Daily Inspiration: Meet Daniel J J Vasquez

Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel J J Vasquez

Hi Daniel J, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Hi there, My name is Daniel, I go by Dani, Im a Multi faceted Artist based in Chicago and my Main Craft is Tattooing, I travel all around the world and I love visiting Arizona
I was Born In Chicago back in 1993 but I grew up in Burgos, a small medieval city in Spain from 3 till I was about 23 years old, wich I feel has highly influenced my art, being surrounded by forest landscapes and old roman churches and castles, im definitely inspired by old medieval and gothic art and the aesthetic and symbolism of ancient cultures.
I also really enjoy fantasy, creating fantasy realms and abstracting a concept, dream or Idea and telling a story with an illustration .
I also learned to tattoo out there around 2009 so Ive been tattooing around 15 years.
I specialize on illustrative tattoos with a Dark/fantasy twist Everything is hand drawn and I take pride in giving people unique looking pieces.
My creative process is very Intuitive as I sit down with my clients before hand and in a collaborative process we come up with the best Ideas

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Moving away from home was probably one of the biggest challenges I had to face,
Iuckily I was 23 with a thirst for adventure and that kept me going.
Being away from all my family and friends and feeling alone in a whole new country was definitely one of the hardest things.
Moving a cross seas into a new city , took me a while to develop a clientele and I definetely fit the profile of starving artist for the first year of my transition lol

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
So my main craft is tattooing but I also paint, make music, draw, ceramic sculpture, jewelry and carve stones, there’s a special place for Jade in my heart.

My art is somewhere in the realm of fantasy, I enjoy using the elements of imaginary worlds to bring an abstract idea to life, I’ve also been working on a universe of my own and would love to compile eventually into a book.

What sets me apart from other tattoo artists would be my collaborative process,
I take pride into hand drawing all my designs, I do not trace or copy and I’m dedicated to give my clients a unique tattoo .
We usually sit down before our appointment, and we brainstorm ideas, I don’t necessarily need reference photos but I also like working off ideas, verses, stories or dreams and reinterpreting them with my vision and including symbols to tell a story, it’s a very intuitive process .
Ink and Blood alchemy

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
That’s a tough one, I feel like creating art is one of the things the bring me the most joy and obviously my friends and family, but at some point I realized you can’t take without giving back, so creating is not just for me, but whatever I do, I would like to inspire others into the pursuit of their dreams and the rebellion against the forces that threaten to oppress others in this world.
Hope lies in our future generations and we must rethink the ways in witch we operate in this existence and art is a vehicle to envision such future.
The markings on our skin have power in meaning and we carry them to our grave .

Pricing:

• Depending on the pieces price can range from 200$ to 1200$ forms full day session 5/6 hours
• Some pieces may require sessions
• I can also work with a budget and a adapt a design accordingly

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.spacetimelovechicago.com/portfolios/portfolio-dani/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anaquarianrealm/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anaquarianrealm/?_rdr

Image Credits
All pictures and art by: Daniel J J Vasquez “An Aquarian Realm”