Former comic book artist opens doors in Crystal Lake
By CHRIS FREEMAN
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CRYSTAL LAKE – Dan Serafino’s tattooing career had taken him from Chicago to Kalamazoo, Mich., and he was faced with the opportunity to work in Hawaii or Seattle for the next stop in his career.
But the pull of family drew him to Crystal Lake, and he opened the doors to Black Ink Tattoo at 540 E. Terra Cotta Ave., Suite F. Serafino’s daughters, Caitlyn and Isabella, live in town with his ex-wife.
“The kids, they’re pretty much the sole motivation,” Serafino said. “I had job offers in Hawaii and Samoa, or to work at a reputable place in Seattle, but I turned them down to come here.”
The shop is the first time Serafino has run his own business. Artist Sunshine Giovannetti works out of the shop with Serafino along with apprentice Regina Mayorova, Serafino’s fiance of seven years.
“Being an artist and being a business owner are two different things completely,” he said. “When you’re an artist, you’re talking about your main focus being on drawing and making that tattoo look great. I wanted to do that part of the business for a very long time – do my work, go home and not worry about anything else.
“I decided to open my own shop about two years ago, when things at the job I was at weren’t fulfilling. Before here I was living in Kalamazoo, Mich., with a great crew. But sometimes, times just expire after a while.”
Serafino said his favorite work now involves tribal tattoos.
“My favorite stuff is tribal anything, and black and gray has always been my first love,” he said. “That’s what I naturally gravitated towards. The past four years I’ve been intensely studying a lot of Pacific island tattooing – different shapes, meanings, the culture of where these come from.”
Serafino came to tattooing as his second career. Growing up as an artist, he fulfilled his first dream by working for Marvel Comics.
“I’ve been drawing since I could hold a pencil, and in the sixth grade I decided I wanted to become a comic book artist,” he said. “When I was 18, I left high school and got my first job at Marvel Comics, and for the next six years I was an assistant doing backgrounds.”
He made the transition to tattooing at the encouragement of a then-stranger, who saw Serafino drawing a page late one night at an IHOP restaurant.
“This guy I never met, who I’d become good friends with, was walking by and saw this comic book page I was doing and said, ‘You should be a tattoo artist,’” Serafino said. “He started talking to me about the business, we became good friends, and about six months after we met, he introduced me to a guy who was a tattoo artist and gave me a shot.”
Black Ink Tattoo
Where: 540 E. Terra Cotta Ave., Suite F, Crystal Lake.
Phone: 815-788-8282.
Web: www.myspace.com/blackinktat2; www.facebook.com/blackinktattoo.
Hours: 1 to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.
