After years of tattooing in other people’s parlors, Jacob Mekeel has finally found a shop of his own.
Mekeel opened Merlo Macs Tatt Shack on Sept. 11 at 404 N. Lincoln Ave. in Dixon. The shop marks a new chapter for Mekeel, who has been tattooing professionally since 2019. He said opening his own place was always the goal, both to showcase his own style and to create a welcoming space for other artists to grow.
“I just want to leave the [tattoo] industry a little bit better than I found it,” Mekeel said.
That vision extends beyond the shop’s walls.
For more than a year, Mekeel has been working on converting an old bus into a mobile tattoo parlor. Painted with a “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” theme by Vintage Mechanical Works and outfitted with custom decals from JJM Printing in Sterling, the bus is part advertisement, part future expansion. He hopes to have it licensed and ready for private parties, events and on-site appointments by October.
“We were tossing around ideas about what to do with the bus, and although we all love Scooby Doo and the Mystery Machine, there’s no mystery as to what we’re doing on this bus,” Mekeel said. “Right now it’s just a big billboard for the shop, but I plan to travel around doing events, bookings and private parties with it.”
Customers can get $25 off their session deposit by snapping a photo with the bus and sharing it on social media.
Inside the shop, Mekeel has built a team with a mix of experience and fresh talent. He brought in tattoo artist Martin Sosa, whom he first met when Sosa was still an apprentice. Now four years into his career, Sosa specializes in black-and-gray work, lettering, and Chicano-style art. As a bilingual artist, he often helps translate for Spanish-speaking clients.
Sosa said his path into tattooing began with a lifelong love of drawing.
After high school, he tried art classes in college but found they did not fit his style. He turned to graffiti and sketched whenever possible, even doodling on cardboard during breaks at his Walmart job. A former classmate, now a tattoo artist, encouraged him to pursue tattooing, and with connections in Chicago, Sosa found his way into the industry.
Mekeel also has taken on an apprentice, Brandon Kilday, who started out as one of his longtime customers. His fiancée, Michelle Denning, manages the business side of the shop.
For Mekeel, tattooing is about more than just the artwork. He said conversations with clients are often the most meaningful part of the job.
“People really open up to you once they’re in the chair,” Mekeel said. “At one point in time, some people would have been skeptical about sitting down and talking with me after knowing I was in prison. But when they come into this professional setting, and after being my best friend for three hours, it helps humanize all of it.”
Mekeel said he enjoys bold colors and line work, and he specializes in stippling – a shading method using dots to create depth and texture.
“I can stipple-shade anything, but I especially love doing anything with floral,” Mekeel said.
He hopes to eventually host tattoo-related events and envisions his shop as a place where new artists can learn without the “old-school” apprenticeship mentality that he experienced earlier in his career.
“I don’t believe in torturing somebody during an apprenticeship,” Mekeel said. “That old-school mentality of throwing papers on the ground and telling the apprentice to pick it up, or the apprentice doesn’t get to do anything but clean, and they’re not learning anything for a year until you prove yourself, that’s not happening. Everybody’s got to make money – they need to eat, and they need to be treated with respect.”
Mekeel also wants to help young artists see tattooing as a potential career path.
“I want to help other young artists understand that there’s a way to go further with your career,” Mekeel said. “And I want people to know there are other avenues they can pursue when thinking about a career. I’ve been drawing my whole life, but no one ever introduced me to that avenue.”
Mekeel said appointments are typically scheduled within a month to keep the wait manageable.
“We schedule within a month because if there’s any cancellations or whatnot, I don’t want to have to tell somebody that had to cancel – because life happens – that I’m now booked three months out,” Mekeel said.