Bienvenidos a Inkterviews, una nueva sección donde exploramos el fascinante mundo del arte corporal a través de los ojos y las manos de los tatuadores más destacados del momento. En nuestra primera entrega, nos sumergimos en la creatividad y la técnica de Nery Eagle, una artista cuyo trabajo no solo adorna la piel, sino que también cuenta historias, despierta emociones y redefine los límites del tatuaje moderno. Acompáñanos mientras descubrimos los secretos detrás de sus diseños y la pasión que impulsa su arte.

What inspired you to become a tattoo artist? 

Well, if I'm honest, I never thought this was going to be my profession. 

When I finished high school I felt very undecided about the path to follow. Throughout my student journey, I combined my studies with my fine arts classes. But when all this ended, I assumed that dedicating myself to art was not going to realistically feed me, so I debated between medicine or what I had always dreamed of, entering a police force or the army. So I decided to take a year off to clear my head, and soon after I got my first tattoo. This led me to a huge curiosity to learn the technique, because for me it was like learning just another painting or drawing technique.

As there was nowhere to learn how to tattoo, I went looking studio by studio for a place to become an apprentice, just to learn the technique. Since I didn't find anything, I researched as much as I could until I started making my first pieces. This became small moments of happiness for me, like when I attended my fine arts classes. So without realizing it, years went by and I was dedicating all my time and money to learn and improve. So I would say that I never wanted to be a tattoo artist in the beginning, but tattooing came to me and I was unable to detach myself from something that made me so happy.

And how long have you been tattooing?

Llevo tatuando unos 14 años, pero solo suelo tener en cuenta los últimos ocho años, ya que los anteriores compaginaba  mi trabajo de tatuadora con otros trabajos, por lo que no podía dedicarle el tiempo ni la dedicación necesarios, esto me hizo avanzar muy lentamente, hasta que decidí dar un salto de fe y dejarlo todo por esta profesión.

What inspired you to open your own tattoo studio and what has the journey been like so far?

Throughout my career, I have worked in several tattoo studios.

Each of these studios had its own personality, its decoration, its music, so to speak its vibe, bathed by that of the people who worked there, and I dreamed of creating a space that reflects my personality. I wanted to escape from the aesthetics of dark, noisy and overcrowded tattoo studios and make a small den, where tranquility, light, and comfort would predominate, a different and pleasant place.

The journey like all beginnings has been hard, a roller coaster of obstacles and achievements. Opening a tattoo studio in Andalucia is a big sacrifice but today my studio has become my dream come true and I would do it again and again 1000 times.

What has been the most challenging tattoo you have done and why?

Well, I guess for me it would be my first realism, not because of the complexity of the piece itself, but because normally my work is focused on a neo-traditional style in which I do a previous line work and then I just have to dedicate myself to give color and volume. 

Sometimes I feel like I'm drawing like a little kid in his coloring book after all these years. But when I made the leap to doing more realistic gold pieces, I stopped the line work and went back to tattooing by building little by little like when you paint a picture.

I always wanted to put some realism into my gold pieces, but I didn't take the leap until I felt really ready. That first piece took me longer than usual, but it brought back the excitement of tattooing because I felt like I was going back to my painting classes, a blank canvas and building from scratch.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to start a career as a tattoo artist?

The best advice a person who wants to train in the world of tattooing could give is not to be in a hurry. 

From the outside, there is a misconception that being a tattoo artist means parties, postureo, and success; as they say: sex, drugs and rock and roll ... but the reality is that it is a job with a huge burden of responsibility at health level and an artistic work that requires technique and dedication. 

So I would tell this person who wants to start to learn from tattoo artists of good level, referents, to practice every day drawing, to study and to spend as much time as necessary to lay a good foundation before wanting to run doing large pieces and work for which you are not ready.

Our canvas is human, we must be responsible.

How did you become a tattoo artist?

Unfortunately, at the time when I started in this profession, the vast majority of tattoo artists were men so entering a studio asking for work as a tattoo artist or apprentice was synonymous with bad faces and contempt, there were no schools and the few academies that existed had a teaching staff, nothing involved in the world of tattooing, so it was all theories and no practice.

Entering a studio as an apprentice was really difficult, and when you entered you spent most of your time cleaning, and attending the reception. So my start and training was slow, lots and lots of practice on pigskin, which was what we had back then, lots and lots of hours designing and lots and lots of bad self tattoos.

I spent a lot of time researching, attending conventions to observe and asking as many artists as I could. Progressing little by little.

Do you have a tattoo artist you admire?

I love Suflanda's work, it is absolutely opposite to my work but I adore his creativity, his work parallel to tattooing, his illustrations and his art. I tend to like artists who take their work beyond the needles.

Another artist I admire is Customizarte (María Cabañas).

What is the most difficult part of the body to tattoo?

Well, I don't think it's because of difficulty, but because of comfort. For me, the areas I like the least to tattoo are knees and elbows, I guess because of the texture of the skin, the posture in which the client has to be placed during the whole session, and the difficulty of the session itself.

How does it feel to see your tattoos on someone's skin after several years?

It's a mixture of feelings, it makes me especially excited to see my work from a few years ago, work that sometimes I don't even remember having done. I still think it's amazing that someone lets you "draw" on their skin for life.

On the other hand, it is a bond that binds you to that person forever even if you never see them again that connection is always there.

What anecdote as a tattoo artist is the one you never forget?

The day a guy came into the studio and literally asked with these words "I'm coming to get a shitty tattoo on a stick!"

We all looked at each other looking for the hidden camera. It really was a fun tattoo.

What is your long-term vision for the study and what are your plans for the future?

In the not too distant future, I would like to be able to expand my studio, although it is my individual haven of peace and tranquility, I think I would like to take the leap to open this space.

I still think that the concept of a quiet and uncrowded studio is for me a fundamental pillar to work properly. But I would like to be able to dedicate a larger space to my academy, and open it, even to other tattoo artists who want to share their knowledge. And perhaps to welcome other artists in the studio, whose vision of this world is parallel to mine.

To start a small family.

Why would you recommend the ink on sky app?

Because it has made it easier for me to keep track of the studio's workload. I am an extremely organized person, and this application has helped me to have a better control of the jobs that come in, of the profits, of the clients...

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