Michele Van Roosendael Birmingham, AL

MICHELE

VANROOSENDAEL

Born in Missouri and raised in Southern California, hard work is nothing new to me as I grew up working for my family’s glass company through high school. Being a very active teenager while playing softball, and competing in music competitions and art during school, motivated me to start focusing on my future. I started tattooing in 2008 in Vancouver, Canada. I am a self-taught artist and created and sold many works of art to secure my future career in tattooing. In 2019 I met a woman who changed my life and motivated me to pursue my dreams further. A short 1 year later, we were married, and a year after that, in 2021, I began working at Revolution Ink in Birmingham, Alabama. My hobbies include drawing (when I am not designing for clients), painting, breeding reptiles, and caring for our young daughter ⸺ Who/ where do you get your inspiration from? I get my inspiration from other successful artists, painters, social media, and everyday life. When I started tattooing, I experimented with these techniques (usually on myself). It taught me how someone’s tattoo style develops and why each artist has his/her unique strengths, weaknesses, and a focused skill set ⸺ What advice would you give to someone about getting his or her first tattoo? (A tattoo virgin) Be unique. Don’t just pick something off of the internet. Make it a custom piece that will suit you, from your skin tone and style, and make sure the placement works with the piece ⸺ What would you say is your favorite part of the job? The creativity. If your art becomes too much about business, the art suffers, and so does the artist ⸺ What is the most

important advice you can give someone new to the art of tattoo-

ing? Make sure you want it for the right reasons. Many people think it would be cool to be a tattoo artist. But, if ego, money, and popularity are the driving forces, you easily could become one of the many artists who leave people with negative experiences and tattoos they aren’t happy with ⸺ Who are your favorite artists? I don’t have a favorite artist, though every artist I work with daily absolutely stuns me with the beautiful pieces of art they create ✕