Hours and hours spent on precise illustrations, fine-tuning skills and gathering inspiration. He sits at his desk, poring over sample designs and practicing, trying to perfect the strokes of the tattoo needle on pig skin. Senior Max Villarreal, who has had a passion for art from a young age, has decided to pursue his interest in tattoo art. 

Villarreal’s passion for tattoos began at a young age, when he was exposed to art in general. His mother is the one who cultivated the passion, and encouraged him to pursue it. 

“I like art in general, [but] I don’t think I would just do [art] as a career,” Villarreal said. “It’s not enough fun for me, and I feel like I need to constantly come up with new ideas and hoping people are paying attention to me. From a young age, I had been exposed to the art of tattooing, and it’s just something that has stuck with me. That’s something my mom wanted too, she wanted me to be a tattoo artist.”

Villarreal said his art style is an expression of his character. From ghosts to graphic illustrations involving death, Villarreal has found a manner in which to express his passion for dark themes. 

“I love horror,” Villarreal said. “Whatever I love in life is probably gonna show in my art. I love horror with all of me.”

While he has spoken about his plans to become a tattoo artist, Villarreal has to go through a series of steps to make it a reality. According to TatRing, a website that focuses on tattoo art, the steps to becoming a tattoo artist are: being a general artist, building a portfolio and finding a certified tattoo artist before actually becoming certified yourself. 

“I don’t feel like it takes too long to get a license for [tattoo art],” Villarreal said. “I don’t know too much about it, because I’m not trying to overdo it right now. I don’t have enough time to [complete these steps] right now, and that’s why I’m going to wait until after graduation to do that. Getting the apprenticeship will be the hard part because Texas is super competitive.”

As of now, Villarreal is in the process of building his portfolio for the tattoo apprenticeship. In addition, he has also begun creating sample tattoos, practicing on surfaces ranging from synthetic skin to oranges. 

“I have practiced tattooing on skin before,” Villarreal said. “And synthetic skin, which is a bit annoying to tattoo on, but I need the practice.”

As Villarreal continues on with his tattoo journey, he also acquired other art-related hobbies. From logo making to creating comics, Villarreal wishes to continue his future with his passion for art. Villarreal has already gained experience in logo making for a few friends already. Moreover, he said he is more drawn to creating comics, and wishes to invoke something within potential readers. 

“Other than tattooing, I helped some of my friends make logos,” Villarreal said. “[For example],I have some friends who want to go into making businesses, like doughnut shops [and I have helped them make logos before]. [I would] maybe [make] a couple comic books too, [because] I love coming up with stories. [I’m working on] a comic book called ‘Daydream’ that I want to make eventually with my friend. I hope to create a community of fun loving and creative individuals who are looking to open their minds to different experiences, backgrounds and points of view. What drew me to my love for comics was the emotions that comic book characters invoke in people to get someone to cry over your own artwork because it is something they can deeply relate to or sympathize with. It’s amazing and it definitely helps to make you feel less alone in the world and helps others feel more seen.” 

Another major factor that made him go into tattoo art, besides early exposure, were the stereotypes associated with it, according to Villarreal. Breaking those stereotypes will make more people comfortable with tattoo art, which is what Villarreal aims to do. 

“[Tattoo art] is just something you could make money off of,” Villarreal said. “And I feel like it’s way too heavily associated with drugs, sex and bad people. It’s unfair and it’s really gross to hear people think that way immediately when you tell them you’re a tattoo artist, or that you want to be one. It makes me angry anytime that’s the first thing someone thinks of. I feel like anything someone goes into, they should find a way to shake up the game, or how it’s being done. Why would you  go into something wanting to be like everyone else? Instead of cranking it up and adding those things that people feel aren’t seen. It’s just a waste if you’re not going to make a change.”

Villarreal said he has also decided to pursue his tattoo art ambitions instead of college itself. According to Villarreal, college is a pressure that is put on high school students, who are taught to tolerate another four years of schooling to find their passions. 

“I didn’t want to do the college route because I feel like, especially when you’re a senior in high school, you’re pressured so much to go into college, and if you don’t, you’re a failure.” Villarreal said. “Of course you want to inspire kids to go through the higher education routes, and that’s great, but it almost makes it feel like if you don’t [go to college], you’re going to be considered a failure. It’s scary, and I feel like [high schools] love to use fear to [ask] ‘If you don’t go to college, what are you going to do?’ I feel like I’d rather just have fun figuring it out. If I do feel like going to college at some point in my life, I’ll go to community college. But I don’t want to feel pressured to go and find out [what I want to do].”

As of now, Villarreal has reached out to some parlors to inquire about some apprenticeships. He said he wants to normalize tattoos and loving one’s appearance. 

“I want to help people learn to love their bodies more, whether that be my helping them cover up poorly done tattoos, or symbols of hate and scars,” Villarreal said. “Just in general, help them love themselves. I will be using this May to start reaching out to tattoo parlors like All Saints Tattoo, Sacrament Tattoo and Atomic Tattoo.”