“Sorry, I was honestly watching Just Trish when you got here,” Sofia Rios said, otherwise known as babyj.inks in the tattoo community, as she opened the door to her studio.
Sofia Jane Rios is originally from the suburbs of Seattle, Washington. In 2021, she moved to Tucson to attend the University of Arizona by herself, alongside her cat, Mochi.
All throughout her middle school and high school experience, Rios loved anatomy drawings. “I was drawing human organs. I was very anatomy and biology oriented with my drawings,” Rios said.
Rios had always planned to be a doctor, attending UA to study biology. Formerly dead-set on being a surgeon, Rios believed she needed to focus her efforts into something more creative.
When Rios came to Tucson, she started getting tattoos. “It was something that was very therapeutic,” Rios said. “It was really interesting to me seeing that people were doing art in such a meaningful way.”
In 2022, Rios dropped out of UA when she was 19 to pursue art. Rios noticed that she spent most of her time drawing instead of doing homework. “I realized I’d rather spend some time doing art,” Rios said. “I wasn’t directly set on being a tattoo artist right away, I really wasn’t planning on it. The more I did art and got tattooed I thought ‘this is a viable career that I could enjoy for the rest of my life.’”
Rios began her apprenticeship with Dennis Dwyer last year. Dennis Dwyer is best known in the Tucson community for creating one of the first tattoo shops in Tucson, Ancient Art, in 1988. “It was an honor to learn from someone with so much knowledge, but it was hard,” Rios said. Rios’s apprenticeship was made up of long hours and tasks she didn’t want to do, but it was all beneficial.
Rios’s mentor was towards the end of his career by the time her apprenticeship ended. “He was not in the best shape medically, and I realized I was spending a lot of time taking care of him and he wasn’t really able to work anymore,” Rios said. “I realized it was time for me to start from the ground up myself.”
Although she’d only been tattooing for a little over a year, Rios has been an independent tattoo artist ever since she turned 20. Rios’s practice began on silicon skin and eventually developed into practicing tattooing on herself. “I wanted to get my hands on real skin, so I started practicing on myself, and that was definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” she said.
Rios found that her biggest challenge in her independent career was starting to manage her business alone. She found struggle in administration, equipment, budgeting and scheduling. “I’ve never run a business before,” she said.
Rios experienced the difficulty of being a female tattoo artist in the industry through her career. “Women aren’t seen as tough, like they can’t put some ink into someone’s skin. A lot of people still view it as a masculine industry,” Rios said.
Rios expressed the importance of trusting your tattoo artist, as well as doing your own research about an artist you might want a tattoo from. “It’s very easy for there to be people who abuse their power in this industry and take advantage of people. Not only other artists, but their clients, so it’s important for everyone to look out for one another,” Rios said.
Rios disagrees with the people who believe tattooing is an easy career. “People think it’s an easy career because you get to do what you enjoy everyday, but there’s so much more that goes into tattooing. It’s extremely physically and mentally demanding,” she said.
Rios explained that tattooing was physically taxing for her. “It takes a toll on your body when you’re sitting here. I’m a very small person and I’ve had to learn how to bulk up a lot through tattooing,” Rios said.
Rios has advice for other tattoo artists who may be beginning their independent careers.
“The main thing to remember when starting out is that you can’t be focused on the money in this. There’s a lot of times where you’re going to be dirt broke and you’re going to have to just keep going,” Rios said.
She warned new tattoo artists about second guessing their art. “You’re going to feel like you don’t deserve to be doing what you’re doing but you do,” Rios said.
Rios built a network of clients through tattooing events and social media networking. A client of hers, Clarisa Guzman, met Rios at an event in March. “I got a tattoo from her and I was like ‘I’m going to get everything from you.’ Plus, she deals with my shaking,” Guzman said.
Rios worked hard to make her solo studio on 5315 E. Broadway Blvd. as welcoming as possible for her clients. Another client of hers, Aaliyah Quevedo, had a good experience with Rios. “Coming to get tattooed by Sofia was great. Immediately she was very welcoming and comforting with the changes I wanted to make,” Quevedo said. “I love my tattoo and will be coming back.”
Eventually, Rios wants to open her own tattoo shop with other artists. “It’s great being an independent artist, but it does get lonely,” Rios said. For now, Rios is content traveling for tattoo events and meeting new people through her art.
