We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Emilio Ruiz-calero Dominguez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Emilio , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Each project in which I work is significant for the client, there is no special one, they are all in themselves, each person who wears one of the works that I do has a memory of his childhood, a memory of his adolescence or a significant moment in his life in which the characters that I tattoo bring back to that moment.

Emilio , 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?

I started tattooing a little by chance, life took me to this sector and it caught me, I am very grateful to my friend Ivan, and to all my environment because they supported me a lot in the beginning.
The world of tattooing is very hard and very nice at the same time, and you meet many people and make very lasting bonds with friends and colleagues.

The most difficult thing was to start, at the beginning you lack the necessary technique to carry out your ideas exactly, the most important point is patience and knowing where you are and what projects you can carry out.
Once you already have a portfolio of clients everything starts to flow slowly, that’s why I always say, in the world of tattooing the most important thing is patience.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think you would find it hard to understand why I do anime tattoos and not other things,
In principle it is because it is part of my passion, my hobby and it makes my work more fun, when it comes to talking to customers, knowing why they get tattoos and what is their favorite part of the manga or anime.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I started I was restoring old books and at the same time working in clothing stores to be able to afford life in general, pay expenses, pay the apartment, I worked many hours in jobs that did not bring me a living wage.
Then I decided that I had to dedicate myself to something more creative, I had friends tattoo artists who supported me in the beginning and explained me part of the learning process, but I was quite afraid of hurting people (relax, that passed with time hahaha) I learned, I put all my focus on learning to tattoo and do it well to give the best result, finally now I dedicate myself to this fully, with great satisfaction and surrounded by amazing people.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @izcaltattoo
• Other: Tiktok: @izcaltattoo

Image Credits

Emilio Izcal