Hi everyone! Back after the holidays!!

Hello all!

I hope everyone had wonderful holidays and a very happy new year! There has been a lot goin down at the studio. We had our second annual Christmas party with an art opening to boot. Jesse, Jane, and Scott have been working hard and killing it with tattoo after tattoo. I have been drawing for hours every day and begun tattooing on a regular basis. Lemme tell ya, those first couple tattoos were quite terrifying, but I am so happy to be on the other side of the “first ones”. I have learned so much, and slowly but surely, I am growing stronger and better every day. Under the watchful supervision of Scott,  I have gone from a shaky beginner to a less shaky beginner. It takes a lot of time, but diligence and determination will get you very far. I have learned to push through the fear and to just keep drawing so I can strengthen my hand and design technique leading me to be a better artist all the way around.

One of the more difficult things to comprehend as a new artist is how well you are doing. I’m sure this is mainly ego and not the best way to go about learning to tattoo, but I am  constantly asking my self how I compare to others at this point in the training process. Though it is never good to constantly compare yourself to others, we are all on our own path, I think it is beneficial to know if you are progressing at a consistent and normal rate.  I am very hard on myself and probably the most critical when analyzing my own work. I see every imperfection and toil over each flaw. This can be both good and bad…it’s good because, hell, this is permanent art on real peoples bodies and you best be damn good and not F#@$K this up…but, it’s bad in the way that you have to let go of the things that you are inevitability getting stronger at and know that touch ups are usually necessary for your first tattoos.

So I will share with you a couple of my very firsts, and y’all can see just how long it takes to grow as an artist. We are on this journey together, and hopefully, when I show you my work ten months from now at the completion of my apprenticeship, we can see some growth and improvement.

So my very first tattoo was with Patrick, a wonderful soul who wanted a traditional “dark mark” tattoo on his lower left forearm.  A good first for me because he has delicious 21 year old skin (said in least creepy way possible)  and a simple design.

My third tattoo was with German, an awesome piece that I loved designing, but there is nothing simple about this one…this is still a work in progress and we will go on to add color in the next couple sessions. I created this piece for him of the Dragon Ball Z character Shenron…this piece wraps around his outer lower right forearm and up  to the inner meaty part.

Thanks to both of these brave men to trust me with their skin on my first tattoos. It really helps to have friends, family and a good mentor to believe in you when attempting to start a carrier in the art of tattoo. Stay tuned everybody and there will be lots more to come!

Happy Healing,

Nicole

“It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.” -Leonardo da Vinci-