Mr. Cartoon, aka Mark Machado, has tattooed Eminem, Beyoncé, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, Pharrell, Nas, Travis Barker and Xzibit – but tattooing is just a side gig.

A street kid through and through, the 37-year-old Mr. Cartoon began his career writing graffiti and drawing murals. At 16, he landed a job as an illustrator for Hustler magazine, eventually moving on to T-shirt designs and album covers for artists Cypress Hill, Maldita Vecindad and Transplants.

But it was a later foray into fine-line tattooing – a style that flourished in California prisons and has become synonymous with gang culture – which he credits with his current success: "[T]attoos reach everybody, because someone can somehow relate. If I walk into a nightclub, I can find only a handful of people that want an album cover, but can find at least 20 people who want tattoos."

Art directors eager to tap the authenticity of working class, Mexican-American street culture have taken notice. Mr. Cartoon was commissioned to design six shoes for Nike, including his personal choice, the Cortez. Vans produced three Mr. Cartoon-designed colorways of their Authentic shoe while T-Mobile put out a Mr. Cartoon edition Sidekick II. If you've played or seen commercials for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, you've seen more of his handiwork.

A savvy entrepreneur, the 37-year-old is also the co-owner of the Joker clothing brand and will soon release his own toy figure. In the quintessential nod to the American Dream, Brian Grazer, the producer of Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind, signed Mr. Cartoon to a three-picture deal, including a movie based on Machado's own life story which debuts in late 2007.