Elgin tattoo artist Jose Manuel Napoles draws inspiration from Mexican heritage for unique designs

An Elgin tattoo artist draws inspiration from his Mexican background to create his unique designs.

Jose Manel Napoles is both a tattoo artist and a painter, but whether he's working on metal or skin a lot of his work has one thing in common: his Mexican heritage.

"I think it's important, especially for Mexicans, to understand their culture, where they come from," he said.

Napoles is from Mexico City and grew up loving art. Then, after coming to the United States in 2005, he was inspired by tattoo art.

"It was crazy to me that you could see that, you could do that, in someone's skin," he said. "I saw so many tattoos that were really high quality tattoos. That was the thing that caught my attention."

Now he owns the Funky Rooster Tattoo Studio and Art Gallery in Elgin with his wife.

Among the visual themes he pulls from his Mexican background are images from the Day of the Dead, the Mexican holiday honoring deceased relatives and welcoming back their spirits.

"It's about understand that we are, we're not here forever. We came here and obviously we're alive for a period of time, but we're not going to be here forever. So you've got to appreciate every moment," Napoles said.

And appreciate every culture.

"It just makes humanity richer," he said. "I think it's what it does to humanity. The more that we understand that there's more, that we should respect and love every culture around the world, I think is why it's important to, you know, to respect every culture in general."

Funky Rooster is located at 73 S. Grove Ave. in Elgin, Illinois.