Francisco Sanchez is a legendary tattooer who works out of a studio in Denton, Texas.
I had seen his work before and was highly impressed, but when a world renowned tattoo collector named Yall Quinones was talking to me about some of the artists whose work is especially amazing in person, Francisco was one of the first names he brought up.
He clearly takes his time when he tattoos, and creates work that is built to stand the test of time.
Francisco was kind enough to agree to take the time to answer some questions I had for him.
I hope you enjoy the interview below.
At this point in your career, you’re obviously at the top of your game but as you first started making your biggest jumps as far as talent level, what was most beneficial to your growth as an artist?
Well for one, I always like to remind myself that there is always room for improvement. Whenever I do a new piece, it seems like if I’m happy with it for a few minutes, I analyze it and see what I could have improved on. Or if the opportunity arises, I’ll go back into certain tattoos and adjust whatever I see necessary – but the main thing I would give the credit to is focusing on continuing to learn more about art. You gotta go back to your foundation and remember why it is that you started tattooing to begin with.
Biggest influences as you grew up in this industry?
I’ve been tattooing for about 10 years now and some of the artists that influenced me back then are still putting out some killer ass work such as Robert Hernandez, Victor Portugal and Bob Tyrell. As I kept developing my career I started to watch guys like Carlos Torres, Josh Duffy and Sergio Sanchez push things to that next level
I’ve heard from very reputable sources that your work looks even more flawless in person than it does in pictures and that it heals perfectly… What would you say are the main reasons why some artists work looks substantially less quality in person once healed than it did in photos when it was fresh?
Thanks, the goal is always to have my clients walking around with the best possible representation of what I am capable of achieving. At the end of the day, as much as you can look at video or pictures, nothing is better than seeing tattoos or any other form of art as it is in person. I get a lot of clients from many sources whether it be social media or them googling for the type of work that I do but none are more excited and ready to commit to getting tattooed by me than the ones who have randomly ran into somebody I’ve tattooed before at the gym or wherever it might be.
As far as the reason why some artists work might look less quality in person than in photos, well I think that can have a variety of reasons, such as how much sun exposure the client gets, how they healed it, also how old the client is since your skin tends to be a little harder to work with once you start getting past 50, but besides all of those I think as a tattoo artist you should want to put a photo out there as close to how your work looks like in real life. If not, you’re setting yourself up for failure as your client and other artists alike are expecting a certain level, and when the actual work is nowhere near that it can be a little disappointing.
Any subject matter you have especially enjoyed tattooing lately? Anything you’re burned out on or that you refuse to do anymore (in the realism genre of course)?
I always dig when my clients give me a few basic ideas of what they want and just give me free reign to come up with something that is gonna fit that area. I always dig tattooing faces or people as the main subject matter, as well as animals. As far as what I think I won’t book anymore for the foreseeable future are pocket watches – I can do without those for a while haha I might start tattooing alarm clocks on people instead if they need something with the time (just kidding). I think they look cool, I’m just not as thrilled about doing them as I was the first few times that I did, but I won’t refuse to do them if it’s something my clients really want. The way I see it is it’s going on them permanently, not me, so I take that into consideration.
Have you collected any quality tattoos yourself? If so, from who?
Yes I have I have a portrait of my daughter that Bob Tyrell and Rember did a collab on. I also have another piece by Rember, and some work from Klown. I’m currently in the process of getting some laser removal on my arms so I can do full sleeves in the future.
If you were to swap tattoo for tattoo with any artist on the planet next week, who would it be?
At the moment I would have to say either Sergio Sanchez or Carlos Torres. I really enjoy seeing the compositions they come up with.
Toughest part of being a tattooist?
The toughest part of being a tattooist is staying disciplined and focused, and I mean that more in the sense of knowing when it’s ok to step back and reset mentally. I used to tattoo six to seven days a week for the first six years of my career, and for the first 5 years I never took a vacation besides a day or two for Christmas or Thanksgiving. You realize as you get older that you have to give yourself time to recover and regain the excitement that you had when you first started tattooing.
Biggest differences between the time you first stepped onto the tattoo scene up until this point?
Well there’s a lot more attention paid to it now as compared to back then. There’s a lot more focus on developing the best products whether it be machines, inks, needles and whatever else you can think of. But besides that, I think it’s the learning curve – back when I started it was a little harder to pick up new techniques or even know which products work best because nobody really wanted to give out any tips or whatever might help somebody else develop faster, but nowadays you have so many great artists popping up everyday.
How many days do you prefer to tattoo per week and why?
Currently I do 5 days a week. Like I mentioned earlier, before I used to tattoo six to seven days a week for the first 5 years, but then I felt like I was a robot not taking the time to enjoy life as it should be. So now I make sure I leave plenty of days to spend with my son and daughter and just enjoy being a dad.
I know you inspire a countless amount of other tattoo artists across the world…Top three best pieces of advice for those who are looking to transition from being “good” to being “great”?
The main one would be to focus on developing themselves as artists. The more you practice your drawings or paintings, the easier it’ll be to understand tattooing and build that much more confidence. I recommend taking art classes or workshops any chance you get.
The number two best piece of advice would be to take your time when it comes to the actual tattooing. Speed comes with time/experience, and a lot of it has to do with efficiency. If you’re not happy with how your tattoos are turning out, it means you’re probably rushing through some part of the process whether it be the designing or the actual tattooing itself.
Shoot to try to be a perfectionist because if that’s not what your goal is every single time, then somebody else is probably out there grinding harder than you. The last tip would be to not try to be as good as somebody else… try to be better!
Thanks a lot for your time Francisco…it was great to hear your ideas and advice. Be sure to check out more of his outstanding work at @franciscosanchez_tattoo