Bee Rye Tattoos

A Wooper Whopper! Winner of my most recent giveaway, I had a blast doing this piece. Be on the lookout soon for another giveaway!

I’ve gotten quite a few people (and by few, I mean hundreds) asking me how I’ve gotten fairly decent tattooing so quickly and if I was an artist beforehand. So let me answer that here.
First off, if you’ve ever asked me if I was an artist beforehand, the answer is yes. Here, I’m showing you some wood burning pieces I’ve done probably a decade ago. As a tattoo artist, I feel that artistry is practically a prerequisite to becoming a tattooer. If you ain’t got that artsy dawg in you, you probably won’t last long in this industry 😂. When applying for an apprenticeship, you need to know that it’s not your mentor’s job to teach you how to be artistic. It’s their job to take the fundamentals of what you already know, and apply it to human skin. If you don’t have those fundamentals, then you will have issues.
Now, if you’ve ever asked me how I’ve gotten a good handle on tattooing so early in my career, it’s a few things. Firstly, since I came from a wood burning background, you may be surprised with how well techniques in that field translate into tattooing. I’m pretty much tattooing wood. lol. So yeah, while I’ve only been tattooing for 4 years at the time of this post, I’ve been practicing these techniques for over a decade.
One of the other reasons (and probably my biggest motivator) is straight up fear 😂. I tend to surround myself with people on or above my level and it forces me to adapt and learn quickly, or else I feel like I’ll be left behind. I’m a sponge when it comes to certain info, and since my friends are amazing as people as well as amazing artists, learning from them was pretty much the main reason I am where I am. So that put a bit of a fire under my ass for the most part. That’ll tend to happen when you work with someone like JP and you have small existential crises whenever he puts out heat and you just have to up your game OR ELSE. lol.
Lastly, it’s just nice to know that I’m not alone when I appreciate my art from time to time. It’s not often I get to look back at something I created and say to myself that I fu***ng nailed it, but when I do, it just feels good knowing many of you like it too. So thank you. 🙏

Smile! Nana and Deku are here!