Curious about the people wielding the needles? 210SA caught up with three San Antonio tattoo artists gearing up for the Slinging Ink Tattoo Expo and got the lowdown on their cool jobs, current trends in tattooing and what you need to know before you ink.

MARIO SANCHEZ, 37

Owner of Prick Tattoos,

11950 Starcrest Drive

How'd you get into this business?

I started tattooing probably in junior high, like a lot of my friends that wanted tattoos, little gang members, I guess. When I really started tattooing was in college. A couple of my friends knew that I tattooed. They wanted all their fraternity brothers to get tattoos. At the time, I didn't have any of the equipment, so they kind of just bought it all for me. And that's how I got started and paid my way through college, tattooing everybody on campus in my dorm room.

What's your specialty?

Anything realism. I do a lot of portraits.

What's the trend in tattooing now?

As far as realism goes, monsters and zombies.

What's the most expensive tattoo you've ever done?

I'm working on three body suits right now, so those are probably going to be the most expensive. I have one guy that I'm working on; he's close to the $10,000 range already, and we're not even done with him yet.

What advice can you give people getting tattoos?

I would definitely suggest to go around to all the shops and look at everybody's portfolio. You can tell a lot about an artist by just looking at all the work they've done. Cleanness, too. If you walk into a shop and it looks nice and clean and the area looks sterile, then more than likely they're practicing safe tattooing. But if you walk in and you see them smoking inside the shop, or they're building a motorcycle in the middle of their shop, more than likely you probably don't want to get tattooed there. And plus you've got to have that relationship with the artist. If you walk in and they're giving you attitude, more than likely you probably don't want to get tattooed by them because you're going to be uncomfortable.

WELDON LEWIS, 36

Owner, Mr. Lucky's Tattoo,

2710 N. St. Mary's St.

How long have you been in the business?

I've been tattooing since ’92, before it was cool. There used to be seven shops in San Antonio, now there's gotta be at least 50.

What's the trend in tattooing now?

Asian stuff, like Koi fish, dragons, Japanese demons, hanya masks, snakes.

Do you have a favorite tattoo that you like to do?

I like doing funny tattoos. This buddy of mine, he wanted a squid on one leg and a Sasquatch on the other leg. And we just ended up doing the Sasquatch and the squid fighting on one leg.

Who comes to your shop?

All kinds. Lately, I've had 18-year-old kids coming in whose parents are tattooed, like, “Yeah, my mom told me to come check the shop out.” I get teachers, doctors, kids that work at the gas station. That's what keeps it fun, meeting different people with different ideas, doing different things all day long so it never really gets old.

Why are more people getting tattoos now?

They see everybody else doing it. Whereas before they might be like, “I want to do it, but I don't want everybody looking at me like I'm weird.” The more people see somebody doing something, the more they want to do it.

What do you wish people knew about tattoos?

Sometimes people are real impatient. They'll come in the shop and say, “You can't do it now? I'll go somewhere else.” Well, you're not going to get the same thing if you go somewhere else. There's different skill levels. They look at it like they're buying hamburgers, like it's all the same thing. Not really. It's going to be different. And it's permanent.

Right, it's not the same as just eating a crappy hamburger.

Yeah, it's like, well, I have this crappy hamburger on my arm now.

ROBERT CORSO, 32

Artist, Element Tattoos,

4741 Fredericksburg Road

How long have you been in the business?

About three years.

What do you like about it?

Absolutely everything. The people involved in the industry. They're all super, super cool. It's just the ultimate form of expression.

Why are tattoos becoming more popular?

They were quite taboo because of the general ignorance toward the art. Now you've got a lot of TV shows that promote it. It's kind of like a foot in the door for a lot of people. We don't have that real intimidating image anymore. It's actually doing really, really good to help educate the general public. I think that's probably one of the big contributing factors in the trend in tattooing now.

Which TV shows?

I think “Miami Ink” originally started most of it, then you have “L.A. Ink.” They have a new one they do in the UK now called “UK Ink.” They had the show called “Inked.” It pretty much put it like right in your living room. All those questions that you were afraid to ask, it's right there in front of you now. And then there's more shows (like) Slinging Ink. Every year, they get bigger and easier to access.

What advice can you give people getting tattoos for the first time?

Definitely think it through. And listen to your artist. There's a lot of things that look really, really good on paper or it's a great concept in your mind, but once you try to translate it and commit it to skin, it just doesn't work out so well.

What's it like to tattoo yourself?

It's not as difficult as you would think. You tend to be really, really focused, so the pain really isn't an issue. The bad thing about it is, as you're progressing as an artist, you look back on some of the stuff you may have done to yourself at an earlier time and you just absolutely hate it.