Tag: illustration

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Safe space tattooing with Clair

Clair tattoos at Degenerate Art Tattoo Studio in Staffordshire, UK. Describing herself as a dsisabled artist, we chat to Clair about her tattooing style, plans for the future and the lack of representation in tattooing…

How long have you been tattooing and how did you get to where you are today? I’ve been tattooing for around four years including my apprenticeship. I was previously a fine artist working with painting, sculpture and installation art and taught design in secondary schools. I left teaching as I had issues with my health, but ultimately I found I was burnt out and unfulfilled in that career.

I had a little bit of time where I couldn’t work as I was very unwell. During this time I had my first tattoo and with it the realisation that maybe there was something else I could do with my skill set and passion for art and design.

How would you describe your style? I think my style is a bit of a mixed bag – sketchy stippled blackwork has become the main staple, featuring lots of flowers, nature themes, and some cartoons. But I also tattoo a lot of bold colour work with Disney, cartoons, kawaii and gamer influences.

What inspires you? Super cute cartoon characters and plushies. I’ve been obsessed with Carebears since I was a very small child. I also love nature and being able to get out with my dog Rufus, this always gives me lots of inspiration. I’m often found photographing flowers and fauna.

I love artists from the fine art world such as Chris Nathrop, Anselm Kifer, Yayoi Kusama, Andy Goldsworthy, James Turrell and Fiona Rae. I like being inspired by different forms of art.

I love to travel – the differences in culture, climate and ideas are always exciting. I’m hoping next year to be able to travel more, doing guest spots and conventions. I have big plans in the future to explore Canada, Australia, more of Asia and Indonesia with my daughter and tattoo wherever possible.

What do you love to tattoo, do you have a wishlist? I love tattooing cartoon characters especially when I can mix them with florals. I would also love to do more character work – Steven Universe, Attack on Titan, Carebears and Bluey, as it’s our household’s latest obsession, and some Lord Of The Rings-inspired pieces.

As I come back from maternity leave I have a big desire to push my work and skill set, it’s given me time to reflect and think about my growth as a person and artist. 

I want to try out new ideas and these include large-scale abstract rainbow pieces and flowing nature root/branch-style pieces that entwine and work with the body’s natural shape. I’m hoping to push myself to do more freehand work and develop my black and grey realism skill set too.

Do you prefer to work in colour or black and grey? I like both! How I work reflects the split in my personality and style. I like working with both the different techniques and the development of style and technique for each. 

I feel it’s part of my nature to want to do a bit of everything and explore as much as I can with this art form. 

In your Instagram bio you have ‘disabled artist’ can you tell us more about this? I’ve been disabled for several years now. I had an injury to my spine as a child which has set me up for a wide range of issues in life and a few other comorbid chronic conditions have come along later. I suffer especially from pain which can be extremely debilitating.

Tattooing found me at a stage in my life where I was on the verge of giving up, it’s saved me, and has given me a new passion and purpose. I can work as a disabled person as tattooing offers such freedom and flexibility for my ups and downs with managing my conditions. 

I think calling myself disabled as an artist is really important as there is a lack of representation within tattooing. 

Does this influence how you tattoo? So with my chronic pain and mobility issues, I have to be careful with the type of tattoo projects I take on, the placements and the type of machines I can use.

For example, I can’t really stand or bend excessively when I tattoo as I find that incredibly painful, it’s a huge limitation but it’s something I’m now used to. I have to use lightweight machines and plan my days very carefully with my use of energy. 

Is there a particular type of space you want to create while working? So I’m passionate about creating more accessible spaces within tattooing – for artists and clients. 

I just think it should automatically be thought of when setting up a studio, whether it’s a street shop or more private space, that includes suitable and well-thought-out access to the frontages, doors, steps, corridors and accessible bathrooms. But that’s not the norm from my experience. 

I’ve worked in a few studios that will not provide accessibility and that’s just embarrassing to not be able to offer basic human rights to clients.

So, where I’m working from now there is a commitment to finding a way to open up the studio so it’s more accessible to all clients. It’s a work in progress as I’ve been on maternity leave but I’m hoping real progress can be made. 

Can you tell us about a memorable tattoo experience? Being tattooed by Anthony Lennox – I had a sloth tattooed on my lower leg. It was just an all-round memorable day, with the tattoo design, getting to see how he tattoos, the studio set up, and the other clients and artists there. It’s the best when a tattoo artist whose work you love turns out to be absolutely lovely!

What was your first tattoo, do you still love it? My first tattoo is a slice of cake and some sweets done by @KeelyGlitters. I still love it and that’s what inspired me to even think about becoming a tattoo artist.

What’s been your proudest moment in your career so far? I have a lot of proud moments but ultimately it comes down to tattooing so many people that have said they have felt safe, respected and happy with me and their tattoo.

That’s so important to me and as I strive to become a better artist, person and now a mother. I want to continue in my journey to make sure clients are made to feel comfortable and happy throughout the tattooing process. 

Follow Clair for more awesome tattoos, available designs and book in via her website.

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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.

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Be kind & be wild: Lola Blackheart

East-London based illustrator and artist Lola Blackheart chats tattoos, her journey to self acceptance and the inspiration behind her body positive art…

I grew up with an adoration for very old-school, traditional tattoo work, classic pin-up imagery of the 1940s and 50s, and in my teens I discovered the world of burlesque. The confidence and energy of these professional female performers of all different sizes and shapes, plus the empowerment they bring to their audiences, really resonated with me.

It was the first step in what I guess you would call my ‘journey’ of self-acceptance. I also discovered how using these women as inspiration in my artwork felt like a small way to not only feel part of this movement of strong, confident females, but also could work to bring others in to that world. 

I went to the Brit School of Performing Arts, and (not many people know this) actually started out as a dancer. After a severe ankle injury as I was going into my third year there, I realised that my passion for the art department had also began to naturally outgrow that of dance, and I spent my final two years studying art & design. I suddenly felt like I actually belonged somewhere. The dance world can be quite cruel and demanding, especially when it comes to appearance.

I went on to study Visual Communications at Leeds College of Art, where I did my own thing and specialised in casting and sculpture, with some illustration too. I was making installations made up of things, such as big hand-painted skulls for high-end store’s windows by my final year, and had my own studio.

Moving back to London made this a lot more expensive and illustration became more practical (and a lot less physically challenging!) It allowed me to turn my ideas into a reality much quicker. Instagram definitely changed my life, and being able to share my work so easily and to such a broad audience really pushed me to keep going and to keep engaging. 

I was first tattooed at 16, and kept going from there! There was nothing quite like the excitement of going for my next tattoo, especially in my late teens and early twenties. I had friends that were starting out as tattoo artists, so I have quite a few that I don’t reveal as much as others, but they all hold funny or interesting memories.

Some of my all-time favourites are my coffin on my arm by Matty Darienzo, my panther on my hand and ‘Lola’ cat girl on my upper arm by Dani Quepo, and my hand-poked bible with upside-down cross and saw on my forearm by Kirk Budden.

The meaning and purpose of my work and brand has definitely continued to evolve over time, and I’m at a point now where I really want to push these messages of self-love and self-acceptance. I wish this had existed at the level it does now when I was growing up and that I had been given access to beautiful imagery of women that didn’t all look a certain way (tall, thin, whit etc.)

I ensure that everything I see on my Instagram is either educational, inspiring or body positive, and I hope that the work I’m putting out there and the content I share falls under these categories in some way or another. I also love that the basic aesthetic of the 50s pinups is still so embedded in my work, as it brings that element of classic glamour, and the celebration of the female body – although we should all support vintage aesthetic over vintage values!

I’ll continue to create work that explores the beauty of bodies and how different we all are. I have some exciting hand-painted projects coming up, as well as expanding on what I offer in terms of products on my Etsy store. My prints will always be central, but releasing small runs of organic, vegan, high quality products is something I’m going to be pushing. It’s amazing to see the interest and reaction from people when I do release something like a limited edition t-shirt. I also continue to work a lot with brands, so as soon as I’m given the go-ahead to share this work I will!

I’m open to all kinds of commissions, both for individuals and brands, but my most popular is the ones where I draw customers as one of my pin up girls! You can read more about this, purchase and get added to my waiting list here.

Be sure to follow Lola on Instagram for more tattoo and pin up inspired art.

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Alice Needham illustration

Leeds-based freelance illustrator Alice Needham creates artwork with vibrant colours, detailed lines and graphic styles. Alice also created this beautiful tattooed woman just for us, read on as we chat to her about her amazing tattoo collection and the art she creates…

Can you tell us about your tattoos, do you have a favourite or favourite artist? I don’t know how many tattoos I have these days but I still have plenty of space left to fill, always got ideas ticking along for what I want next. A large proportion of my tattoos have been done by the lovely people at Easy Tiger in Leeds, I’ve been going to Lucy O’Connell since I first got tattooed and she is the artist who has done my botanical sleeve and the huge whale on my thigh that we call Susan.

I’ve got two blackwork pieces on my shins by James Butler of Lord of the Rings and The X-Files and a chameleon that I got done for my mum by Barney. I just think they’re all amazing and seriously nice people, Easy Tiger is definitely my favourite studio. All the people I’ve been tattooed by are fabulous and I highly recommend them all for their individual styles; Nat Hues at The Aviary, Luke , Collette at Snake and Tiger, Lucy at Cobra Club, Joshy at Rose and Thorn, Hannah at Rose and Thorn and I have to give a specific mention to Chloe who did the Van Gogh piece at the top of my arm, I put her way out of her comfort zone and she did such an incredible job!

When did you start getting tattooed? What was your first? It was my 18th birthday that I got my first tattoo and it was part of what now makes up the sleeve on my left arm all done by Lucy O’Connell. I got my full inner forearm done, it’s a floral piece with a Poppy, Rose and Forget-Me-Nots. I’d always wanted to get tattoos and I booked in a year in advance with Lucy for my birthday with that idea because I’d been following her work for so long. It covers up self-harm scars from when I was a teenager and reminds me of my growth.

I hate when people ask what tattoos mean but I would say that my first is probably my most meaningful, I always used to say it is inspired by the Edvard Munch quote, ‘From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity.’

Have tattoos affected how you see yourself and your body? Having tattoos has helped me with loving my body, I like being a walking piece of art and that I can show so many different stories through my skin. They just make me feel more comfortable even if they do attract unwanted attention at times, it usually makes me laugh.

What inspires your illustrations? How would you describe your style? I’ve always been interested in illustration but I went to uni to do Fine Art which drew me away from traditional methods of art making, it was only in my final year that I started doing my illustration work on the side that I really got back into it. I tend to take inspiration from what’s going on in the world, feminism and representations of the body but I also love anything to do with botanical illustrations and bold tattoo work.

I’ve always wanted to get into the tattoo industry and it’s become what feels like a bit of a pipe dream for me, I think that’s why I like creating work that takes inspiration from tattooing but with my own style on it that works for illustration. I would say my style is bright and bold with detailed line work, I tend to work in a range of styles depending on the client or what works best with an idea.

What medium do you use? How do you create each piece? I work digitally mainly through Procreate, it just offers the freedom to be able to work wherever I need to and there are no limitations. I do occasionally work in pen and ink but it’s been a while since I have! Most of the time when it comes to creating I just get an idea that pops into my head, usually if I’ve seen something that has inspired me.

I tend to do a quick sketch to get a rough idea of what it’s like then build on the detail as I go, I think I’m fairly methodical with it and I like to use colours that are complementary even if they aren’t realistic to what is being portrayed. If I’m working on a commission then I follow the client’s brief in a similar way.

What message do you hope to share with your work? Or is there a driving force behind what you create? I think a lot of my work is a bit of fun and it’s something to brighten up their spaces. Though a lot of my pieces do have a political or social stance to them which I think is important.

Do you do commissions? Where can people buy your art? Yes, I do! I’m always taking commissions and the best way to commission me is to have a look at my website then give me an email. I also currently sell my prints through Etsy.

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Kiwi and the Bear

Hayley, the Kiwi in Derby-based Kiwi and the Bear, chatted to us about running a “weird little colourful indie biz” with husband, Aaron (Bear). K&TB started as a hobby back in 2015, they now sell art prints, reusable face pads, scrunchies, pin pennants and more…

I’ve always been a craft lover and loved trying new things until something finally stuck which turned out to be tie-dye. After I spent a couple of months tie-dying everything in sight, I wanted to take it a step further by adding artwork to the dyed fabric, so I taught myself to hand embroider. What followed was a wall full of embroidery hoops containing tie-dye and 2005 emo lyrics with a little bit of Taylor Swift thrown in, somehow that Taylor Swift hoop made its way onto Buzzfeed and shortly after onto her legal team so that hoop was swiftly retired.

Around this time we invested in an iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil, this right here was the game changing moment for me, I just didn’t know it yet. I started to drift over onto a blank canvas and began playing around with little doodles and eventually adding more art to my lettering which, was weird for me as drawing just wasn’t something I ever did – like, at all. 

I didn’t study art, I didn’t consider myself artistic – crafty yes but artsy not at all. At this point I had been following tattoo artists and illustrators on IG that I found so much inspiration in and it had never occurred to me that I could add my voice via my own artwork to the community. I was so nervous about putting my illustrations out into the world, I thought people would think it was a joke.

It was discovering the incredible creative community on IG that taught me art was whatever I wanted it to be and it could mean whatever I wanted it to mean to me, and suddenly I was free to just create. I was having the most fun and finally felt that feeling of being somewhere you were supposed to be the whole time.

So in 2018 we decided to take Kiwi and the Bear a little more seriously, we wanted it to feel more like a brand, something that really reflected who we are – a couple of weirdos trying to live life a little more positively while still remaining sarcastic and foul mouthed. We just wanted a space where we could really just be our obnoxious selves!

We made a few of my illustrations available to buy as prints alongside the embroidery hoops and it felt liberating, so new, so scary, but so exciting! We started developing more products using our hand dyed fabric, purely for selfish reasons as we were making things that we wanted in our own home. It’s selfish but it’s also the best way to find ‘your people’, those that love the same things as you, customers and friends and even better sometimes both!

Our new products and new direction came at the perfect time for us as I had to take a step back from hand embroidery due to my chronic illness making it near impossible to carry on. I’ve had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis since I was seven, two hip replacements and two shoulder replacements later, what hasn’t been replaced is painful and awkward and waiting to be replaced!

I dislocated my thumb while drying my hair, that’s all it took, they couldn’t get it back into place in A&E and soon after, I saw a specialist that showed me my x-ray, and explained that I actually had five chronic dislocations. I’d just learned to live with them. When you’ve been disabled since you were a kid you become really adaptable especially when you’re a stubborn Taurus, so when someone tells you that you can’t do something because of your disability you find ways around it. I couldn’t physically carry on with the hand embroidery, I was grateful we’d discovered things like our pennants and illustrations, so removing the hoops didn’t have to be the end for us, if anything it felt like the start of a new chapter and I found a way to keep drawing and making even with the dislocations.

When people realise I make and create what I do with my sad little hands they often don’t believe it, but for me it’s the most natural thing to keep going, stay positive and stay medicated. Plus, having a high pain threshold really helps. It also helps with really long tattoo sessions, I think nearly every tattoo artist I’ve spent time with has said that I sit like a rock, I mean come on I have to look for the positives in this disease right?

Positivity is a huge part of what we’re about as a brand, it’s strange to say as two emo kids in their 30s who almost always opt for black everything, but somewhere around my 30th birthday I wanted to be kinder to myself. Every day is a battle for my body so I really wanted to focus on the positive things, however small. It was around this time that I fell in love with colour which was super out of character for me, as the only place I ever had colour was my pink hair, but suddenly I was wearing bright fun dungarees and I realised I could be a colorful emo. I found my sweet spot and I’ve stayed here ever since.

It was around my 30th birthday that I received one of my favourite tattoos, it was a real life changing moment for me, like real-life movie montage material of me coming out the other side a bad ass b!

For the longest time I had left gaps on my body that I was too afraid to get out in a tattoo studio, something switched in me when I turned 30, I learnt to love my body no matter what size it was, I learnt to separate the disease I hated from the body that housed it.

I made a tattoo appointment with Mike Love to get my first hand poke tattoo on my sternum, I was really, really testing my limits and I loved it. This piece is so important to me, it marks the beginning of a new era for myself, I faced my fears and got ‘1989’ hand poked into a space I never thought I’d be able to get tattooed, yes it’s my year of birth (I’m a proud 80s baby if only just clinging on to the very end of the 80s) but it’s also a nod to my favourite Swift album, and this one her legal team can’t take away.

We have been a couple since I was 16 and Aaron was 17, so the longest stretch of our tattoo journeys do end up intertwining at times. We have a few “couple tattoos”, for instance he has “Player 1’ on his inner wrist and I have “Player 2”. We’re huge nerds and play video games together any chance we get, and after 15 years together it feels pretty safe to include our story on each other’s bodies. We do have plans for a couple of matching pieces that relate to our favourite Walt Disney World adventures together. During our trip last Halloween I got to show Ariel my Ariel piece and Aaron got to show Mary Poppins his bag and umbrella piece by Lady Chappell Tattoos, yeah we’re those kinda nerds too, and it was so freaking magical!

The one thing I’ll always thank younger me for was being obsessed with filling my arms leaving my legs bare for when I was more educated about the industry. So my legs are home to my most favourite pieces that I’ve collected through my 20s, my absolute favourite is my Rachel Baldwin piece.

Tattoos have 100% had an effect on my relationship with my body, I began getting tattooed when I was underage (I know, I know!) I think as a sick kid this was to have some control over my body when I felt I had none.

Eventually getting grew into a way to love my body, my body art plays a huge part in my body confidence and I’m finally at a point of accepting that I’m like a colourful weird little marshmallow and proud.

Occasionally someone will ask why I describe myself as a marshmallow, it’s actually a kind of sneaky way to refer to myself as chubby (also fluffy, plump and pink it’s the actual food version of me). I don’t use it to replace chubby because I’m ashamed, because I’m not, it’s been a really long journey to dig who I am. I use it because when you refer to yourself as chubby or fat in a positive way, you’ll more than likely experience someone with good intentions trying to tell you you’re not fat. Most people have received an “omg you’re not fat babe” once in their chubby and proud lives, some people can’t see it as anything but a negative, so it’s easier for me to refer to myself as a “leel marshmallow” so I just get to live my fat and proud life. Also marshmallows are pretty dang cute and if just makes someone think of something pink and chubby well, duh, hello!

We have a lot of plans for the future of Kiwi and the Bear, firstly nap with the pups, then celebrate our 15 year anniversary that we worked through, AND then we want to keep adding new illustrations to the shop. We will still take commissions (hand lettering, illustration, custom dyed pennants) most things in the shop you can make a custom request on. I hope to be lucky enough to carry on doing freelance illustration for companies with the same values as us.

The biggest plan we have is to make a zine about being chronically ill which we started working on before everything was flipped upside down. There’s also talk about possibly releasing our first ever pin, which makes sense with our ever growing collection. Really we just aim to keep being a part of the community that we love and making the things we love while making new friends.