mia
Artist | Professional | Varied

United States

Well, I went to the Art Insitute of Phoenix, where I got an Associates' in 3d animation, but found that it didn't suit me to sit in an office staring at a computer screen, moving vertices around so I decided to find something else. Art as a career came later, after a brief stint in the world of retail, which I was appallingly good at and which I indeed hated. Eventually, a friend of mine, who was a tattoo artist said to me, "Why don't you try tattooing?" I think he was just tired of me bitching about 'entitled' people who think I can just conjure last year's discontinued duvet cover with the tacky animal print all over it they need so very desperately to match their equally tacky drapes. Anyway, I digress. I'd never really thought about tattooing as a job before, but he was opening a shop in a town near to where I lived and I apprenticed there, paid my dues and voila! I found that I love it, the people, the stories, (did I mention I love a good story?), the art of it. The industry has come a long way since the time of bikers and sailors, the skin has become just another canvas and there are exciting and wonderful things happening out there in the world of tattooing and I am humbly grateful to have been a part of it for close to eight years now.