Hitting the “Marks”

In December, I visited tattoo artist Kenzie Marks, more commonly known as Tattoo Slut, in her studio in Walnut Creek. During our interview I received two tattoos of Kenzie’s flash designs and was joined by her apprentice who took some disposables for the shoot.

Kenzie Marks: My name is Kenzie. I am about to be 25 next year in January. I'm from Walnut Creek. I've lived all over the Bay Area. I basically move every two years to a new city. And I'm also an esthetician as well. So not only do I tattoo, but I also body wax and do brows, all that stuff.

Viewfinder: What made you decide to become a tattoo artist and how did you get into the business? What inspired you?
KM: Well, my mom is also an artist, not a tattoo artist, but she does painting, mixed media, that kind of stuff. So I've always been around it growing up. And as a little kid, I just remember loving tattoos. Anyone who had a tattoo, I'm like, “I want to be that. They're so cool.” And so when I was 18 or so, I applied at a local shop and I had told them, “Hey, I'm looking for an apprenticeship, lemme know.” And they're like, “Yeah, totally, we're going to have you start out as the front desk.” So I was like, okay, cool. Come almost a year later, still no apprenticeship to be found.

I think they just wanted someone to work the front desk, which was fine. I just wish they would've told me that because I would've still done it. My grandpa was just worried that I wouldn't make any money doing drunk tattoos at 3:00 AM and I'm like, okay, no tattoo shops aren't going to open that late, first of all, times have changed. He's all, I don't know, I worry about you. Then my mom, she had actually suggested that I go to esthetician school because I've always been into the beauty industry and everything like that. So I graduated from there. It was either 2018, 2019, when I finished.

VF: And did you go here in Walnut Creek?
KM: I went in Danville, it was called the JD Academy. I went there, and then when I finished, I was working at a waxing chain, and then I ended up opening up my own business almost three years ago. I just rent a room in a salon, which is cool. My friend Brittany, I met her at the local tattoo/piercing shop, opened up her own piercing studio, literally right up the street. She was telling me that she had a tattoo artist who was going to be working at her shop who wanted an apprentice. I was like, “put in a good word for me.”

At her grand opening, I met the tattoo artist and her name is Stephwizzle, or Stephanie. She actually told me that she didn't want an apprentice, and I was like, okay. But she ended up really fucking with me, so I got it anyways. I was apprenticing under her from November 2021 up until last summer. And then I came here and I've been here ever since. So that's just kind of the longest story ever on how I got started into this.

VF: Could you talk about the apprenticeship a little more? What does that consist of?
KM: It really honestly was not your traditional apprenticeship where you're basically just the shop’s bitch for seven days a week, 24 hours a day, which I'm very thankful for because I don't react well to men telling me what to do. It kind of worked out that I didn't get the other one, and she was really flexible with me and my schedule. I was still working my other job, I was waxing. I had taken a day off from waxing. I was working Monday through Friday, so I took off Wednesdays, and then I started tattooing with her. It was the first few months of my apprenticeship, I was watching her tattoo and I would practice on fake skin all the time, trying out different needles and colors and styles, just kind of figuring out what I like.

And then I was three months in and that's when I did my first flash. And honestly, I was so scared. I was literally shitting my pants and that was the point where I was so mute during tattoos. Literally I would respond five minutes later and I just couldn't talk to them. I was just so focused. It's so funny to me now that I can talk while I'm tattooing people, I just remember sitting there just listening to them. They'd ask me something and I'd just be tattooing and then I respond so late. Anyways, it was definitely really stressful at the beginning and I feel like if I didn't have the support from my friends coming to get tattoos and my very first day one clients who saw some of the work that I had put out, whether that was on myself or on fake skin or on Steph, they still were down to get a tattoo from me. I'm like, this is not going to be really good quality guys. I was just so scared of really fucking up on someone. Thank God I have not. I'm just really thankful for them.

Art came naturally to me, and tattooing did not come naturally to me at all. So when I was practicing it on fake skin, I was like, there's no way that I can put this on someone's body. And then I did my first tattoo on Steph and I was like, “Oh, this is so much easier. Oh, I got this. What am I talking about?” But I just remember I hated doing fine line at the beginning. So much harder than regular thicker tattoos. But yeah, without Steph’s support specifically, just being like, “Dude, everyone starts somewhere. You're not bad. Just keep going. You got this.” I think I don't know if I would still be doing it, even though I love it. I'm very hard on myself and it's very hard for me to break out of my own head and be like, “Hey, look at all these people who like this stuff. What is wrong with you?”

VF: Do you still draw or paint or anything in your free time?
KM: Free time? No. Well, if it's for tattoos, yes. If I'm drawing up a new flash, I'm about to get started on a pretty big one, gonna be 150 different ones. It's so funny. Usually if I am kind of going through it mentally, I'll find myself wanting to draw more and it's kind of just my outlet for just getting my emotions out, super healthy. I know. Or I'll find myself painting a lot. I don't really paint a lot of realism. It's usually just a lot of sunset, nature, trees, forests, beaches, that kind of stuff.

VF: Kind of going off this, but as an artist, a lot of your art is for profit. So do you draw a line between profit and art?
KM: It kind of is sometimes. I didn't get into this job for the money at all. It's just a way that I can do what I love and make money at the same time. I would not be successful at a nine to five corporate desk job at all. I've tried it, not for me. I get bored and again, I'm not going to work for a man. It's not going to happen. And I love being able to draw what I want. That's why I do so many flashes. I feel like I do a new one every month and usually they have eight pages of designs. So usually I'll find myself just drawing what I want to draw. I've considered becoming a flash only artist so I can really tattoo what I want to. Usually my bigger pieces are the ones that I have the most fun drawing, but of course I include the little guys as well. I still have fun drawing them. Not everyone wants to commit to a big, big piece. I definitely did not at the beginning, and I am a tattoo artist. So usually my smaller pieces and stuff, not that those are really, I don't even know if I would even say that they're just for profit. So I feel like honestly, I don't run into this as much as I do with waxing. I feel like people, they take tattoo artists' time and job more seriously. They see it as an actual career versus I feel like with waxing, people see it as more of a hobby and not as a way that I pay all my bills, which is unfortunate.

I pay my bills, but with tattoos, I don't do any tattoos that I don't want to do. And if I was doing it, I'd be going against my own morals and just doing it for the profit, which is never something that I want to do. Tattoos are a very heavily energetic based transfer. I worded that so weird. Giving a tattoo to somebody is just a major transfer of energy. And I'm literally cutting open your body and shoving ink into it. What if I have bad vibes? Then you have a weird bad vibe tattoo. That's just also why I got trained in Reiki because while again, giving a tattoo is just very healing. So even though I do make money from it, that's just a bonus for me.

VF: Okay, this is kind of a fun question. Do you do your own tattoos?
KM: I do. I've done a bunch on my leg. I've done about eight on myself. I would say. Everyone is always like, “Oh my God, doesn't it hurt?” Not at all. I literally cannot feel it. Which is really convenient. I'm a huge baby when it comes to getting tattoos because they hurt.

VF: Do you have a favorite piece that you've done on someone or made?
KM: Yes. So I did a little shark on my mom and it was so funny because growing up, she never got any tattoos. Nobody in my family has any tattoos at all. When I started getting them, oh my god, family reunions are fun, I'm the only person with tattoos. And so when I first started she actually was like, “Do you want to give me one?” And I was like, yes, I absolutely do. So it was really cool to be able to tattoo her after saying she'll never get one because she is so indecisive.

VF: Did you decide on the tattoo or did she pick that?
KM: She actually picked it. Our dog's name is Mako after a mako shark, and so she just wanted to get a little shark for him.

VF: Do a lot of your customers come in with their own designs or do you draw something for them? What is the process like?
KM: I'll usually have them send me inspo pictures or stuff online just so I can get a basic idea of what they are looking for. Since I'm by appointment only, I don't do walk-ins ever. It would be cool if I did, but I'm already pretty busy as it Is. And it just gives me a little bit more freedom. Then I'll have time to draw up an idea and then some time to draw it up with them. I don't free draw anything unless it's a gigantic piece and they book for the whole day. But they'll usually just send me something that, either they saw and I'll be like, okay, how can I make this cooler?

VF: What would you say you love the most about what you do?
KM: Meeting new people and I mean, I don't stand by that people need to have meaning for their tattoos, but a lot of the time when they do, I'm just able to really connect well with my clients. And so when I get those meaningful tattoos, it just makes me feel really good knowing that I was able to give them something that made them cry in a good way, not crying of pain, but they're so happy. They chose me to be their artist.

VF: Inversely, what do you like the least about being a tattoo artist?
KM: How much I work.

VF: What are your hours like?
KM: Usually nine hour days. But again, I work six days a week, but I only tattoo two days out of the week. So I guess it's not really what I dislike about being a tattoo artist. I dunno what I don't like about it.

VF: It's okay if there's nothing you don't like. It sounds like you really love what you do.
KM: I Do. Let's come back to that.
KM: Going back. I was thinking about my free time question.

VF: Yes, oh my gosh, speak on it.

KM: Not only do I draw, I'm trying to think. I was like, I don't want to sound like a lame person. I just got trained in Reiki. So I do that for friends and family. And then I'm also currently learning the electric guitar, which is really fun. I'm not very good. So getting there, I'm on like week two. VF: Tattoo artistry can sometimes be an underrated aspect of art. I feel like sometimes people look over it when talking about art and things like that. So where do you see tattoos fitting in the world of art and creativity and self-expression and everything?
KM: I feel like it's exactly that. It is self expression. Whether it's something that is super meaningful to someone and they just want to put it on their body or it just looks cool. The majority of my tattoos just look cool. There's maybe like five that have meaning. I don't think that tattoos need to have meaning. So now, especially just the generation that we're in, I feel like tattoos have been so much more widely accepted and there isn't such a big stigma around it. My grandpa, for instance, him being like, “You're going to only do drunk people's tattoos at 3:00 AM.” feel like because the older generation is just so used to corporate jobs and saying you're never going to get hired anywhere with tattoos.

To them the only people who got tattoos were like I don't know, like fricking army people or sailors. It's so different and it's just really cool that now for people, there's just so much at our disposal. There's literally just no limit when it comes to tattoos. There's definitely limits to my artistic ability for sure, which is why I don't tattoo everything that people ask for. The amount of inspiration pictures that I get from Pinterest is crazy. It is cool because it means something to someone or someone else liked it enough to put it on their body too. It is just like one gigantic community.

VF: This is kind of off topic, but is it hard to tell people no if they come in with a design?
KM: No, it's so easy. I feel like when I tell people, it's not that I'm telling them, “Hey, I don't like your design at all.” I will be honest with them and be like, “Hey, I don't think that I can execute this in a way that it should be. Here's an artist that I recommend.” And then usually they'll always be like, “Oh, thank you so much for not just doing it.” I've only had one person being like, “If you hate the design, just tell me.” And I was like, “Okay, I don't, but I actually just can't do it.” I don't get a lot of designs of people who come in with stuff that I don't like. If I do and I know that I can make it better, I'll just make it better.

VF: Yeah, that's super cool. Is it different since when people are selling like paintings or physical art–I'm trying to think of how to word this too–and they're not happy with the result they can throw it away or i don't know– but is it different since you're putting this on people's skin permanently or is it, I mean, I love your work, so I feel like a lot of people are probably very happy with it, but is that ever stressful or hard?
KM: No, it definitely is. I feel like that's why I also take my time on a lot of tattoos. I don't really ever find myself rushing, and if I know that I can't do something or if I know that there's a probability of me not liking the outcome of the tattoo, I just won't do it, period. I don't want to look at a tattoo and be like, “Oh my God, I hate that.” Thank God, I've never had that happen before. There's definitely been a couple designs that people have come up with themselves and I'm like, “I personally wouldn't put it on me or on this spot,” but I'm not going to tell you no.

I'll tell them my concern being like, “Hey, this probably isn't going to heal the best.” But that's also just a thing with fine line as well. It just doesn’t always heal the best. Plus I do have a really light hand, and so I do offer free touch-ups within three months if lines fade. A lot of old school tattoo artists, they just won’t do fine line because it doesn't heal that great. It usually fades and then it gets super light and they don't want to touch up people's tattoos. But I just find it so much easier to touch up someone's tattoo instead of blowing it out and making it this super thick giant thing that nobody wants.

VF: I saw on your Instagram how you posted raffles for different charities and things like that. Could you talk about that a bit and in correlation to art? I just think that's really cool to use your art for something like that. I mean a lot of people would say that that's really brave to do because I know that some people who are selling things or running a business don't want to lose profit, things like that by posting social justice issues?
KM: Fuck em. If My clients don't support basic rights, I don't want them. But at the end, I know you said, where's the correlation to art? There's none. There's literally none. It was just a way for me to help. I’m giving them incentive, incentive to donate, or maybe someone who didn't know where to donate can find somewhere to donate. If they donate, yay, they get a free tattoo for people who might not just donate.

Anyways, everyone loves free things, and so if I'm able to donate through my work, I will.

VF: Could you also talk about what it's like now having an apprentice since you were an apprentice? If you could both talk about it?
KM: I love having an apprentice. She does all my setup for me. No, it is really cool seeing her progress and everything because it's so funny because she'll have the same questions that I once had, and to see that now that I know what I'm talking about and doing, it's just weird because I'm like, oh, I know how to answer this.

VF: Is there anything you want to say about being an apprentice?
Kenzie’s Apprentice: It's really fun learning and just being able to grow.

VF: What is some good advice you've been given?
KM: Literally don't give up. Keep drawing. As discouraged as you might get, just keep working at it. I was discouraged at the beginning, like I suck at this. And then everyone was like, dude, no, you don't. Everything takes practice. Nobody's good. Sometimes people are, but the majority of the time you don't just pick up a machine and are amazing and if you are, good for you. The whole saying that's like, do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life. It's just very true. As tired as I do get from working so much, it's usually just getting out of bed. hat is the hardest part of my day because when I'm actually working and I'm with clients, I have so much fun.

I love all my clients and thankfully a lot of my clients find me and they're like, oh, she seems cool. Like this isn't your typical tattoo shop. And as much as I would love to have been in a traditional tattoo shop at the same time, I love it because this is kind of a space where clients feel comfortable. I get a lot of new first timers and people who think tattoo shops are scary. And so being able to provide a safe space for everybody, the gays, the theys, fucking everybody, just because traditional tattoo shops don't usually provide that. And I don't ever want someone to leave my shop feeling like they weren't welcome or anything like that.

VF: Would you ever want to open your own tattoo shop?
KM: Yes. So actually we are. Me and my girls over at my waxing studio, we all are collectively opening up a storefront together over in Brentwood, and we have been working on this for the past year. We've found the perfect spot for it, and we are opening up February 1st. So although it won't be your traditional tattoo shop, it's just going to be a really fun, calm, clean spot for everybody. We're going to have a one-stop shop for everything, tattoos, waxing, brows, lashes, nails, facials, hair. What else? Everybody.

VF: Has that been something you've always wanted to do? Have you always wanted to open your own tattoo shop ?
KM: I've always wanted to have a storefront. That has always been my goal. Even from day one before I even started tattooing. When I was waxing, that was always my end goal. I just got really blessed with my clientele who have supported me that they literally made it all possible. So having them and just the support from my friends and my family and the girls at work, we are just so over the moon excited that it's finally happening. It will be more so of a rental type salon where people just rent the space and we help them grow their business.

I've always considered doing coaching and stuff. I do trainings for waxing and stuff, but coaching for business owners just because I know what I'm doing when it comes down to it. I've just been very blessed with the people who I've been surrounded with and with my family. So running stuff just kind of comes natural to me, I guess, and doing it in a way that's ethical or I can donate to what I want to donate to and to just that sort of thing. Before I was an esthetician, I was in school, I was studying psychology and I wanted to work with kids in the system. Before I even started either job, I was applying to the big brother, big sister program, but then my career took off and I didn't want to commit to something that I could potentially not fully commit to, especially when it comes to kids. So once I'm able to have the storefront open and have more free time and not work six days a week anymore, I'm going to try to get back into that. That's honestly what I'm most excited for is just having my free time back to do what I want to do, which is my end goal.

VF: What are your goals for your shop?
KM: I want to keep expanding. I would love to have multiple shops everywhere and be able to mentor people, whether I'm working or not, just being able to mentor young people, whether that's tattoo artists or estheticians or anyone. Just being there for them so that they don't have to struggle in the ways that most people struggle when you start a business because it is hard. A lot of people have told me, they're like, “I don't know how you just do it.” I'm like, “I just do it. Just do it.” So I feel like I've been able to really just take the struggle out of a lot of things and be able to simplify it for others.

VF: So would say you incorporate your spirituality into your work, could you talk about that?
KM: If I'm having a shit day and I could just feel like my vibes are off, I'll always, before I leave, I'll cleanse myself so that I'm not spreading my sadness all over the place because nobody wants that. I've had clients who come in, well, an off energy, and after I am done tattooing them I can just kind of feel their energy change. It's just lighter. I've just always been very sensitive to energy and stuff like that. That's what's cool is when I can feel people's energy change from when they leave an appointment.

VF: Okay. And I am going to be this person, but do you want to talk about any of your tattoos or if any of them have meaning or any fun stories behind them or if you want to talk about them at all?
KM: Yeah, I'll show you this one because it’s really cool. I have an A on my finger here. I was drunk. I did it at a party actually, and it looks like a fish. It's for my best friend. Her name's Alexa. She has a little K on her ankle. That one's probably one of my favorites just because it is a really fun memory with her. But this one right here , my little heart locket, it's for my two dogs. It's my dog, Winston, who passed away a couple years ago. And then my current dog, Mako, my two little babies, but when I got it my mom, she was like, “Mako isn't dead.” I'm like, he doesn't need to be dead, my two boys right next to each other. That one's probably one of my favorites in terms of actually having meaning. I also have my mom back here on my arm.

VF: What's your process when you're making your flash drawings or any tattoo drawings? Do you sit there and then start drawing or do you think of it and then you're like, oh shit, I need to draw this right now?
KM: Both. I will do a lot of questions on my Instagram, asking people what they want to see in a flash, and then I just have a giant list in my notes of things that people want to see. And if I like the idea, I'll put it in there. But I do travel quite a bit, honestly. I do a lot of my drawings while I'm flying. There's nothing else to do. So the last big flash I drew, I was on a plane drawing all of those. Usually I'll just have a list of my notes or I'll just start drawing. I'll start drawing random shapes and seeing what I can get out of it. Sometimes it just looks really bad and then I'm like, well, can't do anything with that.

VF:Are you pencil and paper, iPad, what's your preferred method?
KM: iPad it is just so convenient in terms of being right there and I have every single brush type at my disposal. But yeah, that's about it. Honestly. It's just really easy to use if I'm drawing by hand and if not with my iPad, usually I'm painting.

VF: Can you talk about burnout and finding breaks between work and making art?
KM: So I do like to travel. I try to make it a thing this year, so I don't experience burnout because as much as I love what I do, my body just gets burnt out. It's the most humbling, terrible feeling because I know that I don't hate my job, whatever in the slightest, but I just sometimes, like I said, this job especially, and waxing can tie into this as well, it’s just a very big energy transfer and being able to let go of anyone else's who I might be holding onto is very helpful for me. To not carry the weight of anything that someone said, or if they've come in with a really sad story, just something that happened to them that I'll find myself thinking about it a lot.

Being able to have the ability to travel, I've just been very fortunate with my careers. I get to make my own schedule for both of them, while I do have a set schedule, it's not that I can't take time off, I just have to take it off in advance, which is fine, but I was trying to make it a point this year to travel more and I did exactly that. I went to LA quite a few times. I went to San Diego, went to Austin a couple times, went to Florida, and went to Mexico.

VF:What would you say most inspires your designs? I know you said that you have your lists and stuff, but is there anything specifically that inspires you?
KM: Whether it be things I see or just experiences. For some reason I love drawing vases. I'll see a pretty vase at the store or at the thrift store or just at someone's house. I'll take a picture of it and I'll want to base something off of that. I also write poetry. Oh gosh. Very gay. I know. It's so gay of me. Usually experiences will inspire my poetry, but I dunno. I feel like experiences just also inspire my drawings or some things will just pop up in my brain.

I'm like, “That would be a cute tattoo.” Like postcards. I'll see postcards and I'm like, “Oh, those are so cute.” Or want to do themed flashes or something like that.

VF: Do you ever share your poetry or is that your own?
KM: Yes and no. There are only a very select few people who have ever read it in my entire life. I was thinking of making it a book. I got a lot in my archives, but then again I read some of them back and I'm like, “Jesus Christ, get a room.” I don't know, I feel like I just feel my emotions very deeply. Im a Pisces moon, so I'm just fucking emotional sometimes. Art for me is definitely a way for me to just get my feelings out and feel them in a way that's healthy.

VF: Can I ask, what is it like being a woman in this industry?
KM: People don't take you seriously, which is why I like promoting myself to the girls. I know that I can give them a safe space and that I'm not a fucking weirdo who's going to tell them to take their pants off for a tattoo that's on their arm.

Honestly, I just heard a lot of stories like that because it's just such a male dominated industry. And so it's like one of my other clients, she came in and she was telling me that she's a mechanic and I was like, “Fuck, I love to hear that!” So a lot of men I've noticed, it's not that they'll necessarily say in a way that's degrading, but I get a lot of the time when I show someone a male, specifically my art, they're like, “Oh wow, you're actually really good.” And I'm like, okay, see, it's the ‘actually’ that is getting me. Now you could just say I'm really good, but ‘actually’ you're surprised, why? Because I'm a woman? So I've definitely found that it's kind of hard, but I found my female clientele base. VF:Can I ask also, what's the meaning behind the name? What's the story behind Tattoo Slut? I love that name. KM: I'm slut for tattoos. No, just kidding but that was actually how we came up with it. Because we were like, hmm, ‘Kenz’ tattoos’? ‘Kenzie tattoos’ is boring. I wanted something that was fun and catchy and just kind of something that, what's the word I'm looking for? VF: Iconic.

KM: I feel like it's just something that people would remember because it's like, “Oh, who did your tattoo? Tattoo Slut.” Yeah, so I feel like the way that I've presented myself and my business and just my name in general, it attracts the right people to me. And also just tattoo slut is so funny. It is definitely humbling sometimes, when I'm trying to do my taxes or I'm at the bank, my email for my waxing is “Stripped by Kenz” and I get a lot of cash. So I'll be paying for my oil change and they'll be like, can I get an email? And I'm like, “Stripped by Kenz” and I'm getting ready to pay $86 for my oil change and I'm paying with ones and then they kind of look at me weird. Or one of my mom's friends or something, they'll be like, “Oh your tattoos, what's your Instagram?” I've had a lot of older clients come in and they all love my name, which it's really fun having just the older generation's support and everything.

And it's also, I think that's why not being in a traditional tattoo shop is why I've also been pretty successful because it's a very welcoming space. There's no men in this building ever. People come and get their first tattoos and they're so scared because it's like, oh my god, a scary dark tattoo shop with red and black interior. Like, I have crystals in here and I have flowers, like my tattoo stuff is pink. My name is Tattoo Slut. It's not scary. I don't ever want someone to walk in and be scared. I just want people to feel comfortable and leave feeling comfortable. Which I also feel like is the reason with Stripped by Kenz too, I want people to feel confident. When I wax them, when I do their brows, they leave feeling better about themselves. So having people leave telling me that they were comfortable, I think that's my favorite compliment that I ever get.

You can find Kenzie Marks and more of her work on Instagram @tattoosslut and @strippedbykenz.

by
Skylar Vinson
JAN 2024