Conversations with Andres Sepulveda

Hi Andres, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Well, this is my story… My name is Andres Sepulveda but, I go by Drex! So I was born in Miami, but I grew up in Colombia and I actually have a bachelors degree in business and I worked for a couple of Colombian companies mostly in marketing and advertising, but 6 years ago I decided to move to the USA. I would say 4 years ago was when everything started, I’ve always liked to draw and when I moved to the states I started drawing more and when I moved to TX I started working for a restaurant as a server and some if not all my coworkers saw my art work on IG and they literally pushed me to start tattooing, I never in my life imagined I could do this for a living, for me this is my dream job!

Today I can’t thank those people enough who encouraged me and believed I could do this, they definitely helped change my life! When I decided I wanted to start tattooing I had another job, the good thing is that I was working from home so I had the time to practice. I tried to get an apprenticeship but that didn’t work out very well, so I continued to practicing and learn on my own until I met Israel, hired me and I started working at my very first tattoo shop! I couldn’t believe it! He always treated me like another artist and I can’t thank him enough for that opportunity.

After the covid lockdown, I met Jose Pulido another Colombian artist and shop owner. Someone who I had followed for a couple of years on social media and always admired as an artist. After we talked for the first time this amazing artist that I admire, offered me to be a part of his studio. That blew my mind! Like, me? Really?!

So, then I had to make a hard decision, but I took the new opportunity and 2 years ago I became part of the Select Tattoo team and it has been an amazing journey every day since then!  Always pushing myself and learning from amazing artists.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I would say it has been a smooth road, I’ve been very blessed with the people I’ve met and life itself gave me amazing opportunities from the beginning. I think the road did get a little bumpy along the way, because when you focus so much on something you love you can lose some people along the way. But you just need to trust the process, believe in yourself and keep pushing to be better every day!

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I don’t think I specialize in a specific style, and for me that’s great because every day is different for me and I love it! But I do have some styles that I like and I enjoy the most like Japanese and neo-traditional either color or black and grey.

What sets me apart from others?

Hmm that’s hard to say, but what I can say is that I really take my profession very seriously, if I feel that a tattoo won’t look good or is just out of my element I would let you know or recommend you to another artist! We are doing art on people’s skin forever! So we need to take this job very seriously.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
The tattoo industry has grown a lot in the last 10 years. Tattoos are more accepted now and nowadays you can find everything you need to know about tattooing on the internet. The new technology has brought new machines, ink, accessories, and that makes tattooing easier! So, I expect a lot of new artists to want to get into this industry but I see that as something positive because it’s going to make us push ourselves even harder so bring it on!