Examiner recently spoke with Mark Machado aka Mister Cartoon, who is one of the most well-respected tattoo artists in the industry. He has inked the likes of Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, Eminem, Mena Suvari, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Method Man, Justin Timberlake, Travis Barker, 50 Cent and Ryan Phillippe, to name a few. Mister Cartoon is based in LA, but from November 14th-24th, Mister Cartoon set up a pop-up Ink Suite for hotel guests to get “inked" at the stylish, Marcel at Gramercy boutique hotel, located on the border of New York City’s Gramercy Park and Murray Hill neighborhoods, for the return of its one-of-a-kind “Tattoo Artist in Residence” series. Mister Cartoon was able to redesign the whole suite to his liking. "We put our own paintings up, took down the conservative ones, pulled the beds out put a table for us to tattoo, so it's not so stiff."
How did the collaboration with Marcel at Gramercy come about? "The collaboration happened with my friend named Nick Adler, he's Snoop Dogg's manager, so he had friends here at the hotel and they were building that whole concept of an artist in residency and he goes "I got the perfect guy for you." So he really pitched it and made it happen and since I have been here I've been doing paintings on canvas, illustration with paper and pen, brushes and tattooing."
This week Mister Cartoon unveiled a one of a kind artwork, which was displayed in the hotel lobby. In addition to seeing his regular clientele as well as hotel guests, who had the unique privilege of skipping the one-year waiting list, he also sketched the designs for his new Vans shoe line, while at the hotel. He is also collaborating with Marvel Comics for Spiderman apparel. In the past his art has been used by brands like Nike, Toyota, T-Mobile, MetroPCS and Grand Theft Auto. He also had the opportunity to create his very own G-Shock watch.
When asked, how he got into the tattoo business he said, "getting into my early 20's hanging around in tattoo shops, you see that it's a real professional atmosphere--not all shops--but the shops I was in had been around a long time and it was just very appealing the whole application of ink to skin and I was already a professional artist, so it was like the final frontier to take my art and put it on people's skin and I never thought it would take me where it would take me. I was just trying to conquer the application, you know just trying to get it down. There was no huge marketing ideas or red carpet dreams, I was really trying to embrace and appreciate the art form."
Was it difficult from making that transition from graffiti artist and painter to ink and needles? "It's extremely hard...The skin's surface is never flat, it's always concave and it moves when it feels like it, sometimes it talks back to you, sometimes it shows up intoxicated, sometimes it's smooth silky smooth, sometimes it's like leather...Generally a woman's skin is ten times easier to tattoo than a construction worker laying cement in the summer who has that leather skin, so it's always a challenge."
Mister Cartoon has a fair share of tattoos himself. "My tattoos really resemble my life." He has two of his childrens' names on his hands. He has his baby daughter's name on the side of his neck. His wife's name is tattooed on the back of his neck. He also has 'mom' and 'pops' tattooed on the other side of his neck. "Everyday I wake up, that's what inspires me." When asked what his family thinks of his profession, Mister Cartoon said, "At first, of course, my mother was extremely disgusted and she started to see, as years go by, maybe it is professional clean and sanitary. I'm a graffiti writer as a kid, so the shock factor is kind of over, but now they're extremely proud! I've been able to buy them a house built by tattoos and then I've been able fortunately enough to do apparel design and shoes design and things like that."
Mister Cartoon has worked with a slew of A-listers, but he is also grateful for his regular customers. "My day-to-day customers are hardworking people that are attracted to get tattood where Eminem got tattooed or where Christina Aguilera got her tattoos, you know? They want to see that environment...Thank god for the average Joe like myself, they keep the whole thing alive! Entertainers can be extremely fun, or extremely difficult to deal with... It's great to meet someone that you see on TV everyday,,,Anybody that says that seeing Beyonce or Eva Longoria 'Oh I wouldn't be starstruck,' they're lying. They haven't seen them because when they walk through the doors, light rays and doves come with em'. Some people are made stars you could look at them and go wow they were going to be famous no matter what."
Do you nervous when you tattoo a celeb? "Extremely, but then you got to say, "hey this is my job." This is what I do. I'm gonna do a great job on it. Like Mena Suvari got a '13' on the center of her chest, and she got this lion on the back of her neck. Those are difficult tattoos, and she's petite and you want them to look feminine, but I get excited more than anything."
What's the process like when a person wants you to tattoo them? "Generally, someone comes in, we sit down, we talk about usually everything, but tattoos: about life, our kids, then my assistant will hand them menus, we'll order food, while we're waiting for the food we'll kind of build their idea on their tattoo see what they're thinking about. Sometimes they will know exactly what they want, and other times they wont know. I gotta be a lightweight therapist, get in their head, figure out what it is that moves them, something that's not gonna change, something that;s gonna be a classic look for them."
Mister Cartoon is also adamant about giving back to the community and charity. Mister Cartoon was pleasantly surprised when his business partner said, "Lance Armstrong called and he wants you to fly and go do a mural on the side of his foundation's building. And then every year we add a peice onto the mural and we did this big thing for the kids. Thats a really big part of what I do, is that I do a lot of public motivation, outreach for kids, so I'll take at risk kids...generally teenagers and I give them power seminars on how I got started where I started at, the speed bumps, the road blocks and the success of it and I let them know how I did it and I challenge them to do it."
Mister Cartoon, wouldn't be where he is today if not for an important mentor who believed in him. "You know I've had different people that inspired me, my mother and father are still happily married over 40 years, so they were a huge influence on me and then I came to a point in the road where I had to make a change, and change is good. And my life was perfect up to that point, but necessary enough to go the next level, I had to change my whole lifestyle, stop drinking, stop smoking, and it was a choice that I made. I don't expect a trophy for it or applause something, I had to do it in order to focus on my art and my mentor Baby Ray took me under his wing--he's a world renowned tattoer, and basically brought me up and showed me the real art of tattooing, it can only be handed out that way....you have to be living in a shop and it has to be handed down to you old style."
On this particular evening, a young man was getting a full sleeve for his first tattoo. Mister Cartoon drew the design first with red and black sharpie markers. "I'll get a red marker, I'll do a light sketch, bring a couple of examples, and then I'll actually take a red pen, sketch it out as you can see real rough, then I'll go back in with a black pen and detail it up." On this client's arm the theme was man's ruin. There were women, champagne glasses, temptation, cards, gambling, violence, "yet soft and good times, all the yin and yang of life," Mister Cartoon said. After the marker print dies he uses the ink needles to finalize the intricate design. Mister Cartoon specializes in black and gray tattoos. "That's my specialty. When I started off, I said my tattoos are gonna look like an old Bogart movie, like your watching a black and white movie. I love that era from the 50s and 60s, I collect 50s and 60s classic cars and me and my father build them," Mister Cartoon said.
"This tattoo would take 6 hours. Right now I'm letting the pattern dry because once I start using machines, ones for lining, ones for shading, ones for master shade, so basically these are like brushes they're like big markers and with a fine tip marker. Right here we barely, barely break the surface of the skin."
If anyone has ever seen friends who have keloids or lines on their skin after getting a tattoo, they have had a bad job.They "have gone too far and it broke and it actually damaged the skin, that's what we don't want to do. I want the tattoo to heal like it's apart of him. The healing process itself is pleasure."
Mister Cartoon's advice for people who are interested in getting a tattoo for the first time?
- I think that if someone wants to get a tattoo, they should do their research and find usually the oldest most respected shop in your area.
- Go to the old timers, not to the tourist trap place...You want to go to the masters and there's one in every city.
- He jokingly adds that a full proof way to know if your tattoo artist is good is: "You find out which car the owner drives. If he has bullet holes and primer spots on it, you don't want to get tattooed there."
Mister Cartoon's message to the youth: "Just for any youngster out there wanting to get into art, practice hard be original look to beautify your community and you'll be alright!"
About The Marcel at Gramercy
The Marcel at Gramercy is a boutique hotel located at 201 East 24th Street in New York City. With an extensive redesign and renovation, the hotel has 135 well-appointed guestrooms equipped with state-of-the-art technology, Frette linens, 32-inch LCD flat screen televisions and deluxe Lather bathroom amenities. Additional services include a full concierge service, high-speed wireless internet access, mini bar amenities, same day laundry services, and a special program for guests traveling with pets. The critically acclaimed, casual-chic restaurant ‘Inoteca, is located on the ground floor of the hotel and offers a small-plate menu of regional Italian fare. ‘Inoteca now provides in-room dining for hotel guests, with a full menu available. For more information and reservations, call 212-696-3800 or visit www.themarcelatgramercy.com
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