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

Gray, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

It’s always different hearing that something is difficult or takes a lot of work, and a wholly different thing experiencing it yourself. Art being my career was never really a question, from a young age I knew that it was the only thing I wanted to do for the rest of my life. And as soon as I learned about tattooing, I fell in love. While I learned some things from my first apprenticeship, I truly credit my skill and knowledge to my current mentor and what I have learned while at Cloud Jelly.

Even though I felt comfortable in my drawing skills, it was a whole different experience turning digital drawings that I had grown comfortable designing in college into traditional pieces on skin. Pulling lines is one thing when you can remove a mistake with a tap or two, but holding a constantly vibrating pen while attempting to pull those same lines was another matter entirely. I remember being so frustrated with my first attempts, almost feeling like I was learning to draw all over again.

I spent a lot of time learning about bloodborne pathogens and cross-contamination as well, even when I wasn’t at the shop. I’ve always been extremely passionate about body art procedures being done as safely and cleanly as possible, and I am always looking to grow in that regard. I’ve always tried to take the fact that we work with people’s bodies and bodily fluids very seriously.

My mentor was extremely helpful in teaching me how to mitigate client interactions as well. Mary is a master technician in black and grey and color tattoos, but I’ve always admired how she manages to make even the shyest clients sound like her old friends in just a few short minutes. She had me answer mock client emails and go over paperwork and aftercare like she was one of my clients until I felt comfortable and continually pushed me to improve in every aspect of my learning process. I have come to find that client interaction is, to my surprise, the most rewarding aspect of tattooing.

I spent as much time as I could watching and asking questions. Anytime I didn’t completely understand a certain technique or style, I would attempt, ask for feedback, and attempt again until I felt like I understood. My mentor was endlessly patient with me, and very quickly understood how to explain things in a way that made sense to me. I think one of the things I appreciate most about her teaching style is she wanted to teach me whatever I wanted to learn. She never made me conform to her style or what she liked to do, she taught me techniques and let me adapt them. Growing into my own artist, I feel that approach was invaluable in helping me figure out the tattooer I wanted to become.

For anyone out there who does want to learn to tattoo, I am a huge proponent of finding an apprenticeship, but especially a mentor who can guide you into this craft. There is nothing like having someone guide you through this process and show you how things are meant to be done. Having someone there to help you learn and grow from your successes and mistakes I believe is essential to becoming a skilled tattooer.

I’m not yet a year into tattooing, but I feel I’ve already learned so much with the support of my friends, colleagues, and clients. I’m looking to improve my speed without compromising quality, and am really excited about where my skills in color tattoos and linework are headed. Even seeing my progress from a few months ago feels so rewarding, and I feel truly honored that people allow me to tattoo them.

Gray, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Absolutely I can! My name is Gray, they/xe, also known as @grayscaleskies on social media! I’m a tattoo artist in Michigan and I specialize in cute, whimsical tattoos in my signature illustrative style! I’ve been tattooing since February of 2023, and I’m located at Cloud Jelly Tattoo in Wyoming, @cloudjellytattoo. I love doing pieces in color or black and grey, though most know me for my rainbow aesthetic.

I fell in love with tattooing from a young age, and even when pursuing my illustration degree at CCS in Detroit, it always felt like a means to accomplish that dream. I remember distinctly a parent asking me when I was in middle school what I would choose as a career if I could do anything I wanted to do, and I answered firmly that I’d want to tattoo.

I have truly found a home in Cloud Jelly, and I cannot mention anything about what I do without mentioning my incredible mentor Mary (@inkasaemergency on Instagram) and Britty (@strawberryangel222) who welcomed me into Cloud Jelly with open arms and allowed me to finish my apprenticeship and learn how to tattoo. Their kindness, support, and encouragement are what have allowed me to grow into the artist I am today, and I am eternally grateful to them both.

I’ve always wanted to make art that made people smile, and the idea of sharing that sort of artistic connection with someone that would prompt them to carry a piece of my art with them forever is truly magical. Tattoos have always helped me to feel more confident and at home in my skin, and I love sharing that feeling with my fellow trans tattooers and clients. While I entered this industry feeling most excited about the artistic design and creation aspect of the job, I have found that the client interaction and connections that happen throughout the process are the most rewarding.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

When I decided I wanted to pursue an artistic career, I was fully under the impression that if you worked hard enough and were simply good enough at what you did, then a job would be the easy step after that. That all professional creatives were professionals because they were the best of the best, and that’s all there was to it. This was also one of my driving motivations to pursue a degree before jumping into finding an apprenticeship, I thought surely if I finished art school then I would be not only ‘good enough’ to tattoo, but my school would make sure that finding a job afterward was even easier. And as helpful as college was at improving my skills, provided you were self-motivated enough to put the work in, finding a job at the end was all but guaranteed. I had an even ruder awakening when I began looking for an apprenticeship. While I received a lot of positive feedback on my portfolio when I asked for critique, none of them were accepting or taking on apprentices at the time. I had to move to a new city for the opportunity, and even that ended up not being what it seemed.

Networking is a term thrown around artistic communities often, but aspiring creative professionals might not fully understand what that means right away. When finding an apprenticeship, I learned quickly that luck and timing were some of the most valuable assets in landing a job in the creative field. There’s a reason professional art careers are rare, the industry is notoriously difficult to break into, and no matter how good of an artist you are, sometimes it does come down to luck and timing to land that role. By all means, keep working hard and pursuing your craft as hard as you can! If this is something you truly want, then it will come to you eventually. But it’s also good to know that sometimes it’s not that you’re doing anything wrong or not working hard enough. It’s that the right opportunity hasn’t found you yet.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Definitely to reach out to other artists! Other artistic people are by far one of the most invaluable assets a creative can have. In my experience, almost everyone is willing to help you out if you just ask and critique is so essential to growing as an artist! Even outside of artistic growth, building a community of artists who understand what you do is crucial in personal growth as well. I fully believe that you can’t improve inside of a bubble. One of my biggest mistakes when searching for my first apprenticeship was to take one of the first ones that was offered to me. Already moving to a new city with new people, I didn’t have the community or understanding of what or who I was signing up to work with. In between my first and second apprenticeships, I spent a lot of time shadowing other artists and learning from a range of tattooers in the city. Tattooers who I can now call friends who I can talk about my experiences with, and learn from theirs. While it’s easy to get caught up in the competition for clients in a market like tattooing, at the end of the day there’s lots of skin to go around, and I find it always more beneficial to lift up your fellow artists.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @grayscaleskies
• Other: Booking Email: [email protected]

Image Credits
Rachel Britton Photo or @racbripho on Instagram, all other images are mine