Mr. Cartoon

Lost Angel

CARBON8 : Starting out as a muralist for low riders, then an illustrator for Hustler magazine, how did you get your jump in tattooing?
MC : I started out by getting a lot of tattoos on myself and started hanging out at spotlight tattoo, I hung out there for a couple of years before started tattooing. I eventually did a 3year apprenticeship there some years later.

CARBON8 : What is your preferred “canvas” : low riders, t-shirts, walls, bodies, canvas, sneakers, sidekicks, video games, graphic novels or others?
MC : I like all the canvases, when i am in different moods at different times the different canvases suit my moods.

CARBON8 : Since you first started tattooing, when was the first time you realized that you truly made it on the highest level of tattoo art?
MC : I think the day that Jack Rudy hit me up to fix up some of his old tattoos that’s when I realized I had made it. This guy has forgotten more than I know about tattooing.

CARBON8 : Since tattooing is such a personal art form, especially between the artist and client, what is the most difficult aspect of creating a piece that is both a part of your style and the image the client request?
MC : Most of time the customer lets me do what I want to do, Sometime they have there own idea some times the idea works sometimes it doesn’t. What you gotta watch out for is the client who is trying too hard to get his money’s worth, they usually want the Sistine Chappel on their forearm, which sounds good but does not translate artistically..

CARBON8 : What is the favorite piece you’ve ever done?
MC : Most of my favorite pieces are not on entertainers or celebrities they are on the homies on the street that I may never see again.

CARBON8 : Historically, tattooing has meant different things to many peoples, such as, rites of passage, marks of status and rank, amulets and talismans, protection, and as the marks of outcasts, slaves and convicts, what does tattooing signify to you?
MC : Self expression, loyalty, and dedication to a lifestyle.

CARBON8 : You have a huge clientele list from neighborhood homies to Eminem. Is there a difference in how you work on platinum artist as opposed to local folk?
MC : Most of the entertainers want one piece. Most homies from the street want back pieces and sleeves, the difference being the amount of work.

CARBON8 : What or who has most influenced your style?
MC : Baby Ray from Venice was a huge influence, he showed me what it is to be a true tattoo artist.

CARBON8 : How is the city of Los Angeles important to you?
MC : The City of Angels is important to me because low riding was founded here, because of baggy jeans white t-shirts, fine line black and grey powder shading, Cholo style portrait tattoos and we also invented the famous wet PCP Sherm Sticks!

CARBON8 : What spawned the premise for the graphic novel, Lost Angel? Do you believe good will always prevail over evil in the end?
MC : I wrote the novel based on real stories and events that happened over the last fifteen years of my life. I believe that good does not always prevail over evil. One of the reasons I know this is because recently I lost a good friend Frankie A., (a great, stand up type of guy, good friend, family man and a good father) in a motorcycle accident. Knowing that this scum bag, piece of shit, bitch (that hit him) is still living, means that good is not prevailing over evil.

CARBON8 : What is the significance of the clown inspiration, even some of the most sinisther characters? Is it a double meaning?
MC : The clown to me represents the good times and the bad times the victories and the failures the laughter and the tears the poverty and successes.

CARBON8 : What are your current and upcoming projects?
MC : To mention a few : The Lost Angel graphic novel, 3rd edition Lost Angel Toy, 1988 Super Sport Monte Carlo t-top beast, Limited Edition vans Syndicate Industrial mid top shoe, sold at Supreme, and a film of my life directed by Estevan Oriol.