Just a few days after she finally walked at her long-delayed graduation ceremony, we sat down with Dana Hicks (BFA Screen Acting, 2020) to ask about her ventures as an up and coming tattoo artist. A Portland native, Hicks is now based in LA and tattoos everything from farm animals, to abstract “squiggles,'' to Star Wars characters. She often incorporates her acting training into her work, which comes in handy as a talented tattoo artist who has yet to get a tattoo herself.
How did you get into tattooing?
My friend moved to New York for college and one of her roommates had his own tattoo gun and equipment. She’d have a new tattoo every week. I thought it was so cool, so I shot him a DM. I did some research and figured out what the best equipment would be, and what type of needles to use. I eventually just ordered everything. Then I was like: “Ok, I have a tattoo gun now. Cool... now what?”
I didn’t use it for the longest time because I just had no idea what I was doing. Then one of my friends had visitors wanting tattoos, and I said I’d tattoo them after I got a little practice. So, I practiced on a banana. It’s very different from drawing, which I wasn’t expecting. You’re actually penetrating something. They all came over to my house, and I remember being super nervous and taking my time. Looking back, I could have probably finished that one in 20-30 minutes, but it took me two hours or so. When we finally finished up, they thought it was really good and asked for another one! For a while, I was just kind of tattooing people here and there, and just for my close friends. I was really busy with school, so it was very much on the side.
That was for a year or so. After graduation [in 2020], I went home for a bit because of Covid and was just figuring out what I wanted to do. There weren’t any acting opportunities [during the pandemic]. When I got back to LA, I started job hunting like crazy. It wasn’t until April that my friend Lindsay, a YouTuber and graphic designer from Chapman, told me I needed to make an Instagram for my tattoos. I wasn’t sure at first because it wasn’t my top priority, and I don't necessarily want to be a tattoo artist, but I scraped through and found the best photos of ones that I’d done in the past. I decided to use the word “blekk” as my username.
Where did the name “Blekk” come from?
"Blekk" is “ink” in Danish. I’ve always been super into Danish culture, and I studied abroad in Copenhagen a couple of years ago. I loved it so much. I was learning Danish on Duolingo over the past year in quarantine. It was cool to weave that into there.
So how did the Instagram account change things?
Slowly, more people started noticing. It started off just as friends of friends who would contact me. Then, all of the sudden, I got messages from people I didn’t even know. Strangers started DMing me saying they saw me on their Explore Page and loved my work. It became overwhelming. I had to sit down with my iPad and make a schedule, and now I have a system that’s working for me. I will schedule a month at a time, keeping the bookings form open for however long until all the slots fill up. I’ve had people come back to me, and tell their friends about me, and things like that. It’s really fun!
Do you still get nervous?
I think it depends. I’ve noticed how I feel with certain types of clients. If it’s somebody’s first tattoo and they have nervous energy, I find that I don’t. I feel myself counteracting that.
I used to get super nervous, but would be careful not to get to the point where my hands would shake. The last thing I need is shaky hands when I’m tattooing somebody! I’ve actually incorporated some acting exercises. [At school] we learned about the importance of breath, and a lot of it comes from meditation. It’s very focused on circulating breathing and being aware of your body, of yourself. Almost every single time I’m tattooing somebody, I pretend it’s going onto my own body so that I make it as perfect as possible.
Do you have any tattoos?
I don’t have any. I kind of feel weird being like, “you’re fine, you’re in good hands, it’s not gonna hurt that bad,” when I have literally no idea!
Do you see yourself getting any?
That’s something that every single client asks me. As of right now, I don’t have anything that I’m set on getting. Also, it’s kind of funny to me that I’m a tattoo artist with no tattoos. I don’t know anybody like that. Most tattoo artists are super inked up everywhere.
In another life, I love the look of a bunch of cool random ones everywhere that don’t have a ton of meaning. But with acting it’s hard to have visible tattoos. You have to cover them up all of the time. If you’re not established in the industry it’s hard to break in tatted, although I know things are starting to change nowadays.
I’ve also decided that if I do get something, I want to give it to myself. I feel like if I went to somebody else, every time I’d look at it my only thought would be “someone else put that on my body,” when I know that I can do this to other people.
What are some of your favorite tattooing experiences?
There’s this poppy that I tattooed on somebody. The petals had thick outlines with thinner lines inside, and I’ve always been fascinated by how artists do that– do they switch needles, or pressure, or some other technique like that. The times where I’ve surprised myself and was able to recreate something that I’ve seen somewhere [are my favorite experiences].
Also, I love these little farm animal ones I’ve done! I did a little lamb on my friend Chloe-- so cute. I love the chicken one, too. For that one, the girl had already gotten a couple other tattoos, but when she came in she said she hated needles and had a really low pain tolerance. The whole way through I had to keep checking in with her. When we were finished, she loved it and it was totally fine. I like a little journey with the people I’m tattooing.
What’s your design process like? Do you collaborate a lot with the client?
It’s kind of half and half. For example, if they want a quote, they’ll often have a font or style in mind. I’ll give them a few versions of different types of cursive, all caps, handwritten, or typed-out-looking. Then we’ll go from there. Sometimes people will give me a picture from Pinterest and just want that, or they’ll want an object from real life. I’ll draw inspiration by looking up pictures of tattoos of that object or pictures of the object itself, and sketch it.
And how would you describe your style?
I’m never able to stick with one thing in any aspect of my life. I’ll never say: “this is my style.” Sometimes I want to do weird, abstract things that could be drawn by anyone. Other times, I love to make a realistic representation of an object in tattoo form. I also want to challenge myself. For example, I love car tattoos, like old cars with super thin lines and lots of detail. I think that’d be super cool. I feel like in another life I would get a random car tattoo.
I’ve always been drawn to still life with art in general. When I come up with my flashes, I like taking real objects and designing the tattoos so that you can tell that it’s drawn and not the exact object itself.
Lastly, what does tattooing mean to you?
Until recently, like college-age, I’ve always had one viewpoint of tattoos because I was only exposed to one style, the very traditional style that’s very shaded, and big, and consists of a lot of reused images. Of course, that style does have a root in the origins of tattooing and sailor culture, which is fascinating to learn about. But the more tattoos I do and the more I’m growing as a person, as an artist, and as an individual, I think tattooing is limitless.
You can decide on an outfit for one day, but if you get a tattoo, you know that it’s going to be there forever. Depending on the person, this tattoo means something to you. Maybe it’s even something you hate, but you still feel something towards it. You can literally tattoo whatever you want on your body. That’s so cool. Especially as someone without any tattoos, it’s really interesting to interact with people that come to me with so many different ideas. That’s really cool to me. Obviously, it’s very much about your individuality. It’s a medium that’s very unlike anything else. It’s everlasting from one point forward.
To see more examples of Hicks' work, and to schedule your next tattoo appointment, head to her Instagram.