31-year-old Aimee Lou is a tattoo artist at Bespoke Tattoo Company in Guildford Surrey who creates wonderfully bright tattoos. We chatted to Aimee about what inspires her work and how she started in the industry…
How long have you been tattooing? I started my apprenticeship in 2005, so 11 years.
How did you start? What did you do before? I started getting tattooed at Bespoke Tattoo in 2003 when I was 18, by Ade Stacey (now at Axios, Hove). I was taking in my own designs which I had been working on for a few years. I was a regular customer and I was eventually offered a Saturday job answering the phone and making stencils, which soon turned into an apprenticeship. I had quit university and was working in retail. I had spent some time writing to other local studios in the hopes of getting my foot in the door, but never imagined I would be given a shot at Bespoke Tattoo with Jon Nott. I was very, very lucky!
Do you have a background in art? I have always been artistic, from a very early age as my dad was an artist. I won awards at school and had paintings featured in magazines. I studied art and photography at college, and began a fine art degree at university. University wasn’t for me though, so I didn’t complete my degree. By that point tattooing was the only thing I wanted to do so I preferred to spend my time getting tattooed and drawing tattoo art, rather than studying.
What drew you to the tattoo world? I first became interested in tattoos when I was about 15, idolising tattooed female musicians such as Tairrie B of My Ruin and Brody Dalle of The Distillers. I knew then that I wanted to have tattoos, and started putting my love of art and tattoos together by doodling my own designs based on traditional tattoos that I was drawn to. It soon occurred to me that I could do this for a living!
How would you describe your style, has it changed? I suppose my work would fall under ‘neo-traditional’. I have always loved traditional tattoos; the bold lines, the bright colours. I don’t know if my style has changed much over the years, more that it has developed and refined, and continues to do so. I still like to experiment with colours and detail.
What do you like to tattoo and draw? I have a love of lady faces, which goes back to when I was a kid and all I drew were faces and people. I particularly remember my dad sketching lady faces to show me how to draw lips and eyes etc. I also love to draw flowers and animals, and ideas based on my favourite music and movies, such as Prince and Harry Potter.
What inspires you? Other artists inspire me a lot, some of my favourites are Rose Hardy, Amanda Toy, Angelique Houtkamp, Cassandra Frances, Ashley Love, Clare Hampshire, Tiny Miss Becca… to name just a handful! I am greatly inspired by music, whether it’s a mood or a lyric. Nature inspires me, particularly flowers and cute animals. Also, beautiful faces and photography, vintage advertising and greetings cards and botanical illustrations, fantasy movies and post apocalyptic visions.
What would you love to tattoo? And what would you refuse to do? I love to tattoo anything that suits my style, with bold lines, lots of colour and little bits of details. I am very fortunate that most of my customers just give me an idea and let me go wild! And I’m also lucky that people love the ideas that pop into my head which I post on social media. It really is cool that I can draw these visions and people want me to put them permanently on their bodies. I love my job! There isn’t much that I’ll refuse, so long as I am confident I can do a good job. I don’t really do realism or portraits, so I will steer people in the direction of colleagues and friends.
Do you have any guest spots or conventions planned? I am working with Amy Savage at her private studio The Warren, Canterbury in November. We are tattooing for charity on Monday 7th November, all proceeds going to Hunt Sabs and F.R.I.E.N.D Farm Sanctuary. And I am guesting with her for the following two days. I haven’t got any conventions lined up, I haven’t worked a convention since 2013, but I would like to start working them again, maybe just one or two a year. I get pretty nervous about conventions as I can be very shy!
Can you tell us about your own tattoos? My own tattoos are all in colour and are mostly of a neo-traditional style, with a few Japanese pieces here and there. My favourite tattoos are probably my peonies on my chest by my boss Jon Nott. I also have some awesome pieces by Tiny Miss Becca, Nick Horn, Jody Dawber, Andrew May and Diego Azaldegui. The spaces I have left are thighs, knees, ribs and neck- all the best spots!