Tony 4 Fingers
I was introduced to the world of Tattooing at an early age. For those of you that don’t know, back in 70’s and 80’s there was a fella named Rocket Rick that used to tattoo at the Tanque Verde Swap Meet, and I would like to thank him for getting “this guy”exposed to the world of tattooing. I can remember vividly, going and being amazed at how permanent tattooing was and how much I wanted to learn how to do it. Although it wasn’t till many years later that I actually tattooed someone. I was always getting in trouble at school for either drawing on my school work or drawing on my friends with permanent markers. I would like to thank an old buddy from high school who lent me his homemade tattoo machine, Peter “Smiley” Contreras (RIP my friend). That year was 1994, and with that borrowed machine, my life as a Tattooer began.
After high school, I joined the Marines and after a year or so, I purchased a Spaulding and Rogers tattoo kit out of a magazine. During this time, I approached different shops in different duty stations from California, North Carolina, and Okinawa, but it was either the wrong time or wrong place. Becoming a tattoo apprentice didn’t seem to be working out. However, I persevered. I kept tattooing, getting tattooed when I could and at the same time, learning as much as I could. I tattooed all over the place including Navy ships even in Sea State 5 conditions (If you know what that is, then you know what I’m talking about). Once Honorably discharged from the Marines, I was deployed as a security contractor and kept tattooing all over the Middle East. This went on for about 12 years, and in 2015, I had the opportunity to open up this shop called Trinity Art Collective.
If you’re interested, you can also look me up on this little show that aired on A&E “Hero Ink”. It was my pleasure to bring light to the sacrifice that the men and women of the military, police, fire, and all first responders do for us. My only wish would be that we could have done more episodes and shown more of the men and women giving everything they have in the line of duty. What an an awesome adventure in the world of TV, and I’m glad I was able to be apart of that.
I hope you enjoyed this little snippet of my life in a quick few paragraphs, if you want to get to know me better click on the contact form and let’s get you scheduled for your next tattoo.
Email: tony@tac520.com
Facebook: @T4Fingers
Instagram: t4fingers
