Aggie Vnek is a photorealism tattoo artist from the UK and she recently attended the Brussels Tattoo convention.
We had the pleasure of talking to her – so, naturally, we asked her a couple of questions. Here’s what Aggie shared.
About conventions
She first off told us that her experience at the BXL tattoo convention is amazing and she was awed by the amount of good artists.
Because she’s been going to conventions a lot – she told us about 1 a month – she already had established quite a few connections with other artists. Now, she had the chance to network even more, of course!
When it comes to the organization and differences between BXL and the UK, Aggie stated that the organization in Brussels was better and the quality of artists was noticeable. In the UK it’s mainly, obviously, the UK scene. Now, she was at the center of Europe and was surrounded by artists from all over the world!
Regarding to the reason why she likes going to conventions, it’s exactly that, the networking with amazing artists. For her, since she does so many, it’s like a way of catching up with friends you otherwise wouldn’t see – because, well, they’re from different countries.
Apprenticeships and love for art
Aggie told us she’s been interested in art since she was a child and then went on to study fine arts in university! She primarily enjoys oil painting and one day decided to give tattooing a go.
At first, she started at home with an online-bought tattoo kit and tattooed herself and friends, until she got an actual apprenticeship. During the apprenticeship, she mentioned she did a bit of everything including drawing (of course), cleaning and managing.
For now, she isn’t looking for any apprentices, yet. She feels like she still has stuff to learn before passing knowledge onto someone else. When the time comes however, she mentioned it’s important for the apprentice to start out with the basics. One needs to be drawing a lot, have art knowledge (whether it be technical or cultural), know about anatomy, etc… before even thinking about applying a tattoo on someone’s body.
The two most important things an apprentice needs however? All-in commitment and passion. Without those two you wont get that far.
Aggie on social media and more
We asked Aggie if she’s a fan of social media and, well, her expression said it all. We completely understand, though.
She told us it’s very time consuming and you need a lot of prep work. You need to have the right photos, the right layout, etc…, because nowadays everything – especially on Instagram – needs to look attractive.
Simply said, Aggie isn’t a fan of it. We must say however, despite her not liking it, she’s doing an awesome job! A quick scroll through her Instagram page and… wowwiee, it looks really nice put together!
Want to read about another artist who dislikes social media? Click here, boo.
Do you guys like social media and why? Talk about it with us down below!
