I was born and raised in Chicago and lived in a small town in Mexico from the age of 11 to 18. There I lived a very humble life from what I was used to as a child growing up in Chicago. It definitely helped build my hard working character. I started messing around with tattoos when I was about 16 or 17, tattooing friends and family as somewhat of a hobby. Tattooing intrigued me and I was determined to figure it out. At the time, I never thought I would be doing this for a living. I've always loved great art as well as the art of tattooing. About 9 years ago, I started tattooing friends as a hobby and a friend recommended that I buy professional equipment, and I began tattooing on a regular basis, and haven't stopped since. Being both a self taught artist and tattoo artist there was definitely a lot of bumps in the road with a lot of sacrifice. But it has definitely been a great learning experience and it proves that when you work hard and are determined to learn, you can accomplish anything. During my career, I've turned to some of the best artists, both old masters in art and new artists in the tattoo industry, as well as many other forms of art and craftsmanship and nature for inspiration. Knowing that tattooing is a vast industry, I had to push myself to learn and recreate realism - to be able to stand out amongst great tattoo artists. I continue to work hard to perfect my craft. I consider myself to be a true well rounded tattoo artist- able to tattoo anything in any style. My extensive portfolio displays all arenas of tattooing.
3 years ago, I opened Dark Water Tattoos and last year, a t-shirt company Dark Water Press with my future wife Amy. My 3 beautiful kids are the reason for my hard work and ultimately my success.