We caught up with the brilliant and insightful John DAddario a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, John thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

It all started 20 years ago in South America, all the way up to North America, Europe and Asia.

I’ve traveled so much that the amount of cultural information in my head was unbearable and the only way to take it out was through art or tattoos. I was just a 12 year old boy when I got the first handmade tattoo machine in my hands. The feeling was out of this world. It all started as a hobby but I was asked about tattoos every single time while I was traveling so this thing just took over my life.

It was challenging to work with people from all around the world, it took courage to self develop my art in order to work professionally but here I am today earning a full-time living, traveling the world, supporting my family while creating art and making you all look beautiful and happy with your tattoos.

I’m staying as humble as I was in the day 1. I’m always considering art and the person before the earnings, I keep myself ethical and that’s the only way I work. Karma first.

John , 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?

If you take a closer look , despite of the colors and styles, you’ll see there’s a lot behind every tattoo. A story.

What sets me apart from the crowd is the way my colors are implemented. I strongly believe in karma, the aura and the colors of each soul, every tattoo is related to it, and my main goal was to portray a feeling, something you see that can also make you feel, not just art.

People tell me I read minds with my sketches but I think is just the way I carefully think about each project that makes it stand out in a way the client feels it just came out of their dream.

I’m thankful to all these people putting their trust and their bodies as a canvas for my work. I appreciate their commitment so much I push myself to limits so I can deliver a masterpiece they will feel proud of.

I want all people to know that I’m the artist that actually listens to you, the one who believes you can wear a tattoo that will make you happy your entire life. An artist who connects you to your tattoo instead or just putting on a sticker.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

In every country, there should be social work, people tend to keep a lot of things unspoken, they always come for tattoos, to transmute those feelings into beautiful things.

Artists need support, legal support and also education. By having the local government taking care of the local culture they would actually be investing in the future. The cultural sector is always unsupported, if there is free education, or accesible education for artist , also active events and actual employment for beginners, we would end up having a real industry instead of artists doing side jobs to pursue their art or never getting to the point of making a living on it because of the fear of not taking the risk.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I’ve helped a lot of people, the ones bringing tattoos they feel ashamed of. Many of them had to pay and go through a painful process in order to receive a tattoo from an inexperienced person who said it was professional work. There’s a lot of people feeling sad about these tattoos, and there are many artist refusing this type of work because is not easy to do. And it is also connected emotionally to these people.

I help, as much as I can. Seeing someone walking in for help and then asking me for a hug before leaving the studio just makes me feel entirely happy and realized as an artist. At the end of life, my tattoos will be all over the world and I want these people to remember I was there to help them go through their journeys.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.inkportpeople.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inkportpeople/

Image Credits
John DAddario