about dean
Dean began tattooing as many have before him with lots of passion and very little guidance at the start. Using a kit bought by friends and family from Ebay in 2011, he first started on himself before moving to “victims and volunteers”, met mostly at a local bar where he moonlit in Austin, TX. This was a short lived era, but nonetheless significant, because we all have to start somewhere.
In 2013 he had a brief apprenticeship with Marcus Kuhn, aka “The Gypsy Gentleman” in the Logan Heights neighborhood of San Diego at a private studio. While this era was also short lived, it was still an invaluable experience due to his mentor’s knowledge of the craft and it’s history. Marcus now lives and works in Bath, UK
After the apprenticeship, Dean worked as a full time front helper at Flying Panther Tattoo in Golden Hill, and then at Full Circle Tattoo in South Park. Although he was no longer an apprentice, this was a way to keep himself involved and stay on the path to becoming a tattooer.
It was in 2016 when Dean started tattooing professionally in the Gaslamp area of San Diego at Superfly Tattoo under the guidance of Dominic Vasquez. This was a traditional style street shop that had a lot of walk in, military, and tourist clients. It was here that Dean was able to hone his technical abilities and experience a wide variety of tattoo styles.
In 2018, Dean started working with Bill Canales and the talented crew at Full Circle Tattoo. Later that year he was able to travel to Switzerland with Bill who was working on a collaboration with Filip Leu. It was during this trip that Dean was inspired to the realization that he wanted to focus his personal work on Japanese inspired tattoos.
Today, although there is a new building and many new faces, Full Circle Tattoo continues to be an incredible place for Dean to continue increasing his technical and artistic abilities, further immersing himself in tattooing with passionate and like minded peers who are constantly pushing themselves and the boundaries of the craft. While San Diego is home base, he travels each year to different cities to do both conventions and guest spots at shops in the US and internationally.
