Tony Otto

My experience starts in 1994, although I have been drawing since I was very young. I began my apprenticeship at Las Vegas Tattoo Co. in Las Vegas, Nevada under Doc Dog and his crew. It was more like prospecting for a big club than actually apprenticing. I learned most of the basics there, for the first three years I worked, before moving on to another shop, Tattoo Revolution. Tattoo Revolution was owned by Joshua South, who before he had opened the shop, had been tattooing for about twelve years over in Germany. Josh did not use a thermal fax machine, so everything was done with a sharpie marker directly on the skin. This is where I learned a great deal more about art, in every aspect. After about a year and a half, I left Tattoo Revolution due to the lack of business. The art was great, but the business wasn’t run very well. I had bills of my own! I began tattooing over at Desert Ink Tattoo, owned by a fellow artist named Ray, who I worked with over at Las Vegas Tattoo Co. I believe I learned more there, concerning my art, due to a bit of inspiration from another tattoo artist, named Fred. Fred is an artist who has a lot of experience in all different forms of art, which helped me to look at what I was doing and how I might be able to expand upon it even further. I worked at Desert Ink Tattoo for approximately another year and a half, before I decided to open up Iron Horse Tattoos. Iron Horse Tattoos has given me a lot of new experiences, both positive and negative, which I have learned from and grown with. I am always looking to expand my knowledge concerning art and tattooing, on the whole. Over the nine years that Iron Horse Tattoos has been open, my love for the art of tattooing has grown exponentially, and I cannot think of another medium I would rather work in today. Fifteen years and counting…