Kat Von D Kat Von D born Katherine von Drachenberg, March 8, 1982, is an American tattoo artist, model, musician and television personality. She is best known for her work as a tattoo artist on the TLC reality television show LA Ink, which premiered August 7, 2007, in the United States and ran for four seasons. Kat Von D was born in Montemorelos, Nuevo LeĂłn, Mexico. Her Seventh-day Adventist Church missionary parents, father RenĂŠ and mother Sylvia or Silvia Galeano, were born in Argentina, of German, Italian and Spanish descent, respectively. Von D has a sister, Karoline and a brother, Michael. She moved with her family to the Los Angeles area at age 4 and grew up in Colton, California. Von D was classically trained in piano beginning at age 6. She particularly appreciates Ludwig van Beethoven. Kat Von D credits her grandmother, Clara von Drachenberg, as an inspiration for her in music and art, and the Latino culture of Los Angeles as a major influence on her tattoo art and style. She began listening to the Ramones, Misfits and other punk rock bands at the age of 12. She got her first tattoo at 14 and quit school at 16 to become a tattoo artist.
Kat's Carrer
Von D was asked to work at 305 Ink in Miami when Darren Brass broke his elbow, preventing him from tattooing. She appeared in two seasons of Miami Ink, the reality TV show taped there for the cable network TLC. She had a falling out with Ami James which led to her being asked to leave the shop.
She subsequently acquired her own TLC series, LA Ink, which chronicled her work at her tattoo shop, High Voltage Tattoo, in Hollywood, California. On the show, she gained the Guinness World Record of most tattoos given by a single person in 24 hours, with a total of 400. Accomplished in December 2007, it involved a Von D-designed logo for the city of Los Angeles, with proceeds going to the children's-blindness charity Vitamin Angels. Her record was subsequently broken by her exhusband, Oliver Peck (415) on June 13, 2008,followed by others; as of November 2008 the record is held
by Hollis Cantrell from Artistic Tattoo in Phoenix, Arizona, with 801. [19] LA Ink ran four seasons, ending September 15, 2011; TLC announced the cancellation on August 18, 2011. [20] Von D maintained on her Twitter page that it was she who chose "to not continue doing LA Ink".[21] Her first book, High Voltage Tattoo, compiling her artworks and tattoos, with a foreword by MĂśtley CrĂźe's Nikki Sixx, was released in January 2009 and reached #6 on The New York Times Best Seller list.Von D described the book as "not an autobiography, you know, 'cause I'm too young to do that. But this is just
kind of like a picture-driven outline of my career as an artist. So, you see everything from my drawings when I was six to tattoos that have never before been seen." Her second book, The Tattoo Chronicles, an illustrated diary following a year in her life, was released October 26, 2010, and reached #3 on The New York Times "Hardcover Advice & Misc." bestseller list. In 2008, Von D created and launched a make-up line for Sephora. She has released new collections every year and has expanded her line to include fragrances. In 2012, through Sepho-
ra, her New American Beauty Art Tour benefitted the Art of Elysium charitable organization. On September 2, 2010, Von D opened the art gallery and boutique Wonderland Gallery in the space next door to High Voltage Tattoo. She launched the clothing lines KVD Los Angeles and Kat Von D Los Angeles in the US and Canada in fall 2011, with the latter expanding internationally the following year. Kat Von D began her professional career as a tattoo artist in 1998, working at the local shop Sin City Tattoo. She moved around and worked at various shops in the Los Angeles area before landing her breakout gig at True Tattoo in Hollywood, where she worked opposite renowned artists Chris Garver and Clay Decker. It was Garver who recommended Kat Von D to try out for a spot on "Miami Ink," a reality series about a famed tattoo shop in Miami, FL. "Miami Ink" followed around the clients coming in to the shop for tattoos as well as the personal lives of the artists who worked there. Kat Von D made recurring appearances on the show's first season as a replacement for artist Darren Brass, who had suffered a broken arm, but quickly gained a following for her realistic tattoo portraits and nononsense attitude. She returned to the second season of "Miami Ink" as a series regular, although frequent verbal clashes with shop owner Ami James caused her termination. After her "Miami Ink" fall-out, Kat Von D returned to Los Angeles and opened her own shop, High Voltage Tattoo. It also spawned her own reality series "LA Ink," which became one of TLC's highest-rated programs. The series featured other artists who worked at High Voltage Tattoo, as well as celebrity clients including rocker Dave Navarro, actor Stephen Baldwin, and comedienne Margaret
Cho. In 2007, Kat Von D set a Guinness World Record for giving the most tattoos in a 24-hour period. Thousands lined up outside High Voltage Tattoo to take part in her historymaking attempt. She ended up drawing 400 tattoos to set the world record, but only to have the number surpassed the following year by her ex-husband Oliver Peck with 415. "LA Ink's" popularity established Kat Von D's career and expanded into other equally successful projects. She made guest appearances on friend Bam Margera's reality show "Bam's Unholy Union" (MTV, 2007), launched a cosmetics line for Sephora in 2008, and opened an art gallery and boutique next to High
Voltage Tattoo in 2010. Kat Von D's personal life became a hot topic in 2009 after she began dating Nikki Sixx, co-founder and bassist of heavy metal band Motley Crue. Sixx even wrote the foreword to her New York Times bestseller High Voltage Tattoo (2009).
The couple lasted until early 2010, around the same time rumors swirled that she had moved on to Jesse James, the West Coast Choppers CEO and reality TV star who had been famously married to actress Sandra Bullock for five years before his infidelities sunk the marriage. Kat Von D confirmed she was dating James via social networking site Twitter in August 2010 - only months after the Bullock/James marriage implosion. On an episode of "LA Ink," Kat Von D surprised James on his birthday by showing him a tattoo of his fifth grade portrait that was inked under her left arm. The pair announced their engagement in January 2011, only to split a few months later. Just days after revealing that her relationship had ended,
Kat Von D appeared on the local morning news program "Good Day L.A." (Fox, 1993- ). When producers showed a clip from James' birthday surprise episode, Kat Von D stood up and walked out of the interview. She cancelled all media appearances promoting "LA Ink" following the incident.
Megan Massacre Megan’s first thoughts of becoming a tattoo artist began when she was fourteen years old. However, after visiting a local tattoo studio inquiring about a tattoo apprenticeship, she was turned down for being both considered too young and not having enough money to pay for it. At the time, she thought her dreams were crushed. Fast-forward a few short years, and Megan had a brush with fate. The recent high school graduate was attending community college and paying for it by working an unfulfilling job at a failing furniture store. One of her coworkers had applied for a job as a body piercer at a local tattoo studio and asked Megan for a lift to the interview. While there, her friend told the shop owner how well Megan could draw, and he asked her to draw a few tattoo-related designs. “They loved what I drew and asked if I had ever done a tattoo before,” she recalls. “Of course I said no, but they then asked if I would like to do one right then and there.” Both excited and a little scared, Megan blurted out, “Yes!” and with that, the shop owner walked her through her very first tattoo. Pleased with how she did, he offered her an apprenticeship that day, and thus began her career. It would be about three years before
Megan Woznicki would become “Megan Massacre,” an alias born in the crucible of the local Hardcore music scene. She explains, “At the time, Hardcore music was very popular with the kids in my neigh-
borhood. My friends and I loved going to these shows and would dance around and have a great time, but
there were a lot of bullies and older people who just tried to hurt the kids dancing and beat them up. “They had these gangs they called ‘crews’ and made up aggressive sounding names for themselves. My friends and I got sick of the treatment and decided to make up our own names and form a crew, basically mocking these bullies. I had no idea it would actually stick!” Even though she had originally thought of “Megan Massacre” as a joke, she had already changed her social media profile and was making a name for herself with it locally as a tattoo artist. When her first magazine cover came out, to her surprise it read ‘Megan Massacre, Philly’s Femme Fatale,’ and with that, Megan Massacre was born. Megan worked at a handful of tattoo shops in Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia’s well-respected Deep Six Laboratory, before she was asked to move to New York to join the cast of NY Ink. She currently tattoos at The Wooster St. Social Club, one of the hottest tattoo shops in Manhattan and the location for NY Ink.
Megan's Career
Megan has been tattooing since 2004 and her artwork can be described as creepy yet cute; combining dark imagery with bold vibrant color to create a unique, whimsical style that is of no other. A creative and versatile artist, Megan’s artwork covers the whole spectrum; she’s equally as comfortable working in vivid colors as she is in blacks and grays. She is, however, best known for her bold and brightly colored tattoos that combine multiple styles of tattooing together into one, to create works of art that look as though they may jump right off of your body.
When asked about her passions driving her interest in fashion, Megan quips, “Well, I’m a girl. I like to wear clothes!” She finds it fascinating how “different colors, patters, and fabrics can really transform your look and even boost your confidence and change your personality.” Her personal style ranges from normal every day wear to “really crazy things that most people wouldn’t ever think of walking out of the house in.” She recently posted a selfie with a Tequila Sunrise-the layered red and orange cocktail matched her hair.
Since 2007, Megan has also been working as an alternative model and has been featured in many national and international publicationsincluding over eighteen magazine covers-and more to come in 2015. “[Fashion] is art, to me. It’s like I’m a painting and I am painting on myself with clothing and hair and makeup…and style.” Megan crisscrosses the world as a headlining artist at tattoo expos and gatherings from Sydney, Australia to Halifax, Nova Scotia to Sao Paolo, Brazil to Guatemala City, Guatemala. She meets fans, creates tattoos, and judges tattoo competitions at each. In September, Megan appeared at The International London Tattoo Convention, the greatest, most respected and prestigious body art conventions in the world.
To continue this passion, Megan has recently joined forces and added a tattoo shop to New York’s Grit N Glory, a men and women’s clothing and accessory shop as well as an online rock n roll lifestyle shop, in order to combine her tattoo artistry with fashion in New York’s Lower East Side. Megan has begun collaboration with clothing and accessory brand Sprayground as well as launched a design, “Envy,” in a new collaborative fashion collective, American Tattoo between apparel maker Affliction and Inked Magazine.
Her next trip will take her to New Zealand’s Tattoo and Art Festival in late November, and immediately following, to the largest event of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, the Australian Tattoo and Body Art Expo in Melbourne. Megan’s advice on getting your first tattoo? “Pick something that’s timeless, positive, and meaningful. Get something that commemorates your children or your parents or a passion or a hobby. Even choose an event that made a positive impact in your life, because those memories will always remain a permanent part of who you are.” A passionate vegetarian supporter of animal rights, Megan has worked with PETA2 in an ad campaign about being vegetarian and has translated these efforts as she has
started to showcase hot cruelty-free makeup looks and products with various cosmetic companies. This summer, she joined PETA2′s as the host of their new video series, Cruelty-Free Beauty, to show off her go-to items and beauty products. On an average day, she loves cooking and experimenting with vegetarian and vegan recipes, drinking way too much coffee, and painting. While she’s been making art for a decade, she’s recently begun to re-explore the artistic side and skill that brought her into tattooing in the first place. She’s exhibited in art shows both inside and outside of the tattoo art world, and will be participating in a number of new art shows in the coming year. Her works are in multiple mediums such as watercolor, acrylic, oil, marker.
Tatu Baby Drawing since an early age, worldrenowned tattoo artist Katherine “Tatu Baby” Flores was born to etch awe-inspiring designs on skin. She got her first tattoo as a young teen, and it was love at first prick. Inspired by her tattoo artist, young Katherine ditched her interest in animation, picked up a tattoo machine and hasn’t stopped slinging ink ever since.
for her work in black and gray and photorealism, she has a true appreciation for the way the body can be used as a canvas to express yourself. A fan favorite in last year's competition, Tatu Baby made it all the way to the final four before being eliminated. In a first-ever surprise twist in the season finale, viewers went online and voted Tatu Baby back for a chance to redeem herself in Season 3.
Tattooing for over a decade now, the Miami-based artist with Colombian roots has built an impressive, award-winning portfolio. Tatu Baby has also appeared on Spike TV’s hit reality tattoo competition show “Ink Master” twice (the second time was by being voted back on the show as the fan favorite). And, most recently, she became a new mom to fourmonth-old Deniro Roman Soto.
Tatu Baby was born 1987 in Queen, New York. Ever since she can remember she was holding a pencildraeing on anything she can practice on. In third grade she won her first award for first place portrait which motivated her to master her talent. Getting her first tattoo at age 14 and with the support of other tattoo artist she made a homemade tattoo gun and started practicing on all her highschool friends. By the age of 19
We caught up with Tatu Baby to talk about her career in body art, the differences between being a female, Latina artist in the tattoo industry back then and now, and life as an ink-slinging mommy. Tatu Baby isn't shy when it comes to her looks and admits to have used her sex appeal to her advantage, but don't judge this book by its cover, she's got talent to back her up. She became interested in tattoos after getting her first ink at the age of 14. Tatu Baby has been tattooing professionally since she was 19 and proved herself right of the gate by taking home a "best of day" trophy at a tattoo convention. Known
she made the mature desicion that it was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life, being self-taught she challenged her skills and put her 100% and has become a respected award winning tattoo artist; and not to mention got to tattoo clients such as Lil Wayne, Nu Jerzey Devil, and MMA Master Rene "Level" Martinez. If talent isn't enough, Tatu Baby models aswell and has been featured on Urban Ink, 305 HIPOP. COM, Hard body of the month, Dynastyseries.com, 24Hourhiphop.com, Telemundo "Persiguiendo Injusticias" ;and much more.. Tatu Baby has beauty and skills but most importantly dedication and perseverance. So get ready to see more jaw dropping projects.
Baby's Career Tatu Baby has been tattooing professionally since she was 19, and got her first ink at 14. These days, she's a full blown canvas of original art, and spends her time inking up South Floridians. While she couldn't reveal much about the show's secrets (season two premieres on October 10), Cultist got the skinny from Kat on creativity, making permanent mistakes and the asshole tat "trend." Whatever Rush Limbaugh would have America believe, glass ceilings still exist — especially in male-dominated fields. Take tattooing. Though famous inked-up chicks like Kat Von D have helped make strides for female artists, there's still a hefty overabundance of dudes doing tattoos. Luckily, Miami has Katherine Flores, AKA Tatu Baby, repping woman kind and hometown pride on Spike TV's hit reality show Ink Masters. As one of just three female contestants this season, Flores faces "extreme circumstances" and made-forTV challenges in her fight to take the Ink Master title. We won't know the show's outcome till December 18, but Flores has already stuck it out through several rounds of cuts, taking on tasks such as inking mouth tattoos, freehanding Americana creations, and conceiving Star Warsinspired pieces. "People brushed me off or didn't pay much attention to me," she says. "
that just makes you work harder." Born in New York and raised in Miami, Flores has been penning permanent works of art since the tender age of 14. She went pro at 19, and through a dynamic combination
of attractiveness and artistic talent, she's been steadily making her mark. With long, wavy locks, a sultry pout, and tattoos from collarbone to upper thighs, she possesses a special brand of pin-up-style sex appeal.
And while being an attractive female has its advantages, in her early career it made navigating the maledominated tattoo scene a little more challenging. "It pushes you to be stronger and to come back stronger," she says of the stereotyping she encountered. Specializing in black-and-gray tattoos and Day of the Dead-style skulls, she does work that ranges from celebrity portraiture (Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor) to intricate skeletons. She's inked everything from words on Lil Wayne's stomach to a Pinocchio likeness on a man's lower half. And she has seen Miami's ink scene evolve significantly since her teen years. "The industry itself has changed from a lot of flashy artists to actual creators. There are also a lot more females coming in. It's become a lot more artsy."
And as the art evolves, so does Flores. She says she draws inspiration from fellow artists, taking concepts and turning them into her own. Sex appeal and reality TV aside, she wants to hone her art and rep the 305 in style.