Tattoo artist Charlotte Timmons (@charlotte.e.tattoos) is known for her creepy cute tattoos – we’re obsessed with her iconic cat ghosts. Having made the move from the Birmingham in the UK to work at Grit N Glory in New York, here she shares more about her tattoo journey and the ever-changing tattoo world…
When did you start tattooing and how did you start in the industry?
I can barely remember when I started tattooing at this point, but it must have been around 2009, so we’re going back about 15 years.
How have you seen the industry change since then?
It’s very difficult to answer this succinctly because it’s changed so much. As a mid-millennial, it’s crazy how much I’ve seen technology evolve in my lifetime – and that’s had an impact on every industry in so many ways.
For me, tattooing has evolved in really good and really bad ways because of both the influence of social media and culture more generally. On one hand, there’s actually tremendous value to be found in the old ‘gatekeepers’ of tattooing – their respect and reverence for techniques and history, and the humility expected from people getting into the industry are lessons I internalised. On the other hand, that knowledge was often inaccessible – especially as a young female tattooer – and that it isn’t so much the case now.
As someone who loves to do guest spots in different places, it’s always fun to find fresh and conflicting opinions about where the industry is headed. Suffice to say, in my experience, the best people in the industry, both old and new, are the people who value and care for their customers, and are grateful to do the job. Not the people who always need to buy another ticket for their ego.
You tattoo in New York now, how was the move from the UK? What inspired you to move?
It was really difficult. I went from a full calendar and a shop full of people I loved like family to barely any bookings and a shop full of new people I didn’t know yet. Then a pandemic hit – which made me feel I had made a huge mistake.”
“The culture of New York is highly competitive, innovative, fast paced, expensive and exhausting. And if I think about it, I don’t really know what inspired me to move here. It’s more like I did something really insane and then made up the reason later – like a lot of my favourite tattoos.
I had hit 30 and was watching a lot of friends and family settle down. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, I just felt this restlessness in my gut that I had to do *something*. When the thought came up to move to NYC after guesting there, I thought, why not? It’s kind of insane, but New York forced me to grow into a person closer to the one I wanted to be, so it was the right decision.
How is the tattoo scene different over there?
I’d say I tattoo more people of colour in New York than I used to, which is a great thing that has helped me grow as an artist, and to see different tones heal on different skin types is important for the planning of a design. I grew up in a fairly diverse community, but most of the people of colour I knew were from conservative or religious families, so they rarely had tattoos.
The tattoo scene here is as vibrant as anywhere, but there are so many people here that you have to find your specific niche or it’s highly competitive for work.
How would you describe your style and what do you love to tattoo?
My style has sort of been coined as ‘Illustrative Neo-traditional’. It’s a pretty good description. It’s like I can’t decide what lane I’m in so I just throw a bit of everything I’ve learned from people in every style into it. I love animals and floral, and I love creepy stuff and fantasy stuff the most. The themes of traditional are classics for a reason, but I’m become more interested in flow, and fitting things to the body shape.
Is there something you’d like to do more of?
I would love to do some darker themes, and some bigger more ‘stripped back’ stuff, but I also appreciate that a lot of my work is really ‘cute’ and intricate and that’s why people go for it. It’s not like I want to tattoo skulls all day, but I would love to lean more into that occasionally because I feel like I want to fine-tune that area to be a better all-round tattooer.
Have you found you’re known for a particular subject?
My little cat ghosts. Creepy cute stuff, animal portraits, and undoubtedly the most ‘famous’ tattoos I’ve made are of moths.
What’s been your proudest tattoo moment?
It’s hard to pick one but a girl said to me at a show here in the US that she followed my work when she was a teenager, and it inspired her to tattoo. And a woman once sent me a picture her 14-year-old had drawn based on one of my tattoos. Both sort of took me aback because no matter how old I get, I always have this imposter syndrome and feel kind of irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. So to have people notice anything you’ve done, and say you specifically inspired them to draw or tattoo feels really profound.
Any future plans you’d like to share with us?
I am currently living happily in NYC, but have guest spots around the US lined up for the spring and summer. Hopefully I’ll be visiting the UK later in the year too, but I can’t make any concrete plans just yet. I’m hoping to be back a few times in the next couple of years too.
Make sure to follow Charlotte on Instagram for more cute tattoos – and hopefully some skulls, too!
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