Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Faulk.
Hi Ashley, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve been an artist my whole life, the moment I could hold a pencil was where it all started. Being that I was always drawing and fascinated with art, I looked to it as an escape and emotional outlet for myself. Never thinking I could do anything with it, I kept it mainly to myself.
When I saw that my parents got tattooed as a child, I was awed and thought “I want people to walk around with my art forever”.
I did career projects from middle school to high school about my wanting to be a tattoo artist and researched more into it.
That became an option in the back of my head after graduating, but I lead on to trying other things that seemed possibly suiting for my art career. I went to the Art Institute for a year for animation but left because I wasn’t completely invested in possibly being an animator. I applied to be an art teacher but was discriminated against for being young, degreeless, and had tattoos. I even tried good ole fashioned “just sell your art on the side gig” but never really made a steady income out of it.
I was confused and lost, still not knowing what I should do with my art. I finally decided I should go through an apprenticeship to learn more about the craft of tattooing and ended up making it into a shop! That experience was very toxic, I didn’t touch a machine and wasn’t given a chance to experience it. I played a receptionist basically and cleaned the shop as well as being mistreated most of the time. This made me question what I was doing and if I was capable of even continuing on with ever having a tattoo career. I gave up. Moved on and was still left lost with myself and my art.
I emailed Kat (My current mentor) and thought “let’s give this another shot and if it doesn’t work then oh well… wasn’t meant to be!”. I asked if I could apprentice under her since I admired her work so much and I wanted to be in a female-oriented environment. Didn’t hear anything for months.
I reached a point of major depression and hopelessness. I had been working at my father’s cafe on and off for seven years thinking “I’m going to die here, I have no way of being any type of professional or functional artist”. My mind and heart lost its path of hope.
Out of no where I received a message from Kat asking if I was still interested in the apprenticeship. I can’t tell you what emotions I felt then. This sense of happy/excited/jubilant-ness washed over me and I quickly answered basically saying “hell yeah!!” (Not really, I kept it cool).
I’ve been with her for almost five months now, mind you BEEN TATTOOING this whole time! She understood my hardships of my previous apprentice experience and gave me the tools to actually learn how to tattoo. “The only way to learn is by doing it” she says, and now the work I’ve been able to create was made possible because of how much I’ve learned from her.
This isn’t something I want to just do just because. This is the making of my future and what I want to give people as an artist. It’s the experience and the making of fine art on skin that I want people to enjoy and to carry on with.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Definitely not smooth, I’ve had a bumpy road with my insecurities as well as depression. Doesn’t really help when you’re in an apprenticeship that doesn’t give good constructive criticism and makes you feel less than you already do.
Another obstacle was myself for not believing in what I was capable of doing as an artist. I wasn’t the type to really throw myself out there.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Tattoo-wise, I could say my style is illustrative and fantasy esc. I like to hand draw most of my pieces and try to give my artistic flare on whatever it is the client wants. Outside of tattooing, I love to draw/paint goddesses and colorful imagery. Depending on my mood, I usually freehand my pieces with acrylics and flow with whatever energy I’m harnessing. I want people to understand what goes on inside my mind and heart whether it’s happy or sad. Light or dark.
I guess I’m proud of being emotionally tuned with my art.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Believe in yourself. Believe in the process. Believe in the universe and what happens at certain points happen for reasons. Don’t be discouraged when things don’t work out, keep striving to look where opportunity lies.
Don’t let people walk all over you either. You don’t deserve to be treated like crap in order to reach success. Granted, take the criticism with grains of salt and learn from hardships/mistakes. Just know that there’s always lights at the end of tunnels and light that emerges from darkness.
You deserve to win. You deserve to be where you wanna be. It will take time, but it’s always worth the wait.
Contact Info:
- Email: zentatts@kattitudestudios.com
- Instagram: @zen_tatts
Image Credits
Manuel Ayala Ashley Faulk
