Today we’d like to introduce you to Jose Silva
Hi Jose, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’ve always had a fascination for tattoos, ever since I was little, I remember looking at my dad’s tattoos and would always want to get some for myself. I started drawing at a very young age. After living in Colombia for many years, I was able to get my citizenship in the U.S and I moved to Dallas. I kept working on my art throughout my final years of high school, college and on my free time. After years of hard work I finally landed an apprenticeship here at Cat Tattoo and after sometime I graduated my apprenticeship and I’m now living my dream of being a full time tattoo artist.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Getting into the tattoo industry isn’t easy. You have to work hard on your portfolio and go shop to shop hoping that someone will take you in. Unfortunately I was denied an apprenticeship at first, but I got hired to work counter, and that was my way in. I kept working on my drawing and my friend who later became my mentor decided to give me an opportunity. If it wasn’t for Justin Gorbey taking a chance on me, who knows how much longer I would’ve had to wait to finally get my shot. He always tells me “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard”, and those are words I live by everyday, always striving to be better, always working on custom designs for my clients and always trying to evolve my artwork.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
In the tattoo world there’s a big variety of styles. During my apprenticeship and the beginning of my career, I focused on American Traditional, and while I love that style, and I still very much enjoy doing it, I’ve started working on a style called “engraving”.
It’s just like it sounds, the tattoos look like they were done by printmaking. It’s a style that’s very prominent and Europe, but I haven’t seen many artists in the U.S do it, much less in Dallas, so here I am, trying to make this style flourish in the DFW.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
As an immigrant, Dallas was a big change for me. I fell in love with downtown Dallas (except for the traffic), and I specially liked Deep Ellum, being an artist, I was fascinated by the art on the walls. What I like the least? I guess it’s not so much a Dallas thing but more of a Texas thing, it’s so flat, growing up in Colombia I was always surrounded by mountains and it was definitely a big shock when I saw how flat this state is.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://cattattoo.com
- Instagram: @nowayjose.tattoos
Image Credits
Madison Muniz
