Eddy Reyes Sr was born in 1975 in Pajacuran, Mexico, and immigrated to the Bay Area of northern California, USA, at two years old. He began tattooing at 13 with a handcrafted machine and became a professional in 1995. He planned to utilize tattoos to depict the Bay Area by fusing what he saw on […]
Tag: black and grey tattoos
Freddy Corbin, Oakland’s Tattoo God
Freddy Corbin was born in Tampa, Florida, in 1966, grew up in Sacramento, and at 18, went to San Francisco, California, to pursue a career as a tattoo artist. Joshua Golden gives him his first professional tattoo at Lyle Tuttle’s shop. Corbin spent a lot of time at studios and received body art from various […]
Girin’s Fine-Line Illustrative Body Art
32-year-old Girin studied animation and cartooning at Sejong University in Seoul and taught at an art academy for a while. Still, he was more intrigued by tattoo art and learning the craft. Self-taught and beginning a career in tattooing in 2017, Girin enjoys utilizing a three-needle liner to give a great deal of texture and depth […]
Interview with Jehoo on Stylized Reinterpretations of the East
Jehoo was born in 1980 in Pohang, South Korea. After studying electricity in high school, he supported his family as a mechanical engineer for the steel industry for a decade. After ten years, he decided to become a tattooer, but due to a lack of apprenticeships in his country, he was forced to learn independently; […]
2022 Capitol City Classic Tattoo Convention
The tattoo industry has seen a significant change in recent years, with renowned conventions closing their doors for good, studios closing, tattooists relocating, and new events emerging, such as the Capitol City Classic Convention. This massive and high-quality event was hosted by Royal Peacock Tattoo Parlor in Sacramento, California; organizer Britton Mcfetridge worked hard with his […]
High-Precision Realism: Interview with Tattooist Denis “Tidan” Torikashvili
Hailing from South Russia, specifically Rostov-on-Don, Denis “Tidan” Torikashvili began his tattooing career in 1997. That’s 23 years ago when there was barely an industry, acceptance, and fair working conditions. Tidan has had many setbacks and restarts, from moving and working in Moscow to London—the latter getting a big break at NR Studio in 2017. […]
Interview with Celebrated Tattooer Tommy Montoya
Tommy Montoya has seen firsthand both the underground and the mainstream of the tattoo scene. Recognized for his 20-year commitment to West Coast black-and-gray tattooing, Montoya, a California-based artist, rose to international prominence after appearing on the television show “NY Ink” (2011–2013). Tommy Montoya and Ryan Ashley Malarkey headlined the 2019 “Feather Falls Tattoo Expo” […]
10 Best Tattoo Artists of 2018—Editor’s Picks
The tattoo industry has grown immensely in the last decade. There is demand and appreciation for both old-school and new-school artists. Nowadays not everyone goes through a grueling apprenticeship (yet there may be a need for it as Ami James states in our interview); the new generation is often coming from universities (from fields like […]
The Norse God Tattoo: Interview with Carlos Torres
While setting up his new studio in 2017 named The Raven and The Wolves in Long Beach, California, Carlos Torres was also attending the London Tattoo Convention—where we met up with him for an interview. He worked three days straight on a massive Norse god tattoo in his typical black and grey inks on client […]
Up for the Challenge: Why Nuno Feio Likes Hyperrealistic Tattooing
Nuno Feio got his start in hyperrealistic art by custom painting on the likes of bikes, cars, and helmets. “It was a great help for my tattooing skills,” he tells me. “You must have a steady hand when you’re painting details with an airbrush or with a pinstripe brush.” This technique translated to putting ink […]