Thursday, April 8, 2010
Tattooing is just as serious of a commitment as sitting on the receiving end of the needle.
Martin del Camino works into the dark evening hours cleaning, drawing, researching and tattooing at his studio, Ichiban Tattoo, 1912 Massachusetts St., which means “number one” in Japanese.
The Argentina native tattoos in many genres, but he fell in love with the Japanese style when a friend asked him to fix a poorly done Japanese tattoo. After that, del Camino studied the Japanese language, mythology and culture to understand the meaning of the tattoos he loves.
“You’re drawing in a person, you’re painting in a person, and you can’t erase it,” del Camino says. “It’s really mesmerizing.”
Passion is an essential ingredient in the life of a tattoo artist, which isn’t all human coloring books and pointy pens. A common misconception, del Camino says, is that tattooing is an escape from having a real job, but good artists often become workaholics. “People think that you come here, you tattoo for eight hours and then you go home,” del Camino says. “You have to clean the tubes, clean your station, mop, and then you have to start drawing for tomorrow. You are working way more hours than any regular job.”
During the past two decades and countless hours of work, del Camino has tattooed people from all walks of life – boxers, basketball players, navy seals, Americans, Argentinians and Europeans. He says they’ve taught him to do away with stereotypes and generalizations.
“No matter where you come from, the people are all the same,” del Camino says. “Everybody has pain; everybody has the same soul.”
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