When he was just 13 years old, Matt Pardo sat in his backyard in Fresno, Calif., watching his uncle get tatted across the stomach by one of the “homies.” Pardo was in amazement as he watched the skill that went into creating his uncle’s tattoo.
First he watched the image get sketched out onto a piece of carbon paper. Then the image was traced onto his uncle’s skin and painted on with a needle that kept buzzing. Pardo couldn’t keep his eyes off the image that came together.
Pardo made it a goal of his to become a high school art teacher. After two years in college, he dropped out and started working at a gym. When the money wasn’t rolling in as expected, he decided to take up tattooing.
According to Pardo, usually people start off tattooing by being the “shop bitch.” This is a person that gets coffee for all the artists, mops the floor and in exchange gets to sit and learn in the shop. But Pardo didn’t have that. He learned through a trial and error process by doing tattoos on most of his friends out of his own home.
Some of them instantly said no when Pardo asked if he could do his friends’ tattoos.
“Some of them were like, ‘You suck and I’m not going to let you tattoo me,” Pardo said. “[Others] just wanted to let me learn a little bit more and from my drawings they trusted me and didn’t think it would be horrible.”
Pardo admits that his first tattoos were pretty “shitty” because he had to get used to the weight of the machine and how to draw images where they actually fit on a person’s body.
“[Tattoos] are just different everywhere,” Pardo said. “Around the elbow, it can be the most difficult but laying [the tattoo] where it flows with the anatomy of the body isn’t easy. When you look at somebody, there’s just rules of which ways the tattoos should be facing [so that] when you’re right in front of them, they’re appealing to the viewer.”
Now, he has over 11 years in experience as a professional tattoo artist and is covered from the neck down in 11 massive tattoos.
Pardo’s very first tattoo that he received at 19 years old consists of his last name in old English letters spread out across his upper back.
“Definitely typical, Mexican dude in California,” Pardo said laughing. “I’ve heard plenty of jokes about that.”
Eventually he added on two hands holding each other at the bottom of his back with a feather, rose, script and heart covered in thorns, to fill up the rest of the space.
Practicing on himself and friends, Pardo realized creating tattoos wasn’t just a hobby. It was something he was actually good at that could pay the bills as well.
Tatting the country
Pardo moved from California to expand his skills in tattooing, making stops in Oregon, Arizona, Washington and eventually ending up in the city at the Chicago Tattooing and Piercing Company, where he has been for six months now. Each time he has moved, Pardo has decided to do it on impulse.
According to Pardo, moving around constantly to different cities is one of the reasons he loves being a tattoo artist. He can experience a whole new tattoo environment and learn so much from each one.
“Some [tattoo shops] are more mellow, some are a party all day and some are people just painting all day,” Pardo said. “Everybody has different styles and so you pick up little tricks here and there. That to me is the coolest part, networking with other artists and meeting artists and seeing all the shit that they’re doing.”
Because he is only in each place for a short amount of time, Pardo pushes himself to do his best work each and every time.
“It keeps me motivated cause I feel like every place I go into, I have to kick ass as much as I can because this is like, ‘I’m only going to be at this place for like two weeks,” Pardo said. “I better not do a shitty tattoo, I make every one of them as sick as possible. There are other artists that I’m around and I’m like ‘oh man, they’re killing it’. I can’t do a bad tattoo and it’s just motivating in a healthy, competitive way.”
Sweet home Chicago
Because Pardo has been in Chicago for so long, he does not face the pressure he normally would in working at a tattoo shop for only a few weeks. In fact, he and his coworkers have a very unique relationship.
“Grande iced vanilla crème?” Pardo’s coworker said.
“Yes, I need it like yesterday,” Pardo said.
“Oh, you’re such a dick,” Pardo’s coworker said. “I’m serious, bitch.”
“That’s on the record!” Pardo said.
“That is on the record,” Pardo coworker said. “Let the record show, he’s also broke!”
Their tattoo shop has no human resources department, which lets them joke around in whatever way they want. It also lets them tell clients that are acting out that they need to leave.
Some clients don’t like to listen to the artists give their criticism on the pieces they want. Pardo says the only reason artists even do so is because they want the tattoo to turn out well.
However, some clients will ignore the artist’s advice and will instead give them attitude.
“This isn’t Burger King. We can tell you to bounce if we want,” Pardo said. “We try to be nice but not to the point where the client mistreats you and makes you hate your job.”
Mi casa es su casa
Although there have been a few times where they have had to kick some people out of their shop for not cooperating, Pardo says he has made some of his closest friends through his clients. People who come to the shop multiple times will come show them their finished tattoos, sometimes bearing gifts such as cupcakes or beer to just say hi and hang out with the artists.
“You spend so many hours, sometimes six hours at a time with [these people] and they’ll come in a couple times a week,” Pardo said. “They’ll show us their healed tattoo, which is always cool. I love seeing big projects I really felt good about [turn out well].
Every time he packs up to go to a new city, Pardo can depend on his client buddies to help him out.
“Dudes would help me move from my house,” Pardo said. “They’re the ones that you’re just tattooing and you do it so often to them that they’re like ‘Aw man, I’ll help you out!’ I’m like yeah man, that’s awesome! Then I got a new friend.”
For Pardo, being a tattoo artist is so much more than all the friends he makes and places he can move to.
He does it because tattooing allows people to “stand out and be who you are.”
Although he thinks some people get ridiculous tattoos, he loves that tattoos allow people to express their true selves.
“People get stupid tattoos that are all jokes,” Pardo said. “I’m not really into that or infinity signs. Infinity signs and that Pinterest type stuff, I’m not a fan of. But it pays the bills and who am I to judge those people for just having that, you know? Just cause I have this standard or whatever it may be. I mean I have weird ideas tattooed on me too probably. Art is always going to be there, express yourself.”
First he watched the image get sketched out onto a piece of carbon paper. Then the image was traced onto his uncle’s skin and painted on with a needle that kept buzzing. Pardo couldn’t keep his eyes off the image that came together.
Pardo made it a goal of his to become a high school art teacher. After two years in college, he dropped out and started working at a gym. When the money wasn’t rolling in as expected, he decided to take up tattooing.
According to Pardo, usually people start off tattooing by being the “shop bitch.” This is a person that gets coffee for all the artists, mops the floor and in exchange gets to sit and learn in the shop. But Pardo didn’t have that. He learned through a trial and error process by doing tattoos on most of his friends out of his own home.
Some of them instantly said no when Pardo asked if he could do his friends’ tattoos.
“Some of them were like, ‘You suck and I’m not going to let you tattoo me,” Pardo said. “[Others] just wanted to let me learn a little bit more and from my drawings they trusted me and didn’t think it would be horrible.”
Pardo admits that his first tattoos were pretty “shitty” because he had to get used to the weight of the machine and how to draw images where they actually fit on a person’s body.
“[Tattoos] are just different everywhere,” Pardo said. “Around the elbow, it can be the most difficult but laying [the tattoo] where it flows with the anatomy of the body isn’t easy. When you look at somebody, there’s just rules of which ways the tattoos should be facing [so that] when you’re right in front of them, they’re appealing to the viewer.”
Now, he has over 11 years in experience as a professional tattoo artist and is covered from the neck down in 11 massive tattoos.
Pardo’s very first tattoo that he received at 19 years old consists of his last name in old English letters spread out across his upper back.
“Definitely typical, Mexican dude in California,” Pardo said laughing. “I’ve heard plenty of jokes about that.”
Eventually he added on two hands holding each other at the bottom of his back with a feather, rose, script and heart covered in thorns, to fill up the rest of the space.
Practicing on himself and friends, Pardo realized creating tattoos wasn’t just a hobby. It was something he was actually good at that could pay the bills as well.
Tatting the country
Pardo moved from California to expand his skills in tattooing, making stops in Oregon, Arizona, Washington and eventually ending up in the city at the Chicago Tattooing and Piercing Company, where he has been for six months now. Each time he has moved, Pardo has decided to do it on impulse.
According to Pardo, moving around constantly to different cities is one of the reasons he loves being a tattoo artist. He can experience a whole new tattoo environment and learn so much from each one.
“Some [tattoo shops] are more mellow, some are a party all day and some are people just painting all day,” Pardo said. “Everybody has different styles and so you pick up little tricks here and there. That to me is the coolest part, networking with other artists and meeting artists and seeing all the shit that they’re doing.”
Because he is only in each place for a short amount of time, Pardo pushes himself to do his best work each and every time.
“It keeps me motivated cause I feel like every place I go into, I have to kick ass as much as I can because this is like, ‘I’m only going to be at this place for like two weeks,” Pardo said. “I better not do a shitty tattoo, I make every one of them as sick as possible. There are other artists that I’m around and I’m like ‘oh man, they’re killing it’. I can’t do a bad tattoo and it’s just motivating in a healthy, competitive way.”
Sweet home Chicago
Because Pardo has been in Chicago for so long, he does not face the pressure he normally would in working at a tattoo shop for only a few weeks. In fact, he and his coworkers have a very unique relationship.
“Grande iced vanilla crème?” Pardo’s coworker said.
“Yes, I need it like yesterday,” Pardo said.
“Oh, you’re such a dick,” Pardo’s coworker said. “I’m serious, bitch.”
“That’s on the record!” Pardo said.
“That is on the record,” Pardo coworker said. “Let the record show, he’s also broke!”
Their tattoo shop has no human resources department, which lets them joke around in whatever way they want. It also lets them tell clients that are acting out that they need to leave.
Some clients don’t like to listen to the artists give their criticism on the pieces they want. Pardo says the only reason artists even do so is because they want the tattoo to turn out well.
However, some clients will ignore the artist’s advice and will instead give them attitude.
“This isn’t Burger King. We can tell you to bounce if we want,” Pardo said. “We try to be nice but not to the point where the client mistreats you and makes you hate your job.”
Mi casa es su casa
Although there have been a few times where they have had to kick some people out of their shop for not cooperating, Pardo says he has made some of his closest friends through his clients. People who come to the shop multiple times will come show them their finished tattoos, sometimes bearing gifts such as cupcakes or beer to just say hi and hang out with the artists.
“You spend so many hours, sometimes six hours at a time with [these people] and they’ll come in a couple times a week,” Pardo said. “They’ll show us their healed tattoo, which is always cool. I love seeing big projects I really felt good about [turn out well].
Every time he packs up to go to a new city, Pardo can depend on his client buddies to help him out.
“Dudes would help me move from my house,” Pardo said. “They’re the ones that you’re just tattooing and you do it so often to them that they’re like ‘Aw man, I’ll help you out!’ I’m like yeah man, that’s awesome! Then I got a new friend.”
For Pardo, being a tattoo artist is so much more than all the friends he makes and places he can move to.
He does it because tattooing allows people to “stand out and be who you are.”
Although he thinks some people get ridiculous tattoos, he loves that tattoos allow people to express their true selves.
“People get stupid tattoos that are all jokes,” Pardo said. “I’m not really into that or infinity signs. Infinity signs and that Pinterest type stuff, I’m not a fan of. But it pays the bills and who am I to judge those people for just having that, you know? Just cause I have this standard or whatever it may be. I mean I have weird ideas tattooed on me too probably. Art is always going to be there, express yourself.”