Dream Jungle Tattoo is the exclusive studio of master tattoo artist Aleks Figueroa, specializing in creating customized tattoos tailored to each client's cultural preferences. Figueroa is known for his expertise in Filipino tattoos, particularly tribal and blackwork styles. He also enjoys crafting Americana and Japanese-inspired tattoos with his own touch staying close to Filipino influences, utilizing both machine and traditional techniques, including febori (portmanteau of Filipino tebori; meaning “hand-carve” in Japanese) and hand-poke (machine-free). Figueroa opts for the above manual processes over batok, referred to locally as fatoc in the Cordillera region, not only for its efficiency but also for its reduced (80-90%) client discomfort, making the tattooing process less intrusive, 3 times faster yet, giving a unique aesthetic than the other tattoo methods. Stay tuned for an upcoming blog where he will delve into the various methods he employs, unveiling never-before-seen artwork.

Accepting RSVP bookings for:
Long Beach, Bay Area and Honolulu.

Get on the waitlist.

My Background

 

I’m a student of tattoo; an intuitive tattoo artist who learned by a lot of reading-talking story with elders, due diligence-instinctively doing what others did not. I tattooed my family and friends with personal and cultural designs as one of the pioneers in the Filipino tattoo movement circa 1998. Those early experiences led me to pursue travelling around the world to learn first hand more about the art of tattooing from legendary modern tattoo artists, contemporary colleagues and tribal elders to combine my love of tattoo art, Filipino culture, ancestral connection and healthy living to help clients create custom and unique tattoos to breathe and tell their stories.

 

Dream Jungle Tattoo
Long Beach, CA,

2008 – Present

Dream Jungle Tattoo
Oakland, California

1998 – Present

 

Dream Jungle Tattoo
Honolulu, Hawaii

2020 – Present

Art and Business Consultant for Hire

2010 – Present

 

Travelling is my jam. No client is too far for me to accommodate. The earth’s circumference is 24,901 miles/40,075km. To date (2022) I’ve tattooed on six continents, upward to 40 countries, been around the world 17 times by plane (424,317mi/682,872km), at least once around by car with my late bestie, Oakland, about 500 miles/805km by train and 74 mi/ 119km by sailboat in the name of Filipino tattooing.

dream jungle airlines - filipino tattoos

Dream Jungle Airlines. Where you are, we are.

Oakland aka Big Daddy Slim, Da Freight Train, Baby Oakland, Road Dog #1.

Oakland, my bestie for a solid 13 years, travelled like a G since he was 7-weeks old. We’ve traversed most of the west coast states together amassing at least 25k miles to earn some dog food scratch and tattoo clients from Arizona to Washington down to Mexico and everywhere in-between.
You are forever missed, ol’ man. Rest in Puppy Power.

Misc Trivia: The Dream Jungle Tattoo logo is called Dogflowre- it’s an aso (dog) design based on him. Created in 2007, this version was revamped in 2022.

filipino tattoos - filipino tribal arm tattoo

Shaka Over Alons, 2015.

People don’t take trips. Trips take people. My tattoo trip is cultural, historical, political, and decisively a personal point of view about storytelling.

 
filipino tattoos

My old man used to say, You can’t bullshit a bullshitter.
I don’t pretend to know what I don’t know-which is a lot. Yet, in the same breath, I know everything about nothing.

Animal In Man: Mirror Warriors. No. 14. Vinyl on wood 24” x 24”, 2015.

Sunset on top of Maunakea. OG Filipino tattoos since 1998.

I look forward to performing my brand of magic for you.