Interview
Vanessa Rodriguez
Vanessa is a tattooist by trade, and an artist at heart — she has been drawing (mostly) portraits for over 20 years. Constantly looking for new subject matter to put down on paper, Vanessa loves using her art to capture people, pets, and moments.
Being a self-taught artist, Vanessa has gained much knowledge through books, experience, and practice over the years. She also spent some time furthering her artistic development at the University of New South Wales, Australia. Although she enjoys using dry mediums, she is also constantly working on developing her skills across other mediums.
Vanessa went for her first tattoo at the age of 20, but it was at the age of 29 that she truly fell in love with the tattoo culture. She has been tattooing full-time since November 2010, as well as doing freelance commissioned drawings for clients.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I was born in Sydney, Australia. My parents were both born and raised in Colonia, Uruguay. They migrated here in the 70’s so I grew up able to speak Spanish with my family.
My grandmother and aunt from my mother’s side are both artists, so I feel that my artistic skills were inherited from them. I always had an interest in drawing, but I credit my grandmother completely for nurturing that interest in me when I was young. During my childhood and teenage years, my grandmother from Uruguay visited us a number of times, and would sit with me at the kitchen table and teach me how to draw. When I was 7 years old, she sent me a ‘how to draw’ book for kids, which I spent hours working through. Over 30 years later, I still have that very book sitting with my collection of art books. My grandmother is 93 years old as I write this, and I’m so grateful that as an adult I’ve been able to visit her in Uruguay multiple times, drawing together and sharing my art career with her.
Although I spent some time developing my skills at university, I spent many years afterwards working in retail. At that time, my drawing was nothing more than a hobby. It wasn’t until I was 29 that I discovered the world of tattooing. That sparked a new interest where I could combine my love of drawing with work. That got me drawing again, and eventually I pursued a career as a professional tattoo artist. I approached Wicked Ink Tattoos with a portfolio of my work and they offered me an apprenticeship. It was a life-changing opportunity and a moment that I am truly grateful for.
After spending 6 years working at Wicked Ink and then another 6 years operating my own private tattoo studio, I joined the team at Markd Tattoo in Redfern at the beginning of 2022. I couldn’t be happier. I know that I’m going to grow and develop as an artist working amongst this talented group of people, and I still have the flexibility to pursue my commissioned drawing work.”
“Last year during the lockdown, I ventured out to drawing with pens on shoes and even wood, and I was pleasantly surprised at the result.
I’m keen to try some more projects and see what I can do on those surfaces.”
What does your work aim to say? Does it comment on any current social or political issues?
“I’ve never felt that my work is heavy in terms of meaning. I have a deep interest and love for pop culture, film, people and animals, and I simply love to capture moments and faces with my drawings. That could be anything from drawing a favorite scene from a movie, someone’s pet or home, or a special moment captured in a photograph.
When it comes to my tattoo work, I try to bring my love of drawing across in my tattoo style as much as possible. People know me for my realism style work, and I’m happiest when I get to tattoo a portrait or create custom pop culture themed designs.
I’m currently working on putting together a large scale of works based on portraits of people wearing masks. I’ve been collecting and/or taking photos for some time now that I want to use as reference images for the portrait drawings. Like so many others, I was greatly affected by the pandemic lockdowns. I want this series of works to comment on the negative impact that isolating had on people everywhere.”
Which current art world trends are you following?
“I’m currently focusing more on my tattoos and working to further develop my skills and education so that I can take my work to another level. I’m really drawn to the popular world of small and micro tattoos, but as a realism artist, it’s a matter of finding the fine line between these two styles. Realism generally relies on size to allow the space to capture details. So I’m really enjoying working on a smaller scale, but also pushing the boundaries to see how much detail I can get onto skin while retaining the result once healed.”
Do you plan your work in advance, or is it improvisation?
“With my tattoos in particular, I like to plan ahead as much as possible. I find that it provides comfort and assurance for my clients when they are getting something that is quite permanent. I think that habit naturally spills over into my commissioned drawing work as well. I don’t often start a drawing without a pretty solid idea of what I want the end result to look like.”
What process, materials, techniques, etc., do you use to create your artwork?
“I’ve always been a big fan of dry mediums with my drawing work, in particular graphite pencils, and in later years, ballpoint pens and colored pencils. I’m a creature of habit, which may not be a good thing when talking of creativity. I tend to stick with something if I like the result.
I remember back in university, I heavily disliked paint because I couldn’t control it the way that I wanted when doing detailed work. I pretty much wrote it off and never looked back. Lately, I’ve had the realization that I’ve been working with ink—a very wet medium—for over 10 years when tattooing, so I’m curious to see what I can do with paint if I was to try it again now. I find it interesting how my mind separated my tattoo work from my drawing work in terms of mediums.”
What does your art mean to you?
“My art is my happy place. It’s the place I can go to when I want to quiet my mind. More than anything, I love that I can use my skill to put a smile on other people’s faces! It truly warms my heart every time I finish a tattoo or hand over a commission and get to watch my clients’ faces light up.”
What is your favorite artwork and why?
“I’m not sure that I can choose one favorite artwork, but I can name a few favorite artists. I adore the work of Robin Eley and the sculptures of Ron Mueck for their hyper realistic qualities. I could stare at their works for hours!
When it comes to the world of tattoos, a couple of artists stand out for me: Max Thommesen and Jurgis Mikalauskas. Not to mention the very artists I work with day in, day out who inspire me daily.”
Instagram: @v.draws.tattoos
