Nikko: The first tattoo that I did was a little tribal piece, but my first as an artist being paid was a small little scorpion in color with all of these little numbers like dates on it. I was excited for it. I remember I was like, "Yeah, I'm gonna get paid for this."
Espi: How did the transition into the tattoo world go?
Nikko: Well, after not finishing high school, I didn't do anything for a while. I ended up working construction for two years without ever picking up a pencil. Then one day my friend opened up a shop and asked me to go learn how to tattoo with him. I always thought that I'd do something with art but never did. Then it got really slow in construction around winter time. I went to the shop and he said, "Hey, you should come work for me!" I told him, "Yeah, I'll be here tomorrow." So the next day, I walked in and the rest is history.
Espi: How old were you when all of this started?
Nikko: I was about 21, 22.
Espi: What styles did you first start getting into?
Nikko: The first thing I started with was really a little bit of everything, tribal, Japanese, black and gray. Oh man, black and gray was so hard for me. At least with color you could make it solid even if it was wrong, but with black and gray, trying to get dark tones was horrible; it was hard.
Espi: At what point did your direction turn into color portraits? What happened?
Nikko: Well, I started doing black and gray. But I used to draw realistic things; that was my favorite, to draw realistic when I was younger. I had this with these flesh-tone pinups, but then this one guy asked me to do this Bela Lugosi portrait that was almost like a pinup face, but it was a painting which was much easier to understand than like a real photo. And that was the first, I'd say, color portrait that I did, but not from a realistic photo. Then I had the opportunity to do a piece that I wanted to enter into the first Pomona Convention. We were supposed to do either Batman or Humphrey Bogart, which was what the guy wanted. So we ended going with Batman and he wanted it in black and gray. At the last minute, the guy says, "How would you feel about doing it in color?" So we did it color and that's kind of what got me started on the whole color portraits, which was that Batman piece because it was straight from the photograph.
Espi: What are some of your favorite subject matters to tattoo?
Nikko: My favorite stuff is movie stuff. The pictures are so killer; that stuff is perfect. I'd say the most the important, though, are family member portraits. I try my best on those because I know that they mean a lot. I've been enjoying those a lot lately.
Espi: Now as far as mediums, what has helped you experiment the most?
Nikko: Well, during the course of tattooing, I didn't draw as much as far as rendered drawings. I used to draw for custom pieces and you know only get it so far. I practiced with colored pencils a little bit because my friend had taught me, and working through that I learned a lot. Working with those, I learned that you could blend colors like you can tattoos with the ink. But recently, what's been happening the most is oil painting. That has really taught me a lot because that's really similar to tattooing, the way I work, at least.
Espi: Any advice for young artists just starting out?
Nikko: Just have fun with it and keep doing it. Be inspired and stay humble.
Espi: Your overwhelming success is keeping you pretty busy with the tattoo expos and traveling all over the world. Where can the readers get a hold of you to make an appointment?
Nikko: The best way to reach me is to hit me up online at: www.myspace.com/nikkotattsu, www.nikkohurtado.com, or www.ignitiontattoo.com.