbus, and for a time operated his own outreach program providing care packages of all the things you don’t think to give, like socks, feminine care products, and toiletries.
Electric Panda is a pristine, modern shop operated by an award winning artist who is dedicated to making his community a better place. Thinking about a new tattoo? I have a recommendation: visit J-Bird.