“Writing, drawing, and tattooing now, life has been a rocky road. Stabbed by a crackhead, brain cancer, and my wife dying all got in the way”
Dan’s early career included a year and a half-stint drawing political cartoons for Madcap Magazine and illustrating underground projects such as Maximum Rock and Roll. In 1997, after struggling through a violent car crash and a knife fight with a crackhead that severed the tendon on his left thumb, he attended art school. Receiving some commercial and local gallery acclaim for his artwork, he moved to New York City in an attempt to kick-start an art career. Heavily immersing himself in the local hardcore scene, he produced artwork for the bands Shai Hulud, Indecision, Koshari, Unsound, Coalesce, Most Precious Blood, Locked in a Vacancy, Beyond Reason, and Zombie Apocalypse, not to mention various local record labels and venues.
In 2000, he started tattooing, initially working on many musician friends. A year later, in September 2001, he was stricken with brain cancer and underwent surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Three months after the surgery, he married fellow tattoo artist Monica Castillo.
His work started appearing in both a growing number of tattoo magazines and more fine art-influenced tomes. Tattoo-related books such as No Regrets, Tattoo Prodigies, and Inside the Tattoo Circus took notice and included features.
Tragedy struck again in 2007, as his wife of 6 years, Monica Henk, was killed on a motorcycle by a hit-and-run driver. Despite extensive coverage in the local media and vigorous campaigns by both the tattoo and motorcycle communities, the culprit was never found.
He moved to Austin, Texas for three years, and started doing a regular comic strip entitled “Rollo & Me” for Tattoo Artist Magazine. Illustrations for Black Static, Litro Magazine, The Horror Zine, and This is Horror followed suit.
His first novel, The Black Seas of Infinity, was published by Anarchy Books in 2011, and he started an illustrated calendar featuring a variety of artists. Deadite Press released the first book with a cover by Dan, a novel entitled “The Sopaths” by Piers Anthony.
A limited edition chapbook “Christmas Is Cancelled” came out courtesy of Splatterpunk in 2013, and in 2014 he started columns for TAM, Tattoo Revue, and Skin Art magazines.
A reissue of his debut novel was released by Permuted Press in April 2015, as well as a collection of his short stories entitled “Down Highways In The Dark…By Demons Driven” in August of the same year.
He continued his work for independent magazines, doing art for Red Door Magazine, a slew of books by the imprint Out Of Step, and every issue so far of the British horror zine Splatterpunk. The books “Not Dead”, “Fighting Back”, “Past Indiscretions”, “Insatiable”, “The Red Death” and “The Flood” all featured his work, and his third book, “The End of the World” debuted in March of this year. He’s currently writing short stories, the latest of which, “Fort Bragg”, is available on Amazon.
