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

Marlo, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I always knew I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally. As a child I was always drawing and creating. I had a really wild imagination, and was always interested in the arts of all kinds. My parents in fact still have artwork I did from age 4 into my college years. As a teenager I tried creating with any medium I could get my hands on, and I even went to live drawing night classes at the local college when I was 16. I remember in High School we did an art lesson on the art style of aborigines with images of scarification, and had to recreate that style into an art piece and THAT was the spark that set fire to my interest in body art culture. I then continued to college and received a bachelors degree in Fine Arts, and drew a lot of tattoo designs for friends along the way.

Marlo, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a tattoo artist who focuses on black and grey illustrative nature themed tattoos based in Austin, TX.. I have been tattooing for 8 years all over the world. I originally was a full time model and performance artist for 15 years, and performed at countless tattoo conventions all over the country. I was getting tattooed a lot, and was around tattoo artists constantly for a very long time. At one point I had a performance accident that nearly killed me, and it was a very eye opening experience to the shelf life that performance can have. An artist who I had been tattooed by suggested I consider a tattoo apprenticeship as a safer career path. I thought that was a great idea and within a few weeks found an apprenticeship and really fell in love with the craft of tattooing. I had a great art background, so tattooing became an incredible outlet for me to be creative in that way. I think one thing that sets me apart from others is my attention to details and delicacy. It’s challenging to tattoo that way and I’m constantly learning. Aside from the art, I just really fell in love with providing a safe space for clients, and creating art for them that makes them feel really good about themselves. I take so much pride in the care I have for my clients. I truly believe tattooing should not just be about you doing the best work you can do, but also giving the best experience to your clients. There is a collaborative effort in the exchange of pain management through art between artist and client, and it is my mission to make that moment in time a positive one for both of us that lasts forever.

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

I think when I first started tattooing there wasn’t enough resources for our industry to soak up knowledge and work more as a community. I saw the piercing community have such cool opportunities and I really yearned for similar events and seminars to happen in tattooing. Luckily, in the last 1-2 years so many symposiums and seminars are exploding everywhere in tattooing, and it’s such a beautiful and exciting time to be a part of it. I don’t care how long you have been active in your craft, you can always learn something new. I’m 8 years in and with an art degree, and I’m trying to sign up and fly to all these incredible things that are happening to expand my knowledge and be better. It’s like a dream come true for me as a tattoo artist.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I think a huge lesson I had to unlearn in tattooing, is there is no right way to tattoo. I had a really old school apprenticeship and back then you are kind of taught that your mentor is all knowing and knows best. Once I realized learning from multiple people would make me a better artist and learn what to do and what not to do, I felt more excited about the learning process. The world of tattooing is rapidly changing now and artists need to be able to adapt and be flexible with these changes.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.marlomarquisetattoo.com
• Instagram: @marlomarquisetattoo

Image Credits

Personal photo by Jimmy Buddha of Diablo Organics