WHEN 26-year-old Kloie Ledesma got her first tattoo with artist Ambo Darryl Bongalonta, she thought it would be just that.

What she didn’t expect, though, was that he would soon become her mentor years later, helping her to follow a new career path altogether. 

Starting out as a home-based tattoo artist in 2020, wherein she would go to people’s houses to tattoo them, she now works at Bongalonta’s tattoo shop, Shadow Studio, located in Maginhawa, Quezon City.

Though Ledesma’s journey as a tattoo artist has just started, the road hasn’t at all been smooth since she first started. She’s faced a lot of ups and downs and has had a number of curveballs thrown her way, but through it all, she’s managed to pick herself up with the guidance of her mentor, Bongalonta, whom she refers to as Kuya Ambo. 

For all of you out there aspiring to be tattoo artists, listen up: you need to have passion. In Ledesma’s eyes, this isn’t something you can treat as a mere hobby. 

“Career siya; ang daming consequences pag hindi mo sinunod [para maging] malinis yung pagta-tattoo,” she said firmly. 

“Hindi siya dapat bara-bara lang, kasi pwede kang makahawa ng sakit pag hindi ka malinis gumawa.” 

A journey of growth

Ledesma didn’t always want to be a tattoo artist. In college, she took up advertising arts at the UST College of Fine Arts and Design. When she met Bongalonta, her aspirations changed. 

It started when he saw her art and started commissioning her to make designs for him, which he would then tattoo onto his clients. A little ways down the road, he encouraged her to start tattooing as well.

Originally, Ledesma had wanted to become a concept artist for games. After this opportunity to be a tattoo artist was introduced to her, though, she thought: Why not do both? 

A year passed, and her mind was made up. She started learning how to tattoo, guided both by Bongalonta and her own self-study. Sometimes she and the other artists at Shadow Studios would even practice with one another, serving as additional education on proper tattooing as well as a means to spend time with each other. 

The success she’s gained hasn’t been easy, though. Ledesma has faced many errors since she first started. 

One such incident she recalls is when she was still a home-based tattoo artist, wherein she tattooed her cousin. While she felt that the ordeal had gone smoothly, she was shocked to find out days later that the tattoos she’d done had faded away almost entirely.

After consulting with Bongalonta, she learned that the error was most probably caused by the settings of her machine. After that, she learned to always check her machine while tattooing and then quickly retouched the faded tattoos.

“Yun yung nakakakaba, na magfa-fade yung tattoo,” she shared.

“Yun kasi yung inaabangan namin: kung maghe-heal ba siya ng maayos.” 

Ledesma also found out that she often worked rather quickly before, only to be taught by Bongalonta that it would be better for her to work slowly to ensure that each line of ink would properly go into the skin. Now, she goes slower as she continues to learn about the right amount of voltage needed for every stroke.

She’s learned a number of techniques from her mentor, like how it’s easier to switch needles rather than just using one, how to properly deal with clients, and how to sanitize your work area after each session. 

Perhaps one of the most valuable lessons she’s learned, though, is that tattooing is only scary at the start. When you start to believe in yourself, though, that fear fades away little by little.

She said: “Dito, kalaban mo yung machine. Nung first time ko ‘to gamitin, nanginginig ako kasi hindi ko alam kung paano gamitin. Tapos sabi sa’kin ni Kuya Ambo: dapat ikaw yung boss ng machine mo. Ikaw dapat yung susundan ng machine. Wag ka magpapadala sa machine.”

Though Ledesma often found herself filled with anxiety when she would tattoo in the past, she sees it as muscle memory now. Instead of panic, she only feels excitement. 

Advice for aspiring artists

Ledesma finds herself lucky that she managed to find a mentor who’s never gatekept any of his methods from her. If you’re looking for a mentor as well, one piece of advice is to bond with whoever’s going to be teaching you and be sure that the two of you get along, because it’s inevitable that you’re going to be spending quite a lot of time with one another. 

For Ledesma, it’d be even better to get a tattoo from the person you want to mentor you to see how they are, both talent and personality-wise. Afterward, try striking up a conversation, then pop the question. (“Will you be my mentor?” “Yes, yes I do!”)

At present, Ledesma works as a freelance tattoo artist for Shadows Studios as well as a freelance illustrator for Canvas. If you’re interested in seeing more of her work or booking an appointment with her, you can contact her on her personal Instagram or on any of Shadow Studio’s social media pages.