We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Erika White a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Erika, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
Asking a professional artist/creative whether or not they are happy with their job is a loaded question in my opinion. Creating art does make me happy. It makes me feel fulfilled, accomplished and like I have an official place in the world. Channeling art and creative passions into a professional or money-making setting is entirely a separate thing. I didn’t get into tattooing with the goal of making lots of money or seeking popularity. (In fact at the beginning, tattoo apprentices usually don’t earn money at all.) When I was young, as soon as I realized that real people out there were making tattoos and it was an actual thing that could be learned, that’s all I wanted to do. I fell in love with the idea and the mystery of tattooing. Keeping that passion and the raw desire to just tattoo alive through everything in the professional public service world can be challenging sometimes. The phrase “Choose a job you like and you’ll never work a day in your life”, definitely applies to tattooing in my opinion, but it’s still a challenging job! Artists and creatives are driven by their own ideas first, so the romanticism can be taken out of the situation when you turn your personal passion into a job that needs to please others. Through long hours, creative differences or setbacks, the constant pressure to perform and be ‘on’ for every client, creative and emotional burnout, tattooing can just feel like a grind. But at the end of the day, we have to remember that we get to draw on people, for a JOB! We’re lucky, and most of us wouldn’t be happy in any other professional setting. Sometimes I do wonder what life would be like if I hadn’t put all my eggs into one basket with tattooing and done something ‘normal’. But the freedom is what drew me in, and the freedom is what keeps me going.
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?
My name is Erika and I’m a tattooer who primarily works in Neotraditional and Art Nouveau styles. I started my tattooing apprenticeship 11 years ago. Right out of high school I was lucky to have a place to start, and I worked hard every day to keep at it. I love the opportunity to tattoo so I consciously try to provide a comfortable and accepting space for it. Tattooing can be a very intimate thing and it’s important to me to make sure that you’re not only getting a clean tattoo, but the whole process is positive. I’ve heard unfortunate stories about bad tattoo experiences, it can be an intimidating thing for a client. Tattooing is a public service so I think it’s important to take your time and make sure clients feel considered. Positive tattooing with a humble hand!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Starting your tattoo career is hard. Apprenticeships don’t always come easy, for some it takes a few tries. Getting started in the wrong environment can set you back in the long run and teach you bad career habits that are very hard to unlearn. There’s a huge learning curve to tattooing and you really have to be dedicated, lucky, or both. As an artist who may already be experienced, your first time tattooing will humble you. No one starts out at the level they expect. Making improvements with your art and tattooing career is a form of building resilience in itself. You’re going to run into problems. Days that feel like you haven’t made any progress or you seem to have gone backwards. There’s no straight shot to ‘getting good’ for any artist of any skill level. Taking that feeling and deciding what’s best for you to move forward is where you learn.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Appreciating the time and the work it takes to create art is important. Sometimes it’s looked at as unprofessional or ‘not a real career’. Everyone benefits from art, everyone uses art, it’s on your clothes, your phones, your social media profiles. It’s also the first thing that people tend to discount because to them it’s not as important as other costs. Art and tattooing is a consumer luxury, but understanding that artists deserve to be appreciated and compensated for their time is important. Especially if they provide their art to consumers in a professional setting. That’s how we make our living. Artists, support other artists! We’re all out here doing the same thing. Clients and collectors, don’t discount people’s work just because it doesn’t seem worth it. Tattoos last forever!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @whitewolfink
- Other: You can find me tattooing at Karmic Tattoo in McDonough