Norman Keith Collins, known popularly as Sailor Jerry, was a prominent American tattoo artist in Hawaii who was well known for his tattoo designs. Norman Keith Collins was born on January 14, 1911, in Reno but grew up in Northern California. As a teenager he hopped freight trains across the country and learned tattooing from a man named "Big Mike" from Palmer, Alaska, originally using the hand-poke method. In the late 1920s he met Gib "Tatts" Thomas from Chicago who taught him how to use a tattoo machine. He practiced on drunks brought in from Skid Row.