Osman De Los Santos has been within the tattoo enterprise since highschool
Osman De Los Santos, 27, in his non-public tattoo studio in Sacramento, Calif. on Dec. 7, 2020. In his free time, De Los Santos makes artwork commissions which he shows on the partitions of his store.
Nestled between small neighborhoods and outlets on Alhambra Boulevard lies a small tattoo store co-owned by Osman De Los Santos, a tattoo artist who has labored on his craft for almost 9 years.
De Los Santos, 27, stated he has been within the tattoo enterprise since he accomplished a tattoo apprenticeship the summer time of his sophomore yr at Hiram Johnson Excessive Faculty.
“Tattooing was one thing I had already wished to do,” stated De Los Santos. “I didn’t wish to do anything.”
All all through faculty, De Los Santos stated he had held completely different jobs on the aspect, however tattooing was one thing that he was captivated with.
“I used to be planning on being a Marine, however by then I had already received a number of my arm tattooed from simply being an apprentice at a store,” De Los Santos stated.
De Los Santos stated that the tattoo apprenticeship took a couple of yr and he had acquired his license a yr after that.
“I did my apprenticeship at a store referred to as Heaven’s Gate beneath Freddy Chavez in South Sacramento, which later grew to become Damaged Anchor. After that I had paused for a minute and attended lessons at Sac Metropolis school,” stated De Los Santos.
De Los Santos discovered himself working at a spot named Ben Franklin, one other store in South Sacramento. De Los Santos was there for about six months and have become supervisor within the time that he labored.
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De Los Santos met his present work accomplice Ralph Madrid on Instagram when De Los Santos was managing his store after Ben Franklin, Black Jackal. The 2 of them labored collectively earlier than deciding to open up a non-public studio collectively, Sacred Wave.
“We’re a non-public studio,” De Los Santos stated. “We’re not a walk-in store, so we don’t have folks out and in. We’ve been doing it for therefore lengthy that individuals don’t essentially have to come back in and see our books. They’ll simply see our stuff on Instagram and know what they need.”
Shoppers can request appointments by way of De Los Santos’s Instagram, or the e-mail on his profile.
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His imaginative and prescient and the way in which he interprets it to pores and skin is one thing I believe many people can respect.”
— Sierra Shepherd
Sierra Shepherd, a shopper of De Los Santos and a graphic design pupil at Sacramento State, had beforehand met somebody who had work performed by De Los Santos and stated she was impressed, so she reached out to him straight.
“He has performed my shoulder items, another line work and we’re at present engaged on a sleeve,” Shepherd stated. “I began with the zodiac wheel after which the remaining shall be tarot card impressed.”
“Black illustrative is what I’d describe my type,” stated De Los Santos. “It’s mainly using skinny line work subsequent to heavy line work. I do a number of girl faces, and I do a number of work that’s heavy or darkish.”
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In addition to tattooing, De Los Santos said he also makes money to support the shop by doing commission art in various mediums. Many of his works can be found lining the walls of his shop.
“If you’re not looking to get tattooed but you like his art, he also does elegant illustrations on slabs of wood that have this dream-like quality about them when they’re finished,” said Sutton Segur, another client of De Los Santos. “The wood portrait that he did of me is one of my prized possessions, I highly recommend commissioning him.”
De Los Santos said he finds inspiration for his tattoos from anime, podcasts, folklore and anything that is “abnormal”.
“I like the weird stuff,” De Los Santos said. “Fantastical shit, you know?”
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Segur described De Los Santos’s work as “unique,” so much so that she finds herself recognizing his work on complete strangers.
“I’ve been getting tattooed by Osman for about five years now,” Segur said. “I think that he has a beautiful mind and it’s been really cool watching his artwork grow and progress over the years. His vision and the way he translates it to skin is something I think many of us can appreciate.”
