Art & Life with Antonio Garcia

Today we’d like to introduce you to Antonio Garcia.

Antonio, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
Growing up in South San Diego CA, I’ve always taken an interest in art. As a kid, I used art as an outlet and also as a way to capture what I’ve seen in my environment. I use to draw things from monsters to lowriders, homies, and even wrestlers. I would sometimes sneak into the library of my elementary school just to make copies of my drawings and sell them for 10 cents each. My interest in tattoos came at about high school. I had written a report on it and set my goal to become a tattoo artist at that moment. Once I graduated high school, I started a backbreaking job but would still make time to draw whether it was on broken drywall pieces or cardboard boxes. After a while my coworkers had caught on that I was the one doing all those drawings and would often ask me to design tattoos for them, I began seeing my drawings turned into tattoos quite a few times and that is where it clicked and hit me that I wanted to start tattooing. I ended up investing in a machine, and that’s where it all began. I picked up the machine in 2006 and haven’t put it down since. By 2012 I was finally given the opportunity to work in a shop. After being turned down by various shops in the area, Jr “listo” Tapia gave me my first shot in the industry, from there on I soaked up as much knowledge as I could and applied it to my work. In 2014 I made the decision to move to Phoenix, Here I met William “boomer” Baker who gave me an opportunity to work at his studio. That’s where my art and knowledge really took off.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I love all black and grey realism especially dog portraits since I’m a big dog lover, but what I really enjoy doing the most, is anything dark, from darker imagery to horror portraits, especially stuff with lots of detail/texture. I’ve always been into darker art since I can remember. A lot of my inspiration comes from horror movies and even some music. Dark art is not for everyone, and I love that about it. I have actually opened a few eyes to it and even had people ask me for those kind of tattoos, never in their lives thinking they were going to get something like that but learned to appreciate it. That’s when I feel like I’m doing something right.

Any advice for aspiring or new artists?
If I could go back, I would have tried to get into a shop sooner than I did. It took me six years to convince myself that I wanted to be in a shop. I was anti shop because of a lot of stories I had heard and thought all they wanted to do was make money off of me, little did I know I was actually going to get schooled. I am where I am now because I never questioned anything, any advice and lesson that was thrown my way I rolled with it. If you act like you know it all, you’re not going to get very far. We as artists are constantly learning every day but you gotta have patience and just roll with the punches. Eventually, everything will start to fall into place.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My work is available through social media. You can find me through Instagram @Antoniogarciaart

As well as Facebook under: Antonio garcia villalpando

Contact Info:

• Address: Fifth finger studio
  6666 w Peoria ave suite 103
  Glendale AZ, 85302
• Phone: 623-937-2201
• Email: antoniogarciaart@gmail.com
• Instagram: Antoniogarciaart
• Facebook: Antonio garcia villalpando

Image Credit:
HECTOR GARCIA VILLALPANDO
H3x G.V. PHOTOGRAPHY

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