Ashley Jolly

Being a tattoo artist is a pretty taxing job...
I mean sure there are the obvious perks; we get to look/dress however we want, make our own hours, make pretty good money, and create living pieces of art!

But…there is definitely more to it…

I’m sure everyone has considered the responding to emails, messages, dealing with scheduling, supplies and their growing costs, taxes…and of course the physical toll tattooing takes on our bodies.

But one thing that I feel like gets completely overlooked by most clients..and even tattooers at times is the incredible pressure we place ourselves under.

I work 5 days a week and generally do 1-2 pieces a day. That’s as many as 10 pieces a week. Not to bad right?
However that is 10 pieces of art I have to crank out in a week. And not just anything…commissioned pieces of art. Meaning 10 times in a week I have to take another persons ideas and search my mind and soul for the creativity to create a coherent vision…and then I have to sketch it and bring it to life. After that I must execute this on skin and create something that my client will love FOREVER.

Trying to create one solid piece of art in a week is hard enough…but tattoo artists have to crank out full compositions daily. I can’t explain how difficult and how draining this can be on both the mind and the spirit.

I say all this to say give us grace, be patient, we might make it look easy but it is not. Sometimes our creativity wains, sometimes we can’t see the vision, sometimes we’re just burnt out and need a break…

What may be considered an inconvenience for you might be the verge of a breakdown for us. We are only human.🖤