Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ollie Ruel. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ollie, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

For as long as I can remember, the goal has always been to be an artist. As a child there wasn’t anything else that I’d rather spend my time doing, I was always drawing, painting, writing comics, designing game concepts, anything I could do that required my hands and my imagination to make the worlds that exist in my brain come to life.

I was a very dramatic child, I remember once when I was about twelve years old my mother had asked me what would happen if I didn’t become an artist. That thought never even occurred to me because it wasn’t an option. I was going to be an artist, no ifs ands or buts about any of it. I think I told her I’d rather die than have a backup plan.

I always had a non-traditional education growing up and i got into a lot of different artistic and musical skills. I think an important part about being an artist is to explore as many different outlets of creative expression as possible. Nothing is more valuable than real life experience to the creative process.

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?

Hola, my name is Ollie Ruel, I am a native Texan Tattoo Artist, Illustrator, and Story Teller. I was born in the south Texas region of the state, in a small town coined Pearsall, Texas. Growing up my mom and i were on the road a lot, so I didn’t have the opportunities to make and keep a lot of friends, but i always had my sketchbooks to keep me company.

I’ve been working on my own personal comics and intellectual properties since i was a child. Comic books and video games were the dream growing up; as a kid i was so immersed in the rich and magical worlds that so many artists before me had dreamt and drawn up. I created my first flash game at twelve years old and then started learning 3d modeling and animation.
When I was fifteen i was gifted my first tattoo machine from my dad, who was also a tattoo artist working in Texas, and that opened up a whole new world of creative expression for a teenager like myself.

I started my apprenticeship when I was twenty-one, the college thing not working out a couple of times, I wanted to find a place in this world where i could live completely off of my art, and tattooing gave me that freedom after a couple hard years of work and determination. I was finally in a point in my life where I could work for myself and in service to others, using my art as a means of healing and self exploration for all of my clients. Tattooing really allowed me to connect with the community around me.

Since tattooing full time I’ve finally had the space and the time to work on my own personal projects and be involved in my friends projects as well, allowing me to cultivate a rich and colorful portfolio and to be able to participate in more local art shows and conventions. I think what sets me apart from others is that I’ve always believed in myself, as cliche as that sounds, I’ve always bet on myself and my passion for my art to move me forward in life and accept the opportunities that had been offered. I always told myself that everything would be okay as long as i got to keep making art, and that mantra has always influenced my decision making in crafting a creative career for myself.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

A big core focus of my artistic process has always been about empowering girls and women, and showing them that there isn’t one way that you have to live your life. I want girls everywhere to know that they can be an artist, or a musician, or a dancer, or a coder or whatever enriches their soul because if they just follow that instinct and that passion they can truly do anything. Tattooing is still very much a male dominated industry, and its grown a lot in the five years that I’ve been working, but I want to show more girls that they don’t have to live a traditional life if they don’t want to. I want girls everywhere to allow themselves the confidence to take up space where they’ve been told they don’t belong.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

When I know that I’ve been able to help shape someone’s self esteem and to help them grow on their own personal journeys. A lot of tattooing is very emotional, you work with a lot of people who are fighting their own traumas and trying to move on from heavy situations. There’s no better feeling when you know that you’ve truly helped someone battle their insecurities or grief and they leave the shop a completely different person. I truly believe that I have helped a lot of the people around me gain confidence and that’s what drives me everyday to keep wanting to grow as an artist.

Contact Info:

• Website: Ollieomega.com
• Instagram: @olliepoptattoos
• Twitter: @ollieomega

Image Credits
Christopher Li