Category: Features

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Interview with tattoo artist Jing

Fineline tattooer Jing works in a private studio in the Arts District of Los Angeles, a hidden gem of a place where she has lots of plants and sunlight. Jing tells us her Chinese name is 静月 meaning peaceful moon, which fits beautifully with her private studio, a space she can focus on her designs in and work peacefully.

What inspired you to become a tattoo artist? How did you become an artist? To be honest, I never planned to become a tattoo artist. I became a tattoo artist by accident. In China, tattoos are still connected with gangs and gangsters, and I had negative opinions about them for this reason. It took me almost half a year to understand why people were getting tattoos. But I will share how I got from there to where I am today…

My uncle is an artist, specialising in oil painting. He has an art studio in Chengdu, China. I was his very first student when I was a little girl. After high school I got accepted by the China Central Academy of Fine Arts (中央美术学院) to study arts and design. During senior year, I went to Zurich University of the Arts in Switzerland (Zürcher Hochschule der Künste) to study style and design. At that time, my dream was to become a visual merchandise designer or a UX designer.


One day while helping a friend shoot for a video, we went to a tattoo studio. At that time, my life was boring as I was preparing for the GRE exam. So I thought learning to tattoo could be a fun hobby. So I started my apprenticeship, and because of Instagram, I was lucky to have clients who supported me and helped me move to Los Angeles. Then luckily again, I met Eva Karabudak. She was a big inspiration for me, and she helped me to see the value of my work, and build a stronger technique.

Today, I study Chinese traditional painting and Chinese calligraphy. My goal is to bring traditional Chinese Arts into tattooing and integrate them.


How would you describe your work? Have you always tattooed like this? What drew you to this type of tattooing? I say the tattoo is my client’s “mark of the soul”. As a HSP (highly sensitive person), I can easily have connections with my clients, and help them to make their ideas come to life. Even though right now, during this crazy time, I can’t do consultations in-person. Even so I always spend hours talking with my clients and adjusting the designs with them.

I know perfection is impossible, but I always try to make my designs and tattoos as close to perfect as I can. I treat my clients with love from the bottom of my heart. That’s why I can’t tattoo too many people in a day, otherwise I would burn myself out. 

For the style: from the beginning, I’ve done small fine line work. Now I would like to take those skills and tattoo more East Asian style arts, both colour and fine-line. I will say my master Pingguang Zhou 周平珖 helped me to step into the traditional Chinese art world. I paint with him every week, and this work draws me closer towards to this type of tattooing, and also the peaceful lifestyle of a Chinese artist. It guides me on my way to becoming a better artist and a better person.


Can you tell us about the process behind your tattooing? Actually, my tattoo process is really casual. That’s why I hope my clients are chill people. (Luckily almost all of them are chill and nice people!)

  • Step 1: Clients fill the booking form from my website when I open booking.
  • Step 2: After the appointment is confirmed, I will read their tattoo ideas before we meet. If they already have certain ideas, usually I will have the designs prepared for them. But sometimes, clients don’t have specific ideas, maybe either it’s their first tattoo, or they want too many elements in one small tattoo. Then I will talk with them in person first and design the tattoo with them.
  • Step 3: I will wear my earphones and focus on tattooing. My rectangle tattoos usually take one to one and a half full days, depending on the placement, size and details of the design.
  • Step 4: When the tattoo is fully healed, clients will give me feedback on how their skin took the ink. Because I do colour packing (which means each spot packed colour three to five times), most tattoos heal great. If there is any spot that didn’t heal great, I welcome them to come back for a free touch up session within a year.


What inspires your designs? East Asian culture is always my biggest inspiration, especially traditional Chinese painting (especially from Song Dynasty), Japanese Ukiyo-e, Jingdezhen porcelain, Dunhuang Murals etc.

What do you love to tattoo and what would you like to do more of? I like tattooing both fine-line and colours. For fine-line, I love tattooing Chinese meticulous line drawings. For colour tattoos, I love the rectangular designs with many details. I feel satisfied after seeing my client’s surprised face after their tattoo session. In the near future, I want to design and tattoo more shapes with Chinese paintings.


Can you tell us about your own tattoos? Are you a tattoo collector? I don’t have many tattoos yet. But all of them are important to me. My first one is by my friend @yuantattoodesign, it’s a moon. I got it during my apprenticeship, mostly because I wanted to experience the pain that I was causing to others when I tattoo them.

My second one is from @gloriatattoo. We tried nine machines on a two and a half inche fine-line tattoo. I used myself to test which machine was good for fine-line, the differences of pain levels and healing progress.

My third one is from my friend @ink_by_bae. I got it when I became a tattoo artist. During that time, I felt huge peer pressure and competition. So I got the tattoo to remind myself: “Don’t compare your life to others. There’s no comparison between the sun and the moon. They shine when it’s their time.” 

My fourth and fifth tattoos were made together from my friends @ink_by_bae and @frommay_tat: they’re a leaf branch and my grandma’s favourite flower, Japanese honeysuckle. She is the one who raised me, and I really miss her.


What is the tattoo scene like in L.A? How are women in the tattoo industry treated, how has your experience been? Los Angeles a city that’s very tolerant of different cultures and immigrants. I feel happy, safe, respected and blessed to work as a tattoo artist in this city. Most of my clients are women, so I feel lucky as a female tattoo artist. I can create really feminine designs, and also neither of us will feel awkward about sensitive body placement, like the chest. There are some times that I don’t feel safe to work late alone, but all in all, my experience is really great.

Make sure to follow Jing on Instagram for more beautiful fine line tattoos.

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Interview with Artem Koro

A tattoo artist and keen traveller Artem Koro creates incredible tattoo compositions. We caught up with Artem to learn more about his avant-garde tattooing and love for the craft…

I have always been attracted to the trade and have been a tattoo artist for the past six years. I first got tattooed when I was 14 years old and at 28 I realised that I could combine my love of tattoos and travelling the world into one profession. I then set out to become a tattoo artist.

I would define my style as avant-garde. It’s a style that has evolved and continues to evolve. That’s something that is very important to me; it’s important that my style and myself will continue to constantly develop. I don’t believe in staying in one place in terms of style and what I create.

I think it is very important to note that there is always some growth in my art. Development is the root of success as is growing as an artist.

I get inspiration from many aspects of life, including music, movies and places I have visited. I get lot of inspiration from nature, my roots and where I grew up (in the Middle East). For example, a lot of my textures and compositions are inspired by desert areas, Middle Eastern music, patterns on carpets etc. 

Each appointment can take a full day, but the tattoo itself will take between three and six hours maximum. I like a darker atmosphere in my tattoos, and these days I prefer to work with black ink only. I try to perform work with a high contrast so that the tattoo will last for a long time in the best way possible.

I like to design animals that are not seen every day as well as different textures and unusual compositions. I also like to emphasise the aesthetics and flow of the shape of the body.

In the first two months of the pandemic it was very difficult for me to create and it affected my work. But over time I tried to keep doing the things I love in general (not only tattoos), and eventually this blockage passed. I can say I have remained active for the past year which has helped.

I cannot imagine life without tattoos. My life has changed 180 degrees since I started doing this work. It is very difficult for me to describe in words how much the world of tattoos has affected me. I believe it would be impossible to understand this feeling without experiencing it yourself.

Make sure you follow Artem on Instagram for more awesome avant-garde tattoos.

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The handpoke tattoos of Mellowpokes

Mellowpokes from Toronto talks to us about how she got into tattooing, why she loves handpoke and tattooing during a pandemic…

How long have you been tattooing and how did you get into it? I’ve been tattooing for three years. I went to OCAD university here in Toronto and studied illustration. After university I always made time for creative projects, but generally found that they didn’t pay enough to actually make a living, so I started doing graphic design. There were parts of it that I enjoyed, but for the most part I didn’t find it very fulfilling. I found a lot of the jobs to be tedious, and often found myself working for large corporations with many different people to please.

I didn’t actually start getting tattoos until I was in my mid-20s, but once I started I got really excited by all the incredible talent in my city. I got a backpiece done by the absolutely incredible Jess Chen and we talked a bit about having both gone to OCAD and afterward doing graphic design out of necessity more than passion.

She suggested I try tattooing. I ended up mentioning this conversation to one of my best friends, Dana, and like a month later she bought me a stick and poke kit. I am so immensely grateful to Jess for pushing me on this path and for giving me a bunch of super helpful advice when I first started. And I’m grateful for Dana who forced me to actually START doing it. I did my first tattoo on Dana, and I think if it weren’t for that push it would’ve taken me a lot longer to actually take that plunge.

What drew you to hand poke tattooing? When I first began tattooing, I didn’t intend for it to become my full-time job. I was interested in learning tattooing, and I thought that the handpoke technique would feel more intuitive and similar to working with a pen. (Turns out I was wrong, and in a lot of ways using a machine is more similar to the act of drawing than handpoking is!) I intended to just try handpoking, and if I liked it, potentially upgrade to machine tattooing.

But, once I started, I fell in love with handpoking, and the quiet and intimate nature of it. I’m generally fairly tech-averse and prefer drawing most of my designs with pencil and paper. I bought an iPad and it took me about six months to actually break it out and start using it. I do intend to introduce machine tattooing to my practice eventually though, just to broaden the scope of what I can achieve!

What inspires your tattoos? I’m inspired by the world around me, although I guess that’s not a particularly interesting answer. I love drawing animals and women. I think when I first started I was really focused on making tattoo designs that looked like tattoos, but now I just tattoo whatever dumb stuff I draw.

One of my favourite exercises that generates a ton of my flash is posting on Instagram asking people what I should draw. I get so many silly submissions and I draw them all quickly, and usually without any references. Those weird moments trying to draw a crocodile from memory ended up making some of my favourite flash designs. 

What do you like to tattoo and what would you like to do more of? Right now I’m in the process of introducing a tattoo machine to my practice, so I would really like to do more work with the machine. I think it will lend itself nicely to the intuitive looseness in some of my drawings, where poking was more precise and slow.

In terms of subject matter, I want to make sure I don’t get stuck in a niche doing specific things. I love doing dogs and cherubs, and they’re two of my most requested images, but I always want to push myself and expand. I would love to do more larger pieces and more experimental compositions.

Do you prefer working in colour when you handpoke? How does this differ to handpoking black ink? This has two sides. On one hand, I love tattooing in black ink because I find it easier. The ink is hyper-pigmented and the perfect consistency to push into the skin by hand. The ink makes less of a mess and is generally easier to work with. However, I love tattooing in colour because I love the end result.

Coloured ink looks so beautiful in the skin, and introducing colour into a composition gives you so many more options for where to take a design. Colour heals so differently on different skin tones and I love seeing how the colours heal and integrate with people’s bodies. I always love when a client is open to colour, even if it takes a bit longer and is a bit tougher to work with.

Can you tell us about some of your experiences getting tattooed? Do you prefer handpoke or machine tattooing? I love both methods! I think in general handpoke tattoos hurt less, and in general machine tattoos hurt more. There are always exceptions to this (depending on the artist, the design, the placement) and I’ve definitely had poked tattoos that were excruciating and machine tattoos that I barely felt.

There is also a bit of an assumption that handpokes don’t heal well or don’t last, and that machine tattoos heal better, which is also not necessarily the case. It all depends on the artist, the placement, and how you treat the tattoo while it’s healing. Anyways, I love both methods and don’t tend to choose my artists based on what method they use, but rather based on their artwork!

How has COVID affected your tattooing? COVID has been really tough on so many people and industries. We had to shut down in March 2020 for the initial lockdown, and we remained closed for five months. We were able to reopen again in August, but were forced to close for lockdown again in November, and remain closed now. It’s been very difficult.

The Canadian government hasn’t provided much support to small businesses, particularly newer small businesses who don’t have the financial history to qualify for government support. The uncertainty of things adds extra strain (both mentally and financially) since it’s impossible to plan. We have no idea when we will be able to tattoo again at this point. Not to mention that an important part of my job, and one of my favourite parts, is being able to travel and guest in different studios around the world. I had plans to travel to London and Paris to tattoo (literally had flights booked) as well as to the US. None of that happened, and now I’m not sure when I’ll be able to do it again.

I am trying my best to explore other art forms in my downtime from tattooing, and have been getting back into painting and making merch. At the end of it all, though, I am so grateful for my health and understand that COVID has hit many more people far more directly than it has me. Just want to hammer this point home – please be careful, please wear a mask, please be considerate of others!

Follow Mellowpokes on Instagram for more handpoked tattoos.

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The growing bodies of Lauren Hepple

Lauren Hepple of String of Hearts Tattoo in Southsea shares her love for cat tattoos and the inspiration behind her ‘growing bodies’ tattoo series…

Photograph taken by Bradley Salmon

How long have you been tattooing and how did you get into the industry? I have been tattooing for around three years now. Tattooing was always something I wanted to do but after being discouraged at school from looking into it seriously as a career, I moved onto other arts practices and worked in textiles briefly. After a few months of this, I saw a local studio advertising that they were looking for apprentices. I sent my portfolio in and that’s where it all started.

What does tattooing mean to you? Tattooing is a big creative outlet for me. Even while I can still draw at home, creating a piece for someone and bonding over the experience is very fulfilling. It is also a medium unlike anything else. It is constantly evolving and changing and with each tattoo I do I get new opportunities to push myself to create the best work I can. It’s a huge motivation to be able to see myself grow as an artist.

Outside of my personal work, tattooing is all about the community. I have been missing my clients and seeing other artists. Over the last year especially, even while we haven’t been able to see each other in person, the support has been overwhelming.

How would you describe your style? I always use the term illustrative to describe my work. It has strong roots in printmaking which is where the off registration colour comes from. 

Where do you get your inspiration? I tend to separate my work into two categories of things that are full of fun such as the fruit cats or animals, and then the work that focuses on the growing bodies – and the inspiration comes from different places for these.

The cats are created when I’m in a good mood and am not too stressed. I’m always influenced by what I scroll past on social media – and an idea will usually stick from there and I have to make it into a cute illustration.

The bodies are created from days I don’t feel so great and am feeling the pressures of the world around me. They’re a great way to get emotion down onto paper. They help me work through anything that’s bothering me and having them resonate with other people feeling a similar way is what made me keep creating this work. 

We love your cat tattoos, are they your favourite animal to tattoo? Cats are always my favourite animal to tattoo – not that that means I don’t enjoy others, but their round faces always make me smile so much. Along with the fact that I do a lot of these pieces to look like my clients cats – hearing their love for their animals as the most wholesome thing. 

What else do you love tattooing? I love tattooing anything with a little note of love to their owners on them. This could be on illustrations of hands or on little envelopes. I love hearing what they mean to my clients – each one is so unique. 

Your drawings and tattoos of the ‘bloom girls’ share a message of self-love and growth, how does this resonate with you? Is this something you like to talk about and share with others? I first created one of the growing bodies after hurting myself skating and it meant I couldn’t do something I loved for a long while. I found that super tough so had to channel this energy into something else. After creating this first one, it resonated with a lot of people – and they expressed to me that it really showed what they were going through. This connection is a huge driving force for me when creating the growing bodies. These have now moved from encapsulating how others and I were feeling emotionally, to expressing the journey we had been on and the progress we are still making.

To me, the phrase ‘still growing’ is a constant reminder that I am always on a journey with self-love, and it’s not an overnight achievement or something to be ticked off a list. It’s a constant practice. 

During this time I also wanted to see more representation of bodies that looked like me in this industry, and when changing how the bodies looked, I had input from others wanting to see more of these illustrations that represented them. What these illustrations mean to others is what keeps me creating them. I have drawn pieces to specifically look like clients and being part of their self love process is something I am so grateful for.

For me, when I create these they are a time of focus for me. I am an anxious person and sitting focusing on these creations of self-love, stop me spiralling. Literally writing ‘I am enough’ or ‘watch me grow’ stops me being so hard to myself, and taking a beat to think what’s actually going on right now and what I can make manageable.

Things might be tough but that’s okay, I’ll get through it.  

Can you tell us about your own tattoos, have these helped you to see your body differently? My tattoos make me feel more at home in my own body. I don’t have many where the design has any hidden meaning, but so many are done by friends, and always take me back to a positive moment in time.

My work focuses so much on self-love and self-positivity – I feel the artwork that is on me is part of my process in being more comfortable with myself. Having artwork on me that makes me feel strong always helps on days when I am struggling with my body image. 

Follow Lauren on Instagram for more gorgeous growing bodies tattoos.

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Sextiles: Molly Cavell

Molly Cavell is an erotic feminist artist based in Leeds where she creates stunningly colourful and detailed textile art, ranging from sex themed rugs to plush vaginas and sex toys. We caught up with Molly to discuss her personal tattoo collection, her inspiration and what drew her to creating sex inspired art…

Tell us about your artistic journey, how did you first get into textiles and how did you come to create your business? My mum first taught me how to use a sewing machine whilst I was in high school and I absolutely adored it, but never stuck with it. It wasn’t until my foundation course and then university that I properly got into textiles as a medium. I just adore creating things with my hands and find sewing beyond therapeutic. Being such an impatient person, it’s taught me patience and allowed me to take that time out for myself and just sit and listen to music or be at one with myself and create art.

From sewing I then started to get into punch needling. Amy Hastings on Instagram was the first account I saw creating rugs and I became obsessed (her work is beyond beautiful). However, I still wanted to create art by hand as the process of hand work is really important to me, through this process I then discovered punch needling which is now my main way in which to create work.

As for my business, this came about accidentally to be honest, I first created my art account during my foundation course about three years ago. I made this account as a way to document my art and in no way thought I would ever make money from my art let alone grow a following. As I kept on posting my art the account slowly grew momentum and eventually, I got a message requesting a commission. This is mad to think but this only happened at the end of 2019 so just over a year ago and from then I have started selling my work. My dream goal is to become a freelance artist, so fingers crossed I can get this going in 2021.  

What made you want to create sex/masturbation/pleasure/genital diversity inspired work? Since high school I’ve been creating feminist art, however it wasn’t until my A-levels that I began looking at sex and masturbation. For me personally, I have always been a really open person in regards to talking about sex and masturbation. I just did not care, I’m a very sexual person so why should I hide that when it’s something I love? I soon realised though that with owning your sexuality comes a lot of backlash. I’ve had creepy men assume that just because I talk openly about these things it must mean I automatically want to have sex with them. I’ve had people make pre-assumptions about me, I’ve been called a ‘slag’ and all kinds of sexist names, all because I’m not embarrassed to say I love all things sex.

Creating my art is all about being true to myself and saying a huge fuck you to all the misogynists that expect a woman to act a certain way, cause news flash hun, women are just as, if not, more powerful than you. Why should women have to sit at home like I did when I was younger and think my labia are wrong, that I have to act this way, I should orgasm through penetration alone and I can’t express my sexuality because I’ll be shunned etc? It’s just disgusting that women feel that way and have for so long.

My art is all about empowering and educating women and it’s also been a personal self-love journey too. My work is really for all women (myself included) encouraging us to own that sexual power! 

What else inspires you, your art and designs? Women have always been at the forefront of what inspires me, not only in regard to my artwork but in my personal life as well. Female artists that create work surrounding their sexuality have always drawn me in. The fact that when I was in school, boys could freely have sex and talk about it openly but a girl doing the same was shameful. To then come across these powerful women that were essentially saying ‘fuck you’ to a system that told them to behave a certain way was amazing to me. Womanhood and the coming together of all women, whether they’re cis, trans, white, woc, disabled, working class etc. is what really inspires me and my work. 

The power sexually rebellious women exude is something I really try to bring into my own work as I think it’s so important for other females to know they can exert that same power.

How important is feminism within your life? Feminism to me is everything and is beyond important to me in everyday life. I have seen so many women from my mum to my closet friends experience struggles, backlash, and abuse at the hands of patriarchy and there is nothing more important than standing up against it. I speak from the position of a very privileged person, I am a cis white femme woman and although I am working class, I am still very privileged compared to other women, so I feel its so important for me to knowledge that and support and uplift the voices of those who do not have this privilege.

Feminism is extremely important to every aspect of my life especially my art. 

Feminism is all about equality and not just between women and men, it’s about trans women and women of colour having equal opportunities and rights as white cis women. It’s about non-binary folk and all those on the gender and sexuality spectrum having equality.

We love that your art and designs are so strongly empowering, do you intend to help educate your followers on female sexual liberation? I think my work started as more of a reassurance for myself more than anything. I used to be a very shy and quiet child and as I grew up and discovered that I was a very sexual person. I started creating art to express that and kind of input the message that ‘yeah you are completely normal and it’s okay to express yourself this way’.

My art has given me so much more confidence. When I started posting on my Instagram account and explaining my own personal experiences about things such as labia shaming and masturbation and the ignorance. I experienced more and more women came forward and began messaging me with similar experiences and then it’s just become this creative outlet for me to empower and validate myself and also educate and (hopefully) liberate other women. I absolutely adore this aspect of my work and it still blows my mind that people actually enjoy and connect with the art I make. 

Can you tell us about your personal tattoo collection, do your tattoos inspire your work at all? I only have 15 tattoos at the moment, but I plan on covering my whole body in them. I got my first tattoo at 18 and god its such a bad tattoo but we move! Most of my tattoos are done by completely different artists, I have all sorts of different styles on me, however my most recent piece is more traditional style, and this is something I want to stick with going forward. If I’m completely honest my current tattoos don’t have much connection to my art and I don’t take my tattoos too seriously. I feel like some people want really meaningful tattoos (which is so lovely) but for me it’s not about that it’s more about the art side of them. Most of them are animals – I got my flying pig because pigs are my favourite animal, the two headed lady because I saw her on a flash sheet and fell in love with her and

I am starting to get more meaningful tattoos though, the most recent ones I got was the words ‘feminist killjoy’ above my knee because that is exactly what I am! I have a Venus symbol on my arm with plans to get ‘no terfs no Tories’ above my opposite knee. I want my body to reflect my political beliefs as I’m a VERY political person but also displaying my genuine love for art at the same time. I’m really not precious about the tattoos I get, most of the time if I see a design or a flash that I love as an artwork then I’ll get it tattooed.

Tattoos for me are self-expression and make me feel literally about 100 times more confident in my skin and I cannot wait to be covered head to toe in them. 

Do you have a particular design you want to create more of? At the moment I am enjoying creating my sex scene work. I started making work about sex toys in order to normalise them and their use and slowly that developed into me actually showing scenes of sexual nature displaying masturbation, pegging scenes, oral sex etc. I’m really loving how it’s going. I don’t think too far into the future about where my work is going. I just think the best things develop and grow naturally so I’ll continue creating this work until I feel another direction or concept would be exciting to explore! So, expect a lot more sex scene rugs! 

Do you have any upcoming plans or collaborations you want to share with us? My plans for the rest of the year are to hopefully get my website up and running and I’m going to be bringing back my vulva cushion commissions very soon which I am so excited about! I graduate from university this year and I’m so excited to be able to put all my focus on building up my business and hopefully going freelance! I have a few collaborations coming up with some amazing artists that I can’t wait to share, mainly creating pieces to raise money for various LGBTQ+ charities and individuals, so keep an eye out on my Instagram for the details of these bitzz! 

Make sure to follow Molly on Instagram and check out her shop.

Words: Lucy Edwards, 21-year-old tattooed freelance writer, cat mum and trying-new-things enthusiast. You’ll most likely find Lucy posting about mental health awareness and self-acceptance on her Instagram.