Showing posts with label interview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interview. Show all posts

Interview with Kim-Anh Nguyen-Dinh


Interview with one of my favorite artists - Kim-Anh Nguyen. She's young, talented and beautiful :)


How did you get into tattooing?
Kim-Anh Nguyen : I’ve always been passionate about drawing, since a really young age… then, by my teen years, got in the pUnK scene, etc. and naturally discovered the tattoo world.
At first I was just happy and fascinated to collect them on my skin, without ever thinking about holding a tattoo machine ever. I used to get my tattoos on those street shops where the tattooer doesn’t draw… he used to tell me “bring me a drawing you like and I’ll ink it!” So I started drawing my tattoos myself… Guess it was some kind of first experience with tattoo sketches! Lol
How old were you when you got your first tattoo? And what is it?
Kim-Anh Nguyen : 15! (Please, DO NOT do it yourself!
It was (unfortunately, still is) some kind of japanese landscape with a lotus flower, bamboo branches, swallows and a star with an Oi! inscription on it… haha, so funny! :) Keep in mind that I was very young!
Well, I’m planning to laser it someday soon to start a “real” back piece.


You have many beautiful paintings of owls, is it your favorite design?
Kim-Anh Nguyen : Thank you grin I had a big and obsessive owl phase some years ago… it stared around 4 years ago.
It used to be my favorite design, sure… I have several owl tattoos myself.
But then, as anything that becomes a fad, it started to fed me up a little bit and so I tried to start drawing other stuff too.
I still like cute stuff, thus said… but I’m also into more traditional asian stuff or less girlie old school tattoos. 
Who is your favorite tattoo artist? And by whom you would like to get tattooed?
Kim-Anh Nguyen : I have to pick just one?? Impossible…)some people I really like are Uncle Allan, Jurgen Eckel, El Bara, Ashley Love, Marco Serio, Tutti Serra, Judd Ripley, Claudia DeSabe and Paul Dobleman among others.
I’ve been SO lucky to get tattoos from almost all of them… and I’m planning to get tattooed by Claudia and Paul Dobleman, hopefully someday soon!
Почитать на русском и  поддержать плюсиком на лукэтми

INK IT UP : Emily "Mummys Little Monster" Thomas

4e5bae29dff65aacb776a6743af7e7

First of all, I want to thank Emily for answers :)

Emily Thomas is illustrator from Toronto, Ontario; well-known as "Mummys Little Monster"
She specialize in pin-up and semi-traditional tattoo designs. Enjoy rock n' roll, horror, sci-fi, vintage toys, comics and most art relating to any of these things. 

 Psycho_kitten_by_mummyslittlem N684165547_4316957_4008


Where do you study art? - I did spend a brief time in Art school, I went to a private school in Toronto that specializes in Animation, but I didn’t stay to finish my courses. I went for about three years as a part time student, I had to work full time to keep a roof over my head and its was nearly impossible at times to balance working full time and going to school. I pretty much dropped out after I took most of the fine arts classes. I’m a firm believer that you can learn techniques but going to Art school won’t necessarily make you an artist!

I found my passion for painting with watercolours during this time and knew that I didn’t really want any more training, all I wanted to do was paint. I was never inspired by any of my required assignments, and it always felt like a battle trying to hand in assignments with more adult themes than most of the other students. While everyone else seemed to be drawing cute little cartoons I was busy drawing boobs and zombies. I think the teachers didn’t really have any respect for pin up and rock and roll themed deigns. I just woke up one day and knew I wasn’t going back. I think that’s when I really started to find my own style, and my work started to have a life of its own.



How you can describe your art style? - I always have a hard time trying to categorize and describe my paintings. A lot of it revolves around elements found in traditional tattoos, but with my own twist. I remember when I first started painting my tattooed pinups there was only a handful of other female artists that I was aware of at the time doing anything even remotely similar, but over the past few years I have started seeing this explosion of artists who are creating within the same idea space. I’ll never be quite sure if it was maybe myself who had inspired them or maybe just a lot people getting into similar things at the same time. But it can be a challenge staying fresh in a sometimes saturated market. Some people may describe what I do as Lowbrow, but even at times that isn’t an accurate description. The only facts I know for sure is I love to draw curvy chicks with lots of tattoos, and the brighter the colors the better. I like to have fun with my art and I think my favourite designs to work on are customized pin ups. I’m never one to get an exact likeness, but more of a character, making sure that I capture the individual personalities and tastes of my clients. 


Where you find inspiration? - I have many inspirations and I like to touch on a wide variety of subjects. Some of the common themes in my work are pinups, tattoos, hotrods and monsters. I would say I’m definitely heavily influenced by the psychobilly subculture actually most subcultures in general. I’ve always liked being a part of something a little on the underground side. The unique fashions and music always have so much to offer. I don’t think I could ever be happy living in the main stream. I like think of my inspirations as a rare vinyl record, there is the A side and B side, and I feel like everything I do and love is from the B side. 

Over the years the list of artists that inspire me has changed and grown so much I don’t even think I could keep track, but I do have a lot of respect for certain artists that I have continued to enjoy and admire over a long period of time. Here are just a few artists that I will always love and look up to, I’ll start off with two friends of mine Leighderhosen, and Ick, I’ve become good pals with the two of them and they are always there for me when I need advice and inspiration! Some other artists that I love are Sara Ray, Ed Roth, Sol Rac, Ben Von Strawn, 1311, Big Toe, Johnny Crap, Queen Pin Deluxe, The Pizz, Vince Ray, Sailor Jerry and all old school dudes, and finally Coop, I will never a day in my life get tired of his big curvy devil chicks and naughty nuns! Well folks I’ll have to cut it off here because this list could go on for days!