Freddy first fell in love with tattooing during a stint in a juvenile detention center at the age of 16.
He was fascinated by the tattoos of a fellow inmate, and it was in prison where he started tattooing over a period of three years, honing a black and white style all his own that’s been dubbed as Chicano. It consists of fine lining and shading work that give the tattoos a realistic, three-dimensional effect that make them stand out. After he was released, Freddy was hired by Ed Hardy to work in his East LA shop, Good Time Charlies. It was in this shop that Freddy Negrete would become part responsible for innovating single needle style tattooing.
Today it is fair to say that Freddy Negrete is one of a small group of people heavily responsible for developing one of tattoo culture’s most prolific styles of tattooing. Over the course of his career, Negrete has worked makeup on several sets including Con Air, Blade, Austin Powers, and Blood in, Blood Out. And today he works at Mark Mahoney’s Shamrock Social Club in Hollywood, CA.
