I've wanted to tattoo and be tattooed ever since I was a kid. My grandfather, a WWII veteran, would often tell me a story of a fellow soldier that had a dotted black line with a pair of scissors tattooed across his throat. At the age of 11, I gave myself my first tattoo. With a needle, some thread and a bit of India ink, I tattooed a small smiley face on the inside of my left ankle. A year later I transformed that smiley face into a black dot. Seventeen years later, that black dot was covered with the bottom point of a traditional bannered heart, which was the first tattoo I ever preformed with an actual tattoo machine. From there on, it was true love...
Prior to tattooing, I worked as an art teacher and then as a substitute teacher in Chicago's public schools where I would daydream of being a tattooist. Around 2007, I began to shift my thinking toward creating serious art for a living, but I was not entirely sure how to do it. I went back to school, yet again, for my Masters degree in painting & illustration. Obtaining that degree was exceptional training and instrumental in moving toward a future in making art for a living. By 2009, I figured it was time to finally live my dream so I began to vigorously study tattooing and tattoo machines.
After a few makeshift "apprenticeships," I finally ran into the good folks at the Tattoo Factory who gladly took me under their wing and the rest has been history. I love what I do and work very hard at it. I'm absolutely obsessed with tattoo machines and tattooing. I would love the opportunity to work out a design for you. I adore all styles of tattoo, but I really love anything occult or horror-themed. A lot of the artwork that I create has to do with science fiction, animals, and aquatic scenes from deep below Earth's surface, and horror. Drop by the shop sometime and ask for me, I will gladly draw you up exactly what you want!