Today we’d like to introduce you to Anya Kim.
Hi Anya, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Originally I started tattooing because I was thinking that I can finish my own leg myself, Long story short I couldn’t find an artist to finish my leg for around three years, and my friends at the time were like “hey Anya you should learn How to tattoo and do it yourself” and I was like “oh that sounds like a great idea let me try that” 😅 At that time I was living in India full time and in my next visit to Russia(where I’m originally from) I asked one tattoo artist to teach me and that I have maximum 2 months for It. I remember she was like “can you draw at all? Because if not, two months will be absolutely not enough “, she told me to draw few sketches for her to look at, and then she’ll tell me if she’d be ready to work with me or not. I drew an elephant and an owl and she told me “Yes!” 🥰 I got very lucky with her! I do not have an art school background or anything like that, she knew that and first few weeks she was teaching me all the art bases, and only after weeks she started explaining how tattoo machine works-I’m very grateful it went that way! I did 3 tattoos under her supervision and then I went back to my travels (: next 2 years I was practicing on my friends (and I’ll be forever grateful to all of them<3) and watching a loooot of videos online. In May of 2017, I moved to America and I kinda consider that moment as a start of my tattoo career, because I actually started put effort into it the way you should when you start something new. In couple months it’ll be 5 years since I moved here and I cannot be happier to be where I’m at! And I’m so excited to see what future will bring!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Today it feels like it been pretty smooth but when I start remembering details- there definitely were some bumps on the way, but what’s not killing us making us stronger right?🤗 I think any type of artist struggles in the begging, there’s definitely a whole Bouquet of things you have to deal with, luck of clients obviously affects you income, on top of that not too much support from your family, once I’ve been told “doesn’t seem like you doing good, maybe you should quit tattooing and go work in Walmart or something” – I’ll Never forget that day (: it’s the day when I told myself I’ll do everything to be successful in what I started. I’m very grateful to all the challenges and that I was able to keep going, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today without every single step I’ve made. Oh yeah! It was a pretty good challenge-language barrier, when I moved here, I wasn’t speaking almost any English, my clients and me were explaining things to each other using hands, translator and in the end to make sure I understood correctly I was googling a picture of a that element and was waiting for a thumbs up 😅
Overall I do think it was pretty smooth road for me-I feel very very lucky I was able to find tattooing for myself 💜
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I make tattoos (: I really enjoy to work on any floral or nature-related projects! I think my love for plants started in botany classes when I went in school (didn’t finish all the way) for ecology and microbiology. I didn’t started tattoo floral right away, not at all, I think it happened pretty organically, I just started get more requests to create something floral and then one day I realize I’ve been mostly tattooing floral/nature related stuff and I found myself enjoying it a lot and decided to stay within that direction.
I’ve been told good amount of times that my tattoos looks like a painting-can this be a difference from others? I also usually don’t use any darker heavy elements in my designs, which makes it looks softer, but at the same time I always making sure that tattoo will age good and won’t lose a lot of details/contrast down the road.
I’m pretty proud that I didn’t gave up at some moments, because even like 3-4 years in I still was catching thoughts like “it’s so hard, you still have struggles years later, maybe it’s a sign and you have to stop?”
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
My mom and my sister always been saying that I’m very fortunate person, I never won a lottery but I do think I have a good luck, I mostly meet only good and kind people on my path, I even been told that I’m crazy to travel the way I did being a girl. Luckily for me-I’m not afraid to communicate with people and I can stand up for myself if needed physically (thanks to judo lol). I also truly believe in karma (you can call it your own way) that if you put out good energy then you’ll receive the same. My main rule is “treat others the way you want to be treated”
Pricing:
- Today my hourly rate is $200/hour, I also have discounted day rate if we work more than one session on some bigger projects for example! check out my website for more details- it’s kimkimtattoo.com
Contact Info:
- Email: Anyakimtattoo@gmail.com
- Website: Kimkimtattoo.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/kimkim_tattoo?utm_medium=copy_link
