Nicole
@ickynickki
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tattoo artist in Sacramento, CA and full time dumbass 🦇🖤 insta: @ickynickki
Sacramento, CA
Joined October 2019
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Scare bear! 🎃🖤🐻 this is maybe my first time working with orange, it’s really not a color I use often
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Got to do both of these Hex Girls pieces last week. I can’t pick my fave 😭
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Instagram saw it first but check out this fun Casper tattoo I got to do last week! Just in time for October 👻
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I think my career peaked today. My client sent me the second picture when she got home. I love this little fella!!!
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My client for tomorrow didn’t like the design I came up with but I really want to tattoo this 😭
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Another one from yesterday. Probably the cutest tattoo I’ve done so far, hehe
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Okay this is going to be a really hot take and I swear it’s not directed at any one person- some of y’all are REACHING when you say that an artist has “copied” your work. We ALL use inspo from other work, whether you do realism or illustrative. (More in thread)
Unpopular tattoo opinions? 👀
Mine is that using numbing cream is absolutely fine and doesn’t mean you haven’t earnt the piece 🗣️
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Guys I have really exciting news! I am moving shops and I cannot WAIT. I finally get to leave my toxic/racist/sexist/anti-masker shop and work in one where I feel truly valued as a female artist. I start next week and I’m a ball of nerves but I know it’s for the best! 🖤
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I’m bad at sharing my tattoos on Twitter but here are some poppies I did last week!
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My client today brought me coffee, kept calling me honey, asked if I had eaten, and tipped me very generously :,) PLUS we started a bombass animal crossing tattoo on her.
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Oh also I did this Gyarados tattoo this week. Those baby blues are a bitch man!!!
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Tattoo artist’s equivalent to student debt is paying off the credit cards you used during your apprenticeship 😅
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Guys please don’t diss my tattoo photo taking skills but look at the progress we made today! (Linework is all about 4 weeks healed, color is fresh). Building my confidence with color because my lovely boyfriend is allowing me to practice on him.
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Hi tattoo Twitter- how do you guys phrase telling someone you don’t think you’re the artist for them? My client tomorrow hasn’t been happy with the designs I sent them and I think it may just be a difference of style/skill. 😞
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I love the tattoo Twitter community tbh. I’ll post something about how I’m feeling insecure and struggling with my tattoos and like 50 people are like “yeah me too, it’s okay, you got this.” Very grateful for yall.
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Got this message from a fellow artist at work today after I thanked him for cheering me on today. Tattooed for 14 hours and felt like an anxious mess and here’s what he said. I could cry, I love my shop.
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I’m doing FREE APPRENTICE TATTOOS and people have the audacity to ask me for like these insanely detailed and high effort custom projects. And I’m like… 1. I’m not at that level yet and 2. You don’t get to take advantage of them being free to get whatever you want.
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People on TikTok are so mean and uninformed about tattoos, I absolutely refuse to every post any of my work there.
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How many days of the week do you guys tattoo? I was 6 days during my apprenticeship (but didn’t tattoo every day). I’m 5 full days of tattooing at my new shop and it’s kicking my ass mentally and physically. Am I just being lazy?
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I stood up to my boss today and I’m like shaking and crying because I’m so frustrated and anxious about it but I finally got to say how disrespected I’ve felt and while it might mean nothing to him it’s like the first time in a very long time I actually set a hard boundary.
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The artistic urge to constantly compare my style and skill to everyone else’s until I start to hate what I make and don’t want to create at all.
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Spider lady from today. Someone teach me how to photograph my tattoos because I’m AWFUL at it.
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The client who came in and got 2 free custom tattoos from me for 6 hours and didn’t tip has been asking me when my books are going to open back up so she can come back for THREE more new pieces. I was very happy to tell her today that I will be charging starting in March 😅
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Today couldn’t have been a better first day. Cried actual tears of happiness on the way home. My new shop feels so comfortable and the artists there are so supportive and kind. I was beginning to hate tattooing but I finally feel passionate about my job again. I’m so happy.
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If someone no call no shows you once do you blacklist them as a client immediately?
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Why is it that I like my tattoos when I finish them in person but then when I go back and look at photos they look awful and I doubt ALL of my skills and never want to post them???
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One day: omg I am so proud of the tattoos I did today, I’ve made so much progress and I love my job!
Next day: Wow I really am awful at this, I’m never going to get better, I’m gonna sell all my supplies and run away
🙃
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Okay I know y’all don’t care as much as I do but I cancelled his appointment and refunded the deposit. He was very understanding and I told him he’d be better off with another artist. I was so anxious tho like ffs
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I never post my tats on Twitter anymore but check this lil one out
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I finally finished this piece tonight after sitting on it for so long. Swan Song by
@KublaiKhanTX
means so fucking much to me and I appreciate them calling on victims of SA, domestic abuse, sex trafficking, etc to find their voice. Sometimes you gotta let the rough end drag.
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This is one of my favorite tattoos I’ve done! TW for spiders/arachnophobia
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Soul Eater tattoos from this week. I’m so happy with these, they were so much fun. 🖤
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I’m getting tattooed 4 fucking times within a 6 week period and absolutely hate myself
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Tattooing is so fucking confusing. I’m finally starting to get better with my color application but now I’m struggling with linework again? I swear there are some weeks I feel like I’m tattooing at the same level I did when I was an apprentice :(
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I finally finished my Scooby Kewps 🖤 Gonna be posting prints on my Etsy and hoping to get to tattoo some of them :,) Thank you
@ScottjGunner
for helping me with my first time doing Kewpie anatomy.
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Almost forgot to post this cuttlefish I did yesterday to Twitter. I’m much better at posting tattoos on my Instagram,
@ickynickki
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Being a tattoo artist should be in the DSM-5, this shit has me questioning my mental sanity more than anything ever has
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The tattoo artist anxiety of not working on flash/designs on my day off and instead drawing for fun. I feel like I can never enjoy my days off without guilt. There’s always something I could/should be doing for work
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I did it y’all. Told him I couldn’t start the design until an appointment was secured and specified I do this to make sure my time isn’t wasted on a project that doesn’t turn into anything. Hopefully he responds lol
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I mean yeah as a tattoo artist we tattoo multiple people?
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My first client today brought me flowers because she saw on my Instagram that Shrimp passed away. She also tipped me $200. :,)
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The replies to this tweet are actually insane. Someone said that “wireless” tattoo machines and numbing cream are sending the industry south. What the fuck are y’all on about? And other people are bragging about scratching on themselves with no numbing cream. Like okay??? Gross!!
Am I the only one who is raw dawgin it though tattoos? Never used numbing cream. Is that the standard now or something?
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Being able to tattoo is a dream come true so why is it affecting my mental health so negatively? 😭
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Yeahhhh boyyyy this shit hurts. This side of my leg is somehow the most painful tattoo I’ve ever had. And I have the whole other side done with shin?!
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TATTOO SNOB REPOSTED MY FUCKING TATTOO WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!! WHATTTTTTT
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I will literally never share a time lapse video because it’ll just be 3 minutes of me redrawing the same fuckin line
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I did one of my favorite tattoos of all time today and none of the pictures came out well :(
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A little memorial tattoo for my client’s cat. I really enjoyed doing this one :,)
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Obviously this doesn’t apply to people who blatantly steal others work. But I swear some artists will see a design that looks NOTHING like their original and be like “I DREW THIS FIRST!” Like, you don’t have a monopoly on a certain character or insect or whatever.
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My rates pretty much instantly went up at my new shop. The owner of the shop says that he considers $150/hour to be a beginner rate but I see artists who’ve been tattooing WAY longer than me and are way more advancing charging the same or less and I feel so anxious about it.
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I did it y’all, shout out
@theacaciastrain
for getting me thru the past few years 🌻
Guys I’m gonna try and tattoo myself for the first time today but I’m a huge baby and scared lmao
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Tattoo Twitter: What % of tattoos do you actually post? I feel pressured to post more often on Insta for the engagement but I also only want to highlight my best work/projects I’m truly interested in. Some artists are posting every single day and I can’t keep up 😭
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Traditional tattoo is literally BASED in copying masters’s originals. Everything we tattoo now is a variation of something that someone else has always tattooed. Again, please don’t take this out of context because it doesn’t apply to every situation but yeah.
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@JustineLucyyink
Unironically this is the worst tattoo I’ve ever seen. He had to be on drugs at the very least. Maybe on drugs while blindfolded and also with his left hand. Nothing else makes sense 😭
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I’m genuinely starting to believe I’ve never done a good tattoo and never will.
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#artvsartist2022
Can’t believe it’s been a little over a year of tattooing for me. I missed my actual anniversary, but August 2021 was the very first time I ever tattooed a real person!
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Question for my DBZ fans/tattooers. A client sent me this first pic as the pose he wants for his Shenron tattoo. It looks like original art so I don’t wanna steal it, but I did find a lot of tattoos in that same pose. Is this from the show/manga or is it an original concept? Ty!
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Have you guys had a client block you before? I did a tattoo on her a few weeks back- I liked it and she said she did too (it was predrawn flash). She paid me (including a deposit ahead of time) and even tipped. I went to tag her in the post today to find out she blocked me?
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I have been struggling so much with work recently. Struggling with my boundaries, the quality of my tattoos, even my designs. I was feeling so confident but now I can’t find my focus. I know all I talk about on Twitter is work but I feel like it consumes my life
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I know I’ve been posting a lot today but I wanna post this mushie from yesterday before I forget, thanks :-)
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Can my tattoo friends post some work from their first year of tattooing? I feel like I’m in such a low spot right now, surrounded by people who know what they’re doing, and I’m like barely keeping up. :(
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I started a kewpie flash sheet a couple weeks ago (I move slow lol) and was super excited to post it but then an artist I follow just posted some scooby kewpies they finished and now I’m paranoid someone is gonna think I copied them. I know it’s dumb but idk??
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Are you even a tattoo artist if you don’t have daily mental breakdowns?
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The sketch my client drew up for the design vs. what we turned it into. We went with the more whispy smoke for this one.
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Also y’all my client today made me a fucking CAKE?!? 10/10 good day to be a tattoo artist
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Scrolling Instagram like “I have GOT to get better at tattooing!!!!!”
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Me: wow! I’m really getting the hang of color, my color tattoos have been healing well and I’ve gotten a lot better at packing
Me a week later: bitch you thought!!!!!!!!
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As of today I’m officially on the website and my calendar is open for deposits and future bookings! I’m excited but also so nervous!!!
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Does anyone else feel like they’re getting stupider as they get older?????
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Bro I’ve been tattooing a year now and I still sweat profusely right before I start any tattoo lol
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I’m on the website!! Eeeeee this is so exciting and also so scary. Imposter syndrome is a bitch.
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FNAF flash 🥰 I drew two sheets because this is my hyper fixation and I couldn’t stop
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Still quite bloody (I really struggle with my lighter colors looking bloody even after sitting) but here is my Bartok! I am so happy with him. It’s not perfect but I see a huge improvement in my linework and color is becoming less intimidating. 💕
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Drew this for my flash day next and was overwhelmed with the response! Proud of them so I wanted to share them here too.
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I’ve felt insecure about not having a super defined “style” but I’m learning that it’s a good thing to be a well rounded artist. Lots to learn still!
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