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

Alright, Teasha thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I started drawing from a very young age, I believe it helped me cope with negative situations I was going though in my childhood. I went through the foster care system at a young age around 4 years old, and felt very alone especially as an only child. Drawing helped me take control of my time and distracted me from the world around me. Even after that period in my life I always felt drawn to fantasy concepts and designs, it brought magic to my world, so I continued to draw. I grew up with my father and spent most weekends watching him play videos games on our Playstation 1. I was always excited to see what stories we would play through as I watched him go series to series, platform to platform. He played games like Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Jack and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, and the Final Fantasy series, so I never knew what type of game was next, but I really enjoyed the artwork from most games. Final Fantasy 7 in particular really stole my heart, it was the first game I binge played myself during the long summer vacation. I started wondering how video games were created and who was drawing those beautiful illustrations in the booklets that came with the games. I even took them apart and taped them up in my room as artwork lol! I started drawing clothing designs, character designs and creatures and told myself I wanted someday to be the person who painted all off those cool concepts.

Teasha, 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?

I was born and raised in Portland Oregon, and have loved being here in California! Before pursing art professionally I completed training to be a Medical Assistant with phlebotomy and X-ray, and was looking into becoming a nurse. I had ben told because I am a female I would never make it in the movie/game/art industry, so I did some community college to get some general education while thinking about my future. It was there that I took an art class and excelled, and even one a small scholarship at a gallery showing! After that I decided despite what I had been told, I was going to Chase my dreams and attended the Academy of Art University in San Francisco where I worked on my Bachelors of Fine Art in Visual development. After college I had trouble finding work as a Viz Dev artist, and went into a Labor union for trade shows. It was a lot of fun setting up large conventions, but I stopped drawing and my passion to draw was bubbling. When Covid hit we were 6 months pregnant with our first child, and both lost our careers as trade shows have hit hard with Covid. I took some time to re-evaluate and try to find a way to make my full time job with my creative passion. Freelance illustrating was wonderful, but was difficult with lack of social interactions. It also felt very difficult to value my work appropriately as the market is very saturated and many times paid to less than minimum/living wage to get clients to invest. It had been suggested to look into tattooing years prior as I enjoyed the medical field but the fear of messing up on someone permanently petrified me. Finally after becoming a mother, and some experience in the field of illustrating I felt some confidence that everything would work out. I have a large moral compass, the fear of being human and making a mistake is still there, but because I care I spend the time and effort to do the best that I can for each client. I ended up doing a lot of learning from tattoo artists on YouTube, I read literature and set out for an apprenticeship. Of course during Covid it was very difficult to find an opportunity to learn under a mentor who was still tattooing after the shutdown. To make a very long story short I went through two apprenticeships and I learned exactly what I don’t want to be from them. Unfortunately there are people out there who still take advantage of others and lack moral compasses, and I want to tell anyone looking to get into the industry to trust your gut and know your self worth. I did not understand these things and endured verbal abuse, manipulation and let myself be pressured into decisions I should have said NO to. I am thankful that there are good people and good shops in the industry though, I am forever grateful to Magnetic Arts to being the place I always dreamed of. A shop of creatives who all support and love each other unconditionally, growing and learning together. I also have had digital support from friends from other shops who have helped me grow that I can’t thank enough. I’ve learned a lot about myself, now I am a lot better with boundaries and confidence within myself as a person. With a toddler I wanted to work closer to home to spend more time with my growing family, so I now have my own shop, Gilded Ink Tattoos, in downtown Walnut Creek! It has been a whirlwind of emotions but I am now starting to settle in and am so happy to be closer to family, and have a creative and safe space in area.

As an Visual Development artist I really gravitate towards capturing a moment, a feeling or making the audience feel from a design. I bring this into my tattoo designs. I started tattooing in November of 2021, so I still have so much to learn, and so many ideas to bring to the table! I personally illustrate all of the tattoos I do unless it’s labeled as a predawn (usually anime/manga panels or art) which I feel like is becoming more prevalent in the tattoo industry. This means depending on the piece I typically take anywhere between 3 to 20+ hours drawing before even coming to the appointment. For custom pieces I like to send a sketch ahead of time so people have a general idea of the shapes so they aren’t in complete dark when they show up for their tattoo appointment. I also always do consultations with new clients and spend the extra time talking with people to answer all questions, getting to know each other a bit. The products I use a mostly biodegradable and eco-friendly, I also use Lidocaine in most of my products and always have a focus on my clients pain management, I provide a safe place that is judgement free, I’ve got snacks, drinks and TV to binge watch your favorite stuff while getting tattooed! I’m not perfect and I am still working through owning a small business and having a good work/life balance. I’m proud of my process, I’m proud of my clients and relationships we make, and I’m proud of myself for overcoming obstacles while becoming a new mother and dealing with postpartum during Covid. I’ve been focused on custom work predominantly the last year but I am moving towards a better balance between customs and my own flash designs. Flash allows me complete freedom as an artist, I do feel like the more artistic freedom I am given the better the design comes out aesthetically, but I also enjoy bringing clients personal custom idea’s to life that are special to them. So be on the lookout for more flash in the new year! I also am now offering flash at a lower rate than customs, as well as looking into ways to make tattooing larger projects more affordable. I would like to say though, tattoos are a life-long investment, and to remember its always better to save a little extra so you can get what you want instead of cutting corners or rushing.

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

I wish I would have known more about all the wonderful online courses there are out there! There is digital courses for nearly everything from small business owners themselves which takes the money out of schools for profit and put it into the pockets of the creatives. Schoolism is a great place I wish I would have gone through. Wonderful skilled artists and much more affordable than a private university, although I did have a great experience at the Academy of arts and would not change it. But now I have taken Tattoo workshops and classes online that taught me things that I did not learn during my apprenticeships. I’m always about further education so I will continue to take these courses as time goes on. Domestika is another great resource to use, I have enjoyed the layout of that site as well as Patreon.

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

Share, like, comment, on social media to support other artists, all it takes is some time of your day. I’m always trying to share new artists and skilled work through my social media page to support each other. In all honesty social media can get exhausting and we put a lot of work into it to be visible to make new relationships with future clients, but if the content isn’t seen, then it’s a lot of time that doesn’t pay out. I also want to mention that word of mouth is a good portion of how I get my clientele even outside of social media, so if you don’t partake in social media you can still look for the opportunity to share our work in person. I also wanted to give an insight into tattooing for a moment, tattoo pricing can be all over the place, and I want to invite other tattoo artists to make sure that they are valuing their time, especially from a business standpoint. It really depends on how you run your business but I would say at least half of my income goes directly to supplies, shop rent, home studio expenses, furthering education and investing in depreciating equipment, and then as a small business owner about 30% more goes to income taxes, but it does pay into social security and help set you up for a stable financial future. When you under charge yourself, that can reflect on other creatives in the industry, I definitely know tattoo artists who don’t charge enough to make a living wage especially here in SF Bay Area. Sometimes we get imposter syndrome and we feel like we can’t raise our rates. I noticed this a lot in the illustration industry, a lot of artists who undervalue themselves and would work for free. So support yourself and others by making sure your pricing is right, this is a passion but it’s also your livelihood, invest in yourself and your future!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.inkbyfaye.com
• Instagram: inkbyfaye