The tattoo artist talks about building trust with clients, resisting trends, and why perfection is a chase he never wants to end.

PHOTOGRAPHY Robert Narag

Do you remember the first time you put a needle into skin? What did that moment tell you about yourself?
It was August 2015 when I did my first tattoo. I was practicing on pig skin when my cousin took a picture of me and posted it on social media. One of my friends messaged him and the next day, he was there waiting to get tattooed. After that first tattoo, I told myself, &ldquo;What I did is shit&rdquo;, so I needed to be better.
Every artist has an entry point. Was tattooing a natural path for you?
When I was in high school, one of my friends decided to get a tattoo and asked me to go with him. After that, I would hang out in the tattoo shop, always amazed by what they were doing. It was not a natural path or calling; it was all accidental. I was studying and doing tattoos on the side until I met Kuya Oben when I was getting tattooed by him. He&rsquo;s one of my mentors. Getting tattooed by him changed my life, my mindset, my inspirations and everything else.

What did it take to make a style your own?
American Traditional isn&rsquo;t a style that&rsquo;s my own, but it&rsquo;s what I love doing. It&rsquo;s not trendy or super popular, especially here in the Philippines. I have another mentor, Kiyo, who inspired me to do American Traditional. I must say, all of my mentors helped me become what I am today. That said, I&rsquo;m still building my own style.
Tattooing is as much a collaboration as it is art. How do you guide a client from the idea to the final piece without losing your point of view?
I always suggest things from my perspective as an artist. I tell them what it might look like when they&rsquo;re older and suggest better placements so the tattoo won&rsquo;t look awkward once it&rsquo;s healed. Some clients just say, &ldquo;I want it here&rdquo; because that&rsquo;s what they feel in the moment, but if they&rsquo;re open to suggestions, I&rsquo;ll guide them. It feels like I&rsquo;m helping design their body sometimes, especially with clients who already trust me. For example, if it&rsquo;s a tiger tattoo, I&rsquo;ll recommend a spot where it looks like it&rsquo;s wrapping naturally around the body or make it bigger if the design needs it. It always depends on the design and the skin. That&rsquo;s why I work with them closely. I don&rsquo;t want to give them something they&rsquo;ll regret in 30 years.
What does the current tattoo scene look like from where you sit? Is it more experimental, more mainstream or more competitive?
I think right now it&rsquo;s a little bit of everything. It&rsquo;s mainstream, it&rsquo;s experimental and it&rsquo;s definitely competitive because everyone&rsquo;s doing it. There are so many shops now. That&rsquo;s why Pale Rose Tattoo feels like it&rsquo;s just quietly sailing underground. We&rsquo;re not chasing trends or the mainstream; we just do what we love. It keeps us on the side of the scene, in a good way.

What&rsquo;s a part of the job no one talks about?
No one talks about the endless work. You wake up, prep for the tattoo, go to the shop, finish the piece, rest a little, go home, design, then sleep &mdash; and do it all over again the next day. When you&rsquo;re fully booked, it&rsquo;s physically and mentally exhausting. People think it&rsquo;s just the two or three hours they see you tattooing, but there&rsquo;s the designing, the commissions, all the behind-the-scenes work. Basically, it feels like you don&rsquo;t have a life outside of it.
Tattooing takes a lot: creatively, physically and emotionally. What keeps you sharp?
What keeps me sharp is the shop and the people around me. It pushes me to be a better artist and honestly, a better person. I like the pressure of running the shop and the pressure to keep improving. I&rsquo;ll never be fully satisfied with what I make, so I stay hungry. That&rsquo;s what keeps me going.
Imagine you could tattoo anything, on anyone, with zero limitations. What would it look like?
What I really want to do is a full bodysuit or framed sleeves in American Traditional. The kind that covers the chest and legs but stops before the hands and neck. I love that old-school &rsquo;90s look where it&rsquo;s super discreet. When they roll their sleeves up, you can see they&rsquo;re fully covered, but everything stays hidden under long sleeves. That&rsquo;s the kind of work I&rsquo;m excited to do in the future.

Ink Matter: Sean Da-anton

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