Hello Alex Bruz! Thanks for taking some time to answer some questions for our readers. I'm so glad to share some of my thoughts with you and hopefully our audience will learn from our conversation or just get inspired by your journey.

Q: How long have you been tattooing? What inspired you to start tattooing?
A: I started on February 7th, 2012. My inspiration was my father, he was a great sculptor and oil painting artist. I grew up watching him paint daily, and one day I decided to start tattooing.

Q: Did you find difficult getting into the business? What was the main goal you've had back when you were starting?
A: First of all, I don’t look at it as a business, even though it is my income source, I’ve never looked at it that way. If you tattoo for money, you won’t have art nor money. The main goal when I started always was to do things the right way and be better everyday.

Q: Did you have any artistic background in other field outside tattoo art?
A: Yes, in fact I'm a guitar player, even before I started tattooing, that was what I used to do.

Q: How did you learn to tattoo? Did you have any mentor? What's the best approach in order to get better a knowledge of this type of art? Do you agree that getting apprentice is the best way to start or an "average" creative person can be self taught?
A: I started as a client of the best tattoo artists back then in the country. I learnt a lot from watching, asking and taking advice from them. I attended a lot of seminars imparted by national and international artists. No, I didn’t had a mentor. The best way to learn this art is by practice and constancy, and not making the same mistakes on each tattoo. Any person can learn in both ways, being an expert’s apprentice or by being self taught.

Q: You do almost all kinds of stuff. I really like the color tattoos, such a nice, detailed work, especially when playing with contrasts. Do you consider color work a bit more challenging from a technical aspect and even more painful for the client?
A: Normally, I try to be an integral artist, however there are certain styles that although I admire them, I don’t do them. For example, oriental and neotraditional. Yes, color tattoos take more work as to technique, solidity and contrast, obviously it is more painful for the client, usually takes more time than a black and grey work.

Q: No matter how nicely a tattoo can be done, it's very important how the client takes a good care in the healing time. What are some of your recommendations when it comes to aftercare, what we should avoid?
A: My aftercare advice goes like this: on the next 3 days after getting tattooed, wash the area from 3 to 4 times a day and let it dry. Don’t apply any ointment. After the 3rd day, start hydrating the tattoo with an ointment, with this technique I’ve achieved an optimal healing, since it avoids humidity and the final result is more solid. You should avoid sweating, drinking alcoholic brewages before, while and after; applying a non recommended ointment, and sun exposition for the following 2 weeks.

Q: How is the tattoo scene in Venezuela? Do you see progress? Would you change something about the global tattoo scene? I think we should all appreciate the big progress in the last decade that produced so many exciting young and talented artists as well as new products. What's your opinion?
A: In Venezuela exists a strong development, on the tattoo scene globally, the progress is noticeable, since there are new generations popping all the time. If I could change anything on the tattoo scene, it would be to get more respect as artists or as any other profession, like doctors, actors, musicians, architects, etc. Yes, of course there are so many talented young artists, but the guild should be more humble and close, leaving aside egos.

Q: Do you have any artists you look up to?
A: Yeah, my Venezuelan colleague, Darwin Enriquez. I think he’s an artist who never stops evolving, he’s always innovating with new things.

Q: What's the best part of being a professional tattoo artist?
A: The best part of being a professional tattoo artist is to understand that there can’t be an error margin on the art piece you do on a client. It is gratifying to know they trust you enough to let you create something that will last forever.

Q: If you can tell something to your younger version back when you were just starting, what would it be?
A: I wouldn’t tell myself anything, since I’ve had an unbreakable motivation, always focused, evolving and not looking around.

You can find Alex Bruz on Instagram as alexbruz

Mr,Alex Bruz Thank you so much for the interview.
Kind regards,
The team