Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Cat James. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Cat thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, identifying as a tattoo artist. It’s a career that allows me to express myself creatively, learn something new every day, genuinely connect with other humans and have an incredible amount of freedom. I honestly feel like there aren’t any downsides. The work I do is so fulfilling. It’s extremely hard for me to imagine myself with a ‘regular job’ . I have conversations with my clients daily about the work they do and it reassures me of how grateful I am for the lifestyle I’ve created for myself. The ease and convenience of having a routine schedule, a consistent income and someone else making the hard decisions has never appealed to me.

I went to school for graphic design and didn’t want to work for anyone else after college. I remember trying to make it as a freelancer. The freedom of making my own schedule was great and I loved the problem solving of branding and design. However, the stress of where my next paycheck would come from and the lack of creative freedom paired with the fact that I couldn’t stand being on my computer all day definitely made me feel like what I was doing wasn’t sustainable. I worked as a bartender or barista to make ends meet and I needed the socialization, but I was losing my mind.

I recognized that change won’t happen for most of us until the cost of what we are doing outweighs the benefits by an unbearable amount. That pivotal moment is different for everyone, but it’s always uncomfortable. At some point I found myself using the phrase ‘Discomfort is Cool’ when I would describe the turning points in my journey that led to tattooing in Denver. There’s two types of people in this world – the one who is eager to endure discomfort as an opportunity to change for the better and the one who looks for the quickest/easiest way to avoid discomfort in the first place. I think most creatives that can make a career from their art do so because they fall in that first category.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Old Sol New Tricks LLC was established in 2021, but it was a long, windy, border-crossing road that led me to build this brand. I am originally from San Diego, CA. San Diego State is where I studied graphic design and marketing. I spent the next five or so years traveling and living between California and Central America, mostly Mexico. During this time I was doing freelance graphic design ~ mostly branding and logos.

In 2016, I was living in Sayulita, MX. I very much so was interested in learning to tattoo, but couldn’t bring myself to commit to staying in one place for the length of time that a traditional apprenticeship would require. So I taught myself the art of handpoke tattooing. My love for tattooing slowly overcame my love for graphic design because I was now bonding in person over permanent art and real life shared experiences instead of discussing designs through emails. I brought my practice back to San Diego and then by a string of risks and impulsive decisions ended up in Oahu, Hawaii. There I decided that it was time to pursue an apprenticeship in machine tattooing, but my dream was to do so in Australia. I booked a one-way ticket, bu covid hit and borders shut before I ever made it there. After spending a few months back in Mexico, while everyone’s fear of the pandemic calmed a bit, I knew I had to find somewhere to pursue machine tattooing for real. It wasn’t the place I was concerned with though – I knew that it was the person I chose to apprentice under that would be the most influential part of my future in tattooing. I found AJ McGuire’s work while looking for someone to tattoo me on a short trip to visit a friend in Denver (a place I had never been). AJ was exactly who I had been looking for. His high quality tattoos, style, color, work/life balance and beautiful shop Dead Drift checked all my boxes. Denver provided me a chance to start fresh in a new place and get to know myself again after ending a 7 year relationship so I basically closed my eyes and jumped.

There was so much discomfort around that move so far from an ocean, nomadic beach lifestyle, friends and family. But I was confident in my passion for tattooing and it’s the origin story if my life motto ‘Discomfort is Cool’. I developed the branding for ‘Old Sol New Tricks’ during this transition. OSNT as a separate entity allows me to develop my art and business without it consuming me. The name speaks on the balance of trusting and knowing yourself, but always being willing and eager to learn new things. The constant overcoming of challenges is what make my favorite activities so fulfilling to me. Learning to surf and learning to tattoo have been the two most difficult things I’ve experienced in this life and that’s exactly why I love them both so much. (I’m a much better tattooer than I am a surfer, by the way!)

My tattoo work is always evolving. My ‘Old Sol Style’ of tattooing is a mash up of my graphic design background, illustrative American traditional style (thanks AJ) and my fascination with European neotraditional tattoo style. The content of my designs still very much reference my beach-side lifestyle in the past and desire to return. Mermaids, snakes, skeletons, plants and animals are common motifs. I work in earth tone color palettes a lot and love mixing my own colors. The thirst for challenge has me currently interested in cover up tattoos. Patchwork sleeves and brown line work are some of my favorite projects right now as well.

It’s not just the challenges that make tattooing so fulfilling. The time spent one-on-one with clients in the shop is some of the most cherished moments I’ve had in this profession. There’s something really intimate and special about trusting someone to put permanent art on you and holding space for them to experience a lot of discomfort during the process. The atmosphere created by the shop and the artist are very important. The actual experience of getting a tattoo, in my opinion, is just as important as the art itself. We share stories, laugh and sometimes even cry together (mostly from laughing so hard, but there’s lots of vulnerable moments too). I’ve met some of my closest, undoubtably life-long friends because they came to get tattooed by me. Creating deep, meaningful connections with others while doing something I truly love is definitely the biggest reason I’m proud to be a tattooer.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

For years I’ve had my sights set on living abroad on the beach, in either Australia or a Spanish-speaking country like Mexico, Spain or Portugal. I am enamored by colorful cultures and love the freedom of being able to pick up and travel whenever and wherever I want to experience new people and connections. But I know that to do this sustainably takes a lot of work before hand. My goal with my tattoo and design work is to evolve it and the Old Sol New Tricks brand into something internationally recognizable. This pushes me to maintain originality, a high standard of work quality AND pushes me to be creative with how I connect with others. This is what ultimately drove me to start Old Sol Fiestas which are a series of artist market events that I strive to expand into a spin off of art/tattoo conventions. Essentially these Fiestas are just the English translation: ‘parties’ to celebrate art and community. My tattoo work and the work of the featured artists attract the people to these events and then we all get to meet and share what we love.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I don’t have an enormous following, but my audience on social media is made up of people who genuinely love and support my art and resonate with me as a person. I’ll take quality over quantity any day. I built that audience by putting out consistent content and being genuinely myself. There is an amount of keeping up with the Jones’ that definitely helps like making reels or posting images with faces/real people, but it’s pointless if it makes you despise the platform and feel discouraged. Even though it’s uncomfortable I try to not base my content too much on what the algorithm likes or what is trending, but instead sharing what I truly like drawing, designing and tattooing. And I noticed an increase of interaction when I started sharing more about my life outside of tattooing. A lot of the people that have become my real life friends from tattooing were drawn to my work because they got to know me a little as a person through my social media presence. I share about my journey, my mistakes, my emotions around my work and my days off. I make a concerted effort to never post things that give me only immediate gratification. I see artists post risqué photos of themselves which tragically almost always gets more likes than the art. Maybe that works for them, but for me that’s attracting an undesired audience and it makes me feel discouraged about my art, which defeats the purpose of the platform. I have to remind myself constantly what my measurements of success are ~ my best advice is to do that for yourself and keep it at the forefront of your mind when deciding what content to put out. Intentionality and consistency are where its at!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @oldsolnewtricks

Image Credits
Connor Pickett Ben Boxcar Photography