Two Federal Way tattoo artists brought home awards from last weekend’s Seattle Tattoo Expo.
Jose Camarillo won Best Portrait of the Year for his work on Melissa Brown and a picture of her father. Peter Dominguez won Best Tattoo of the Day for Saturday, with a skull warrior designed by Matt Dixon, placed on the inner bicep of Derrick Burke’s right arm. The expo ran Aug. 10-12 at Seattle Center.
“It’s a little bit competitive there,” said Camarillo. “Sometimes if an artist loses they’ll get butt-hurt and accuse the judges of favoritism.”
Dominguez agrees that the competition is usually heated, and said that there’s usually 30 or more entrants per category.
In regards to Tattoo of the Day: “Saturday is the busiest day at the expo. It was intense because everyone is out to get Saturday’s award, it can get kind of stressful,” said Dominguez.
While both artists received awards, the criteria for each was far from similar.
In order to win Best Portrait, the desired tattoo must be completed and healed by the time the expo begins. A side-by-side comparison must also be made at the judging, requiring the artist to bring a photo reference.
“Melissa’s tattoo took about three sessions. She chose a picture of her dad working with some parts he designed, which are now on the Hubble Space Telescope,” said Camarillo.
Winning Best Tattoo of the Day is a little different.
The piece must be started at the expo, and be turned in to be judged by 9 p.m. that day.
“Derrick sat for seven hours, with only one 20-minute break. He was in a super awkward position the whole time,” said Dominguez. “Gotta give him props for that, because it’s something I could never do myself.”
Although both artists are happy with their achievements, they didn’t go to the Seattle Tattoo Expo specifically to win awards.
“I go there mainly to tattoo,” said Camarillo. “But when I was thinking about which pieces I wanted judged, I knew right away which piece to choose.”
Dominguez felt that there’s more to the expo than just winning.
“Winning is nice, but it’s more to show off our skills,” said Dominguez. “To show that you can go down to Federal Way and get an awesome tattoo. We went to showcase our art and our abilities.”
Learn more
Dominguez and Camarillo are co-owners of All Hope Aside Tattoo and Art Gallery on 320th Street in Federal Way. Click here to learn more.
Pictured below is Jose Camarillo’s winning tattoo:
