We were lucky to catch up with Jonathan Tafoya recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jonathan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?

To this day I sometimes get the pre judgment of an intimidating and mean guy because of my bigger size and the fact that I’m tattooed. . Many times I hear, “you were so much nicer and friendlier than I was imagining.” It goes to show don’t judge a book by its cover and give people a chance to prove themselves. Hopefully this advice will be contagious because something as simple as this could help our society as a whole.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

One day my brother came home with a tattoo. It intrigued me so much that I was instantly drawn to it. Being the artist in my family since a young age I always knew that was what I wanted to do, just not clear on what medium. When he saw how much I liked it he gave me the advice, “this is totally what you should do!”
An at home crash course in tattooing was the next step and thankfully I knew I could be better and this wasn’t the way for me. I met a couple artists that brought me under their wing and helped me trade bad techniques for good ones.

One of the things I am proud of is that I always look for improvement, in art, in people skills, and in myself. I like to help others find the right fit with their art and with their artist. Sometimes I can see that I am not the right fit for them and that’s o.k. I want people to be proud of what they get to carry with them for life.

As far as my style I love the traditional and neo-traditional tattoos. I enjoy the dark lines and bright colors or the black and grey with no color as well. I do notice I do my best work when clients turn me loose and trust me.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Absolutely, I have been featured on a worldwide series for the tattoo industry and featured in magazines and websites. My goal is to be featured on more and to be recognized by many. I believe that I can be an influence for people who may not realize what dream they want to chase. Also I want to show the positive side of my industry so others can see that good people exist and will help them in getting the art they want.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I am definitely learning as I go with this. What I have noticed is that being myself and reaching out has helped tremendously. I see that attention spans are short so making videos to the point and keeping people on their toes has worked so far. And be proud! This is my livelihood and what I share can change someone’s thoughts on an idea, so by all means share with pride!
If you put 100% in you will get 100% back.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jonnytafoya77.com
• Instagram: @jonnytafoya77
• Facebook: Jonathan Tafoya