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For as long as he can remember, Joel Montfort has loved to draw, sketch and doodle on whatever he can get his hands on.

As a kid, his artistic aspirations sometimes landed him in trouble.

“I really liked to draw skulls and demons and flames, that kind of thing. I went to a French Catholic school, so they weren’t very impressed with that,” he said. “I got kicked out of a lot of art classes.”

Today, the 28-year-old Oshawa man’s art is winning him national awards.

He’s only been working as a tattoo artist for about four years and didn’t expect much when he entered some of his work in the first annual Ottawa Gatineau International Tattoo Expo, which ran from Oct. 23 to 25.

To his surprise, he went home with eight trophies and a coveted ‘best in show’ title.

“I was so surprised to win anything, I haven’t been doing this for very long,” said Mr. Montfort, who goes by the nickname MOFO, a nod to the pronunciation of his last name. “I was really happy about the best in show award, that is a huge show of respect from the other artists.”

Mr. Montfort, who works at the Art of Affliction tattoo shop in north Oshawa, said he fell into his career by accident.

After high school in Chatham, he bounced from job to job, doing everything from factory work to an electrician apprenticeship.

In the meantime, he set about getting “sleeves” — tattoos covering the entire arm — a process that took about 80 hours.

“After my first tattoos, I was hooked, I wanted more,” he said. “Then, I started to think I could maybe do a better job if I was doing them myself.”

So, he asked an artist to take him under his wing and completed a year-long apprenticeship, while working nights at a factory.

“I was working 20-hour days, that was a crazy time,” he recalls. “But it was worth it.”

After months of watching and learning, Mr. Montfort finally attempted his first tattoo, a nautical star inked on a fellow apprentice. He says the experience was stressful — a crowd of people was watching — and he recalls that first effort as “horrible.”

Four years later, those nerves are a distant memory and he is known throughout the industry for specializing in intricate portrait tattoos, immortalizing the faces of celebrities and everyday people alike.

One of his award-winning tattoos from the Ottawa show is a 45-hour masterpiece that spans a man’s entire back, and features eight separate portraits of deceased rap and hip hop artists, their facial features as vivid as photographs.

He says there isn’t a secret behind his success, just a passion for drawing, attention to detail and a steady hand.

And, Mr. Montfort says he never forgets that tattooing is serious business — something he hopes clients consider as well.

“I’m always thinking about health and safety, and thinking about the quality of the work that I’m doing,” he said. “You have to, you’re scarring somebody for life.”