Beth Park creates beautifully delicate handpoke tattoos at Grace Neutral’sFemme Fatale studio in London. We chatted to Beth about how she makes each tattoo and what inspires her…
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.
A tattoo artist for 6 years, Pasha Et (Pavlo Kurylo)creates beautiful black and grey realism tattoos in Ukraine.We chatted to Pasha about the inspiration behind his pieces...
How long have you been tattooing and how did you get into the industry? I wanted to be a tattoo artist when I was 18. I found some videos about tattoos and decided that I could do it too. I’ve always liked tattoos and at 19 I bought all the necessary equipment and made my first tattoo, that was back in 2015.
What does tattooing mean to you? For me, tattoos are style, beauty, and self-expression. To be a tattoo artist is to give these things to other people. I enjoy the process of creating a cool tattoo, so after the tattoo is finished, my client will also enjoy their tattoo for life.
How would you describe the tattoo scene in the Ukraine and Belgium? If we’re talking about tattoo artists, then every country has some very cool but also bad tattoo artists. It seems to me to be about the same, there’s a balance.
If we talk about clients then the difference is really big. In Ukraine tattooing is still developing. Basically people aged 20-35 want to get a tattoo, but many of them are still students and can’t afford a quality tattoo. Most people over the age of 40 don’t understand tattoos or tattooing, they don’t see it as art.
Of course, there are exceptions, but it’s mostly like that. But in Belgium, clients consciously approach tattooing, they’re smart with their choice of tattoo and tattoo artist.
How would you describe your style? I work in the realism style with the technique of “whip shading”. I really like how tattoos look in this technique. I work mostly with small portraits (usually celebrities) and various sculptures or statues.
What’s the process behind your tattoos? How long does a typical tattoo take? It starts with the client sending me an example of what they would like, then we meet for a consultation and discuss all the details. Then we create a sketch in Photoshop (this is usually a collage of several pictures), if necessary, I finish sketching by hand. The next step is to determine the size and try a sketch on the part of the body they want tattooing. Once this is ok we agree on the date and time of the session.
Usually portraits take 4-6 hours. If they’re quite large portraits, about 20cm in length without additional details and heavy elements I can do them in one session (5-7 hours). If a portrait has lots of details, it can take 2-3 sessions each one being about 5-6 hours, but it all depends on how detailed and complex the design is.
Where do you get your inspiration? I am inspired by so many things. I’m mostly inspired by people in other creative professions, those who work hard on themselves and succeed in their field and beyond. It could be a tattoo artist, graffiti artist, a photographer or musician – anyone creative.
What do you love to tattoo and what would you like to do more of? Generally, I like to do realism by using photos. I would like to make even more portraits, especially shots from movies.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your tattooing? I’ve had more time to develop and improve my style, but I think COVID has had the biggest impact on my trips to other countries to either work or go to tattoo festivals. Unfortunately, until the situation around the world improves it will be very difficult to move. But someday it will all end and tattoo artists will be able to travel and make people happy with their tattoos again.
Be sure to follow Pasha on Instagram for more awesome realism tattoos.
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.
Ciara Havishya is a self-taught tattoo artist based in Calgary, Canada. Ciara creates intricate decorative art style tattoos, using both blackwork and colour to produce stunning pieces that are deeply inspired by Indian art and Indian art history. We caught up with Ciara to explore their inspirations, their mehndi style tattoos and what tattooing means to them…
How long have you been tattooing and what led to you becoming a tattoo artist? I’ve been tattooing just over five years now, it’s been the longest five years of my life. I have wanted to be a tattoo artist ever since I was a young teenager when I discovered mehndi at a wedding party I attended. I started practising more and more and developed a love of working with people and on skin. I wanted to take it further ever since then and I’m lucky to have the opportunity to make it a career today.
Where do you get your inspiration from/what influences you? I’m most inspired by Gupta period indian art, like the murals from the Ajanta caves and the sculptures from Ellora. The Gupta period in Indian art refers to art made in the northern region of what we now call India in the years 300-480 CE. It’s a really unique sliver of time and space and the Buddhist art from that period has a lot of influence from Chinese and West Asian contact, you can see it in the way the figures are drawn and the compositions of wall panels etc.
I love the way women are represented in this period as well, every bump and roll of skin is accentuated and their bodies are just dripping in jewellery without covering anything except for the pubic region. There’s a lusciousness and a freedom and a deep acceptance of nature in the art that speaks to me all the time.
Unfortunately there are precious few remaining art pieces from this period. In order to get closer to this period in art I’ve gone on to study Japanese art and Tibetan Buddhist art from later periods that have stylistic similarities, in the hopes that I can one day get closer to this Gupta period aesthetic that has moved me so much.
It makes me snicker a little to think that it took Europeans another 1200 years to learn what a woman’s body is supposed to look like and another 100-200 years after that to learn perspective, but that’s just me!
How would you describe your tattooing style? My style is an application of decorative arts from a few different sources to the body. I look at textile patterns, embroidery, architecture and historical documents of tattoos from times and people past to create new patterns that reflect my focus on timelessness, elegance, and love of the human body in all it’s manifestations.
Tell us about your own tattoos, do you have a personal favourite tattoo or a memorable tattoo experience you would like to share with us? I’m honestly mostly covered in terrible, awful, ugly tattoos that need to be lasered or covered up because I let a lot of my friends tattoo me as they were learning, so maybe I’m not one to be asked!
But I do have a truly stunning piece by @BooneNaka . It’s inspired by the Trajva traditions of Gujurat and he did the most beautiful job of creating his own composition, adding his own elements and making one of very few tattoos I have that I’m truly proud of. He’s also a gentle, thoughtful and wicked talented artist and he made the entire experience really lovely and I’m so grateful for that.
What does tattooing mean to you? Tattooing is a strange thing, it means everything to me and nothing to some people and too much to others.
For me it’s probably the closest thing I have to a spiritual practice, it’s a daily practice of being present, of seeing another person in their entirety and of trying to create an experience that affirms dignity, agency and power.
I have a few daily rituals with my practice, I listen to music by indigenous Canadian artists each day before I start to listen and recognise the people who lived here longer than any of us settlers. I pray before I start with incense to breathe in focus and good intention and to send my exhalations to God or Spirit or whoever’s listening. It’s all meaningful and meaningless in the end but that’s the beauty of doing it anyway. The artists I listen to, in case anyone is interested, are Tsimka, to remember my West Coast family and Tribe Called Red and TchuTchu to get grounded for the prairies I inhabit today.
We think your mehndi style tattoos are beautiful, could you tell us more about your decision to practice this style? I was doing henna before I was drawing which is how I got started with the style. It took me a long time to get to the point where I felt comfortable tattooing in this style. I don’t think it was entirely conscious, but as a teenager I did receive some critiques from people around me that my mehndi wasn’t “real art” because it was just copying the same pattern over and over again according to these others. I didn’t really ever stop doing mehndi-style drawings entirely but I did shift to doing a lot of ink drawings of people and animals and that was actually the style I primarily worked in for most of my tattoo career.
I did a lot of engraving style botanical tattoos and blackwork illustrative animals before I slowly started to make the switch to doing almost entirely decorative patternwork inspired by mehndi. It took a while to technically get comfortable with this style as a tattoo artist, it’s actually quite challenging to do well even though it can look simple. It also took me a while to feel comfortable with creating cultural art within a consumer culture and I’m still finding ways of identifying areas of discomfort and recentre my needs in the interaction.
As a mixed race Indian person with limited ties to my family it’s also taken me a while to feel as though I have the right to be doing this work, in many ways there are tattooers with closer and more direct ties to our culture than I do.
But, part of the reason why I’m a little more distant from my origins is colonial history and inter-generational violence. My grandparents were the children of indentured labourers who were brought to Mauritius 150 years ago to work sugar cane plantations. Their families adapted and assimilated and gave up certain traditions and beliefs to gain greater access to the world. I’m blessed to be doing this work of learning and finding my roots in a way that’s opened so many doors for me that were shut to my grandparents.
What would you like to tattoo more of? More flowing freehand mehndi pieces without symmetry! Symmetry is so overrated even though it’s pretty. I also really love exploring Kolam traditions in tattooing. But I’m extremely careful about how I design them and without ready access to information on exactly what certain pieces of pattern mean or how they’re supposed to be, I’m limited in what I can do.
We understand that mehndi is often culturally appropriated. Do you feel that it is inappropriate for certain people to get mehndi style tattoos? No. I don’t think it’s innappropriate for certain people to get mehndi style tattoos IF they’re getting them from someone who should be doing the tattoos. Big if.
As an Indian tattoo artist I’ve had to recognise that I can’t control who does or who doesn’t get my tattoos. Some of my absolute worst clients were Indian people and some of my best clients were white and both ways I don’t screen my clients for race when they ask me for mehndi tattoos. When people talk about mehndi style tattooing though, they often conflate actual mehndi inspired tattooing and the entire emerging genre of blackwork tattooing of Indian/Asian patterns and deities. There needs to be some distinctions between the two.
Mehndi as it’s done in India for weddings and celebrations is truly decorative, there are nuances to the patterns that indicate the wearer’s regional background, or religious affiliation, but for the most part the henna designs aren’t sacred. However, when we get into non-Indian, non-Hindu tattooers who are making a living from doing tattoos of deities on other white people who aren’t believers I think it starts to feel like Orientalism.
Unfortunately there is a culture of white tattooers who tattoo Indian imagery with religious and spiritual significance indiscriminately and they have a clientele that’s happy to buy it up. It feels very hollow to see from the outside.
I feel like I can tell when an artist has a true investment in learning about the culture and history and faith, but when they don’t it’s obvious. I also see a lot of disparity between how these artists are somehow almost elevated for doing something “different” while Indian tattooers are so few and far in between and many are almost anonymous. I don’t see these white tattooers sharing resources with others, I don’t see them apprenticing Indian artists, I don’t see them even tattooing many Brown folks, all I see is a culture of Indian art production that is made entirely by and for white people and it’s not right. Until it’s a more level playing field for POC and BIPOC tattoo artists exploring their heritage and tattoo ritual, I can’t support the work and ethos of white tattooers doing Indian tattoos.
Do you have any upcoming projects you would like to share with us? I had so many before Covid. I was trying to arrange an artist’s residency in India to learn Pata Chitra which is a line based art form representing deities in traditional styles. I was even teaching myself hindi to prepare, but sadly the world had other plans.
For now I’m engaging in a new mentorship opportunity where I’ll be learning from Doug Fink at Bushido about refining my work and pushing myself into new styles of working. He’s a traditional Japanese tattooer with a few decades of experience and I’m really looking forward to the next year and a bit of study and improvement.
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.
Kelly creates beautifully nature-inspired handpoke tattoos at Easy Tiger Tattoo in Leeds. We chatted to the artist about handpoke tattoos, planting trees and love of tattooing ears…
My experience as a handpoke artist was a bit tough at first but I could not be happier with where I am now. Handpoke tattooing had a bit of a bad reputation (and sometimes still does) with people buying easily accessible handpoke kits and doing it at home.
When looking for a studio to work from, I found that even though I learnt in a professional environment, handpoking still had a stigma attached to it. Now though I have the pleasure of working alongside awesome and inspiring artists (machine and handpoke), and it’s more widely known and accepted professionally.
I was drawn to handpoke tattooing mainly because it’s a lot gentler than the machine and I find it very therapeutic. Most of my clients agree with me on this.
I have been handpoked by quite a few different artists and found they each have different techniques and ways of setting up. I tend to research the artist first, I’m quite fussy when it comes to getting tattooed. It has to be the right style for me, and I’d want the artist to be into my idea.
When it comes to my own tattooing process I always book in plenty of time for each client so we can go over the design, size and placement together. Whether it be a flash design, a custom piece or something I’ve drawn onto the skin, we have to make sure it’s perfect – I don’t like to rush! My set-up and supplies used are fully vegan and where possible, biodegradable. I also plant six trees for every appointment made to help fight climate change.
I usually book at least one hour for a tattoo, even if it’s three finger dots! I like to have the time to get settled and for my client to feel settled with me, and with the design. Most of my tattoos like the small leaves, words, animals, ears, and single flowers take between one to two hours.
Most of my inspiration comes from nature; leaves, flowers, animals. I have a silly amount of photographs of plants on my phone that I’ll draw from. I also have a nice collection of reference books that include botanics, patterns and floral art. Sometimes inspiration comes from a leaf on the floor, art exhibitions, or the pattern on an old lady’s skirt!
I love tattooing anything that I would design myself – so any flowers or leaves, yes please. Animals I love too. Handwriting I could happily do everyday. Basically as long as I can have a bit of freedom with the design and it’s my usual style, then I’m a very happy bunny.
I’d love to tattoo more ears and fingers. Every ear is a different shape and size so it’s fun to see what design works best. I usually freehand the design on these places but elsewhere on the body, if we’re doing a flower or leaves, it’s always super enjoyable to draw straight on the skin , especially if it’s an area that’s not flat or easy to put a stencil on to. Also – I’m always, always up for black leaves.
I can’t see myself going back to machine tattooing. I love everything about handpoke, it suits me perfectly. How it’s gentler and calmer. When it comes to tattooing what I do (ears, fingers, tiny animals etc.) I personally can’t imagine doing these with a machine – handpoke makes sense for me.
