Today we’d like to introduce you to Andie Vilar.
Andie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve always had a fascination with body art, from having a collection of over 700 temporary tattoos at eight years old to giving my classmates Sharpie sleeves in high school and college for snacks sometimes. After leaving the art program at FIU early due to my dad’s passing and needing to work office, delivery and hospitality jobs all at the same time to provide, I really started to think about what I wanted to fully devote myself to that I could be as passionate as possible for.
I tried doing graphic design and illustration gigs on the side, but they were never my art style, so I’d end up getting too annoyed of them to keep doing. Just by chance a friend reached out that knew of a tattoo artist looking for an apprentice and never looked back. Sadly, the tattoo industry is still mostly male-dominated with no HR policies to count on when things got disrespectful and it took finding and leaving a couple shops to end up at this gem of a shop called Ink For The Soul by Johan Avila. I’ve been tattooing there for a bit over a year and they have really become my family.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It hasn’t but it’s gotten me to appreciate and truly value where I am today. As a female artist, it hasn’t always been easy to be respected by owners, mentors and coworkers for my work instead of just being a pretty girl in the shop. Often even being manipulated into thinking that no other shop would give me more than the disrespect I was getting to get me to stay. It took a couple of years of searching but I’ve finally found a studio where I’m elated to go to everyday and am proud to have clients come into. The love and appreciation everyone at Ink For The Soul has shown me motivate me daily to keep growing.
We’d love to hear more about your art.
I work as a tattoo artist at Ink For The Soul mostly known for my fine line tattooing. Working with a very small grouping of needles or sometimes single needles, I’m able to get a ton of detail in which I love. We have artists of varying styles as most shops do, but I feel like the relaxed energy where everyone feels comfortable to come into is amazing. We often have clients come into just chill and talk for hours after their consult or tattoo.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I’ve always been my harshest critic but it’s because I know I’m still so young in the industry and have a ton to learn. It’s easy to hit a creative wall every so often, so changing up influences and styles I dive in to make it not feel like work so much but artistic phases. My love for tattooing really shows when I’m with my clients in making sure they’ll end up wearing something that they’ll be in love with for the rest of their lives. I’ve been so lucky to have such cool people bring me their amazing ideas and appreciation for my work. It motivates me to the point where I feel depressed if I haven’t tattooed in a while.
Pricing:
- Our shop minimum is $100 for anything under 30 minutes
- My hourly rate is $180
- In between more than 30 minutes but less than an hour is $150
Contact Info:
- Address: 10201 NW 58th St
Suite 101
Doral, FL 33178 - Phone: 7866196652
- Email: andievilar@gmail.com
- Instagram: @andievilar
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