vines & fine black lines

How this artist turns bouquets into black & white beauties

Photos courtesy of Diana Carolina Munoz.

Lizzie Bromley: Do you have like favorite types of tattoos to do? 

Diana Carolina Munoz: Yeah. I love floral stuff. I love making bouquets. So to create these like little tattoo bouquets, it feels very natural. I just like I love the organic forms, but there's also some structure to them and they're just like, I don't know. They're so beautiful. 

LB: Have you ever done two tattoos the same?

DCM: Very rarely. Sometimes people will come in in the group and they're like, "we all want the same thing". But then some things are kind of like...like if somebody wants a palm tree and I've drawn that palm tree several fucking times, I'm not going to redraw one palm tree every single time. But it's rarer because people usually want something custom. They say, "this represents me in this way, I want this to say this about my family or this about my life". So it's usually all custom pieces. 

LB: Do you typically do tattoos that mean something to people? 

DCM: Yeah, definitely. I feel like a lot of the single needles stuff, [the meaning is] kind of there. They're kind of like little jewels, they're small. They're very precious to the person. These little tattoos, I see them like jewels. Super important, super meaningful. I feel like the style conveys the meaning that they want to put behind something and that's nice. We'll get into a conversation. I'll draw up the design and then like, let's say this client, she wants Palestinian olive branches with orchids, so when she sits down and we'll start a conversation. Usually, the meaning of the tattoo comes up and we kind of discuss why and what the inspiration is and how it relates to them and all that stuff. 

LB: Do you like to tattoo more when you're more emotionally connected to the art? 

DCM: I mean, I think it's nice. I wouldn't say like I prefer one thing to the other. It's just like it's nice to hear the person's story. You never know what you're going to hear but you'll hear some really beautiful things sometimes. I tattooed this rose on a girl. It was a very simple rose outline, like something pretty common. But her story was that her father, who grew this rose garden, would pick these roses and give them to her mom and that's such a cool story. It's just so sweet. The actual tattoo itself is simple, but the story behind it was beautiful. So it's something cool to connect on a kind of a different level with clients. 

LB: What got you into tattooing?

DCM: I honestly started by complete coincidence. I was--I became an artist at about 10 years old. I just love art. From fashion design to drawing to painting, everything. I was starting to study art in college and I just lost my mind during my first year of college. Drinking, partying, raging. I fucking quit working. I came to a point where I was like eating a piece of bread with ketchup on it and was like "Oh, perhaps it is time to move back home". So at that point, I was getting ready to move back to my parents' house and my cousin, she hits me up and she is like, "Hey, guess what the girls and I did last night". I'm like, "what'd you do?" And she's like, "well, we met this owner of a new tattoo shop and we all got drunk with him and we all got tattoos". And I was like, "oh, my God, that's fucking stupid". She goes, "yeah, but I told him about you! I told him that you're cute and creative and that you could draw. He wants to meet you". And I was like, well, I just so happened to be moving back home, taking a semester off. I had nothing to do, I don't have a job. I mean, I was 19 at the time, so I was like, "fuck it, let's go meet him". So I went to go meet the dude and he ended up tattooing me that night. We just clicked. We just really got along. And he told me that if I wanted to learn that I had to bring him six drawings by the end of the week and that he felt that I had potential, he would teach me. And just as much as I needed something to do, he needed somebody to help him out with his new business. So it was this really beautiful, mutually beneficial relationship that we created. And I fell in love with the art form. As an artist, to be in an atmosphere where it's constant creation and constant movement and just people coming in and out, it's invigorating. And it's one of the few art forms that you can make money pretty much immediately after your apprenticeship. But yeah, I just ended up falling in love with the art form. It was definitely like a coincidence, it was something I had planned. But it's been the biggest blessing ever. 

LB: Did you ever like tattoos growing up? 

DCM: Yeah, I mean, I had two tattoos at the time. And my brother, who's a really big influence on my life had tattoos also. So, I was always intrigued by them. I just like I hadn't ever really thought that I would become a tattooer. But once I started learning, it just made sense. 

LB: Do you have another job that you do?

DCM: So I do like a lot of freelance work and just kind of work for myself. I am a bit of an entrepreneur. I do a little bit of branding and marketing. I'm working with a cannabis brand that I designed and I also paint and do a little bit of fashion stuff. It's fun. I like to keep myself busy. Being at Shamrock is a total blessing because I don't have to worry about running my own business and then I get to go home and I get to do all my other projects. So keep the mind stimulated, right? Or fucking going insane, whatever! 

LB: What was the first tattoo that you ever did on someone? 

DCM: There are these mudflaps and they're like the silhouette of a girl sitting on her side, but she's a very robust silhouette. But the gentleman who I tattooed wanted the silhouette of this girl pregnant on his thigh. It was interesting. It's a funny story. I didn't feel prepared to do my first tattoo, but he pressured me to do it. I was an apprentice, I was six months in. And he goes, "oh, I want to be the first person you tattoo". And I was like, "okay, Sean". And then and he's like, "I want the mud flap girl pregnant on my thigh". I was like, "OK, cool, for sure". I knew exactly what he was talking about. So he's like "what are you doing? Just draw it". And I was like, "Oh, OK. Sure, I'll drop this drawing for your drawing. Sure. Why not?". So I made the drawing and then he's like, "Oh, yeah, that's fucking perfect, now tattoo it on me". And I was like, "Nah, dude. I'm not ready for that". And he was like "fucking tattooed on me". And I was just like, "no". So we're going back and forth, for like five minutes. And I'm like, "dude, I'm not ready". And I look over at one of the artists who taught me and I'm like, "what do I do?". And he goes, "fuck it, do it". I was like, "Oh, God". Yeah, needless to say, that was a bad tattoo. But it was funny because my nickname at that time was Lil Dee like L-I-L-D-E-E. And so I did the outline of [the tattoo] and I had five male artists around me and they're all yelling at me, "you're going too fast, you're going to deep, what the hell are you doing?" And I'm just having a nervous breakdown. I'm just like, "please let this be over, please let this be over". And so at the end, when I finished the outline, I asked Sean, "Yo, Sean, can I put Lil Dee on your tattoo?". And he goes, "Yeah, sure". So I wrote out l-i-t-t-l-e-d-e-e and the date and he looks down and he's like, "oh my God. What did you do?" I was like, "Yo bro, I asked you if I could put 'Little Dee' in there". And he was like, "I thought you meant a lowercase D!" It was hilarious. I don't think he was that amused. I was amused. Him? Not so much. He was like "I'm going to have to cover that up when my girlfriend comes back from the Navy!". 

LB: What inspires you when you do tattoos?

DCM: I mean, there are so many amazing, talented artists right around me and friends of mine that are such amazing artists. It's inspiring. I always want to step up my game. Like, how much better can I get? I feel like there's a sense of competition that lives inside of me. I am very competitive and I feel like that helps drive me in a lot of ways because I just gotta get better. Gotta do better, gotta do better. I can always do better. I love it. Yeah, I'm like "I have to murder everybody".

LB: Do you ever have any self-doubt or are you confident in your abilities? 

DCM: I mean, I feel like there can be self-doubt if there's a super-challenging project presented. But, I don't know, I just have so much fun with it that I'm constantly excited to do things, and if I'm excited to do something, I just want to try my best. When I want to try my best, which is all the time because I'm competitive, I'm excited to do it. I'm like, "fuck, yeah. Let's go. I'm gonna kill that. I'm gonna kill it. I'm gonna kill it". So it's kind of like this trance. It's like I'm in a competition, but nobody knows they're competing with me. It's just me against the world. 

LB: Have you worked in a lot of different shops before?

DCM: So I learned at two shops and then I worked professionally at my shop after I decided to leave there. I opened up an art gallery and I would tattoo in the art gallery, my private studio. So a majority of my tattooing career, I've been at a private studio. This is the first shop I came to. 

LB: What brought you here? 

DCM: So I was kind of like at a crossroads. I had taken one month off from tattooing. I was working as a creative director and I was just figuring out what to do next. I know Freddie McGrady, who is an amazing legendary tattooer, and decided to send him a message and be like, "Hey, do you want any female tattooers at Shamrock?" And he wrote me back and he was like, "yeah, I'll talk to Mark". And I was like, "Oh, shit!". And then it just worked out beautifully. I came, I met Mark, and he's just an amazing human. Very welcoming. Very lovely. And I started working here and been here now for three years. 

LB: Are you the only woman who works here? 

DCM: Yes. 

LB: Do you like that? 

DCM: Um, I don't dislike it…it's cool, it's cool. I mean, it's definitely like coming into the boys club, which is interesting. But I hold my own so an I'm just like, I'm focused. I'm not around to socialize. I'm here to work. So that's just kind of like my mentality. It's just like, go, go, go, go, go. And it works with this kind of environment. It makes me super productive. 

LB: Do you think that tattooing and the industry as a whole is kind of like a boys club? 

DCM: I mean, kinda. I mean, there's a lot of really amazing, powerful, female tattooers, so it's kind of hard to say, but I feel like in the more traditional shops, a little bit more [of a boys' club]. But I mean, the women are holding their own, they're killing it and they're owning things. I don't know if you've heard of Teneile Napoli, she's from Australia. She owns an all-female tattoo shop in Australia and they're all like gorgeous. Gorgeous, gorgeous. And they're amazing. Like they're so wickedly talented, they're killing it. I love it. I love to see that. 

LB: Have you always loved doing single needle tattoos? 

DCM: I've always loved a ridiculous amount of detail and small, small spaces. I had one client and she was the one who forced me to try single needle, I just gravitated towards like finer lines and more detail and more of the challenging aspect of doing single needle. So, I enjoy that. I was like, "Oh, that's hard. Oh, you can see old mistakes. Oh, okay, you got to be better", you know? I love it. I love it. And coming here to Shamrock, I had to specialize in it because when I had my private studio, it was kind of like advertising my versatility because it's survival mode. But being at Shamrock, it was like everyone was like, I want single needle this, I want single needle that. So I was trying to get really good at this and then being around the guys and kind of seeing their techniques and watching Mark, it's just like totally expanded my knowledge of it. And, you know, allowed me to specialize in something that I truly enjoy and love. And it's been amazing. I don't want to do colorful back pieces, I'm good. I want to do like a quarter-sized tree and have a great time. And you're fine. And I'm fine. And everything's good. And we all love it. 

LB: Do people ever expect you to do like different types of styles?

DCM: Yeah, people will be like "Okay, can you do those tiny flowers, but all color?" And I just had to explain to them that I can't and that I won't because I just don't have faith in how it's going to heal and sometimes I'll try to courteously explain my reasoning. And some people are cool with it. I let them know very honestly, if you want this specific style, some artists specialize in it. You don't want to just kind of be like, hey, artists whose work I like, can you do something opposite of your style. It's just like it doesn't make any sense. 

LB: Does tattooing ever get repetitive? 

DCM: I mean, honestly, I work myself to the bone. So, usually every time I'm tattooing around 10 PM, I'm like, "fuck, I'm tired" and I hit a wall. But, no, it's nice. It's constantly changing so you don't get tired of things. And my schedule allows me to refresh. Having those four days to myself where I can do other art forms is critical to my creativity and kind of just like being able to keep going forward with all this. 

LB: Do you learn things about yourself as you focus on your career? 

DCM: Yeah, of course, it's like always like trying to constantly evolve and grow and become better and more patient. I feel like that's something that I've had the chance to work on this year was just like not getting frustrated and just kind of like really trying to deliver to the client their vision without allowing my views to get in that way. So maybe a design might have a flaw in it, but maybe that person really wants it, so it's like, how are you going to figure it out to make them happy, but still create a valuable piece of work that you're proud of. It's like finding that balance with patience and people management. It's like teeter-tottering between all these things. 

LB: Do you have a favorite thing about tattooing? 

DCM: I love how unique of a human connection it is, the bond between you and somebody who you're tattooing is super unique. For that person to trust you enough to permanently mark them, to seek you out, and see them get excited...you'll never forget that tattoo and they'll never forget you. It's a unique bond. It's nice. It's cool now with the Internet and where you have the ability to do your research thoroughly. It's nice because they can kind of observe you from afar and then come in and they get super excited. That's so nice. 

LB: Do you ever see your tattoos after you've done it?

DCM: Yeah, yeah, I run into my tattoos all the time. It's super fun. Tattoos in the wild! You know, it's cool. It's cool to see how that person's living with them and then they haven't taken care of them, I scold them. It's super cool. And it's fun to see them out and living and kind of like how this person is wearing them and how it's made them feel, how they carry themselves because of it. 

LB: Have you ever done something whole sleeve? 

DCM: Yeah. 

LB: Do you like creative projects like that?

DCM: I like it. I like it when people will have specific ideas because then I can better understand them. Sometimes when people do whatever you want and then you're like, "OK, cool. This is what I want to do". They're like, "actually what I was thinking..." it's like, well, you gotta give me something to go off of, but what is really nice, is to have clients that now keep coming back and they're like, "I want two little pieces and I wanna add another little piece and I'm getting to do these sleeves of all tiny single needlework" and it's fun because it's a fun little collection. I love looking at it. 

LB: Do you only tattoo in black? 

DCM: Black and gray. I rarely do color. It's only when I'm forced. I'll throw a piece of red in there, but that's it! That's all you're getting! You're not getting any more of this. And I won't post it. 

LB: What makes a picture good enough for the tattoo artist to post?

DCM: Super clear, that's number one. Good lighting and something you're proud of, but also something I like. I like to vary my stuff a lot even though I know if I post a bouquet, boom, a thousand likes. If I post something else, 400, 500, whatever. But I like to vary. It just shows people I can do this, but I can also do that.

LB: If I wanted to be a tattoo artist someday, what advice would you give me?

DCM: Learn to do art. Every and any form of art is going to benefit you in this form of art. The better you are painting, the better you can be at color tattoos. You know, the better you are at drawing and composition, the better. You're going to be at composing a tattoo. And then, you know, like being able to execute in your style. So every single art form aids in this one. So to me, it's just kind of become knowledgeable in a bunch of different things. A bunch of different art forms, because all of that translates as strength in this form.