We spotted Ree’s cute tattooed babes on Instagram and had to talk to her about her pastel palette and love of tattoos. Ree has created a tattooed out of this world girl just for Things&Ink…
Tell us a little about yourself? Everyone calls me Ree, I am a 25 years old freelance illustrator and I’m from Venezuela, but my current location is Miami, Florida. My location changes a lot! I’m a lucky girl. I’ve lived in Madrid, Spain for a couple of years too. I will be moving soon to Dominican Republic for work, and then who knows!
How would you describe your style? My style is always changing, but right now I feel more comfortable with it than ever. I’m bad at describing these sort of things but I would say it is a mixture between cute, girly, surreal with a pinch of girl power.
What inspires you? Most days I get inspiration from what I am feeling at the moment or what I am thinking. Sometimes I watch a TV show and get really into it and won’t necessarily draw fan-art but something that inspired me from it.
What do you like to draw? Girls and powerful girls, sometimes in a surreal way. I would love to draw boys and plants better and post them more often too, but I have to practice a lot first!
Do you have a background in art? Yes, I’ve been drawing since I was little. I studied Art History in Spain but decided to pursue the career I really wanted and now I am studying animation at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh (online division). It’s alright but I think the real way to become a good artist is practicing everyday!
Can you tell us about your tattoos? I have four tattoos, and I love them. My first tattoo is the biggest one that I have and it is on my thigh, it means a lot to me. All of them do, but I don’t mind getting something that hasn’t a deep meaning necessarily. I want to get a lot more just because I love tattoos, but I need to save up! I’m loving the blackwork style tattoos especially.
Can people buy your illustrations? Yes, I don’t have a proper online store open yet (I am working on it) but you can contact me personally through a private message on Instagram or send me a quick email at ree.rv31@gmail.com
Get to know tattoo artist Grace Neutral, the 26-year-old handpoke tattoo artist who transformed herself from alternative weirdo to pixie dream girl with a series of body modifications. Surrounded by her fluffy friends Totoro, Stitch and Pusheen, Grace welcomes i-D magazine into the bedroom of her London flat where they discover the emotional and physical steps she went through on the journey towards becoming her true self: the tattoo-covered alien princess with purple eyes, pointed elf ears, a forked tongue, scarification and no bellybutton that just walked for Ashley Williams during LFW and keeps her quarter of a million fans inspired on Instagram. Be you. Be beautiful.
Our guest blogger is Natalie McCreesh aka Pearl, a fashion lecturer, freelance writer and creator of Fashion Pearls of Wisdom. In this post she’ll be talking about getting tattooed at tattoo conventions…
I went to my first tattoo conventions this summer, the first Liverpool Tattoo Convention, the second Leeds International Tattoo Expo. They were two fairly different experiences, Liverpool being a huge gathering spread out over a warren of rooms filled with artists and merchandise stalls whilst Leeds was a smaller, more intimate affair. I enjoyed both equally.
Before my first convention I wasn’t sure what to expect, admittedly getting tattooed with an audience wasn’t on my list of fun activities but it was an occasion to get tattooed by my artist without having to travel as far. So I booked in to have my knee cap tattooed by Max Rathbone who had tattooed the rooster on my shin the year before. Yep my knee cap, in public – one of the most painful places or so I’d been told. I wasn’t getting tattooed until later in the afternoon so I had chance to say hello to friends and watch my boyfriend James get tattooed by Andy Walker. This is where we differ as a couple, I like to book my tattoos in advance whereas he prefers to be spontaneous on the day and go for walk-ups (choosing from the artists flash or pre-dawn designs on the day). He also got a little filler from Ad of Folklore Tattoo– a super fun bunch. My turn came and Max scribbled on my knee with coloured pens, he assured me these freehand scribbles would be a peony so I trusted his word and let him crack on. Max had tattooed me before and I was familiar with his style so I could sit back and relax knowing I would end up with an amazing tattoo. To my surprise getting your knee tattooed wasn’t half as bad as I’d expected, phew! Although the swelling after scuppered any plans for a night out, it was back to the digs with a pizza and a bag of frozen peas, our arms laden with prints and other trinkets.
My second convention experience was just as good, after the vastness of Liverpool the intimate nature of Leeds Expo was a real contrast. Whilst there was less to do there was more time to chat. I had booked in with Holly Ashby whose work if been a fan of for a while, having bought some of her stunning prints for our home and as gifts so I was excited to meet her. Even though I’d not met Holly we had chatted before hand and decided on a design, having already been tattooed at a convention I wasn’t freaked out like I had been for the first convention. That said at Leeds there was a lot more people walking past and taking photos, at first I found this a bit weird but Holly was absolutely lovely and it ended up being really fun talking to other people approaching her booth. We got to chat to people from all over the globe including other people there to get tattooed by Holly – it was like joining a special club. Inner thigh was a bit of an awkward spot as I ended up sat on a bench with paper towels tucked in my knickers, but it was worth the slight embarrassment as I adore the placement of my gorgeous pooch tattoo. In one hilarious moment a couple came running up to us brandishing a napkin, after some confusion it turned out they wanted a lipstick kiss print too use as a tattoo template. I am still left to this day wondering if some has my kiss tattooed!
Natalie getting tattooed by Holly Ashby taken by Graham Pile
A grungy punk trio from Olympia, Washington State signed to Sub Pop records. No we have not gone back in time to 1989. I am reviewing a debut album released this year in July by a band named Strange Wilds, who sound like they’ve teleported straight from the late 80s/early 90s Seattle grunge scene to assault our ears. Their state and record label has been home to Nirvana and other indie rock legends, whose anguished noisy spirit they tap into with joyous enthusiasm.
Now surely a band coming out and replicating a sound popular over a decade ago is a sign to be worried about the progression of music. Then again, there aren’t many places left for music to progress to. There are still lots of good bands coming out, but there’s no big unifying rock movement pushing the genre forward. There are lots of scattered bands who mostly try to sound like great bands from the past who already broke down some musical barriers. A few bands who have cropped up in NME , like Wolf Alice for example, sound and dress like a 90s grunge band. As nice as it is to see people still inspired by this great time in music, the fuzzy-angst-in-converse-and-scruffy-sweaters formula has been done a lot and some current bands (like, in my opinion, Wolf Alice) sound like bland reproductions.
Strange Wilds are the first grunge throwback I’ve heard that I enjoyed. This is because they choose not to channel the brooding stadium-ready gloom popularised by mainstream grunge acts like Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, which countless post-grunge fakers have wallowed in (Nickelback being the chief culprit). The album Subjective Conceptions harks back to the glory days of grunge’s punk/hardcore roots, sounding like a lost Mudhoney or Black Flag record. Each song snarls and drips with twisted scorn while thundering along with gnarly riffs not out of place on Nirvana’s first album or a Melvins record.
While there’s nothing strikingly original here, it is nice to listen to a band who like making noise for the hell of it and having a good time. Most current indie bands are either light and fluffy, or take themselves too seriously. Take Metz for example, Strange Wilds’ fellow contemporaries of noise also signed to Sub Pop, who have released their second album this year. The bleak and terrifying din from Metz is impressive, but noise is all you get with some barely distinct lyrics hollered over the top.
Listening to Subjective Concepts however, I found myself (shock horror) singing along, something I haven’t done with any recent bands for a while, especially since most bands insist on distorting the vocals beyond recognition. Strange Wilds singer Steven’s vocals are left free and clear to bitterly mutter the verses and howl the choruses in true grunge fashion. The twisted lyrics aren’t bad either, if a bit infantile (‘the streets are littered with our filth’ etc) but the whole band yells them with such gleeful abandon they’re infectious. The band have mastered the art of the catchy grungy chorus, with some spikes of smart sarcasm throughout.
Nowhere is this more effective than on the album’s most powerful track: the opener and single ‘Pronoia’. This is the one song that comes close to being a sincere anthem despairing of the human condition, roaring along with full throttle punk energy. The video is cool as well, showing off the band’s imagination. Standard shots of the blond, long-haired singer thrashing around on his guitar (remind you of anyone?) are interspersed with queasy shots of food and other unidentifiable squishy objects being smashed.
If you still buy CDs, the album’s artwork is cool too. I love record covers that don’t match the content. On the Subjective Concepts cover, we have a young woman dancing on the edge of a building over some urban landscape at sunrise. That and the delicate album title suggest you’re in for some soft ambient music about the self-destructive desire for freedom from social constraints or something. I hope someone picks this up and is pleasantly surprised by the loud, squalling bitterness within. This is a band I’ve been waiting for since headbanging to Nirvana as a teen. This is a short but unforgettable blast of glorious rage that borrows heavily from the past but still sounds fresh, fun and rocks like a boss.
Tattoo artist Becci Murphy or Boo works at Vida Loca tattoo studio in Bolton, Greater Manchester and creates colourfully cute and cartoon like tattoos. We chatted to Boo about her love for Cartoon Network and upcoming guest spots…
How long have you been tattooing, when did you start? I have been tattooing over four years and started around 2011 a year into my apprenticeship.
What did you do before, do you have a background in art? I was actually going to Bolton university to study fine art, after trying to get an apprenticeship.I was turned away so many times for being a girl and girls talk to much or they had no space. So I decided to carry on with my artistic venture after going to college twice studying fine art, graphics, photography and illustration because I just wanted to learn more .
What inspires you? I’d say my inspiration comes a lot from cartoons, I sit with my cat watching lots of adult swim cartoons and Cartoon Network. My mum and brother are both amazing artists, my brother has always drawn comics and watching him do that inspired me to try and be better than him! I’d say I’m quite a collective person too, I like to collect comics, video games, art, skateboards, records and box sets etc they all inspire me in different directions which I can’t help but love.
How would you describe your style? I’d say my style is a bright and bold with a twist on traditional.
What do you like to tattoo? I love tattooing cartoons and music inspired pieces, I think music goes hand in hand with my job and when you tattoo a fellow fan of your favour band and they ask you to design a custom idea it’s the best feeling in the world! I recently did a Futurama piece and I honestly could tattoo that every single day! Anything bright and that I can put my all into and hopefully create something my customer loves!
Is there anything you wouldn’t tattoo? I’d never tattoo anything offensive and I always go that extra mile when couples want each other’s names I always tell them to have a really good think about it and come back when they are both 110% . I’m really not into the first tattoo on the throat or hands trends, maybe I’m just old fashioned but I think you should work for your tattoos do your research and not just get them to show off .
Do you have any conventions or guest spots planned? I am working Manchester Tea Party next year for definite , I’m going to try Brighton and Liverpool then hopefully venturing out of the country to try and work Amsterdam.
I will be guesting with a few friends hopefully my lovely friends at Cock A Snook in Newcastle, working along side my friend Gibbo at Rude Studios once they have room and then off to Tokyo Tattoo when I get my arse in gear! Then finally back to London to see my friend Will Thompson who has always helped me along the way.
