BROCK MICHAL
I was born in Cedar Rapids, IA in 1987 and lived in the Des Moines and surrounding areas a majority of my life. I have been artistic in all types of mediums since I was old enough to hold a pencil. My father is a college educated artist so naturally I spent many hours over many years watching him draw and design a variety of things, and in turn of course he taught me everything that he knew about all types of art. Ever since then art has been a life long passion for me; everything from pencil drawing to acrylic painting, airbrushing, sculpting, carpentry, digital design, photography, etc. With my love and obsession for all of that it ended up directing my path to my now fondest artistic medium…TATTOOING!
I am 37 now and I was 14 when I had my first experience in a tattoo shop; Roy Boys 2 in Indiana. There was me as a fly on the wall wide eyed watching both my mother and at the time 16 year old brother each get a piece done. Coolest thing I had ever seen! Back in Des Moines at 15 years of age I started hanging out with a group of kids that were into all of the weird, out of the norm and rebellious things that I was drawn to. Some of them were into body piercing and body modification so of course I would accompany them to the nearest tattoo/piercing shop and while they were getting holes poked in there face I would be drawn to the buzzing sounds in the background and would wander off to watch in awe as these guys would use these rad tools to translate these cool drawings onto people’s skin and I was just hooked.
Around that same time while in school the teachers would start encouraging us to start figuring out what we wanted to do with our lives. I just knew that I had to do something with drawing. The teachers would suggest digital design because they couldn’t think of or fathom any other job that I could make a living with my drawings but the rebellious and contrarian part of me wouldn’t accept that. So naturally the idea of tattooing would persistently pound in my head. Thinking back to those watchful experiences I would recall seeing the pictures on those tattoo artist’s walls of their families and see the cars they were driving and I knew in my heart that I could be successful doing that so that became my first official life goal.
I would continue to join my friends and find every excuse to enter that tattoo atmosphere. I would design tattoos for my older friends and sit with them during the procedures while watching and soaking up everything that I could. Then the day I turned 18 I ordered my first tattoo kit and per one of the artist’s advice I would go sit in my bedroom for hours practicing on grapefruit and oranges, trying to avoid practicing on human canvases. Then in 2008 I had the opportunity to move down south and ended up in a tattoo shop with my older brother in lower Alabama where I would do everything I could around the shop to prove my worth and passion until they gave me the go ahead to start tattooing small things on clients. I excelled very quickly and come February 9th of 2009 at the age of 22 I got my first official tattoo license and it was on like Donkey Kong after that. Then In 2011 I moved back home and began tattooing in Des Moines which is where I always wanted to end up and now reside near Adel with my amazing wife and 2 children.
I have always tattooed a broad variety of styles and people and never found the calling to limit myself to one style or another. I prefer them all! I always have been a people pleaser at heart and enjoy being able to offer my services to any person that walks through that door so I have always preferred to work at excelling in every style and mixtures of each. Although my natural drawing style does tend to gravitate more towards illustrative new school vibes I can just as quickly change gears into realism and portraiture content and everything in between such as fine line, watercolor, lettering, traditional, geometric, bio-organic/bio-mechanical, etc. It’s safe to say my style could be summed up to just saying that I am a chameleon of sorts.
