We recently connected with Alejandre Rodriguez and have shared our conversation below.
Alejandre, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
The first ever full sleeve project I took on, I stumbled on by scrolling on Instagram. My client, Alex, was actively seeking a tattoo artist to take on a tattoo concept that they had in mind for the past five years. They wanted their artist to be a queer, trans person of color, and capable of doing clean lines, geometric shapes, and some shading. I volunteered myself not realizing this would be the most challenging and meaningful tattoo I’ve ever taken on.
Alex briefed me on their idea over voice memo, this was the easiest way to convey such a complex concept. Alex wanted a section from the book “Places That Scare You” by Pema Chödrön, which added up to 180 words, going from the top of their shoulder down to their wrist. The words would flow down their arm, crossing paths like the paths of their veins, along the way there would be triangles with realistic nature scenes in them. In one of them, a scene of a retro scuba diver diving into the deep ocean, another triangle with a night sky with stars in them. Then, a triangle with dried crunchy fall leaves and pebbles on the ground. Additionally, they wanted the quote to end at an existing quote at the bottom of the wrist. All this on a budget that is lower than my usual rate.
The concept was difficult to grasp and the technical difficulties were even more difficult to execute.
This tattoo took two 3 hour consultations to get a proper layout of the stencil. After our second 3-hour long consultation, I sat with my head in my hands around my messy station. I felt doubt and dread become stronger while staring at the several 20 inch long print outs cut and taped together. I opened messenger and typed out an apology message to Alex, expressing that I bit out more than I can chew, and that their tattoo was physically impossible to do or I overestimated my ability to execute it. I sent the message. I immediately felt remorse over giving up. I knew I’d I broken this strangers heart, I led them into a false hope about my ability to give them their dream tattoo. I stepped away from my station and took a walk to sit with this feeling, wondering if this moment is where I dropped my own dreams about becoming a high-demand artist whose capable of doing large-scale tattoos every week. I’m really giving up that possibility because I’m scared of compromise on this design? No chance, I can do this. It will be a hard and scary place, and I will get through it anyway. I unsent the message (which was luckily still unread) and got back to work.
Alex did grieve the fact that the original concept wasn’t possible, and we reduced the quote down to just 43 words that still encapsulates the feeling and message of the quote, “Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It is a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness we’ll, can we be present for the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.” I read this quote over and over and it inspired me to continue forward on this scary journey where I offered compassion to myself and for my clients vision, and they also offered compassion to me as they noticed I was struggling through this process with them. The tattoo took about 4 hours to place the final stencil, 6 hours to tattoo. The final result was exactly was Alex imagined in their head. They were immensely filled with joy they jumped with happiness at the final result and I breathed with ease now that this project was complete. This is my first step into my dream, I’m grateful that I got to realize my clients dream in the process.
Alejandre, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Alejandre Rodriguez, I’m a tattoo artist who is queer, trans masculine, first generation, neurodivergent, and Mexican-American. I consider my life to be an exciting, traumatizing, and yet common cocktail of an experience. I tattoo art that helps others feel more aligned and at peace in their bodies. Since the early age of five, I remember spending several hours every day drawing in my grandma’s courtyard with a flashlight. The rainy seasons in Mexico raged enough to take out the power almost every day, and so drawing was how I entertained myself. My art was almost always met with a look of confusion and the question, “¿porque haces dibujos tan feos?”(why do you make such ugly drawings?). I assumed my technical skills needed to improve so I drew for hours, making sure my technical skills were top notch for a child. I learned later that their meaning of “feo” did not refer to a technically poor drawing, rather, they were referring to the dark and macabre themes that were concerning to come from a young girl. I realized people looked at me strangely when I drew barely-human monsters and angels screaming with their flesh falling off. They wanted me to draw pretty things. So became skilled at making art that satisfied others and gave them exactly what would make them happy. Funny enough, this translates well to tattooing, as rendering a tattoo idea is not too far off from mind-reading and giving a client exactly what they envision or better.
I got into tattooing in 2019, in the middle of my graduate program for my Masters degree in Communication Studies. I was studying to be a communications consultant for organizations. I was losing faith in the idea of becoming a university professor, turns out I hate lesson planning. i concluded that the pay and job security was going to make my life unsustainable. My girlfriend at the time asked me “if you can wave a magic wand and do anything in the world, what would it be?”… “ I want to tattoo. I grew up watching Ink Master, LA Ink, all the tattoo reality TV in Mexican Spanish dub. And I was amazed by the styles that could achieve all these various styles. It made no sense to me and I want to understand how to do that.’. A few weeks later, she gifted me a tattoo machine for my birthday and said “I did this for completely selfish reasons, I want you to fix my tattoos”. I practiced for months on my girlfriend and several punk friends who were happy to get a scratcher tattoos. It turns out I was exceptional at it. I practiced enough to get certified and hired at a dingy street shop in South Central. I only stayed as long as I felt myself growing, as soon as I sensed a plateau, I would start looking into the next shop with better artists to learn from. Within a year I was making a living wage on tattooing alone and I’d found my niche style which is a high quality fine line shading botanical style.
I often need to be an advocate for my client, helping them figure out what and where they want their tattoo. I’m also extremely honest about what designs are not possible and what would age well. I like to educate my clients about the tattooing process so they know what standards they should have with other artists and what to look out for. You should always be standing and in a relaxed position when placing a stencil. Yes, ofcourse we can move the placement again. This is for YOU, not for your parents, siblings or your partner because it’s your body and you will look at it and love it or hate it every day. I’m basically performing surgery on you so everything should be covered, disposable, and my gloves will be changed several times to avoid cross contamination. You’re paying hundreds of your well earned money on this tattoo, so you should not feel rushed or pressured in any way. This should be a moment of celebration and self love, please stand up for yourself, and ensure you feel safe and comfortable during the tattoo process.
I understand this extensive process is not for everyone, and that’s fine. I just hope the clientele that appreciate the careful intentionality of this process will find me.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I’ve been seeing an art and somatic therapist for 2 years now and she helps me approach my art both as a hobby and a career practice. In a recent session, my therapist asked me to illustrate what art-making feels like, I had a paintbrush in hand and canvas in front of me and I felt my heart beating like a drum preparing me to hunt for big game. It was a life-or-death scenario. All my self-worth was tied up in my identity as an artist, and my body knew that this brush stroke will either unleash a god-like power of creativity or send me into an existential crisis. When I finished I felt disgust and disappointment. She asked me if it’s possible to give love to this art piece because I made it. In that moment, I felt like my teenage self when a food-smeared toddler would approach me wanting to be carried and loved, and I would think “no, no, please no, I don’t want to get icky and smelly.” This icky painting, with no expert composition or execution- needed me to love it without judgement.
Since a lot of my artistic practice is rooted in my childhood, all the unhelpful lessons like impatience and judgement came with it. I’ve learned that If you want to make art you feel proud of, judging your pieces as either good art or bad art will only make you afraid of making bad art and limit the possibility of making great art that you are proud of. I can be impatient with myself and my art. I used to only draw if I thought my concept was good and original. When I would begin a sketch, it never reflected what I saw in my mind, I would talk myself into discouragement and the ideas were lost. My impatience and judgement came from this idea that I was a “good artist” and the only art I should make must reflect the top tier of my abilities. This approach felt safest but it only reinforced the creative block. So I’ve learned that art has so,e inherent risk, it requires some letting go of my grip on control over the art and my ego. I had to slow down during my art making process, and pay attention to what I was feeling in the middle of painting rather than rushing to the finish line. This allowed me to really think about whether I felt connected to my art and make choices to experiment towards actions that felt more aligned, thus, giving life to more authentic art that I was proud of.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Being a creative is an immensely rewarding social skill, I believe it fosters empathy. Tapping in to creativity involves opening yourself to noticing the signals that everyone and everything puts out. It isn’t difficult to read people and situations but sometimes we choose ignore or doubt what we see because acknowledging what we see might make us uncomfortable. I know how my partner looks when they’re singing a song in their head, I know how they look when they’re thinking about something that worries them. Whether I’m ready to be present with what I notice is up to me, there’s always the option to close the door on those connections. There’s possibilities of connections and patterns in everyday life just waiting to be seen and understood. Tapping in for me involves allowing my mind to wander, allowing big feelings to arise, and investigating them, then bringing it to life through writing, drawing, or painting. It feels like a way of being in the world that is incredibly satisfying.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sites.google.com/view/alercraftstattoos/about-me?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAab3QyfCeUyOObbh4IKWDLUIr6AXup1Vek0K9S-4Z5QVNbPvRYugZWizjT8_aem_a2W2IIwG8IisIg0F8EgVLg
- Instagram: Alecraftstattoos
