ARVILLE PERSONS

I always knew that art would be the main focus of my life. Born in Oakland and raised all over the Bay Area, I’ve found myself deeply inspired by the complexities of the people around me. Now at 24 years of age, I have become fully immersed in the tattoo world, where I’m privileged to not only have my art permanently displayed on people but have many opportunities to learn new perspectives and the experiences of others ⸺ What would you say is your favorite part of the job? The old me would have said getting to do art every day is what makes this job cool. This still holds true; however, I love tattooing because of the people I meet and the moments in time we share. Getting tattooed is transformative for so many people, and I feel immense joy in being a part of someone’s life journey ⸺ What was it that initially sparked your interest in tattooing? When I was 5-years old, I saw someone covered in tattoos, and I rushed to tell my mom that I wanted to get tattooed when I was older...she told me I would “grow out of it.” Obviously, my 5-year-old brain took that as a challenge and vowed never to forget I wanted tattoos. When I turned 18, I called my mom and asked her for tattoo money...she laughed and told me to come up with it myself. Obviously, my broke self knew that the only real option was to go on online, buy some needles, and hand-poke a tattoo on myself. A few months later, after dropping out of college, my mom ran into an artist during an event with “art similar to mine,” who just so happened to be a tattoo artist... who would eventually become my mentor. So basically, all of this is my mom’s fault, HA! ⸺ How did you know this career path was the one you wanted to stick with? I initially worked really hard to prove to everyone and myself that I was committed to this work. Apprenticing and working a full-time job was hard, but I’ve always been determined to be my own boss. It’s been five years, and now I own my own private studio. I still have the same passion for this work, if not stronger, but the reasons have changed. As an artist, there is no end to growing your skills and becoming better, which I absolutely love. I also have a love for helping others connect to who they truly are and heal from past traumas. I feel in my heart that this journey of tattooing is bigger than me and is putting me in the position to better help and heal my community. ✕

My name is Johnny Angel Velazquez. I was born and raised here in Sacramento, CA. I come from a family of creatives; my younger brother, my brother-inlaw, and I collectively opened our own shop here in Sacramento in midtown on J st. I have been drawing and making art for as long as I can remember. I would see my father doing graffiti in his black book with all his Prisma color markers and pencils out. I remember at a very early age being captivated by all the colors as well as sneaking into his marker stash from time to time to try them out myself. At the age of around four years old art, drawing, and creating forever imprinted their mark on my DNA.

What are some of your favorite subject matters to tattoo?

Some of my favorite subject matters to tattoo are ocean animals, bugs and insects, sci-fi fluid-like forms, portraits, and anything that kind of falls into those realms of visuals. I love tattooing in both color realism and color illustrative, almost a new school style, but not really. I’m currently trying to do more of a combination of my favorite styles and give my work a more surrealistic feel.

What kind of style or work did you do when first learning to tattoo? Is there any other style or work you could have done to make learning easier?

NWhen I very first began, I started with a lot of script/lettering and black and grey work. I quickly moved past the script because I had more fun doing things that had shading in them. I kind of regret that slightly. I think I should have really perfected and mastered my line work first before anything else. But I just went with my instincts and started doing a lot of black and grey work since I had a pretty good grasp on shading and blending. I didn’t start really using color until maybe later into my 2nd year of tattooing. I really wanted to get into color realism but wasn’t quite sure how to even start application. So, I invested in getting some work done on myself and asked the artist questions and picked their brain a little. I booked my first professionally done tattoo with a local artist here, Ryan el Dugi Lewis, who does amazing color realism. And at the time probably one of the only artists doing color realism on the level he was doing it on. He was super cool and open in giving me a ton of advice and information that I feel helped shift my direction when it came to tattooing in general. Overall I feel like I learned how to tattoo a lot more untraditionally; I never did an apprenticeship and instead learned myself.

What do you think makes an artist the greatest of all time?

I believe originality and integrity make one the GOAT. Any artist out there that’s really trying to bend styles, hybrid ideas, and create something genuinely different and unique, I feel, is a leader in the future of the tattoo industry. Strive to be a true reflection of your work. I feel like the greatest of all time are the ones who have had the most positive impact and influence on not only the culture but the generation and future generations to come. There is not one GOAT but many. ✕