Gimme 5 Artist offers advice on her tattos

Ran on Monday, August 20, 2007

Artist offers advice on her tattos

Veronica Swanson
Age: 27

Occupation: Tattoo artist at Inkorporated, 223 Barstow St.

Talks about: Life as a tattoo artist.

Editor's note: Gimme 5 is a five-question interview on topics of local interest.

How did you get into the business?

"My boyfriend at the time was being apprenticed in it, and I was always interested in art so I got into it too. Then I started my apprenticeship for body piercing and tattooing."

What is the most common type of tattoo you do?

"A lot of hearts, banners, roses, nautical stars. A lot of upper arm, they tend to be the most common."

Do you have a favorite or most memorable tattoo that you've done?

"Yes. I just got back from Sturgis and I did these awesome Chirstmas tree lights wrapped around a lady's legs. It's old school Christmas tree lights."

What is considered when calculating the cost of a tattoo?

"Size, detail, color and location."

What advice do you have to someone considering their first tattoo?

"It's going to be on you for the rest of your life; make sure it's going to be something that means something to you. Don't go and put some random thing that you're going to regret later; it should have meaning to you.

"I tell my customers to leave and sleep on it. If they don't come back that's OK, because then they really didn't want it. I'd rather do that than have them regret it later."

— Compiled by Keighla Schmidt