We were lucky to catch up with Dan Moreno recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dan , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Luckily I’ve been able to tattoo as a living for the past 15 years, this gives me most of my earning at this point in life, the rest comes from selling merchandise, prints, artwork, logo/image design and a long etc.

I’m a self taught tattooer which it means that you will spend a few years trying to figure out what to do and how to use things. At the time I started, instagram didn’t exist and internet was raising but it was hard to find information so the only good source available was to get tattooed by tattooers so you could see what they do, how they do it, what they use, etc. Sometimes if you were lucky some of those tattooers will tell you a trick or two, that was massive.

It was hard to make a living out of it. I’m from Spain and due the difficulties to join into a proper tattoo shop and the economy at that time most of my career is abroad.

The main core to make everything happen is work, work, work. Paint a lot, draw, study the books and of course be lucky because that also helps. Knowing what I know now will definitely help to speed up the process.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m from a town call Argamasilla de Alba in Spain. I grew up there constantly drawing and imagining things, creating and inventing. As a teenager I got into punk music and skating, that was a bit of the spark that pushed me into tattooing as most people in the punk/skate scene were tattooed plus the cool album covers and skate graphics. I’m a crafty person so at that time I built a wireless tattoo machine with a Walkman’s motor and some batteries and it worked, I tattooed some fruit and some pig’s skin and I loved the feeling.
With time I was able to save some money and improve the quality of my work. It took a lot of time and as I mention before I had to leave my country to grow as an artist. This taught me so much about myself, about the craft, gave me a second language to speak (English) and the most important thing, gave me the experience and knowledge to give really good tattoos to my customers.

What problems do I solve for my customers? I make their ideas a reality. Most times we have a chat about what we can do on the area, what can fit on the gap and from that point we create a tattoo that fulfill all the expectations of my customers. Something I draw it free hand and sometimes I prepare a stencil but always taking in consideration a full customization experience because everything is designed to adapt to the flow of your body and work with the rest of tattoos that the customer have. It’s such a rewarding process for me, makes me happy.

What set me apart from others? I think one of my strongest skills is being able to “bend” reality or as some people call it, twist designs. It’s basically the ability take any recognizable design and go further, using traditional motives for them striking look a readability and mix them with more contemporary ideas or concepts. Sometimes I like to add a pinch fun on them so they look and feel more alive and customer can have a get a tattoo that has a bit of soul.
I like to take in consideration what color palette suits the design better, what line weight will prolong the longevity of the tattoo and the saturation of those colors. This helps me create a really versatile piece that has a bit of you and also a bit of me.

What I’m most proud of? It has to be my customers, without them I’m nothing. The trust, the freedom they bring it’s from beyond this planet. Those customer bringing family members, talking to friends, spreading the word so I can carry on making what I love the most gives me a feeling of proudness that makes everything worth it so, thank you every one.

For potential clients I’ll say that everything is custom to suit your most demanding expectations because you deserve it. Even the flash pieces you choose from my books will be tailored to fit any gap or space in your body.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I want to become the best version of myself as tattooer and as an artist, I want to master my craft, I want to paint more and more, I want to refine my skills and make my weak points stronger so I become a solid unit. Because this take almost infinite amount of time the journey is being super fun as there is literally no end to it but you have to push harder every day.

How did you build your audience on social media?

In my case, what worked the best was traveling. Meeting people in person was fantastic to grow in every aspect and also creates a big and solid web around you.
Having a few social media platforms also help but they require time that you need to dedicate. It can be tedious but It’s definitely worth it, specially at the time we are living

Contact Info:

• Website: https://magicmorenotattoo.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danmorenotattoo?igsh=a3ZwMTN0ajg1N2tv&utm_source=qr