Jennifer Cortez’s love for Disney is skin deep

Tattoo artist Jennifer Cortez practices out of Dotta Ink in Downtown Downey and has become well-known for her Disney artwork. (Photo by Alex Dominguez)

It was 2001. Downey High graduate Jennifer Cortez was an 18-year-old avid Disney fan and had her dreams set on becoming the next graphic designer for Mickey Mouse.

Her college counselor had other ideas.

“She just burst my bubble so bad,” said Cortez. “She said, ‘Honey, you’re never going to make it in that field.’

“I’m a kid. I was like, ‘What do you mean? That’s what I want to go into. I want to make Disney movies; I want to do the graphics. I want to do special effects.”

Little did either know at the time, Cortez was indeed destined to make magic with her art; it’s just in people’s skin, not on their screens.

Cortez’s spot at Dotta Ink Tattoo and Piercing Parlor stands out against the rest of the room. Compared to the shop’s darker atmosphere, Cortez, 40, works amid splashes of Pink. Artwork depicting some of Disney’s most beloved characters hang on the wall. Figurines of Carl and Ellie (from Disney Pixar’s UP) hold hands and read books as they sit in their familiar chairs on top of her station. Baby Groot, from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, smiles in the direction of the chair where her clients sit.

It reflects in her work too. A quick visit to her Instagram unveils a portfolio of a familiar cast of characters and pop culture; from Little Mermaids, to Death Stars, vibrant colors to blacks and grey’s.

She’s built herself a reputation as “the Disney artist.”

She’s not just limited to mice with big ears and the like. In fact, she says her portfolio is “a little bit of everything,” though she’s partial to bright, vibrant colors.

“I’m an 80’s baby; 80’s is pastels, neon colors, all that stuff,” said Cortez. “I’ve always loved that. I’ve always loved that style in my art.”

She admits it can be a little frustrating to be pigeonholed, but she also like’s “the shock value” that comes with it.

“If I’m in here, a lot of the artists here, they’re used to seeing me do like Tinkerbell, Ariel,” said Cortez. “So, if I do a big piece of like an Aztec back piece, or black and grey, they’re shocked. They’re like, ‘What? You can do that too?”

Still, she estimates about 75% of what she does is Disney.

“It’s a lot of Disney. I feel like people travel for that,” said Cortez. “I have Disney fans from the east coast where they’re like, ‘I’m going for one day; do you have this day?’ And I’ll make it available, of course I’ll get you in.

“They come, get tatted, and they leave on the airplane, and I’m just like ‘Oh my god.’ It feels so amazing to get to that level when I was starting and I was happy to get one tattoo a month.”

Thinking back, Cortez says she “probably would have enjoyed being in graphic design,” but feels she “relates to people more” tattooing.

“I imagine the stress of doing that career to doing something that I love every day,” said Cortez. “I have no regrets. In a way, I’m like, do I thank the counselor over there that pushed me in a different direction?”

After the initial disappointment with her counselor, Cortez spent around two months in college before deciding it wasn’t for her anymore. She was eyeing an art school in Boston when she became pregnant, forcing her to once again closet her aspirations.

“I somehow managed to ‘fake it until I make it.’ I went into Real Estate,” said Cortez. “I pretended to know everything about everything, and they had me loan processing.

“I was young, I was a kid. All the calls I would make, I was honest and I would tell the other person on the line, ‘Look, I’m new to this job, I don’t know what I’m doing. Can you explain what this is?’”

Cortez’s honesty led her to learn. She ultimately stayed in real estate for nine years.

Cortez began doing tattoos parttime from home at the suggestion of her husband, who was looking for someone to help him fix and cover up some of his existing pieces.

“He had a lot of old school tattoos, and he was just like, ‘Babe, I know you’re so artistic, and I see the paintings you do; I know you can help me fix all this,” said Cortez.

She says that her husband was her “guinea pig.”

“I covered a lot of his stuff,” she said. “People started asking, ‘Who covered it?’ He always laughs and is like, ‘You’re my protégé; I created you.”

Cortez continued to grow and practice on friends. As word of mouth spread, her clients continued to grow. It put the idea in her head that she could “do this for a living.”

When the housing market crashed, she took the opportunity.

“My family wanted to kill me,” said Cortez. “They’re like, ‘You’re giving up a steady job of real estate for tattoos. Are you kidding me?’”

Cortez has been tattooing now for around 17 years, and has been at Dotta Ink for about a year.

She remembers a time when there were no tattoo shops in Downey.

“I tried to open [a shop] in a couple of spots; there were a couple of shopping centers in Downey. I went and talked to the owner, and they’re like ‘Oh yeah, yeah…What are you trying to open,’” said Cortez. “I was like, ‘A tattoo shop,’ and their whole demeanor changed. ‘Oh no, no, I don’t think we’re trying to open that here.’”

Tattoo shops were never barred from the city per its municipal code; however, they weren’t listed in the zoning code until 2022. The city council at the time adopted regulations for them in March that year, albeit doing so through gritted teeth.

Since then, several shops have sprouted, especially in Downey’s Downtown area.

Cortez says that “it’s more acceptable.”

“It’s been hard to get it to be accepted by a lot of people. Maybe the older generation, the great grandparents are the ones that are still a little iffy,” said Cortez. “Now, it’s accepted. I’ve tattooed police men, I’ve tattooed doctors, I’ve tattooed teachers. I know for a certain amount of years, there was a limit of where I could go on them; it can’t pass this collar, it can’t pass this sleeve. So, it always stayed in my head.

“Now when I ask them, they’re like, ‘No, it doesn’t matter; it can show.’”

Cortez’s ultimate goal is open her own shop where she would tattoo and sell her Chaotic Ink clothing line.

As for where that shop is, she may take a nod from a certain animated crab: “It’s better down where it’s wetter.”

“My dream is probably to open up a shop next to the beach,” said Cortez.

Cortez says that “everything happens for a reason.”

“I spent so much time thinking of why I couldn’t be in the graphic design industry,” said Cortez. “I think to myself, ‘Maybe it wasn’t meant to be like that.’ Maybe I wouldn’t have been as successful as I am now doing that. I’d be behind a desk, nobody would know who I am.

“It’s fun now because I go out in the street and people recognize me…It’s just a path I didn’t expect, and you never know what’s going to happen.”