gracie williams

my name is gracie williams. i'm a self taught tattoo artists tattooing for almost 2 years! i started off doing stick n pokes (as one does) in my basement but i wasn't happy with how they were turning out so next best thing- i ordered the shittiest machine setup off amazon and started tattooing myself and my boyfriend and my siblings and whoever would let me until i was good enough to buy a real machine, 

my style then was definitely more simple and used to be based around outlines only but now i Love detail and complexity in designs! i still don't think i have a solid style yet, but i love the tattoos i do to be very unique and very detailed. recently i've been especially interested i'm surrealism ideas

i think the art scene in atlanta is so different than anywhere else and it's so specific to here which makes it feel special in a way, however i think it can be hierarchical and exclusionary at times too. there seems to be some unwritten rule that if you don't "know" someone, your art won't be seen. doing tattoos kinda bypasses that though in my opinion, it brings everyone together back to some common love of art and just getting cool tattoos

i'm lucky that i live in atlanta for sure though, it's such an up am coming artistic place that i feel like i have great opportunities here to start things

i don't think i really had one person inspire me to start tattooing, mostly just my desire to put art on my body. i've always wished i did have a mentor or someone to show me the ropes but haven't come across that person yet

my favorite part is either peeling off the stencil (sooooo satisfying) or just making really crispy lines, the whole process is my favorite part besides the back pain lol.

so after the design is perfected to the standards of me and my client, i'll make a stencil of it on carbon paper and get the skin ready. then i put on some gloves and sterilize the skin and do some shavin!! also i lied because shaving realllyyyyy hairy guys might actually be my favorite part of the process  so satisfying so smooth, anyways then the i massage in some Stencil Stuff which is literally just stuff to get the stencil to transfer to the skin. after that i let the stencil dry while i set up my station! i use disposable products for most parts of my setup so i just break the seal and it's ready to go. i pick the right size needle and tubes for the lines of the design and plug my machine up to my power supply and we're ready to go!

i definitely think the environment i tattoo in makes my setup a little unique. i tattoo from my house and while that may sound scary, it's still very clean and sterile and i've found it to be a much more comfortable place to get a tattoo. i have tons of plants in there and pretty art to look at and lots of my clients say it calms them rather than the traditional tattoo shops where people tend to feel intimated and scared. i just always try my best to make the whole process as comfortable as i can for whoever it is getting tattooed.

visit her instagram @threedaystattoos!