“I am as bad as the worst, but thank God, I am as good as the best” – Walt Whitman.

If one quote resignated with Gio the most, it’s that one.

With all great stories comes great struggles, lessons, achievements, and hardships. Many of you know Gio through  his military background or along his journey of tattooing. We wanted to really let you in to understand the owner and artist Gio Martinez. By doing a fun interview with the man himself, the raw truth pours out of Gio’s memory of the wild path to success.

Beginnings

Creating art has been Gio’s life. From a little kid he was drawing low riders, LA cityscape, sexy ladies, graffiti, all the Southern California Chicano art you can imagine. He grew up fascinated by the many trades of art in that realm such as pin striping, airbrushing, metal engraving. But tattooing was “The wildest thing” he says. “Art was the first thing I excelled at, I hated school, I remember questioning it even in elementary school. Due to that mindset, I was always in trouble and my grades weren’t good.”

“School was easy, I loved learning, just hated having to conform to anything, I chose to do bad. I knew I was going to be an artist in one way or another, I knew I could be a lawyer or doctor, I’m well aware of my capacity to learn and my intellect, its just not my style.”

Straight out of high school he needed to make ends meet. Being completely on his own tattooing became a little hustle. Tattooing his young friends on gritty Inland Empires kitchen counters became a regular weekend thing. Then he put down the machine and stopped tattooing.

“Ethically I couldn’t continue, the more I learned about tattooing the more wrong I felt about what I was doing.” He realized there was so much more to tattooing than he could even begin to wrap his head around. He realized that doing this independently with no guidance was wrong. So he vowed to not tattoo again until he found an apprenticeship. Not only so he could be respected, but most importantly so he can show respect to this magical craft that he felt he was destined to do.

He did what he felt was the honorable thing and found new ways to make money. From working at a farm under the hot California sun, onto being a cold-calling telemarketer, and then trying his hand at being a personal trainer. He was always hustling.

“One of the biggest things I learned about myself was when my back was up against the wall I fought tooth and nail to succeed, I never made excuses, I always did what I had to do to eat and sleep under a roof, I was a hustler and I absolutely fucking loved it. I never went on unemployment and I never stopped making money. This was all during the 2008 – 2010 recession too, I was 19 years old. Whats your excuse?” 

He needed to get out of his hometown and needed to fulfill this unknown crave for violence. “Ive always had this hunger for intensity and seeing what I was made of. I loved football and especially wrestling, I dabbled in MMA as well after high school. I did some hood rat shit too, sometimes that got intense.” He laughs as he reflects on this time in his life, “But the big thing I felt was holding me back from growing more as a man was leaving my home town.”

He goes on to say, “It just crushed my soul living in the same geographical bubble for so long. To this day I still don’t understand it. Its so crazy to me seeing people living in the same town more than 10 years later still hanging out with the same people from high school. I mean, if people are happy doing that good for them. I got nothing against you, good for you, truly.”

“It just wasn’t for me, nor was the painted version of life we are taught that you gotta go to school, get a degree, get a good job, get married, have kids, retire then die. That life is absolutely great for 99% of people on this Earth, not for me, never will be. I need a little more flare to be happy.”

Ranger Up

Then came the next huge chapter in his life, Gio joined the Army going straight through to the Special Operations, he wasn’t fucking around. He goes on to say, “When I asked around to buddies that were already in about what unit saw the most action and did actual door-kicking, pipe-hitter shit, the 75th Ranger Regiment was the one and only place to go and Im so proud I was little cog in the machine at some point of its history.” 

 “I knew I was capable of more than the average man so I knew the special operations world was for me.”

Over his years he shared stories of his past with his ranger brothers, and of course many begged him to tattoo them overseas. Gio never broke his word to himself. He continued his military career without giving in to the tattooing temptation, even though he could’ve made bank doing it.

“Pushing away that love for art wasn’t hard because what I was doing was so important, I was part of something so much bigger than myself and it felt good.”

I  purposefully didn’t have any social media during that time, I didn’t post ‘cool guy’ pics or videos of myself. I didn’t even try to make friends, though that’s inevitably going to happen.”

“This was truly the most selfless thing I had ever done and I didn’t care about anything else. But I did see the art in the things I did in there, including war itself.”

He goes onto say, “Honestly, my career in there is absolutely nothing compared to so many men of that unit. There are men of a caliber most humans will never experience getting to work with. And unfortunately, some of those men have lost their lives.”

“My way of honoring them is continuing to work as hard as I can everyday at my trade, be a productive member of society, and be a good husband and friend because those men no longer have the ability to do those things, so for me to go down a mediocre path, would be a dishonor to them and to all who they left behind.”

Enter Future

The time had come where Gio’s military time was up. He is officially a veteran. If you know, then you know that transitioning from the military to “civilian world” is tough shit.

Gio returned to a job he was familiar with before the military. He landed a 9-5 construction job, but his mental health and happiness rapidly spiraled. Being bossed around by losers and running circles around every other civilian employee, only to get handed the short end of the stick.

Gio understood finally in order to be happy he needed to follow his calling, art. He left the job and enrolled into school where he began his art education journey.

“I knew in my heart I wasn’t following my destiny, luckily it was short lived and just did what I had to do to reach my new goal and become a Tattoo Artist.”

He enrolled in college full time. Gio immersed himself with being back in school but his main focus was his first academic art class. Very quickly his love for art flooded his spirit. He realized that he could not live without it. 

Then all the trade dabbling began. Wood burning, metal engraving, oil painting, digital design, you name it, Gio wanted to try it all. By freelancing he learned all different types of techniques and started his own design company. He created logos and custom art to start his art career, but in the back of his mind was always tattooing.

Tattoo Hustle

Gio began his search for an ideal tattoo apprenticeship. Finally a shop welcomed him in and Gio jumped at the opportunity filled with excitement super eager to start learning. Turns out after being there for months, attending school, then heading straight to the tattoo shop until midnight every night, this apprenticeship was not what he had imagined and he quickly left. That shop ended up getting shut down soon after.

Discouraged by experiencing a horrible so called apprenticeship, Gio went back to focusing on school and his design company. He became a member of the schools Design Club. He was surrounded by like minded individuals with all types of different art trades. Gio thrived being in that environment and helped his group of peers win a badass contest his first day in! 

Through that experience, he got connected with a friend of a tattoo artist. This led to another shot at an apprenticeship and the rest is history.

“I am forever grateful for that experience and most of my fundamentals are rooted from that shop, I still use techniques and mental processes taught by my mentor and also the shop owner to this day.”

Gio was then offered a unique opportunity amongst a veteran business. This business opened a door to start his tattooing career independently. “The stars just kept aligning”, he says.

And so began the War Horse Tattoo Studio business. Independently, Gio has been creating custom designs while running a very successful studio. His business serves the community of Dupont, Washington and the broader PNW area.

The roughly two years of calling War Horse our home, clients, friends, and family have witnessed Gio’s art grow with every session. Offering a variety of styles and killing every single one no matter how challenging. He started to become recognized and connected with other veteran tattoo artists. They opened their doors to him for guest spots and a place to offer continued growth of skills, techniques, but also kindness and a welcoming spirit.

“For some reasons there are a lot of egotistcal assholes in the industry, you’re not the center of the universe because you’re good at tattoos, our trade is a just a luxury for people and if tattooing ended today, the world would go on just fine.  Show some fucking humility…On the flip side Ive met people in the industry who have been very kind and respectful to me, for that I thank you, it means more than you’ll ever know.”

So here we are 22 months in. Successful due to the outpouring support, loyal trusting clients, and Gio’s dedication to never stop learning and creating with an open mind. We have hit a point now where two years in we are rebranding to Violent Delights Tattoo Club to make way for a new professional chapter in Gio’s future.

From all this, I asked Gio what his top three lessons have been on this journey so far, and here is what he had to say.

Lesson 1

“Respect the client. Show respect by small things like being on time and treating them with kindness and understanding.”

Lesson 2

Respect the craft. Tattooing is the closest thing to real magic that Ive ever experienced in my life. Its history is so unbelievably vast with so many characters and innovators. So never take it for granted.

Lesson 3

Respect myself. Keep the ego at bay, know your worth and never stop learning.

Gio ends with this,

“As long as this inspires just one person out there that has a similar mindset to me, someone who hates these weird parameters society has on every aspect of our lives, someone who questions everything, someone with an open mind. Just know that you don’t have to be in your current situation if you don’t want to. Every single reason to not reach for that one true passion is an excuse for yourself. When you start to make the right decisions for, you’ll see what people stick around and find out who your true friends are. Fuck everyone who doesn’t stick by you, even if its your significant other. Find people who are positive and propel you forward. If you’re not that person, that’s all good too, know your place, the world needs people like you too.”