Spanish tattoo artists occupy a solid place in the new-school tattoo landscape and are undoubtedly among the world's elite. The 46-year-old Madrid-based tattoo artist Willy Martin has earned this distinction with his impeccable technique and sense of dynamics.
You've been tattooing for 26 years, how did it start for you?
It came... unexpectedly. It never occurred to me to dedicate myself to tattooing when I was thinking about what I wanted to do later on. For my studies, I had defaulted to something I didn't really like because I didn't have the grades to do a degree in Fine Art. So I started missing classes. During those hours when I was supposed to be studying, I would go to one of the two tattoo studios in Madrid, the city where I was born, to sell drawings and earn the money with which I could go out at the weekend. After that, I gradually spent more time there. I started opening and closing, sweeping and cleaning, drawing, cleaning the tubes, welding the needles and sterilising the equipment. Then one day I was asked to become an apprentice and I accepted.
Do you go straight to the new-school style?
No, when I started tattooing I didn't have a defined style so I did a bit of everything. I had a period of black and white realism, I was motivated by the admiration I had for artists close to me that I started working with - like Robert Hernández in 1999, if I remember correctly. I am aware that these are not very compatible styles but I really liked the realism and style of the French school. I met Vincent Bizzaroid (Nantes) who tattooed my first arm in colour. I was fascinated by the compositions, the use of colour and perspective. I continued to work in black and white until 2007-2008, when I started to travel frequently to Sweden and met Jimmy Lajnen. Watching his way of working and drawing influenced me a lot. It was then that I got tired of reproducing photographs and moved away from realism to create my own drawings. In short, the Newschool style was with me from the beginning, but I didn't "swing" it until years later. The creative process is more complex, but I enjoy it much more.
What are the points you pay particular attention to?
First of all the dynamics, the movement or the action. This is something I try to represent whenever I can, and I achieve this through the flexibility of the style, because you can distort or exaggerate without the drawing assaulting the eyes.
How do you work?
I draw a lot. 99% of my work consists of making custom designs. I use the digital tablet, it gives me great convenience and versatility with the many tools available. From time to time though, I still make them on paper and canvas to create some of my laminates or original works. I would like to learn more, of course, draw better and take classes to improve but, for me, drawing is not everything. I need to enjoy other things that also make me happy like travelling with my girlfriend, enjoying doing nothing and resting.
Have you always drawn?
I've always drawn. It's what I liked to do most at the time, when I was a teenager, with skateboarding. In the 90s I grew up listening to punk, hardcore and grunge culture. The artwork you would see on skateboards at the time had a big impact on me, especially from artists like Jim Phillips (Santa Cruz), VCJ (Powell Peralta) or Pushead from Zorlacak. More broadly, I've been influenced by everything related to surfart, comics...
How do you approach the blank page when you start a project? Is it a stress or a creative pleasure?
There's no stress because it's something I've been doing for a long time. But there are some designs that stick more than others. For commissioned work, I often make a first 'primitive' approach to the main idea a few days in advance. This is my way of getting in touch with the design. I let it rest before developing it by looking for references and studying the composition. You enjoy the process more when there are fewer rules, because you have more freedom to experiment. Experimenting with the design is where I really have fun.
Where do you get your references?
Although I have books, most of the time I do it on the internet. I try to draw without references to see how far I can go, but sometimes they are necessary and enrich the final result.
Compared to the pleasure of drawing, what satisfaction do you get from tattooing?
The satisfaction of seeing a flat piece of work, on which you have spent hours thinking about various parameters, transferred to the scale of an individual's body, with shapes, curves, which moves... It's alive! You know that this image will travel and that many people will see it, that it will provoke conversation, admiration or any other feeling in others.
What's the best compliment anyone can pay to one of your pieces?
It's enough for me that people appreciate in a few seconds what you took hours to design.
Speaking of pieces, are there any you are particularly proud of?
I am very self-critical... Yes, a lot. There are some I feel more attached to because of the complexity of their design or the hours invested, but for me, all the pieces I make are very important.
How do you proceed with your clients?
A good tattoo is first of all a good exchange with the client? Not as far as I'm concerned. You can have clients with whom you don't feel in tune and still do a good job or vice versa. You have to understand that it's a service and that a client comes to you because he likes the style you do and nothing else. Not because it is beautiful, ugly, black or white. The client is looking for good work, even in the worst studios. You have to be professional, friendly and respectful.
There is still an exchange of ideas.
Yes, the client tells me what they want and I advise them on how to improve it and give them a wider range of possibilities. Most of them don't have the fantasy, the imagination or the spatial vision. That's why they come to us. But there are also clients who have more closed ideas than others. I suppose that, in the end, it reflects their personality in some way. At the moment I have a lot of requests for projects with oriental and animal themes. I regularly reproduce them by mixing the New School and Oriental styles.
Animals are often used in the production of new-school tattoo artists. How do you explain this?
Many people have pets, animals that they have loved since they were little, or because of their own personality they identify with one of them and want to reflect it in a drawing on their skin.
Do you have other forms of artistic expression?
Yes, from time to time I like to paint with liquid acrylic on paper, wood cuttings or objects of different sizes.
Which tattoo artists do you look at?
I can't name one in particular. There are too many and I follow over 2,000 artists from all over the world on Instagram. Not only tattoo artists, but also 3D sculptors, painters, illustrators, photographers... They are all references for me and everything around me.
Do you have a way of doing things, habits to keep you creatively fresh and bring in new ideas on a regular basis?
Looking at Instagram and seeing other people's work gives you a boost. Music, films and series also inspire me a lot. Arcane I had to watch it twice and it made me want to draw.
What is the tattoo scene like in Madrid at the moment?
It's a huge culture in terms of styles and artists. There is also a greater acceptance by society. It seems that people are more interested in larger pieces and more visible areas of the body. Madrid is a modern city with a strong tattoo culture and art in general is something you can see in all big cities. + IG : @willy_martin www.birdhousetattoo.com
