Once he inked Cyrus, the celebrity requests started pouring in. Soon enough his art was on Mandy Moore, Demi Lovato, Chrissy Teigen, Joe Jonas, Sophie Turner, and more. Now, it's hard to find a tattoo-loving celebrity in California Winter hasn't inked, but he likes to remind everyone that the celebrity clientele is only one percent of his total business. "The other 99 percent of my clientele, which is normal people, is what makes my business kind of go around," Winter said.
It's easy to spot Winter's tattoos on Instagram — it's incredibly clean and precise; a true work of art. He likes to look at artists like Matisse, Picasso, and Salvador Dali. "When you look at Picasso, his stuff is so simple, but it has such an impact," said Winter. "So, I try to kind of mimic my style toward that minimalistic vibe."
But his main source of inspiration is his clients and he prides himself on giving an extremely personal tattoo experience. "You come in, we sit down, we have a conversation, and we go over what you're thinking," said Winter. "99 percent of the tattoos that people are getting in my studio are extremely meaningful."
Being completely self-taught, he can't give credit to any one mentor for helping him get to where he is; he was a "lone wolf" when he started out. "The tattoo industry 10 years ago was very different from what it is today," said Winter. "It was very, very strict in the sense where now it's more like artists giving tattoos instead of just picking a piece of flash off the wall."