TTT | Long Story Short

Where does it all start, my little life as an atypical artist?

It goes way back, but I’ll make it a medium-short story.

2024, Montreal Art Tattoo Show

I’ve been drawing since I was too young to remember it.

I come from two artist parents ; the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

Very early on, I was fascinated by drawings on the body. No one around me had tattoos back then, but I collected temporary tattoos, drew on my arms, etc.

I was fascinated by the idea that drawing could exist somewhere other than on paper.

In elementary school, I excelled. I could spend all my time drawing, not listening at all, and still have the best grades in my class.

But in high school, for some obscure reason, it stopped working as well.

I completely lost interest in the academic path, eventually dropping out at 16

to take a vocational course in automotive mechanics.

I didn’t hate it, but it wasn’t for me either, apparently, since I dropped out halfway through the year. After that came adult education, which I also quit (three times). In the end, I never earned a diploma, except for a high school equivalency that never really served me. Still, I knew I was going to make something of my life.

Tattooing slowly entered my life around 16–17. A friend showed me the basics, and I tattooed my thighs and some fake skin for a few months.

I didn’t even know at the time that being a tattoo artist could be a real job, but I loved it. It faded for a while, until my friends turned 18 and suddenly everyone wanted tattoos.. and word spread pretty fast.

It became serious enough for me to rent a small apartment to set up and tattoo there, instead of working out of my parents’ bedroom.

2016, Bar le Scanner, Québec

Despite everything, it still wasn’t very concrete until I was 19, when a tattoo artist gave me a chance as an apprentice in her studio. I quit my small job and went all in, taking the risk. I felt like I was made for this. It was still underground back then, and completely opposite to “normal” jobs.

2017, the first sketches of my current style

From that point on, I put all my energy into tattooing: self-destruction through constant self-criticism, tying all my worth to what I was creating on skin, etc. (we’ll talk about that in another blog post). I did everything : infinity signs, traditional, every style imaginable, doing portraits on skin before I had even really drawn them on paper, slowly developing the style I work in today.

What I knew was that I didn’t want to do what everyone else was doing.

I wanted my pieces to be recognizable.

How? No idea. But I always knew that was the plan.

Here I am, 12 years later, still hurting people who choose to pay me and spend hours sitting in my chair.

Kind of incredible, really.