Today we’d like to introduce you to Juan Sebastian.
Hi Juan Sebastian, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My artistic journey kicked off in Manizales, Colombia, around the age of five. I remember this kid in school getting showered with praise for his drawings. I saw one and thought, “I could do that.” That was it, game on. Art and I have been in a full-blown love affair ever since.
By the time I moved to Apopka, Florida, at nine, I had already earned a reputation as “the art kid” wherever I went. In school, I signed up for every art class I could, not to win over teachers (we often clashed), but to steal more time with a pencil, a brush, a blank canvas.
In high school, tattooing started calling to me. My teachers weren’t impressed. “You should study fine art,” they said, especially after I aced my college-level art studio classes. According to them, tattoos weren’t “real” art. But what they didn’t see, what I did, was that tattooing was evolving. Thanks to social media, it was exploding into a serious art form, blending technical mastery with raw creativity, and drawing in a whole new wave of talent.
So, naturally, I ignored them. Scraped together some cash, bought a cheap tattoo machine, and started tattooing myself and a few brave friends. My family watched, half-horrified, half-supportive, a dynamic we’d perfected over the years. But I knew if I wanted to take this seriously, I needed more than guts and talent. I needed guidance.
That came a few years after high school when I met Wender Pires, a friend, a mentor, and now, a brother. I walked into his studio for a tattoo to honor my late best friend, the first person I’d ever tattooed. Midway through the appointment, Wender saw my portfolio, nodded, and told me he was opening a shop soon. “You want in?”
Hell yes, I wanted in.
That shop became The Ink Lab in Orlando, and that apprenticeship shaped me. Wender taught me the fundamentals, pushed my technical skills, and helped me sharpen the edge I’d already been grinding for years. We built a bond that still holds strong.
Since then, I’ve worked alongside an incredible group of artists, people who challenge me, inspire me, and make me better. Every client who sits in my chair hands me a massive responsibility. I don’t take that lightly. I strive for precision, keep learning, stay sharp. And above all else, I listen. My clients’ ideas, their vision, their story. That’s what drives the process. I treat every piece like a collaboration, not a performance.
I don’t take myself too seriously. But the work? That’s sacred.
And if the universe allows it, I’ll be doing this beautiful, chaotic, transformative thing for the rest of my life.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The struggles? Yeah, there were plenty.
Let’s start with the obvious. Money. Tattooing, especially in the beginning, is a brutal hustle. You put in long hours, grind away for little to nothing, and in my case, you do a whole lot of free tattoos just to get your hands dirty. It’s not glamorous. It’s not quick. It’s late nights, empty pockets, and chasing something most people don’t even understand.
Then there’s the people part. Tattooing isn’t just about art, it’s about communication. Learning how to listen, how to collaborate, how to take someone else’s idea and make it beautiful on skin. That’s a skill set on its own, and not one that came easy. I’ve been lucky, though, most of the people I’ve worked with have been genuinely incredible.
But underneath all of it is that struggle. The one every artist knows. That constant voice telling you your work’s never good enough. When you’re starting out, that voice is especially loud, and the needle doesn’t always obey the vision in your head. Your hand’s steady, but the ink tells a different story. You wrestle with it. You learn. And you realize quick: no two canvases are ever the same.
Every piece of skin brings new challenges, different textures, different movements, different reactions. It forces you to adapt, to stay sharp, to never get too comfortable. That’s the beauty and the beast of tattooing.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My specialty is black and grey realism, that’s what people come to me the most for. That’s where I’m most in my element. But thanks to my mentor, I was trained to be versatile. He drilled the fundamentals into me, every style, every technique. He didn’t just teach me how to tattoo, he taught me how to adapt. And that’s a skill I carry into every single piece I do.
I don’t spend a lot of time comparing myself to other artists. That’s not the point. What I do take pride in is what happens when a client sees their tattoo for the first time, that moment of joy, disbelief, connection. That’s what matters.
I’m proud that my clients leave the shop happy, not just satisfied, but genuinely moved. I’m proud of the compliments I get from fellow artists, and from people who don’t know a thing about technique but know when something feels right. I’m proud that every design I create is original, built for that person, that story, that skin.
But most of all, I’m proud that people feel safe with me. That they trust me with their skin, their stories, and their vulnerabilities. That they can be honest, tell me what they love, what they don’t. That kind of trust? That’s the real reward.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Something most people don’t know about me?
I’ve got a huge love for classical music. I played trombone for over seven years growing up, mostly in wind ensemble and occasionally in the school jazz band. Did four solid years of marching band in high school too.
Not exactly what people expect when they look at me now. But I was 100% a band geek, and proudly so. There’s something about the discipline, the rhythm, the layers of sound in classical music that still hits me deep. It’s probably one of the first things that taught me how people can express emotion without words.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://inkednoir.com
- Instagram: inkednoir
