We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mr. Drex. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mr. Drex below.

Mr. Drex, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

Actually… It wasn’t me who came up with the idea of becoming a tattoo artist. As a matter of fact, I never thought about becoming a tattoo artist in my life!

Becoming from a Latino family I was raised to go to school have a degree and work for a big company, and that’s what I did, I got my degree in business and I worked for big companies back in Colombia, but I since I was a kid I wanted to have tattoos, I got my first one as soon as I turned 18 and after that one, many more came, but of course, they had to be on hidden parts because of my work.

8 years ago I decided to move to the United States and as soon as I got here I knew I didn’t want to work for companies anymore, I wanted to be free, dress the way I wanted, have more tattoos, don’t have a regular job schedule, etc… but, if it isn’t working for companies then what? even if I wanted to work for a company my English wasn’t the best back then, well, nowadays isn’t great, but it’s way better haha, so tried to study photography, web design (that’s really hard), web design, but anything of that wasn’t something that I really really love. Meanwhile I was thinking and trying to learn something I always liked to draw, it was my escape to all my problems…

remember that at the beginning of the interview, I said becoming a tattoo artist wasn’t my idea? well, when I was working in a restaurant as a server, some of my coworkers saw my drawings and told me that I was talented and I should start tattooing, that idea kept bugging me for a couple of weeks until I decided to start learning, believe it or not, I learned all the fundaments of tattooing by watching YouTube videos, there’s a bunch of tutorials of well know artists there, so I bought my first machine I started practicing on fake skin, fruits, on myself and of course on all my coworkers who gave me the idea haha. as soon as I did my first line I knew that that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, that day at 30 years old I decided that I wanted to be a tattoo artist.

This idea came up in 2018 and the next year I met the owner of Golden Needle he gave me the chance to be his apprentice without having to pay him to teach me or clean the shop, he always treated me like an artist, that why I always going to be grateful to him for that… In 2020 before COVID happened I met Jose Pulido the owner of Select Tattoo Studio, an artist that I always admired even before I started with this tattoo idea, and in May of 2020 he offered me to be part of his studio, and I was like WHAT? ME? this amazing artist is asking me to work with him?? but by that time I was working for a company (yeah I know, is something that I didn’t want to do but I had to), so in 2020 I had 2 full-time jobs! I was working almost 7 days a week! but in 2021 I decided to quit my regular job and become a full-time tattoo artist and don’t regret that decision any day of my life.

I know its hard to find and do something that you love, look at me it took me 30 years of my life to realize what I wanted to do for the rest of my life but today I’m part of that small percentage of people that actually love to go to work and I’m proud to say that I LOVE what I do.

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.

Well, my real name is Andres but I go by Drex because it’s easier to say for everybody haha and I also think that it’s cool to have an alter ego, for me it’s easier to advertise Drex than Andres. I grew up in Medellín, Colombia, I have a degree in business with an emphasis in marketing and I worked in Marketing and advertising for almost 8 years before I moved to the States.

I’ve been tattooing for almost 5 years already so I still have a lot to learn and I’m just starting to create my brand as a tattoo artist.
I don’t have a specific tattooing style that I’m known for but I definitely like to do unique designs, I like to mix styles and I like to take the idea of the client and try to do something different! I like to tattoo almost every style in both color and black and grey but I feel that it’s in color where I really shine!

The style that I definitely don’t do is Maori or Polynesian tribals, but it is because I don’t really enjoy doing them Cover-ups are something that I don’t do very often, but depending on the project I might be able to work on it.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

As a tattoo artist, I think one of the most effective strategies is Word-of-mouth marketing because when you treat your client the right and when you exceed the customer’s expectations they’re going to bring you more clients who trust in your work for sure, but be careful this can be a double-edged sword.

Paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram has helped me to bring new clients and show my work to more people helping me to grow my social media followers.

and being part of a great tattoo shop has helped me to grow my clientele too because through they’re social media more people can see my work

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I’ve realized that there’s actually many things about being an artist. Like every day you have the chance to do something different, every day you meet new people who can maybe become your friends later on.

You can also change lives! clients had literally said to me that thanks to me they feel more confident about their bodies, people can overcome fears and insecurities through tattoos! and sometimes you can even heal hearts when you do a memorial piece on them.

It’s a little stressful but at the same amazing that someone is completely trusting you to put something on their skin that is for the rest of their lives!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mrdrextattoo.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrdrex.tattoo