The San Pedro-based artist travels the world with his ink.
Carlos Torres runs one of the most successful tattoo shops in Los Angeles County. He's constantly flying around the world to participate in conventions and seminars about the art form, and he basically gets to tattoo whatever he wants whenever he wants. In short, life is good for one of the best tattoo artists on the planet.
But it takes a lot of work to stay on top.
Torres' tattoos add a level of beauty, depth, and detail you don't see in a whole lot of ink, and it was virtually all learned through trial and error. The self-taught ink slinger has found some fellow art-loving tattooers to fill the chairs in his shop, Timeline Gallery, and Torres feels he still has an infinite amount left to learn about tattooing.
Myspace caught up with the tattooing icon to discuss how he brings tattoos from an idea to a reality and what it was that inspired him to get into tattooing in the first place.
How did you get into tattooing in the first place?
Just by chance. I grew up in a neighborhood with a lot of homeboys, and everyone knew I could draw. Somebody’s brother was in prison, so we found out how to make a homemade tattoo machine. Of course, I was the guy who everyone said was going to tattoo, but I really had no intentions of it. They forced it upon me, and after the first one it was like “Whoa!” I’ve always been someone who dives head in, so once that happened I was just all out.
Your shop really combines fine art with black and gray tattooing, what brought that about?
Me and Alan (Padilla, also of Timeline Gallery) are both really into art, and we both started learning to oil paint at the same time. It was really about surrounding ourselves with likeminded people. What we really push here is getting better, so you have to practice something other than tattooing when you go home. Whether it be drawing with charcoal or something like that, just something so you’re always advancing. I think the people we hire, it just comes natural to them to want to do that stuff.
How have you seen tattooing change since you began?
Social media has changed the tattoo world. There used to be a lot of walk-in shops and stuff like that—and walk-in shops are still around and still survive—but I think for people who are constantly pushing the boundaries, it’s a lot easier to be discovered. You have people who will fly in from other parts of the world for an artist, so that’s changed. It’s also made the consumer more aware. I’m getting people who come in and their first tattoo is a sleeve or a back piece, whereas we all have those first little tattoos. It’s changed a little bit for the worse, and a lot for the better, because also the number of tattooers has gotten crazy. I’ve always been told the cream rises to the top, so it’s just about working hard, and you don’t necessarily have to worry about what the competition is doing.
You’re known to have a very interesting and involved method in creating your tattoos, what’s the full process like?
What I do is I photograph my own models and references, and then I’ll try to create a piece of fine art and say “Alright, who wants it (as a tattoo)?” Or, if people come to me with enough time for a big project, I’ll usually do the whole photography and all that just for their piece. I love that from start to finish, it’s mine. I know that there’ll be no other references like it because it’s all mine. I hire the models, I photograph her, I photograph all the other little stuff, and then I’ll take it and draw on top of that or do an oil painting of it. I’m really grateful that I’m in this position now where I can do a piece that I want to do, and not have to make it custom for anybody. That to me is the best feeling.
What’s one piece of advice you would give a younger version of yourself?
I guess it would’ve been to study a lot more. I goofed off a lot of the years and didn’t take it seriously. I think I would’ve taken more classes and involved myself a lot more earlier on. If I’d involved myself more, I think my art would be way further ahead. I noticed that my art really started to take off when I started to travel and do workshops.
