Guy Abergel.

I was born in 1977, and my family moved to Canada from Israel in 1980. As a young child, my love for art started with the classic morning cartoons — He-Man, G.I. Joe, Transformers, ThunderCats, BraveStarr, the Electric Company Spider-Man, and the Super Friends. Inspiration was everywhere, and I started drawing very early.

Once I discovered comic books, I found my true love. I spent most of my time creating my own comics and characters. I never lost that love for comics, but in my teens my style shifted toward life study and realism, drawing portraits. I began taking commissions — portraits of people's family members and celebrities — and that is when I knew I wanted to create art for a living.

At nineteen I was commissioned to draw a comic book. I jumped at the opportunity, though looking back I would have pushed back on how much work was expected in so little time. Shortly after, I discovered airbrushing, which opened up a much broader way to share my art. My portrait work expanded onto t-shirts, canvas, automotive, and murals, and I was kept busy. I painted businesses, restaurants, salons, churches, comic book shops, conventions, indoor playgrounds, school foyers, and kids' bedrooms.

After a long run of mural work, I hit a short lull. Looking for my next airbrush job led me to a tattoo shop that offered both tattoos and airbrushing. I took my chance, met the owner, and started that same week painting the shop's walls with all kinds of scenes — including my first epoxy-covered floor, which made the art shine. That is where my tattoo apprenticeship began, and I quickly picked up the skills that carried me into the next chapter.

After two years as an apprentice, I branched out and worked in other shops to keep advancing. In 2009, a fellow artist and friend and I opened our own shop, Art Studio Tattoos, in uptown Toronto at Yonge and Sheppard. We wanted to be the kind of shop that created unique designs from our clients' ideas, not just another flash shop. In 2015 we moved the shop to Aurora to stay close to our clients while reaching a new clientele.

In 2018 I moved further north and opened Art Studio Tattoos Bradford, originally at 27 Holland Street East. After four years on my own, I moved to 13 John Street West, still in Bradford, where the shop has stood for another four years.