Hello Ernesto! It's a great pleasure to make an interview with you. I really enjoyed looking at your art portfolio. So many different styles, techniques that speaks about your art and your dedication.

Tell me little about your beginnings...

Q: What made you to become an artist? Did you have an artistic background growing up?
A: I started drawing when I was very young. Whenever I saw a cool cartoon or action figure I wanted to drew them because that would be the closest thing to an action figure without having to buy it.

Q: What kind of art interested you at the time?
A: Cartoons, He-Man, Transformers, Ninja Turtles

Q: Who or what is your biggest inspiration?
A: I'd have to say my biggest inspiration is anyone with passion and motivation that pursues their artistic endeavors. As far as artists go, Dan Dos Santos, Iain Mccaig, Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo, Mark Ryden, Norman Rockwell, Dali, Michaelangelo.

       

Q: Your style is very colorful and it reminds me of cartoons, which is so inspiring. Do you find your artwork as your specialty or a style that you most enjoy?
A: I find my artwork as a learning experience, and I enjoy the process very much.

Q: How has your work developed through the years?
A: My work has changed through the years because I am constantly learning, and I always try to improve and seek knowledge and perspectives that i am unfamiliar with.

Q: Talking about your style is a real pleasure. You do extraordinary designs that can be seen on skin, canvas, digital media etc. Awesome, indeed. In which medium you enjoy the most?
A: I enjoy painting the most. There's a little more forgiveness in it than tattooing. I love to paint women in fantastical situations and environments. It is always nice to juxtapose something of this world with something alien.

         

Q: How much time was necessary for you to develop your work to this great level?
A: I am still developing, and to answer that question I guess all my life. Whatever "skill" level I fall in, I have been placed where the sum of my experiences has taken me.

Q: As an artist... Do you get caught up in the meaning of your paintings or tattoos, or you keep that separate?
A: It really depends on the client. I most enjoy tattooing monkeys and aliens in the cosmos. I don't have a single message, I like my pieces to be ambiguous, and whatever the reader can infer from it is the meaning.

   

Q: What can you say that customers like the most in your work?
A: I guess my color work seems to stand out, and my color choices.

Q: What reaction (from your customers ) makes you happiest or most satisfied?
A: Seeing them come back for more, and the more they return the more freedom they give me.

Q: As I said once, your artwork is extraordinary. Are you always the "main creator" in doing someone's tattoo, a painting or some digital designs? How you handle the customer's demands? Are you always fully supportive?
A: Not always, but I tend to push them in a direction where it becomes a fun tattoo for me. As far as paintings go, those are for me, I guess the main goal is to one day tattoo my paintings.

       

Q: Art could be a great influence on someone's personality. What is the best lesson that you've learned from you long art journey?
A: There is no such a thing as talent, only hard work and deep practice.

Q: Since you've found your joy in being an artist, what is the next challenge? Things that you would like to do and have not done yet?
A: I definitely would like to pursue projects in illustration, science fiction and fantasy.

Q: Any tips you can give beginners that are just starting?
A: Never stop learning, and put your hours in. The more you practice tattooing, painting, drawing, you can't get any worse, only better

Please feel free to share your feature plans about your work and your work info(web site).
http://www.facebook.com/ernesto.nave
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ernesto-Nave-Fine-Art-Tattooing/227233017349138