A master of realism and a passionate painter, Brazilian tattoo artist André Rodrigues, from Santo André in Sao Paulo, opens the doors of his workshop to us. He tells us about his beginnings, his passion for painting, but also about his tattoo school where, at 47, he satisfies his desire to teach and pass on to new generations. It's a risky stance, but one that flouts the taboos surrounding this type of establishment in a profession traditionally governed by a system of apprenticeship from professional to student.
Hello André, can we start with a little introduction please?
My name is Andre Rodrigues, I have been tattooing for over 20 years and I am a drawing and painting instructor as well. I have been teaching drawing since I was 18 years old and I have been a tattoo artist since I was 25 years old. I fell in love with tattoos when I saw one for the first time at 7 years old, I thought: this is what I want to do. I didn't know when or how but it enchanted me. I made my first tattoo machine by taking apart a toy and taking the motor to make my first machine, I was 11 years old. But I only tested the needles on my skin without ink. At 13 years old, I used the same machine to give a tattoo to a friend of mine. That, for me, was very clear about what I wanted to do with my life, despite the prejudice of my parents and family.
Can you tell us a bit about your career before you got into tattooing? I think you worked in graphic design but you were also an art teacher?
I worked at an art school in my city and had abandoned tattooing because my family was completely against it. At that same school they had a small publishing house that produced children's magazines. So I taught classes and worked at the publishing house. After a bout of depression, I decided to leave the publishing business and throw myself into tattooing. I started in my room and within a few months a studio called me to work there. It was a small neighborhood studio where I stayed for a year and a half. After that I was invited to work in a very large studio here in Brazil, where I worked for 3 and a half years. In 2007, I was invited to work in a studio in Italy where I stayed for 4 years. Finally, I returned to Brazil for good and set up my own Don Rodrigues studio and a year later, one of the first schools in the world aimed at tattoo artists, Lado B Escola.
Where and how did tattooing start for you? You started in the 2000s, didn't you?
When I got into tattooing, the year was 2003, 2004… there was a tattoo boom. It was a time when there were many prejudices, but it was becoming fashionable to have tattoos. It was a time where I met incredible artists through the internet, which was still precarious. It was the Fotolog days, I met a lot of tattoo artists who I'm still very good friends with to this day. And because of Fotolog, my work started to be seen by many people.
It seems to me that you saw the explosion of tattooing in your country around the same time. How did the practice evolve and is it perceived now? Can you give us some idea of the history of modern tattooing in Brazil? Are there cities that have been more avant-garde than others?
Modern history in Brazil undoubtedly begins in the 1990s with Maurício Teodoro, Polaco, Leds, artists who began to change the way of tattooing by creating more effective pigmentation methods. Some of them studying materials such as machines, paints, needles. Other artists more concerned with aesthetics, reading the drawing on the skin. I took a lot of this change from what was very bad to the modern tattoo that evolved and is still growing here today. São Paulo is undoubtedly the epicenter of tattooing in Brazil. Where you learn more, where the biggest names in tattooing hang out. There are, of course, incredible tattoo artists in other states, but the majority are here in São Paulo.
You made a name into the new school, how did you become interested in this style, because of the drawing technique it requires?
Man, I hated new school when I started tattooing. I liked realism and I thought that whoever did the realism was the complete artist (I know, I was very young and didn't know anything about the world of tattoos yet). A friend asked me for a new school one on his leg. When I did it I really liked it and it was also a big hit on the street. Many customers showed up wanting something in this style. As new school filled my life with happiness, I started dedicating 100% of my day to this style. I loved drawing and creating. My drawings started to stand out among tattoo artists here in Brazil and also in other countries. Little by little I became known and my career took off from this style.
You went on to do realism, how satisfying is that?
As I said before, realism was something I aimed for the most. It's an easy style to get work because it impresses anyone, especially those who know less about the art of tattooing. Realism is impressive because it doesn’t need to be explained, right? It's easy to understand. So it's easy to sell. I like doing realism, it's a style that doesn't tire me and that makes good money. There's no way, we have to pay bills and realism does that very well. And when I want to have fun, there are other styles that make me happier.
After all these years, what references and influences do you keep coming back to?
After so many years of tattooing, few references continue to be my reference. But I keep them all in my heart with great affection. I am grateful to them, they gave me a north, a direction. Without them it wouldn't be possible to get where I am. Few of my references have evolved as artists, that's what I'm afraid of: being stuck in time when there is a flood of new artists coming up with new ideas and techniques. We have to evolve together and learn from them too.
Painting takes a good part of your production too, how big ?
Painting is my love. My passion. Painting gives me a lot of pleasure and takes up a lot of time in my life. I study painting a lot in all its techniques. Watercolor, oil, gouache, acrylic, charcoal, there wasn't a technique that I hadn't studied and I threw myself headlong into each of the techniques. I won awards, exhibited in NY, Europe and all over Brazil. I am very happy to learn more and more of each of the techniques.
Learning but also sharing and educating through seminars has been part of your career. Today, you have your own tattoo school, don't you? Can you tell us about it?
I've been teaching since I was 18. If I could, I would just teach, it satisfies me. The problem is that teaching, at least in Brazil, is very undervalued. One day of tattooing is almost always the same as a month of classes. Disproportionate. When I returned from Italy, some former students came to me to teach drawing again. I started teaching drawing classes in the space inside my studio, but as more and more students arrived, they asked me to teach a course on tattoo techniques. I took a risk and it worked out really well. We are probably the first school for tattoo artists in America at least. We did beautiful projects, several tattoo artists from different parts of the world came to give seminars at Lado B Escola (name of our school). Today we have students from various countries and a beautiful story. We are a serious place so several serious tattoo artists believed in our work and were also part of this project.
How does it work and what do you learn there?
We have several courses, from tattooing, drawing, painting, woodcutting, printing, the idea of the school is not only to impart knowledge about tattooing but also to introduce the student into the world of art. We have examples of students who enrolled to learn how to tattoo and, with the knowledge they gained from the school, today they stopped tattooing to become a painter and make a living from painting. Another student who also gave up tattooing to become a character design artist at an RPG studio. We want to pass on artistic knowledge to the students, if he focuses on tattooing we will give him a solid foundation so he doesn't go around doing stupid things, but if this student wants to work in another area of art, we will also give him knowledge to be able to face it as a professional.
Tattoo schools are taboo in the tattoo world. What was your approach in this context?
As we were practically pioneers as a school, we suffered a lot of harsh criticism from all sides. But we knew how serious we were. There were a lot of people getting into tattooing doing a lot of stupid things and one of the points we picked up most in our course is the issue of biosafety. We are always updating our biosafety course so that students are respectful of the client, themselves and their families. We are so serious about what we do that many tattoo artists who have been here said they would never do a seminar if it weren't for us. Even tattoo artists who are against the courses and schools recommend them to us. They say: I don't like tattoo schools but if you want to go to one, look for Lado B. We are very happy that tattoo artists like and believe in our work.
Does the future of tattooing necessarily lie with the new modern tools?
I don't believe in modern stuff. There are people who just use a needle to do incredible work. No machines, on hand. These machines nowadays have become a type of object of desire. Put it in the hands of the tattoo artist who has 300k followers but with questionable work and beginners believe that this machine will make him the famous artist on Instagram.
How has the way you work evolved with technology?
Today I use a Pen machine. Not because it's the best but because I've been tattooing for over 20 years and I want more comfort when changing needles. It makes me faster and the comfort of no longer having wires, taking away the machine's balance point. I usually do the decals on a tablet, I can test new shapes, new ideas. I print the decal and if I make a mistake or take a size I don't like, I can print it again. Technology helps me a lot to save time and I gain more hours so I can study other things.
Today, a technological leap forward is available to all artists with the availability of AI. For the good or the bad of artists?
I think that anyone who loves painting will continue painting. Whoever loves drawing will continue drawing. Composing, singing… Those who don't like studying, practicing, suffering through processes, will benefit greatly from AI. If the tattoo artist has a good technique for the tattooing process, the client will certainly benefit from AI. There is no going back, from now on it will be more and more incredible. I'm very curious, I love technology but being able to do it with my own hands gives me much more pleasure, it's part of me, my essence.
Do you think it's still essential to know how to draw?
I no longer believe that knowing how to tattoo requires knowing how to draw. In the beginning, I raised the flag that good tattoo artists needed to draw well and know colors. Over time, I met great tattoo artists who weren't interested in drawing and painting, but their tattoos are beautiful. AI will embrace these types of tattoo artists who don't like drawing or painting but just tattooing. Knowing how to draw and paint makes it much easier to improvise something in a tattoo, to create something with style and personality. But there are clients who don't care about that, they just want a tattoo. I see this a lot in our profession, you know? Clients who want a tattoo just as a design to fit into a certain group. Those who love tattoos, drawing and painting are uncomfortable with these people, but this type of audience is increasingly common. Anyone who loves tattoos looks for a tattoo artist who identifies with their style, as if buying a painting, valuing the artist, not just the tattoo.
Do the younger generations know how to draw?
When I go to teach, most students say they know how to draw and paint. When I do a small test to analyze their art, they are almost always very bad, weak. They don't know how to structure, they don't know the composition to not only fit the body but create a certain movement, they don't know about tonal values, light and shadow, colors... Anyway. 99% are very weak. But they believe they know how to draw because the little they know, friends and relatives say he is very good, that he is already an artist. He believes until he gets to school. There, I don't pass my hand over their head and just praise them. I take your drawings and end up redoing them, showing all the problems there are in that drawing and how that art will look on someone's skin. So they begin to understand what needs to be improved and have a direction to study.
How are things going in the profession in Brazil? Here in Europe and in France, the number of tattoo artists has exploded and the younger generations are less interested in going through the traditional process of professionalization (apprenticeship, registered shop, etc.).
Here in Brazil there was also a flood of new tattoo enthusiasts. Many who are entering are realizing that it is not an easy profession. Those who are learning in the traditional way as an apprentice complain that they don't learn anything because the studio owner only explores and doesn't teach. So many appeal to schools to cut corners. But at least at our school we show that it won't be easy. We don't promise riches to anyone who gets into the tattoo trend. There are a lot of kids doing stupid things, contaminating themselves, contaminating other people. We want to show you how to avoid this. We have very famous former students nowadays here in Brazil, who earn very well and who are really well off but are exceptions. We show the truth and that they will have to work hard to make a living from tattooing. And then, many give up, because they didn't imagine it would be so much work to become a tattoo artist. Tattooing around the world is on the boil, but I believe there will come a time when it will subside and everything will get back on track. I am very enthusiastic, I believe that we will live in better times like the beginning of the 2000s. Let's see where we get to. + IG : @don_rodrigues https://www.ladobescola.com.br/
