After devouring classic films such as Alien and Predator as a child, failing at a career in cartooning and brilliantly turning to tattooing, Moscow-born Vitaly Morozov would be a happy man in his own country if he hadn't had to leave it to escape the consequences of the war in Ukraine and get his family to safety. Artistically, the Russian has become known for his dark graphic style, with complex and very detailed compositions. A universe not only built around references to horror films but also anime, video games and architecture, in which he still finds, despite the current difficulties, an unconditional comfort.
Hi Vitaly, can you introduce yourself in a few words?
Hello ! My name is Vitaly Morozov. I was born and lived until recently in Moscow, Russia. I am 33 years old. I have been a tattoo artist for thirteen years and I love my work.
Russia is now at war with Ukraine, what is the atmosphere in Moscow now that President Putin has declared the mobilisation of the reserves. How is it going for you ?
I think it's bad. Everyone is panicking and many people are trying to leave Russia. I am one of them. My wife and I left the country five months ago and now we are trying to become citizens in a foreign country. I can't tell you which one at the moment but we were lucky to leave at the right time. Many people are in a much worse situation. My brother has been called up to the war. He is trying to hide. Unfortunately, he has no possibility to leave Russia at the moment. So I hope that everything will end in the end.
What was your background before you got into tattooing?
I'm originally a cartoonist. I should be drawing cartoons but I don't really like it. I tried to find a job in my speciality, but it was too difficult and I failed. The cartoon industry in Russia is in a very bad state right now. So I decided to try to find any job related to drawing. After many attempts and failures, I finally got a job in a library. I was designing stands, drawing posters for famous writers and the like. But most of the time I was talking to grandmothers. They were my only colleagues in the library. So it was quite a boring period but I was satisfied because at least I had a job.
What happens next?
I was surfing the net one day and saw a picture of a man wearing a Japanese cuff and I really liked the style. I wanted the same so I started to draw Japanese tattoos, for me, but it was super lame. I still became more interested in tattoo art, discovering new styles, artists that I was trying to copy. Instagram didn't exist back then and there was so little information available... I had a lot of free time in my job though so I drew a lot. After six months at the library, I was finally made redundant. It wasn't my fault, the library just didn't have money for artists like me. It was a big stress. I didn't know how to cope, so I decided to try to do tattoos.
How do you go about learning?
I found the guy who was going to teach me on the Internet. He was a good old tattooist. He looked at my drawings and liked them a lot and I was lucky enough to be accepted as an apprentice straight away. As well as teaching me how to tattoo he introduced me to a lot of fantastic tattoo artists such as Guy Atchinson, Aaron Kain, Jeff Gogue, Shige and many others. Their work was totally crazy to me. All in all, I fell in love with tattooing through him. I used to copy the artists I loved thinking that one day I would become as famous as them. Since then, that's still my goal, and I think I've made a lot of progress in that respect.
Can you tell us a bit about your graphic culture?
My older sister and my mother draw a bit and when I was a kid I thought they were the best drawers in the world. My sister was particularly talented and I wondered if I could ever match her; she was a great inspiration to me. I was obsessed with series like "Biker Mice from Mars" and especially the monsters from "Ghost Busters". By the time I was about 4-5 years old, I was drawing things like that all the time. My childhood drawings for years looked like clumps of spikes, claws and mouths with lots of fangs. My mother was frightened. Admittedly, it's strange for a small child to draw only monsters. She ended up taking me to a therapist to show him my drawings, to which he replied that there was nothing wrong with me and that I could continue to do what I liked.
It's hard not to think of Alien, Predator and Giger when you see your tattoos. When did these influences come?
My father bought some video tapes and I became a big movie fan by watching them. I loved Alien and Predator. I watched them several times a day, they were a great inspiration for me. For as long as I can remember, I've always tried to capture the characters in the films I loved and put them on paper. I used to watch a lot of them, as well as cartoons. It was fun, it was childhood, I liked to escape from the real world by drawing constantly. I still like it. Eventually I grew up and for some reason I've since forgotten, I became interested in architecture and interior design. I was drawing buildings and making plans for flats. It was really cool. When I was 12 I decided to become an architect. Until I was 16, I drew mostly architectural subjects and then I learned academic drawing at the university I wanted to enter before I failed the maths exam, and my dreams were shattered. But now I understand that it was for my own good. Architects are boring and tattooing is great, you can draw your own stuff and that's wonderful.
Besides monsters, science fiction and robots seem to inspire you. Can you tell us about the inspiration you find by imagining other worlds?
You know, my imagination is not very good and I can't completely create something by myself. I just consume a lot of different art and take details, elements that I like, ideas that I use to try and create something new. The luck I have is that it's possible to find good ideas everywhere. Especially where you wouldn't expect to find them. But usually I use Pinterest.
Does the Japanese influence come from your interest in tattooing and anime or is it the ancient culture that interests you?
I really like Japanese culture. I was a big anime fan when I was younger. I like Japanese tattoos, art style and video games. I prefer ancient culture, especially in my art. If you look at my work, you won't find any modern elements. There are only characters from the past.
The motif of the female face is recurrent in your work. What fascination does it hold for you?
I think the female face, especially the beautiful female face, has a huge effect on the viewer. It attracts their gaze and makes them stop and look, like magic that captures their attention. It can give the viewer a unique feeling and contact, which no object can match. So it is a powerful image. And I like to draw portraits of women.
Your point of view seems to have evolved lately, with less expressive faces, almost like robots. What do you think about this?
I never draw robots and any resemblance is an accident. But I want to add a more "alien" aspect to my portraits. I don't want to draw earthlings. I want to draw forms that are above humanity and our animal nature. You know, like mythical or spiritual creatures.
These figures are also decorated with many elaborate ornaments. Are you interested in jewellery?
Yes, of course, but I'm not a great expert. I just look for pictures of jewellery that I like on Pinterest. I need a reference for all those details in my work. And jewellery is one of my sources. I try to find interesting shapes everywhere. I especially like antique jewellery, our ancestors made it so well. Much better than modern ones from my point of view.
All these details take time. What kind of preparatory work is involved for drawing the porjects and how long does it take to tattoo it?
As I do most of my pieces on the forearm, I'll use that as an example. Obviously, at the beginning we discuss our project with the client. Then I ask to take his measurements and then I start to draw a design. Sometimes this can take longer than the tattoo. In general, it takes about 15 hours for the drawing and about the same amount of time for the tattooing.
You work with a very limited colour palette, why this choice?
I only work in black and grey with one colour. I used to do coloured tattoos a few years ago but I wasn't satisfied with the result. I think I'm bad at mixing colours. I like the monochrome look of tattoos. I think it suits my abilities well. But I want to keep the brightness and contrast that colours can give, so I kept one. For my work, I choose from the following colours: red, teal and yellow and their shades. The reason is simple: these colours make a better contrast with the black.
In terms of artistic culture, which artists and tattooers do you like?
Of course, there are many: Jacob Gardenr, Cristian Casas (@kasasink), Andres Inkman, Javier Franco, Derek Noble and many others. I respect every tattoo artist who designs and tries to create something unique. They are pushing the tattoo culture forward! But in general, I prefer to look to traditional artists rather than tattoo artists. I won't copy or take ideas from any of them. When I see something good I always want to copy it, but I avoid doing that. I prefer to look for inspiration and ideas elsewhere, in another artistic field. For example, I'm a big fan of fairy tale illustrations. I also like the Russian artists Genadi Spirin, Olga and Oleg Dugini, Pavel Tatarnikov. I like some modern traditional artists like Gigi Cavenago, Jaoa Ruas, Sergio Toppi and of course Alphons Mucha (not so modern). And then some medieval artists, not exactly one, but all that atmosphere. I love the art direction of Fromsoftware (Japanese game development company, ndr). It's a great source of inspiration for me, games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne.
Let's talk about the tattoo culture in Russia, has the view changed since the prison tattoo culture or is it still frowned upon?
We have made good progress. Today, only the older generation thinks that tattoos are only for prisoners. The tattoo culture is very popular here and in the summer you can see every other foreigner with a tattoo on his body. But being tattooed can still get you into trouble at work, if they are in visible places like the hands, neck or face. I know a few people who have been fired from their jobs because they had tattoos on their hands. + IG : @mvtattoo
