We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Avacyn Olivier a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Avacyn, thanks for joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I’m so incredibly grateful to be working my dream job and able to support my family. The passion for my work and art, drives me to be better in every aspect of my life. It’s increased my confidence, my attitude, and I no longer feel lost in the world. For a long time, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. My advice is try new things, and when it feels right, give it everything.
Tattooing is a completely different medium than anything I’ve worked with, there’s definitely a learning curve. Practice and perseverance are everything, no one picks up something new and is immediately good at it. I realized I have to push myself further and work harder because having that drive is everything.

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?

I’ve wanted to be a tattoo artist since I was 14. I loved the idea of creating artwork for someone to wear for the rest of their life. It was a long journey of schooling, various art careers, and business projects before I really found myself with tattooing. I wish I’d started years ago, but I believe everything happens for a reason, and I couldn’t be happier. All the skills I built from the past, help me everyday. My main interest is high fantasy, with muted colors. I love realism and illustrative styles and mixing the two together! I’m constantly learning and growing, and I’m very excited for the future.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Sharing/liking/commenting/following an artist you like will help us immensely, and it’s the best way to help for free. Saving a post or reel on Instagram is a “super like” button and helps our exposure. Being supportive and encouraging helps an artists self confidence, and helps them thrive. Many people forget that It’s very brave to share your art with others, so being kind goes a long way.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Use references whenever you can! Photograph yourself, a friend, flowers, whatever! It will make your work 1000x stronger than relying on pure memory.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.archnemesistattoo.com/
• Instagram: thearchangel.avacyn