NieU Creative Path: Tattoo 2024
Hello! It’s been a little while since my last entry. I wanted to wait and take some time to write my Southeast Asia travel in July 2023 but unfortunately that will have to take a back seat to this new adventure. I want to share a little bit about how I decided to become a tattoo apprentice and pursuing becoming a tattoo artist.
I’ve been yearning for something different after almost 2 decades of working as a designer. A little secret: I have never feel completely at home being a designer. I’ve always wanted to be a full-time illustrator (ever since I was 14!)however, I also needed independence that comes with a job that offers a lot more financial flexibilities. So, as soon as I was able to enter college, I decided to pursue graphic design.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have any regrets in pursuing graphic design. I worked on so many amazing projects. I met so many thoughtful and creative people during my time in this (mostly) game and toys industry, many of them are still my dear friends. I learned A LOT about the craft and have carved out a space to express creatively in plethora of ways.
2019 marked a big shift in the way I approach my career and life. I have been working at Pokémon since 2014. Pokémon was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up at the time, even though a big part of me wanted to be a full-time freelancer when I accepted the job. The team started out quite small, which is my general preference and I was pretty fulfilled at the time. I had a great work life balance with enough time to maintain my freelance on the side along with making personal art. As the team grew, my anxieties and frustrations grew with it. Something I didn’t detect in myself until it became very unsustainable. Summer 2019 arrived and I took a 3 months unpaid sabbatical, and as soon as I left my desk at Pokémon, I was lighter, at ease and myself again.
The decision was made clear and I have to leave stability for the exciting unknown.
I spent most of my sabbatical getting myself ready. I acquired an LLC, updated my website and started conversations with companies who needed outside vendor as a creative consultant, designer, illustrator and even sign-painter or muralist. I explored a whole lot of creative endeavors. I also thoroughly enjoyed Seattle summer by being outdoors most sunny days.
Around 8 months later, we faced a worldwide pandemic.
2020 gave me (and I am sure a lot of people) solitude that atleast, on my end, was very welcomed. I was able to recenter myself, I wrote more than I ever written before and enjoyed it immensely. I worked with Riot Games, Playful, The Knot worldwide, Disney Lorcana, CBRE, and a few local businesses - Hui Lao Shan, Fika Coffee, Downtown Dog Lounge and many others over the span of 5 years.
My true passion lies in illustration. It has always been that way since I was a child.
I would draw on literally anything I can find, paper, walls or furnitures (sorry, ma)
I simply wanted to draw and express myself through my drawings.
The next creative exploration I took was producing my own art in the form of prints, stationeries, stickers and finally, being a vendor at in-person markets. It was quite stressful to invest on inventories without knowing if people would even like them. What kind of art should I make that is true to myself as an artist yet commercial enough for others to purchase and enjoy in their homes? I am so so thankful that I have my support system. My husband who is relentlessly proud of every little leaps I made. My friends and strangers who purchased my art, encouraged me to make more and more.
I can genuinely say I am proud of all the creative endeavors I took on in the past decades. Every choices I made led me to this point.
Around Fall 2022, I was getting restless yet again. My journal entries were filled with “what am I doing with my life?” sort of questions.
Am I doing what I want to?
Am I satisfied with my creative outputs?
What else can I do?
How do I make art that is deeply personal?
I thought all this was my usual travel itch since I haven’t really been able to travel (safely) because of the pandemic. I have also been thinking about getting Jasper tattooed on me for about 6 years at this time. So, in November I went on a trip to New York with my dear friend to chase a visiting Korean tattoo artist: Saki with bold eastern style I adore. He was so lovely. We talked quite a bit during the session, mostly about korean food (ha), music he played for us during the session, and somehow we got to talking about his tattoo journey. He told me how it is not a clear cut journey because tattooing is only legal in Korea if you have a doctor’s degree, but he LOVES what he does and will keep doing it as long as he can. I’ve always thought tattooing is such a cool and intense work. In my mind, there’s no ⌘Z option: how scary, not for me. 😂
This pivotal tattoo led me to the life changing tattoo. That is how, in the beginning of 2023, I met Ping (@inkprick) my now wonderful mentor.
When I submitted my tattoo idea, Ping and I got to chatting a bit more. She then asked if I am interested in becoming her tattoo apprentice because my illustration style will translate so well to tattoos. I was so flattered but my first immediate thought was, me? a tattoo artist? no way… I am scared of needles (I know), blood, hurting people in general… I am ashamed to say that every time I get tattooed, I never watch! The pain is somewhat ok, but watching the needle go into my skin? how scary, not for me.
She encouraged me to take my time and think about it, ask her any questions I have on tattooing and if I am interested, she will take me on as an apprentice in her studio.
It is an answer to my restlessness. As if a spirit guide laid down a gift on my lap and asked me to be brave. On top of that, I must’ve surrounded myself with the right people because none of them hesitate when they heard what I’ve been contemplating and told me I should 100% go for it. So, after a few months of further contemplations (because if you know me, you know that’s what I do) I decided to take the offer. I had been talking and writing about doing something personal, less corporate work and doing my own art. What is more personal than tattooing your art on someone? If making art personal is something I want to do, I need to be brave enough to take this chance. It is only fair, isn’t it?
Tattoo Apprenticeship
〰️
Tattoo Apprenticeship 〰️
We moved into the new Downtown Studio at the same time I started my apprenticeship. I love the space we are in, it is different than most tattoo shop I’ve ever been to. It is calm, quiet and very clean aesthetically (and also very clean). My favorite is our front space within the glass windows, where we get to sit around a large beautiful wooden table to draw, do tattoo admins and hang out with each other. I had met most of the resident artists during Christmas dinner in the previous year. They are supportive and very helpful to me as a new apprentice. Here’s our studio IG: @NieUStudio where you can see all the artists currently working in the studio.
As an apprentice, my role is to maintain the studio’s cleanliness, to take care of clients’ intake form and offer them water or snacks before their appointments, keeping track of supplies to make sure that we are full stocked. I assist my mentor, Ping, in setting up her station and cleaning plus sanitizing after a tattoo is done. I was (still am) very nervous about doing a good job, about being a good student and to excel at each learning stages Ping has set for me. Being an apprentice and going into the studio where I interact and meet new people on a daily basis is an adjustment after over 5 years of working by myself in my home studio. I learned a whole lot by watching each artists tattoo people and interact with their clients. I often imagine how I’d be as a tattoo artist.
I have all the basics of drawing, but drawing for tattoos is different and specific to ensure it will turn into a good tattoo when healed. The limitations are there for good reasons. Size, placement and how much details in design affects the healing and longevity of the tattoo. I feel fortunate that my designer experience kicked in to help me setup a good parameters to design my tattoo sheets. And of course, I have everyone in the studio watching over me and sharing with me what have worked for them.
My Apprenticeship Journal
I can write a whole novel on what I’ve learned so far, but I’ll keep that for the future when I have the hankering to write in-depth of what tattooing is like from a brand new learner’s point of view. I am so fortunate to have been accepted to this studio with open arms. There’s no gatekeeping of knowledge, everyone is ready to help each other. This space fosters growth.
Shoes-off section of our studio.
Some of my fake-skin practice run over the months before moving onto skin in the beginning of October 2024. These are chronological snapshots. The first one I ever did terrified me to my soul because it brought home that I am, in fact, starting over. Last picture is my first ever tattoo machine: Jude.
With all that, I will wrap up this post now. I will try my very best to do good tattoos each time I go into the studio. That is my promise to myself.
I am so thankful for Ping’s generosity, patience, kindness and understanding throughout this process. Our meeting was serendipitous and I am forever grateful to learn from her and to be under her wings. She truly cares about people and is such a good person outside of all the things she does for us in the studio. From the bottom of my heart, thank you, Ping.
“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; It is because we do not dare that they are difficult.”
This quote stuck with me throughout this journey and I will take it as a mantra for every stage of my life.
I am just at the beginning, willing and daring myself. Someway somehow I will look back knowing that I did what I am supposed to do. This life will lay down an unknown journey for all of us, big or small, and I believe in taking them on with (trembling) hands and open heart.