Local resident Fabian Herrera likes to draw, and he has taken
his hobby to the next level with a vibrating, inked-up needle. His
masterpieces can be seen all over town, on the backs, arms, calves,
stomachs and unmentionable areas of San Benito County residents’
bodies.
Local resident Fabian Herrera likes to draw, and he has taken his hobby to the next level with a vibrating, inked-up needle. His masterpieces can be seen all over town, on the backs, arms, calves, stomachs and unmentionable areas of San Benito County residents’ bodies.
“I do a lot of butterflies, skulls and flames,” he said.
Aside from the popular tattoos of the time, like Nor Cal stars and tribal bands, Herrera said, there is another trend in tattoos that always makes him question the person requesting it.
“A lot of people will come in here asking for their boyfriend or girlfriend’s name,” he said. “I always ask them like three times ‘are you sure you want this?’ and then once it’s done, I think to myself, ‘OK, well I’ll see you in a couple months when you’re coming to get this covered up.”
The fact that his art would be permanent scared Herrera in the beginning, but he said over time, he got used to it. On average, Herrera draws roughly 20 tattoos a week, and said for his customers, getting inked can be addicting.
“They’ll get one on their right arm and then feel like their left arm doesn’t match, so they get another one,” he said.
When he isn’t working on the usual return customers, Herrera said, he gets a lot of first timers who are apprehensive of the pain.
“I try to tell them to relax and do a lot of research, and find what they really want to get, instead of what their friends tell them is cool,” he said.
The best reason for getting a tattoo is to be unique, and to have a symbol of something meaningful, Herrera said.
“I really try to get people to think about what is special to them, rather than just what is cool at the moment,” he said.
Herrera speaks from experience. Since meeting his wife and getting into the art of tattooing, he has added seven tattoos to his body, which he said, all have personal meaning. Although he’s been drawing since seventh-grade, Herrera said, his wife, who has 36 tattoos, got him into the business.
“At first I didn’t want to do it, but then I tried it out and really started to enjoy it,” he said.
When asked if he’d approve of his children, ages three, seven and eight, getting tattoos later in life, Herrera smiled and said “absolutely.”
