Category: Tattoo Studios

Posted on

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.

Posted on

Cuteness overload with Little Rach

Rachel (Little Rach) tattoos at Luck and Love Tattoo in Darlington, UK where she creates, bright, bold and super cute tattoos. We chatted to Rachel about her style, inspirations and how she’s been spreading a little kindness during lockdown…

How long have you been a tattoo artist? I started my apprenticeship in 2016, so just over four years.

What drew you to the world of tattooing? I was always attracted to the alternative from a young age, noticing people with bright hair, piercings and tattoos. When I first started listening to heavier music as a teen, a lot of the bands I listened to had tattoos and I just thought it was so cool! As I got older and started getting tattooed myself I just loved everything about it.

I would buy tattoo magazines with my partner and we would sit and redraw our favourite designs from them for fun. I knew it was something I really wanted to get into.

I loved how tattoos looked but also the feeling it gave me to take ownership of my body and my choices in life (which at the time felt quite rebellious).

What inspires your work? I really like to collect vintage kitsch ornaments and kawaii toys, so I’m often inspired by things I surround myself with. I have always loved Sanrio characters and that look of cute animals or inanimate objects with big sparkly eyes. Sometimes I’m just inspired by a colour I see and I want to use it in a design.

How would you describe your style? I always struggle to answer this question because I find it difficult to say where I fit in, in terms of style. I guess cute and colourful with bold lines and a bit of sparkle. It developed from being taught how to tattoo in my apprenticeship.

I was taught by Kenny Ackerman who specialises in realism, so I learned colour blending techniques and the impact of a nice white highlight to make a tattoo pop. I was also taught by Ben Roberts who showed me the importance of clean solid line work and bold colour, so I have combined elements of the two techniques to come up with my style.

Has your style developed over time? My style has definitely developed over time. At the moment I’m really enjoying stripping my tattoos back – focusing on a solid line and saturated colour to make the design stand out on the skin. I am enjoying using a different colour palette – I have been using nice bright warm colours but contrasting them with more muted tones to give them a bit of a vintage feel.

What do you like to tattoo and what would you like to do more of? I love tattooing things with faces that wouldn’t normally have a face – stick a cute pair of eyes and a smile on a banana and I’m happy! Anything cute and colourful I love to do. I am also a HUGE fan of drag, so anything drag related I am always keen to do and would love to do more! It’s so much fun.

How have you found the pandemic, have you found time to be creative or been feeling blocked? The pandemic has been really tough. As someone who lives with anxiety and depression, it has been difficult for me to keep motivated and inspired at times. There have been times where I have had creative block for months and it becomes frustrating. I start to doubt my abilities and feel really low.

That being said, the lockdowns have given me the opportunity to explore my work in different ways, and come up with ideas that aren’t solely focused on tattooing or being a tattoo-able design. I guess being unable to tattoo takes the pressure off my art having to then be translated to a tattoo design – it can be anything it wants to be.

I’ve taken to drawing positive/inspiring messages within my art that represent things that have helped my mental health experience, trying to focus on gratitude and putting kindness into the world. 

What does tattooing mean to you and what does it mean to not be tattooing? Tattooing means the world to me. I feel so grateful to have been given the opportunity to tattoo and I’m so fortunate for the life it has given me. I have been so lucky to have such supportive people in my life who have encouraged me from the get go. I have met so many wonderful people, artists and clients, and it still blows my mind that people want to wear my artwork on their skin forever, I will never take that trust for granted.

Not being able to tattoo at the moment has been hard. Me and my partner, Ben Roberts, have our own private studio, so it has taken away a big chunk of our lifestyle. We love tattooing and everything about it, we owe everything we have and everything we do to tattooing. We miss being able to travel and see our pals across the UK, guesting in studios and doing conventions, and financially it is a worry as we both rely on tattooing for our income.

We are fortunate that we have people who are really supportive of our work and have bought prints and other bits and bobs from us, it really does make a difference and I encourage everyone to support small businesses and the arts during this tough time. I look forward to the day when there are no more lockdowns and I’m allowed to my give my clients a brew and a biscuit again when they come in the studio. 

Make sure to follow Little Rach on Instagram for more cute tattoos and artwork.

Posted on

Interview with Indigo Forever

Beth Park creates beautifully delicate handpoke tattoos at Grace Neutral’s Femme Fatale studio in London. We chatted to Beth about how she makes each tattoo and what inspires her…

Photo by @el_woodphoto

What drew you to hand poking rather than tattooing with a machine? My husband uses a very noisy heavy machine so I was always found it quite intimidating and wasn’t really interested in learning. It was when I saw Jenna Bouma (@slowerblack) tattoo that I thought I wanted to learn. I thought it was such a calm and natural way to apply a tattoo. I’ve always loved to draw, paint and sew, so this felt like another medium I’d like to try that could suit my style of artwork. 

So I was very lucky that Jenna helped me and shared a few secrets she’d learnt over the many years she had been doing it.

What inspires and influences your tattoos?  So many things; artwork, jewellery, fabrics, anything ornamental. I love old book covers, and illustrators like Jessie M Kng, Aubrey Beardsley, Maurice Pillar Verneuil , Virginia Frances Sterrett and Harry Clarke. I love Japanese fabric patterns, Indian wood block prints, Egyptian jewellery and Skandanavian folk art.

I do look at indigenous tribal artwork and tattoo designs like Indian, Berber, Native American which definitely has had influence on my work. However I try not to reference something cultural too directly unless there is a personal connection for the person I’m tattooing. 

Do you think working in an predominately female tattoo shop influences your work? FF is not exclusively female, however the fact that we are mainly female, non-binary and very inclusive means I can work in a relaxed friendly unintimidating atmosphere. The fact everyone is supportive and shares advise and knowledge, means I’ve been able to progress and grow as an artist.

What do you love to tattoo and draw and what would you like to do more of? What kind of designs get you excited? I love to draw for the body, like jewellery. To decorate a wrist or neckline or ankle etc. Usually starting with focal point like a talisman or symbol like a moon, lotus or eye, which have strong symbolism such as protection, strength or luck.

Then decorate with beading from there. Which is why I use a lot of dots, to represent beading, also to soften a solid line and also the practicality of it being hand poked. It also reminds me of tin punching, almost like you’re punching the skin. The sun and moon feature heavily as they are such strong meaningful symbols. I love tattooing hands, I think because it’s the perfect size to fill the space and our hands are always on show. However  I’d love to do much larger pieces, like a leg piece I did recently.

Can you tell us about the process behind your tattoos? I try to never tattoo the same thing twice which means I am constantly drawing and producing new designs. Clients have the option to chose from flash (pre-drawn designs) however usually the flash is a starting point to which I then adapt to suit the chosen placement on the body. I then work together with the client, to finalise the design. 

I don’t tend to take commissions unless the idea is inspiring, something that will suit the aesthetic of my work and translate into a nice tattoo.

How long have you been tattooing? How did you get into the industry? I’ve only been tattooing professionally for four years. I came into it relatively late in my artistic career. I used to manage an art gallery in east London, which I did for over 10 years. It was when I left to have our daughter, that I started tattooing. I didn’t take the traditional apprenticeship route, I was very lucky to have my husband and very good friends like Jenna and Grace Neutral guide and advise me.

If you could do anything differently in your career what would it be and why? Nothing. Everything I have done previously has brought me to where I am now, and has influenced my work. I have a huge appreciation and respect for the industry and I feel incredibly lucky to be part of such if it.

If you weren’t a tattooer what would you be? I would definitely have looked into jewellery design. Whether I’d have been any good at it I have no idea! From recently working on a collaboration with jeweller Sarah Boodi (@boodi_jewellery)  I’ve had an insight into how hard it can be!

Can you tell us about your own tattoo collection, does this reflect the tattoos you create? A lot of my tattoos are hand poked and by women which wasn’t a conscious decision. But yes, most reflect my taste in tattoos and therefore a similar style to mine. 

How does tattooing and tattoos make you feel? I find it really therapeutic and feel very lucky to be able to make a living from something I love so much. I’m so grateful to all the people that support me creatively and it still blows my mind that people want me to tattoo them! 

If you’re not already make sure to follow Beth on Instagram for more beautiful tattoos.

Posted on

Interview with tattoo artist Suro

Suro tattoos out of Gold Leaf Ink, San Francisco where she creates incredible (mostly) black and grey realism mixed with illustrative style tattoos. In this interview Suro tells us about her path into tattooing and what she’s learnt along the way…

I was actually born in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. I spent my entire childhood there all the way up until 12th grade. I wanted to experience college in the states, especially art schools in New York, even though there are a ton of great art colleges in Dubai. I mostly wanted an escape. I come from a traditional Sri Lankan family and they wanted me to pursue a career as a doctor or lawyer. I knew that to be true to myself and find my creative rhythm I had to move.

The idea of tattooing was so far-fetched at that point because of my strict family and tattooing is taboo in the middle east, meaning haram (forbiddened) in the Islamic religion. I would get super intrigued by tattoos as I watched TV and saw tattoos on tourists that would come into town.

I kept saying that I would get a tattoo when I move to The States. Little did I know I would be pursuing a career in it. 

I’ve been creative since I was a baby, drawing on the walls and doors. I knew it was either art or nothing! I Loved to paint and I’ve painted with acrylics since I can remember. The only reason I even passed some subjects was because my diagrams were so realistic! So I knew I had to pursue a career in the arts.

I ended up at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY where I pursued Interior Design. I was super excited as I was going to an actual art school with other creatives, painters, sculptors, photographers, etc. It was during my time at Pratt that I found my way into the tattoo industry and I’ve never looked back. 

Starting out in a diverse city like NYC I was grateful to have come to work with some real cool people in the industry. I worked at about three shops mostly – the first Big Bang Ink in Brooklyn where I apprenticed at, and then Village Tattoo located in St.Marks which was my first shop as a tattooer and finally Red Baron Ink in the Lower East Side. Each studio had tattooers from different ethnicities and had different tattooing skills so it was cool getting to learn something new from them. I never once felt disrespected by any of them, so I know I was super lucky because tattooers, especially females have been treated unfairly.

I had quite a start, pretty rough cause I was super broke right after college. I was in between bartending and trying to keep my apprenticeship at Big Bang. Unfortunately I allowed nightlife to consume me which became my downfall and had to put a pause in my apprenticeship. I try to live with no regrets since I did bounce back a year later, but I do agree that was time wasted.

I have a better understanding of the industry especially to my clients. I’ve learnt to develop a language to communicate my art and tattoo what I like to tattoo.

This industry is forever changing, and has been since I started about nine years ago. From the techniques and styles to even the public being more accepting of them. So this alone has opened up many doors for tattooers. From tattooing celebrities to people in blue collar, tattooers are now finding more and more creative ways to tattoo. Example, wireless tattooing is now a common thing which was a spoken myth back in the day.

When I started, most of the equipment I used was heavy and bulky whereas now I can literally fit my entire set up in a Fanny pack (CRAZY!) So having a wider range of clientele nowadays has evolutionised the art of tattooing. There are more styles too, like minimalism, dotwork, blackwork, micro realism etc. I can’t say the days of the Sailor Jerry flash are dead because hell that will be the day the industry dies, but it’s amazing to see how the newer generation of tattooers are changing the game. 

My style of tattooing is a mix between illustrative and realism. I love playing with light and shadows, so the contrast level will differ from piece to piece. I also love playing with lineweight, so having both bold and fine linework. My inspiration comes from art all over. Abstract to renaissance paintings I love to pull inspiration from fine art mostly. 

Even though I paint with color I enjoy a monochromatic palette more. Using a pen, pencil or even charcoal is my favorite and has always been. I enjoy smooth shading and love when I can bring some realism with just one color. So my preference is mostly black and grey. I love to shade anything, from portraits to inanimate objects, to florals, etc. I really enjoy tattooing details so the more details the more fun the piece gets! 

I see myself opening a private studio sometime in the future. I want to create a space that will pull in artists of different backgrounds and styles so that we can learn from each other. The same experience I had when I started nine years ago. The beautiful thing about this career is that there’s always room to grow and learn. So I can’t speak on it much now but I’m excited to see what the next nine years will bring. 

So for those looking to start, understand it is a commitment and an investment. Don’t start if your mind is not in the right space whether it be financially or even emotionally. Your relationship with whomever will be affected but know no matter what that it’s so worth it in the end.

An apprenticeship could take anywhere from a year to two, but what determines that is your drive. Find a solid mentor who also is in a good mental space cause you will take on from what you see, and trust me you don’t want one who parties! So have a good support system, surround yourself with those who make you better cause you’re going to need every bit as you start this journey. 

Make sure to follow Suro on Instagram for more amazing tattoos.

Posted on

Apprentice love: Laula Page

We love finding new apprentices to share and support. We fell in love with the work of Laula Page a tattoo apprentice at Treiz’Ink in Paris, and knew we had to find out more…

I have been an apprentice for nine months at in the 13th arrondissement in Paris. It’s a spacious studio with seven tattoo artists and one other apprentice like me. The studio has a particularity, as every artist has their own unique style. This inspires me to be more creative and to learn a variety of technical experiences. I met my apprentice master through a friend of mine, she showed them some of my drawings on Instagram and that’s how it all began.

I think I have always been attracted to the world of tattooing. On my father’s side, I grew up in a Harley Davidson world, surrounded by tattooed arms. It has always fascinated and influenced me.

As soon as I  became of age my brother offered me my first tattoo: roses on my back. The rest of my collection includes my my left leg that I practice on. On my left arm I have a traditional mermaid, a traditional face of a girl, a key and a four leaf clover. On my right arm I just have numbers for now (credit card code!). On my right leg I have David Bowie.

I don’t have a particular favourite tattoo. For me every tattoos is a good experience and brings me beautiful people to meet.

I would say that my style comes from the traditional Americans tattoos in a poetic, melancholic and retro universe. A lot of things help and inspires me and my creations. Rock music, poetry, the retro universe, cinema, emotions, women and their power, their charisma, attitude, sensuality, the list goes on. I really like to draw women. I just started to tattoo with colours. And I’d really like to tattoo more women with colours.

The best part of my apprenticeship is that every day when I get to tell myself that I do what I love. I have a lot of gratitude for being an apprentice. It can get hard but at the end of the day, I’m glad I chose this path (may the force be with you).