5) A word of motivation to all aspiring
Tattoo Artists.
Are
tattoos
art?
Coming
Ans) Whilst completing vario
us art courses including Vis from 25 years as a pro-
ual Arts with honors in drawi fessional Visual Artist I
ng I also had jobs in comme would say no, but can
rcial cl eaning, hospitality, co they be? yes absolutely.
mmunity and disability arts. But so can crochet, the
Obviously the art courses
landscape
and
a
were invaluable to expressi
hoover.
I
have
had
a
lot
ng and understanding creati
of opposition to this
vity, the day jobs were also
incredibly helpful with the dif from other tattooists.
ferent non creative aspects
For me as an artist I
of tattooing.I recommend all have 100% freedom
budding tattooist study art or
and responsibility. With
multi media first. Work hard.
tattooing
it
is
part
of
the
Take the shit jobs and make
sure they are jobs that have service industry, so we
a lot of contact with people, are limited creatively.
KELLY
they are your future clients, draw all the
MANNING
time, challenge yourself in your drawing,
become organized and tech savvy.
Learn how to sell yourself in social oc-
casions, draw some more and do an apprenticeship with a good and disciplined tattooist.
”
t.
KELLY WITH HER CLIENT AFTER INKING
A TATTOO....
The beautiful thing about
tattooing a client is the
idea is theirs. So you dis-
cover the context of the
image through the process
of creating the tattooing.
With Visual Arts the con-
text comes from extensive
research, travel, experi-
mentations, fundraising
etc�.. an exhausting and
all consuming process.
Tattoos can be art how-
ever if it is the artist’s in-
tent and that artist can be
the client, tattooist or an
artist using tattooed bod-
ies for their artwork.