Tattoo star expands body of work in 'Ink'

Success does have some downsides.

Just ask Kat Von D, who rose to national prominence as part of the team on TLC's reality series "Miami Ink," and who tomorrow night launches her own show, "LA Ink."

"I feel like I have a lot more responsibility as far as showing tattooing in a good light," Von D told the Daily News. "The tattooing industry, they love me or hate me. It's different when you're on TV, everything you're doing is overanalyzed by your peers."

It's a phenomenon faced by the folks at Orange County Choppers, after they hit big on the Discovery Channel as well - and their draw of fans at motorcycle shows soared.

"I've had to learn a few things," said Von D, whose moniker is short for Katherine Von Drachenberg. "I've had to weed out my friends." Von D admits she doesn't understand why that happens, either, because she's rooting for everyone to succeed.

"LA Ink," launching tomorrow at 10 p.m., follows Von D as she moves from Miami to Los Angeles, where she opens her new shop. That shop, however, is populated with mostly female artists. In Miami, she was the only female in the bunch.

"I've built this shop from the ground up," she says. "It's all me. I've put my heart and soul into it. You'll be able to see that in this show." The show will have a higher celebrity quotient as clients of Von D's shop, too. TLC has also heavily promoted the new show with giant billboards and with fold-out images of Von D's tattooed body - she got her first when she was 14 - in major magazines.

While she treats her body as a canvas (she's had more than 30 tattoo artists work on her), she's not spent a lot of time looking at the promos. "It's kind of like hearing your voice on an answering machine," she said. "That's my face on a 20-story billboard," she added. "I just think I'm a big nerd."

A big nerd who has had a hand in the changing face of tattooing. Indeed, it's not like the old days, she said; even soccer moms are now sporting ink. "I get people coming up to me saying, 'You're awesome,'" she said. "That's a lot different from the days when I used to go to the mall and people would hold their kids back."

Katherine von Drachenberg. Kat Von D making tattoo

Kat Von D (March 8, 1982, and who has given her birth name as both Katherine Drachenberg on her official site and Katherine von Drachenberg in two German interviews) is an American tattoo artist and television personality. She is best known for her work as a tattoo artist on the TLC reality television show LA Ink, which premiered August 7, 2007 in the United States and November 11, 2007 in the UK.

You’ve seen the show, marveled at the artwork, and wondered, "How do they do that?" Scroll through this gallery for the step-by-step process on making a tattoo, demonstrated by L.A. Ink’s very own Kat Von D!

Other names : Katherine von Drachenberg

Early life

Kat Von D was born in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Her parents are from Argentina. Her father, René Drachenberg, is of German descent and her mother, Sylvia Galeano, is of Italian and Spanish descent. Von D has a sister named Karoline and a brother named Michael. She moved with her family to the Los Angeles area at age 4 and grew up in Colton, California. Von D was classically trained in piano beginning at age 6. She particularly appreciates Ludwig van Beethoven.

She credits the prominent Black culture of New York City as being a major influence drawing tattoos in her art and style. She began listening to the Ramones, the Misfits and other punk rock bands at the age of 12. She got her first tattoo at 14 and quit school at 16 to become a tattoo artist.

About : Katherine von Drachenberg - Kat's Biography- As told by one who knows her.

Kat's Biography- As told by one who knows her.

It's a funny thing about biography pages on websites... they never seem to achieve their goals. Ostensibly, the facts presented seem to attempt to give you some idea of the artist, where they are from, where they are going, what they believe to be valuable, etc... they are intended to let the visitor know better the person behind the work, but usually fall far short of communicating any real sense of their character. They read more like a bland political pamphlet than an insight into their personality, and in doing so, nothing more than a contrived sense of image is conveyed. It is with this in mind and in the spirit of trying to do better that, when asked, I gladly accepted the chance to write this little note and hopefully help those who are curious to know more about my friend Katherine.

I guess it makes sense to start with the basics. Born on March 8th, 1982, in the town of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, she moved to the States when she was four, settling in Colton, Ca. Her father René Drachenberg and her mother Sylvia Galeano were both born in Argentina, though René's family origins were German and Sylvia's Spanish-Italian. Kat's paternal grandmother played a significant role in shaping her artistic development, particularly in playing piano and exposing her to the great composers, which, as anyone who knows her can attest to, led to her love for the works of Beethoven . Kat maintains a strong relationship with her parents and her siblings, a brother Michael and a sister Karoline, and finding the time to spend with her family is a priority.. Growing up in the Inland Empire, a collision of influences led Kat into our world much earlier than most, her first tattoo came at age 14, an old english "J" on her ankle, a memento of a love gone-by. Shortly thereafter, realizing her natural art ability, in early 1996 her friends asked her to pick up the machine and get to work on them (her first effort was a Misfits skull with a homemade rig), the tattooing wasn't easy but she knew it felt right and she knew she wanted to pursue it. In 1998, she began working in her first professional shop, Sin City Tattoo, a local place in her neighborhood. A year and a half later, she moved on to Blue Bird Tattoo in Pasadena for a year then on to Red Hot Tattoo in Arcadia. A little under two years later she started working with the talented bunch at Inflictions, a shop out in Covina, Ca.. This was a great period of growth in her work and led to her eventually moving down to True Tattoo, a chance to work with Clay Decker and Chris Garver. Any tattooist worth their salt can see what an honor and an opportunity this was, and any one who had known Kat over the course of her career to that point knew that not only did she deserve the chance but was sincere and talented enough to add to the already high standards of that shop. In addition, it afforded her the opportunity to live and work in Hollywood, the heart of the city that she loves, Los Angeles. With this group together and the quality of the visiting artists and the additions to the line-up over the years, True Tattoo has become one of the shops that any real enthusiast (whether artist or client) must visit, a place where something great is always happening.

So much for the basics of her biography, let's move on to the what I think really matters, who I feel she is as a person and who she is as my friend. From the moment we met, I knew she was a bright, talented girl with a true affinity for tattooing and our six years of friendship have offered me a view of her life that not only confirmed my initial impressions but exceeded my expectations. As many of you who have tried to arrange an appointment with her know, she's booked completely with a long waiting list, but what most people aren't aware of is that long before she appeared on television, she was one of the busiest artist's in Los Angeles. Her work spoke for itself and each piece she finished brought in fresh interest, this in addition to her comfortable bedside manor had her working at a pace that few equaled. To this day, I'm regularly astonished at her work ethic and enthusiasm for every piece she does, and her endurance, I say with lack of any exaggeration, is extraordinary. She is generous to a fault, incredibly loyal to her family, friends, and those in our business who treat her fairly; and despite all the bullshit that is part and parcel of this industry and the demands she is under, she is generally in a good mood and always finds the time to be there for you if you need her. I am glad to know her and proud to call her my friend.

with all sincerity,
I am,
Kore Flatmo

August 15, 2006

Written Tattoos – Visual Self-Expression

Tattoos have always been regarded by many people as a form of self-expression. They have been present in almost every tribal history review. It was how warriors of a tribe communicated with each other or with the warriors of other tribes. These tattoos told a story about their triumphs in battle, their failures and it even narrated the story of how their tribe came into being. Even without saying anything, these warriors said a lot. In the past, just by looking at the tattoos, tribes knew who to fear. The tattoo designs vary a lot, depending on where these tribes originated, where they have settled or which other tribes have influenced their way of life.

Nowadays, the function of tattoos hasn’t changed at all. People still use it as a way to express themselves. There are different tattoo designs. There are graphic tattoos like lines, curves, tribal, medieval, gothic, and there are the written tattoos. Because of the modern times’ influence in tattoo designs, the latter have been a popularly demanded choice for people. Written tattoos take the form of letters from foreign languages, graffiti-style tattoos and ambigrams. These tattoos are often words that represent a person’s characteristic or it’s a quote that a person lives by.

There are three types of letter word tattoos. These three types are foreign languages such as Arabic, Sanskrit, Latin and other languages; graffiti style tattoos and ambigrams. The first type of letter word tattoos is the foreign languages. This trend in written tattoos dates back to few decades, back when Japanese and Chinese characters were most popular. Some of these symbols only represented a certain virtue like patience, charity, etc, but of course, in Japanes or Chinese. Because of this newly discovered design, people then have started to request their tattoos to be in different foreign languages. Among the most popular are Arabic languages and the Sanksrit which has been popularized by the sexy vixen, Angelina Jolie. All the languages have been permanently tattooed to a person’s body somewhere. It is said that people like this type of design because it gives the sense of mystery and it lures people in. Since it is human nature to be curious, what better way than to attract a person’s attention to the tattoo by virtue of it being mysterious?

The second type is the graffiti style tattoo. This type is definitely what attracts most of the younger generations today. They associate the designs with hip hop lifestyle because graffiti and tattoos are both connected to being ‘street’. Graffiti designs have vibrant colors and extreme designs that they represent the hippest designs ever to hit the streets.

The last type is the ambigram tattoos. These are those mysterious and highly eye-catching tattoos. The trick there is that the word is made to appear like if you read it upside down or backwards, it will still look like the same word. For example, your name could be made into an ambigram that could be read upside down, and it would still read like your name. Pretty interesting, right?

If you want to get your body tattooed permanently with a Written Tattoos, then it would be helpful if you know more about the various designs that go with such image.

Choosing the Best Tattoo Artist

Getting some fantastic tattoo ideas is sometimes a problem, so what you need to do is get on all the online tattoo galleries and search for that perfect tattoo that can represent you and make you stand out. Once you have found the tattoo the next step for you is to locate a local professional tattoo parlor with qualified tattoo artists to get your design inked.

This decision is the most important one you will ever make on your journey to getting a tattoo. You will need to find the best tattoo artist you can so some research and planning will go a long way. When you find the tattoo artist you need to make sure they follow all the health and safety procedures. A professional tattoo parlor will more than likely be safer, cleaner and more disease free than an amateur one.

There are tattoo parlors in every single location in the world where tattoos are legal, with some being better than others. You can tell how good a tattoo parlor is, by how much business it gets and how long they have been in business, it is more likely that the bad ones will not be in business for very long.

The best tattoo artist should be a fully licensed professional and if they are not, there is no guarantee that their studio and equipment will be clean. Cleanliness is a necessary factor when choosing a tattoo parlor because diseases are spread and infections are caused very easily if the equipment is not sterilized properly.

The most experienced and professional tattoo artists will help guide you if you are having some doubts on the outcome of your tattoo design also a good tattoo artist will never push ideas on to you, they should give advice only.

Before making the final decision on which tattoo parlor is right for you, always compare all of the options that you have to choose from. Of course the better tattoo artists will cost more money, so you will need to look at this, but bear in mind that the top quality equipment and cleaning the equipment does take considerable cost to the tattoo artist.

The best ways to find tattoo parlors near you is to use the yellow pages, or do a search on the Internet. Some tattoo artists will have a website so you will be able to check out their designs and see some examples of their best work.

Tattoo Artist

Whether you've already chosen the design for your next tattoo or not, finding the right tattoo artist to get it done is a quest you have to go through. In the next paragraphs you'll learn some points to take into account that'll help you be better prepared to make your decision.

One first good step is to get something decided about the tattoo you want to get. The better advice anyone can get, is not to get tattooed unless you know exactly what design you want. If you aren't 100% sure you want a specific tattoo, don't get it.

To make a good choice of your tattoo, you can start by narrowing your way, picking a tattoo style you would like to get. For example, you may like biomechanical and old school tattoos a lot, and besides these two, Japanese style tattoos as well. In this case you have already chosen a couple of tattoo styles you would like to get and left out many others that you wouldn't. Unless something makes you change your mind about this, you have a very important issue solved that will help you choose not only your next tattoo, but your next tattoo artist too.

Once you know what style you'd like, you can start browsing the Internet to look for tattoo artists/studios (preferably, an artist specialized in the style of your choice). The search of an artist through Internet is a little tricky so you have to keep your eyes wide open and pay close attention to what others say about the people you're investigating about. A good beginning is to google for a term like (in case you live in Toronto, for example) "tattoo artist(s) Toronto" or "tattoo studio Toronto". This will throw a list of tattoo artists/studios that reside near your location and it may even display a link to Google Maps, where you can get information about the roads and travel times.

Tattoo Artist

So, you have made the big decision. You are going to take the leap and get a tattoo. You have thought carefully about the design you want to get, and have set aside enough money to get the job done right.

Now, it's time to choose the artist who will do your tattoo.

Taking the time to choose the right tattoo artist is an important step. It might seem like more trouble and bother than you want to deal with. But it won't matter how great the design you chose is if the artist doesn't do a good job creating a tattoo of that design. And, if the tattoo artist doesn't do it right, there's really no going back to fix it.

Tattoo Artist

Learning how to tattoo artist


Tattoos are more popular in this industry, making a career of tattoos in the United States remains a possibility for many people. An individual working alone can be seen as a tattoo artist, then you need to know first if you have a few things. In this article you will learn how to tattoo artist.




Tattoo artist is not easy to learn. And it's not for everyone. Then you do not have the raw artistic talent, perhaps, if it does not work for you. But if you are a strong aspect of art, then you may be what happened. The first step is to exercise your artistic skill. Books, classes and other artists, you can do this. Once your order form at the time it takes for the best artists, collecting parked portfolio of work. This is basically a collection of professionally collect your art you can show to potential employers.




The next step is learning how to tattoo artist is an apprentice. Apprenticeship you work for free for anyone to go and learn about internships, it is. Your internship useful knowledge about the tattoo business will give you. You can find internships by the network. I know they're capable of your friends if they ask. You can also become your student portfolio and ask them, they can reach the owner of the tattoo.




End no formal apprenticeship. Ended when a teacher or a shop owner and his disciples, ready to prepare a professional to determine the tattoo. Sometimes the contracts are signed at the beginning of the internship. Other times, teachers were able to hire you as an employee. I learned how to tattoo artist, and your other work, even his own accord to find the 10 tattoos.




Learning how to tattoo artist, like other professions, has never ended. As a moment to learn new technologies and processes from employers, colleagues, workshops, conventions and even employees. As a tattoo artist, you should always be open to learning and skills development. This will be the best way to remain successful in business. By Sarah Freeland

Tattoo Artist

Learning how to tattoo artist


Tattoos are more popular in this industry, making a career of tattoos in the United States remains a possibility for many people. An individual working alone can be seen as a tattoo artist, then you need to know first if you have a few things. In this article you will learn how to tattoo artist.




Tattoo artist is not easy to learn. And it's not for everyone. Then you do not have the raw artistic talent, perhaps, if it does not work for you. But if you are a strong aspect of art, then you may be what happened. The first step is to exercise your artistic skill. Books, classes and other artists, you can do this. Once your order form at the time it takes for the best artists, collecting parked portfolio of work. This is basically a collection of professionally collect your art you can show to potential employers.




The next step is learning how to tattoo artist is an apprentice. Apprenticeship you work for free for anyone to go and learn about internships, it is. Your internship useful knowledge about the tattoo business will give you. You can find internships by the network. I know they're capable of your friends if they ask. You can also become your student portfolio and ask them, they can reach the owner of the tattoo.




End no formal apprenticeship. Ended when a teacher or a shop owner and his disciples, ready to prepare a professional to determine the tattoo. Sometimes the contracts are signed at the beginning of the internship. Other times, teachers were able to hire you as an employee. I learned how to tattoo artist, and your other work, even his own accord to find the 10 tattoos.




Learning how to tattoo artist, like other professions, has never ended. As a moment to learn new technologies and processes from employers, colleagues, workshops, conventions and even employees. As a tattoo artist, you should always be open to learning and skills development. This will be the best way to remain successful in business. By Sarah Freeland