We recently connected with Antonio Garcia and have shared our conversation below.

Antonio, appreciate you joining us today. Often the greatest growth and the biggest wins come right after a defeat. Other times the failure serves as a lesson that’s helpful later in your journey. We’d appreciate if you could open up about a time you’ve failed.

Failure is a part of life that I feel a lot of people are afraid to experience because it can really make or break you but it can really make you have a positive outlook on things aswell. I remember back in 2011 I was tattooing for about 5 yrs before i decided to look into working at a shop. I put together a portfolio and walked around Chula Vista CA looking at shops. I got shot down by every single shop I went to. No one was looking to hire me or even take me as an apprentice. I remember going back home feeling like I’ve failed but that didn’t last long, I ended up convincing myself that I’m just gonna do better and keep pushing regardless of any bad experiences I’ve encountered.

Antonio, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Art was just something I had in my blood, I don’t know what made me pick up a pencil and start drawing but I did and as a kid I would enjoy drawing and would use that as my form of expression. I knew I wanted to get into tattooing around high school, I had a few tattoo magazines which in the ads would sell tattoo kits but never committed to it. Once I graduated I started working at Home Depot where I would draw all over everything, on my down time I would draw on broken pieces of dry wall till my coworkers started noticing that I knew how to draw, they would then ask me for drawings in which they would pay me and go to the local shop to get my art tattooed on them. I did that for a while till everyone basically said “hey this is your art, you should tattoo this on people” I took that as a sign for me to start and went home and spent a whole paycheck on a kit that I had seen in one of the magazines. I had a moment where I was giving up on it and wanted to sell my equipment cuz I was losing confidence and motivation. There was no you tube videos on tattooing since it was 2006 so I had no idea what I was doing. I even put an ad in the news paper to sell my kit and went around the neighborhood trying to sell it to the neighborhood tattoo artists, luckily one of the artists seen something in me and convinced me not to sell it and get on my grind. From there I practiced daily and ended up tattooing on fellow coworkers and eventually got to the point where I would even tattoo on the customer’s. In 2012 I got my first break when Jr “listo” Tapia gave me my first break in the industry by allowing me into the shop he was working at “sinister ink” in Chula Vista CA. I went in as an apprentice and would show up every day, I soaked up as much knowledge from listo and Dee benzo. Two of the main artists from that shop. Eventually the shop came to an end and I ended up bouncing around a few shops till I decided I wanted a change in my life and moved to Arizona in 2014. I had no clients, no car, nothing. I literally had to start from scratch. I ended up getting a job at a shop to where I would have to catch 2 buses to get there while trying to adjust to the Arizona heat. I would advertise on Craigslist and even made a tinder account where I would swipe yes on everyone just to get them to message me and it worked. I was able to get a few people in the shop and was able to start showcasing some of my art. I was even able to start incorporating my love for horror movies into my tattoos and that’s where it really took off for me. I was able to buy a car and things were starting to go well. Fast forward almost 10yrs later and now I’m here, an artist/business owner. I opened up Slasher 31 Studio in 2023 and here I am still at it. Always trying to level up and put my all into every tattoo I do. Arizona has amazing artists so it always keeps me motivated and on my toes. From time to time I’ve spoken with youth groups and have shared my story to let anyone know that if I could do it so can they. If you really want something, go out and get it!

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

The transition of turning a side hustle into full time was not an easy one. In 2008 I was working at a warehouse and tattooing on the side. I was tired of working at a warehouse and decided to jump into tattooing full time in 2012. As soon as I started in the shop my clientele dropped significantly. Since I was full time I had to charge a lil more than what I normal did at home since I had to give the shop a cut. A lot of the clients I had did not like that and stopped getting tattooed so that set me back. I had to give up my car because i couldn’t afford it anymore and basically struggle for a while but I continued to push. One day I asked one of the main artists Dee Benzo if he could sit with me and teach me how to shade a realistic portrait and he did. I spend a lot of time drawing and practicing what he had showed me and eventually started to apply it to my tattooing. It was definitely a game changer for me and leveled me up. After that my clientele started to slowly build and kept me a float for a while. When starting over in 2014 it was a lil tough but I was in an advantage since i already had experience so it just took a few clients to let me showcase my art and eventually people would come to the shop asking to get tattooed by me. Till this day I try and put my best into every tattoo aswell as customer service and that continues to get me clientele. I’m definitely grateful for all my supporters.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

A lot of hard work, I came out to AZ in 2014 with about $40 to my name but I was hungry. I worked extremely hard to get to where I’m at now. Lots of late nights and sacrifices. No loans, no handouts or anything. Everything I have I worked hard for. So just saving and working hard got me my shop.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Antoniogarciaart
• Other: Google Slasher 31 studio