Tattoo Artist Ricardo Da Silva Cunha

Self taught and producing incredible black and grey realism pieces, we’re excited to bring you Ricardo Da Silva Cunha as our featured Tattoo Artist. Get to know more about his career as an artist, his Cape Town based shop, and his work here.
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Full name: Ricardo Da Silva Cunha

Shop: Descriptive Art Collective

Years tattooing: 10

Tattoo style: Black and Grey Realism

Give us a quick introduction to Ricardo and your journey into becoming a full time tattoo artist?
Born and bred in Swaziland, I moved to Cape Town at the age of 15 and I have been living here since. I stumbled across tattooing through my cousin who built a homemade tattoo machine and forced me to tattoo him. Tattooing is not something I ever thought I’d be doing because the plan was to be a Multi Media/ 3D Animator, which was what I was studying. After tattooing my cousin I found it quite fun and began looking for apprenticeships at quite a few different shops. After being turned away multiple times, I decided to approach the tattoo industry the unconventional way of teaching myself, even though I was aware that this was not the right way of doing things.
So, while completing my studies I tattooed part time from my own little studio at home. It was only in my seventh year that I joined Sleight Of Hand Tattoos and four months down the line decided to open up Descriptive Art Collective with Ted Flinstxne. We’ve been going for about just over two years now. It was quite the unconventional journey, but I’m happy to be where I am.

What have been some of the highlights of your career?
Being able to open up a shop and gaining attraction quite quickly. Attending the London Tattoo Convention as a spectator where I met some of the guys I’ve been looking up to. Tattooing has also helped me travel to cities that I dreamt of going to, but could never afford to.

Explain the defining moment in your life when you knew you wanted to become a tattoo artist?
It was when I met a guy named Pash Canby from the UK. I was introduced when I went to visit my family in Swaziland over one festive season. I then explained my journey and he offered to sell me my first professional tattoo machine. He then gave me a short breakdown of the do’s and don’ts of tattooing and after my first attempt of using the professional tattoo machine I did a small script piece with Pash watching over. He gave me the nod and said that there was not much more that he could teach me, in technicality. It was just about proving my art, which I then went on to do and started attracting people I did not know who were willing to pay me. This is when I realised I could do something I really enjoy for a living.

What drives you?
Always aiming to improve with each tattoo and to hopefully end up on an international platform.

What does a day in the life of Ricardo normally consist of?
I usually get up every morning, eat some breakfast and try to get a gym session in to get my mind active. From there I head to work and get my day started with my tattoo for the day which lasts about 8 to 9 hours. After that I head to my next gym session which involves boxing. I then get home to my girlfriend and try to catch up and see what her day was about. I’ll have a late supper and start my prep and design work for the next day while possibly listening to a podcast (either Joe Rogan or Mike Tyson). I call it a night at 1:30am or 2am and do it all over again.

What do you feel was one of that hardest skills to master when it comes to tattooing?
Shading, smooth shading and more specifically clean shading. From there it was learning how to improve on the composition of tattoos.

Do you recall the first time tattooing a client, and if so what was that experience like?
It was more nerve wracking than anything else. My hands were shaking and I perspired quite a bit. It was one of the most intense moments of my life regarding art because I knew there was no room for error. Luckily for me, my first client was my cousin.

How would you best describe the vibe in your shop, Descriptive Art Collective?
I would say it feels like an informal home. A place where artists feel like a family and our clients feel at home too. It’s very lively as we are busy from Monday to Friday. But overall I would say the environment is very relaxed. We try our best to make our clients feel as comfortable as possible.

How do you like to make sure you keep progressing as an artist?
I like to do my research and see what’s current in every style of tattooing, especially internationally. I like to look at new styles of tattooing as well, for example quite a bit of artists are using single liners to complete an entire piece. The information I find from the research is added to what I know. Another thing I like to research is up and coming tattoo equipment as well as how other artists are progressing.

What style of tattoo do you enjoy creating the most, and why?
Black and grey realism and portraiture. Reason being, I find it to be the hardest to execute and I get a feeling of satisfaction knowing that I can get close to duplicating the real deal.

If you could have the opportunity to tattoo any famous person, who would it be and why?
No one specifically, but I would like to tattoo a celebrity who I find to be inspiring, for example if I were to tattoo a rap artist I would tattoo J Cole. It could even be an actor or athlete with a crazy work ethic. My reason for this is being able to pick their brains about who they are and how they came to be, so I could use that and of course the public platform would give me the chance to showcase my work.

For anyone wanting to get their first tattoo, what advice would you give them?
First and foremost they need to think long and hard about what they would like to have done as well as if they would still like the piece 10 to 15 years from now. Placement also needs to be taken into consideration as we still live in a world where visible tattoos can compromise ones work place.

For anyone wanting to book an appointment with you, what’s the next step?
The best thing to do would be to email descriptiveart@gmail.com to find out the step by step booking procedure. The requested piece has to fall within my preferred style of tattooing which is black and grey realism in order to make the queue.

Descriptive Art Collective
Contact: 021 447 2777 or descriptiveart@gmail.com
Address: 135 Albert Road, Woodstock, Cape Town.
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