From Russia to Los Angeles, Dmitry Harley is living his American dream. In California, the young thirty-year-old from Volgograd, who arrived in Ukraine before the war, has found a favourable ground to host his new-school pieces, an interpretation of the style increasingly influenced by Japanese anime.
Hi Harley, how long have you been living in LA?
I moved to LA at the end of December 2022. I am here on an O1 talent visa. I've been working towards this goal since 2018. And here I am.
Is tattooing a way for you to draw on another support?
No, at first I started tattooing without any drawing skills. But when I decided that I wanted to tattoo, I realised that I had to develop this skill to grow.
Were you tattooed?
Yes, I got my first tattoo when I was at school. In my city of Volgograd, as well as in Russia, the tattoo culture was very late at that time. There were almost no studios to get a tattoo. It was difficult to choose but I was advised by a master tattooist who gave me a lot of useful information and I decided to try this profession myself. A few years later, in 2012, I started tattooing my friends until I didn't even notice that I had left my job to do nothing else.
How did you go about finding your style?
In the beginning, the arrival of Instagram strongly influenced my choices and the constitution of my style. The social network opened a world with an infinite amount of information available. I started to follow a lot of tattoo artists on this social network but, as time went by, I realised that this was not necessarily the best method. The risk is to become the person you are watching.
Who are the tattoo artists you were looking at?
There are several but I would particularly keep: David Mention, Cristian Casas, Oash, Tania Green Vesper, Andrew Biserov, Sasha Akulov, Bastian Blau and Pablo Frias.
How do you come to neo-traditional with an Asian theme?
It's only recently, only two years ago that I developed my work in this direction. I am very interested in drawings of animals dressed in samurai costumes and other Japanese attributes. My style is also changing since I watch a lot of anime. This culture was very far from me, when my classmates were watching "The Death Note", I was playing video games and I didn't understand why they were so excited. My work is influenced by many factors: the team I work with, video games, movies, the culture of different countries and much more.
Many tattoo artists travel to exchange and confront other points of view in order to learn and develop their universe. How did it happen for you?
I've learnt a lot from the tattoo conventions I've done around the world, from the advice I've received to the lessons I've learned from sharing experiences. Plus, you get to meet your idols and see how they work. I keep telling everyone, and in my interviews, that tattoo conventions have played a crucial role in the development of my career.
Does this explain why you regularly make collaborative pieces?
For me it's all about the exchange of experience. By working in this way, it is possible to see what techniques colleagues use, which is very interesting. It is also an exchange with the public and, during the conventions, a spectacle for the visitors. At the end, the result is a great tattoo done in the shortest possible time.
Do you also draw for personal projects?
I only draw my projects for my clients. I only ask my clients to give me an idea of the tattoo they want and then to trust me.
How do you approach a new piece?
I used to draw a lot of tattoos in static poses, but now I like to complicate the work. So I use the movement of the figures or, if the pose is too stiff, I add details to the composition, like patterns or decorations. I also spend time looking for references to understand the nature of the character - in the case of a specific character for example - or looking for an interesting pose.
You're a good colourist, how did you develop your colour palette?
Oh, really? Thank you. The most important thing to understand is that a tattoo artist's palette shapes their style but also the recognition of their work. I think I was inspired by video games, everything is so colourful and bright. It didn't take me long to find it and it's very comfortable for me to work on almost any skin type. I see a lot of my former clients with scarred tattoos that are over five years old and they haven't changed. So I avoid small details in my pieces so that it doesn't affect their lifespan over time.
How do you see the tattoo culture today?
I think tattoo culture has changed a lot in the last 15 years. It's already an industry, maybe not as big as beauty products, but it's already noticeable. There are a lot of tattoo artists and a lot of really good tattoo artists now, so that creates competition and that's cool. Without it, I wouldn't have been able to achieve my dream and come to the US. Nowadays, it's not enough to just be a tattoo artist, you also have to be an artist, photographer, videographer, editor, marketer. It's cool, it keeps me going. + IG: @harleytattooartist
