Black and gray realism tattoos have come a long way in a very short period of time. Artists like Oscar Castano do mind-blowing work every day, forever changing what we thought was possible 10 years ago. Born in Colombia and intent on advancing his art, Castano left his shop in Pereira for the United States. Castano is currently working out Under Skin Art in Bergenfield, NJ while surrounding himself with great artists from whom he hopes to absorb even more knowledge. In a relatively short period of time, Castano has established himself as a pre-eminent artist in the field, winning multiple awards at tattoo conventions. We spoke to Castano about how he found his love for art, his affinity for tattooing pet portraits, and more.
When did you first develop an interest in art?
For as long as I can remember I’ve liked everything related to art, like drawing, painting, sculpting. But I started studying art during high school.
How did you come to be a tattoo artist?
It was all a matter of luck and being in the right place at the right time, it never occurred to me that I wanted to be a tattoo artist.
When I started, everything was more complicated, there were no technical tools and you only learned the art of tattooing with a mentor. Little by little I learned from him, when I was 19 I started serving my first clients and that’s how I started working full time as a tattoo artist.
What drew you to black and gray realism?
After exploring all the styles, I realized that achieving high contrasts, highlights, shadows and volumes with just black and gray was what I cared about the most, but what motivates me the most is seeing how this style works heal from tattoos work.
Would you consider using color in the future?
Yes, it’s a possibility that I’m not ruling out as I’ve been doing it for more than 10 years and it’s been a lot of fun, but I just wanted to devote myself to working in black and gray after finding a great passion for it had this style.
Tell us how you sometimes use color in a black and gray piece.
Sometimes I use them in cases where I want to emphasize a certain point of the design and I’m trying to make that small part of color make a big visual impact.
What have you not often tattooed that you would like to do more of?
Japanese style is a style I’m passionate about, but haven’t had much time to work on. I need to learn about this culture first and surround myself with artists who do this style so I can learn from them, then I can try to do it myself.
What are some of your favorite tattoo motifs that you keep coming back to?
They are definitely animal tattoos. I can do them many times and I would never get bored of doing them because doing their small details, texturing and achieving their deep and challenging looks is something I’m really passionate about.
How do you go about finding your references?
When making animals I generally look for photographers specializing in photographing animals and nature and I also rely on some search engines like devinart or Pinterest that allow searching for various references.
You’ve taken home many awards from tattoo conventions, do you consider tattooing a competitive character?
From what I’ve seen at the conventions, the vast majority of artists are always working on great pieces to compete with and win a trophy. This creates great satisfaction for every artist on an artistic and personal level.
What do you consider when judging at conventions?
In general we always meet at the jury table to choose the parameters that we will use to judge, but personally I pay attention to the direction of the tattoo, the handling of contrasts and lights, cleanliness and finishes, composition and fluidity in the area of the body , on which the tattoo is processed, creativity and the correct treatment of the skin among many other points.
Tell us about some tattooing challenges in the US while owning a shop thousands of miles away in Colombia.
This part was easy for me, on the one hand because tattooing was a big dream in the United States and on the other hand because my business in Colombia is run by an amazing, trustworthy and very competitive artist who is at the helm. This allows me to develop my career in this United States without it being a problem.
Where do you see your art in the future?
The United States is a country where there are top-class tattoo artists. In the future I see myself sharing and learning from them, absorbing every drop of their art and knowledge.
This country will allow me to continue developing my skills and also keep improving day by day, because my great challenge will always be to surpass myself and thus continue to offer high quality pieces to my customers.