Mark Machado, better known as Mr. Cartoon or more commonly just Cartoon is a Mexican-American tattoo artist and graffiti artist, born in the Harbor area of South Los Angeles, California, on 18 May 1970. He earned the nickname Mister Cartoon when he was still in high school, because of his animated personality. He is one of the best celebrity tattoo artists in the States.
Mark has earned eminence by working with famous personalities. He has had a creative mind since his childhood. At the age of eight, he realized he was an artist and went on to his first paying art job at the age of 12 as a professional tattoo artist. He has been designing cars, and logos for different brands and has collaborated with other start-ups since then. He began airbrushing t-shirts and Lowrider cars before adopting the legendary “Fineline Style” tattoo art, which was developed in the California prison system. He designed the logo for Cypress Hill.
Mark is mainly known for making graffiti in luxury cars. He has been associated with brands like Nike, Vans, Stussy, Diesel, T-Mobile, Stussy, Upper Playground, Rockford Fossgate, Toyota, T-Mobile, etc. As a celebrity tattoo artist, he has celebrity clients, including Kobe Bryant, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Beyonce, etc. He has also worked with athletes such as CC Sabathia, Amare Stoudemire, and Carlos Boozer. Mark has been featured in his excellence in his work in journals and magazines like Rolling Stone, The Wall Street Journal, Complex, Juxtapoz, XXL, and GQ.
Mark is a contributor to Mass Appeal Magazine. Together with friend and frequent collaborator Estevan Oriol, he owns Joker Brand Clothing. He, alongside Oriol, is a co-founder of Soul Assassin Studios. In 2020, Mark starred in and was the focus of the Netflix documentary LA Originals, chronicling his and Oriol’s lives as Chicano creatives, ambassadors, and trailblazers in art, hip-hop, and counterculture worldwide. Mark has also appeared in documentary films like- Scarface: Origins of a Hip-Hop Classic, Tattoo Nation, and NWA & Eazy-E: Kings of Compton. Then he appeared in a TV series titled Once Upon a Time in Aztlan and As I AM: The Life and Times of DJ AM. In 2021, Constellation Brands featured him in one of their Fighting Spirits.
Mark has been married to Julie M. since June 2009. He had confessed that before marriage, they had been in a relationship for almost ten years. They have four kids together. Mark has collaborated and worked with prominent brands and personalities all over the world and is followed in many countries. He is regarded as one of the biggest tattoo artists in the world and is known for his fine line black and grey style, his intricate detail, and his ability to capture a vibe on any medium—brick, canvas, classic cars, and skin. He has a net worth of $6 million.