Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarabeth Kett.
Hi Sarabeth, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’ve always been an artist, from drawing rudimentary mermaid scenes as a child to having paintings in Los Angeles galleries, and along the way I fell into graphic design. I was designing show posters for my local community theatre back in Florida, which led me to an internship in NYC which led me to working as a Publication Designer for DC Comics Collected Editions. Truly a dream job! A few twists and turns later and I ended up in LA at OOG Creative, a small agency that, to this day, I still consider my professional family. While there, I designed artwork for entertainment juggernauts like Netflix, Disney, UFC, AMC+ and more.
After almost 6 years and with the world changing dramatically after Covid, the fires that decimated Los Angeles and subsequently the entertainment industry, the rise of AI and a myriad of other factors, it was the time to revisit the question all my friends had been asking me periodically over the past decade: “you’re an artist, why don’t you tattoo?”
What started as a Christmas present joke gift turned into my dream come true: making a difference in people’s lives with my art. Not that my previous design career wasn’t fulfilling, but there’s something so magical about helping someone decorate or reclaim a part of their literal body. It’s the most stressful and best job I’ve ever had.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely not! 😂Learning any new trade is incredibly difficult, let alone one that is a minor medical procedure and leaves permanent marks on strangers! Being a trained artist is – I believe – a fundamental necessity, but it is by far not the only thing you need to perfect to be a good tattoo artist. Retraining my brain to design with a 3D, moving body where the “canvas” isn’t stagnant but shifts, stretches, wrinkles, ages and blurs over time was one of the hardest things to do. The amount of physics involved was also something I wasn’t prepared for, even though it makes total sense that part of my skill set would have to be understanding surface tension and magnetic fields (that’s how old-school coil machines work!).
It was a lot of hard work, and still is, to get to the level I’m at now, and one of the coolest (and also hardest) parts of this job is that you’re never done growing or learning. On a personal level, I was also beginning my apprenticeship while I was taking care of my mom as she went through chemo and radiation (cancer free now! We did it!). I was not only throwing my all into a new craft, but I was working my day job, watching poison heal my hero, and was separated from my husband and my dogs for months while practicing my art in every spare second. I joke that I work best under pressure, and I suppose that’s true!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a tattoo artist and illustrator in Portland, Oregon. I specialize in full color, neotraditional and art nouveau inspired designs, and love doing everything from intricate full limbs to small, simple pieces. I love tattooing whimsical and fandom inspired designs, and have found myself gaining a lot of popularity tattooing band/music, book and video game pieces, which is wonderful for me ‘cause I can yap about my favorite fandoms for HOURS! Currently, I believe this is what I’m most known for, not just tattooing fandom designs but also being an active fan. It makes a huge difference when your artist not just knows about whatever niche thing you love, but also loves it too!
I think right now I’m most proud of the reworks/cover ups that I’ve done. Tattoos are so meaningful and personal, and even more so when you’re helping someone reclaim a piece of their physical body. Tattooing over scars, old tattoos, even stretch marks can be incredibly tricky, but also end up being my most rewarding projects. One of the best parts of my job is getting to help people feel at home in their own skin, and the main reason I wanted to be a tattoo artist to begin with.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I was a trained dancer for close to 20 years (ballet & pointe primarily, but also jazz/contemporary and pretty much everything else). I credit my background in dance with a lot of my base understanding of human anatomy, as I was always sketching my peers during rehearsals, perfecting feet en pointe or the way arms and legs flexed.
I was a part of a theatrical ballet company in my hometown where we adapted stories like Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables into ballets and performed them around the county at theatres, libraries and retirement homes with the hope of not only bringing live art to the community, but also communities that might not otherwise be able to make it to see larger professional shows. This naturally led into my being a theatre kid through and through, so if anyone wants to yap about theatre or dance during your sessions, I’m your gal!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://venue.ink/@sarabeth_tattoo
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarabeth_tattoo
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarabethtattoo
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sarabeth_tattoo
