Summer Update

So I wanted to post an update before I get overwhelmed with my schedule again. I thought to put aside religiously updating Patreon if ya'll don't rely on reading it so much. I had to take a break from streaming too since it's too much working 2 separate intense jobs, weight lifting, singing, having a life with friends & partners.

My journey includes tattoos I don't want to do, that maybe I objectively think are bad ideas. This lady insisted I use yellow or she just didn't want the notes added. I said, "Fine, but it's going to be next to invisible on your arm." There's a reason why other artists said no. This is 2 weeks healed & she's very happy.

This summer I have been focusing on getting the tattooing started on real people. It's been very overwhelming in that I went from having no one visit my studio ever to suddenly having total strangers enter my place several times a week. The whole process takes adjusting to as well since I do have to follow a procedure to set up the station and then it's completely different tattooing a living being than a flat fake skin. It's been a lot of up and down emotions from feeling estatic and proud of my work to feeling like I'm going to fail after several people flake out or angry, jealous tattooist start attacking me on social media.

A rib cage tattoo. My tattoo mentors actually got mad at me for doing this one because it's too advanced for my skill level, but I felt like I could do it & it did heal perfectly fine. There's imperfect lines but considering where it is & the size (1.5"), I feel pretty good about it.

It's pretty intimidating vetting clients as well. I really have no clue who walks through the door. Except for 1 guy, they have mostly been all decent, nice people. This guy wanted a wrist band tattoos on both arms. He had next to zero pain tolerance and insisted I do the whole 8 hour session. My hands are not used to working in this format yet, so I kinda gave myself tendonitis. After the session, he also lied he'd send me money from home & never did so that was more of a learning experience in what not to deal with. Everyone else has been generous, helpful, and understanding.

One I'm probably never going to post to socials. It isn't my best work, and it isn't what I want to be doing. The guy is happy with it, which is all that matters at the end of the day.

My beginner goal was to get any kind of practice clients with no style in mind and pay off my expenses. I have bought the basic furniture I need, including a massage table and a imperiable small cabinet, stool, lights, all my santitation supplies.

I reorganized my studio to fit a tattoo area.

So far, I have done 10 complete tattoos and I have paid off at least my furniture, equipment, and a portion of my supplies. I am still working on paying off the sanitation stuff, disposable supplies, and my course since I am working for either tips or a really reduced rate. I expected this process to take a lot longer to get into...like not even be doing much until next January, so to have so much done already is amazing.

This one I am very proud of. It's like my drawing style & I got to match it to the watercolor stuff on top. The client came back to have it filled in, which is a WIP. I plan to extend the design & connect it to the rest up top with a water motif.

Next up, I plan to spend a pretty chunk of change on a mentor so I can focus on developing a marketable style and get some more serious clients that want work that looks like my art rather than random memorabilia. I struggled with marketing my art for so many years that I don't want to go through this again and I'm willing to pay for help this time. I'm happy to be working from my studio, but if it ever comes to it - I'd love to have an open dedicated space that has that tattoo corner and sells paintings and merch. 

Several of my first clients are domestic abuse survivors, so they come to me with designs they picked out symbolizing recovery & strength. Perhaps they are not what I want to be doing, yet it's very satisfying helping someone feel a bit more whole again.