Today we’d like to introduce you to Naomi Butterfield
Hi Naomi, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I had always admired and been interested in the tattoo world, but I initially started off my career path intending to be a commercial illustrator. I attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City and graduated with a BFA in Illustration in 2013, but struggled to find consistent freelance work with my more niche style. Financial necessity pushed me to work a variety of odd jobs alongside freelancing, before I eventually narrowed my focus to working in the NYC hospitality industry to support myself. I still took commissions and illustration assignments, but my labor was focused on what paid my bills – serving and bartending (I was also a dog-walker, host, back-waiter, barista and graphic designer at different periods).
Working within the service industry became a second education that was integral to my personal growth as a human (and as a natural extension, an artist). If college was education in the arts and academics, then working in the hospitality industry in New York was an intense social education in how to interact, manage, and connect with a diverse tapestry of people on a daily basis, often under pressure. The work was a crash course in developing the necessary people skills and stress management that are also required in tattooing, and through it I befriended tattoo artists who encouraged me to pursue the craft.
Though I was still unsure of the exact path I wanted to pursue, I slowly began focusing on a “tattoo-adjacent” portfolio, drawing images with strong motifs, high contrast, and heavy black shapes with a brush and ink. By 2019, I had been cultivating a body of work and had been weighing pursuing a tattoo career for years, but couldn’t see a path forward that would allow me to devote the necessary time and energy to an apprenticeship, as I still needed to work in restaurants full-time to survive. The only feasible plan was to move back to California to live with my family and start over completely, which felt like an enormous risk. I had spent the past decade building a community and professional connections in New York, and I loved living there – leaving was a huge gamble.
In the end, I decided to take leap of faith and opted to move back to California. I loved New York, but felt financially stuck and in a state of professional inertia, and knew I needed to make a radical change to alter my future. It was still one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make.
I moved back to Long Beach in the summer of 2019, lived off my savings, and applied to shops within the Long Beach and LA area. After a few months of searching, I was offered an apprenticeship at a studio. In a darkly comedic twist of fate, just a few days before I was scheduled to begin, I was involved in a small car accident in LA. I now had to find a job to cover my additional car costs, and taking the apprenticeship was off the table. I accepted a job as a graphic designer at a cannabis startup, and after several stressful and dysfunctional months, Covid hit and I was laid off during lockdown. The following year in quarantine was spent wondering if there was even a future for me in tattooing – the future was completely unknown. Paired with the general loneliness of being isolated, I wondered if I had made the biggest mistake of my life moving away from New York and wondered what job opportunities would be around when the crisis ended. Like most everyone, I spent the year in psychological crisis wondering if the future I had planned for had any viability in whatever world would emerge from the pandemic.
When the lockdown ended, I resumed applying to tattoo shops – not just for an apprenticeship, but looking for shop-related work in any capacity. There were few leads or responses, and I contemplated abandoning my pursuit completely if I couldn’t find leads by the time my savings ran out. While walking in my neighborhood one day, I looked up and saw a small, unassuming sign for “Breakwater Tattoo” alongside the other businesses. There was no visible storefront, so I went to the website and learned it was private studio of established artists, conveniently within walking distance of me. I loved the art shown, and decided to email the owner, Justin Tauch, with my resume and portfolio to enquire about any work or apprenticeship opportunities. I did not expect to receive a response, given the silence I had come to expect.
Serendipitously, I happened to email Justin on the night he had been discussing with his wife, Carla, about his need for extra help as the shop was reopening after a year of forced pandemic closure. We coincidentally had similar backgrounds of attending art college and working within the service industries in large metropolitan cities – Justin was from Chicago. We set up an interview and the rest is history – Justin became my mentor, and I began my 2-year apprenticeship at Breakwater Tattoo in 2021. I graduated from my apprenticeship in 2023, and have continued to work at Breakwater Tattoo since.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It was not a smooth road getting into tattooing initially, but my post-grad career path has generally taken many detours and unexpected stops. As for my apprenticeship experience, I had a relatively smooth process compared to other apprentices who had to deal with problematic and toxic dynamics.
I can attribute this to two factors: First, my mentor wanted to give me the apprenticeship he wished he’d had, and not perpetuate any dysfunction or exploitative dynamics that were common. The shop was staffed by mature and experienced artists who were empathetic, kind and generous, and as a team we all meshed well. It was the healthiest environment I could have asked for, and I feel extremely fortunate to have been given the opportunity to learn there.
Second, while I did enter this field relatively late (at age 30), I do feel like my work experience and age gave me the confidence and skills to work through my apprenticeship with minimal bumps, as I was used to navigating the aspects of customer service. The drudgery and stress of restaurant and bar labor is similar to the kind of work an apprentice takes on doing shop tasks. Working in high-stress restaurants gave me a fairly thick skin and imparted the ability to receive criticism and feedback effectively, which helped immensely in a new learning environment. I also had years of drawing and painting experience, which expedited the process of making my art ready to be tattooed on skin.
Although I went into this pursuit with the most preparation in the best environment I could ask for, there were still struggles. There was so much I didn’t know about tattooing that could only be learned from experience and guidance, and the stakes are high when your work becomes a permanent part of someone’s skin. There’s little room for mistakes, and yet it’s a continuous learning experience that never stops.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My specialty is black and grey tattoo work, focusing on heavy use of black ink, usually of “darker” imagery in dynamic poses or compositions. I’m drawn to imagery from dark fantasy and science fiction, which is probably influenced by being a manga and anime nerd growing up, and loving the high-contrast impact of black linework in comic art. I primarily worked with traditional mediums in the past, with my favorite being brush and ink, and that sensibility has informed the way I tattoo.
I’ve always been a huge animal lover and biology nerd (my original dream when I was younger was to be a biologist), and I’ve had a fixation on drawing creatures since childhood, both real and fantastical. Many clients have come to me for my depictions of animals and mythical creatures, so that has become one of my strengths. Some of my favorite projects have also been depicting characters and monsters from film and video games.
It’s difficult to quantify and articulate what may set my work apart from others – I think all artists have a unique voice and perspective that informs and shapes their work. Exploring and refining that voice is a perpetual creative journey. Whether your artistic voice resonates with others is deeply personal to each viewer, and I feel immensely lucky to have connected with as many people as I have through my work. “Spindly, creepy but elegant, serpentine, sharp teeth and claws, heavy black, dynamic,” are some descriptors clients have used to articulate visual patterns in my work, though most just say, “there’s something about your style that I like.” That alone is a huge compliment, and I feel proud of being able to build a relationship of collaboration and creative freedom with my clientele, who are trusting and interested in my interpretation of whatever subject they’re requesting.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Honestly, this is hard to say as I am a new tattoo artist, and don’t feel qualified to accurately predict where things will go. Many of the experienced tattoo artists I speak to feel that we are in a new unprecedented time, as social media has altered the social landscape and algorithmic pressure forces more creatives to devote energy to content creation in order to maintain visibility and relevancy, which further drains the limited energy they would otherwise devote to their craft. Tattooing seems to be more accessible than ever, and also increasingly difficult to sustain, both creatively and financially.
There’s been a huge influx of new tattooers post-pandemic (myself included), so the competition is fierce. The increasing competition will likely put extra pressure on tattoo artists to cultivate what stylistically sets them apart from their peers, alongside creating the best experience possible for their clients. Solid work, professionalism and exemplary customer service is more critical than ever in forging long-term relationships with returning clients.
My *very personal* observation as an artist that has entered the tattoo world recently and engaged in conversations with other creatives who are curious about entering the tattoo industry: many may erroneously see tattooing as the magic bullet that will alleviate their artistic woes, especially during a time when artistic work is increasingly underpaid and undervalued.
From the outside, tattooing may seem like a solution that offers complete creative freedom, fast and substantial money, and the in-person human connection that is lacking in other fields (not to mention image and recognition – the mystique around the craft can be attractive for the perceived “cool factor”).
The reality is that it *can* offer those things but rarely does, especially not simultaneously. It is at its core, blue collar work, with incredible financial instability and an enormous amount of unseen, unpaid labor. It is mentally, creatively and emotionally taxing, and will physically wreck your body. Your income is at the mercy of how the economy affects everyday people, and your services will be the first thing cut from their budget. There are no job benefits, and you are on your own with navigating health insurance, retirement, and being heavily taxed as an independent contractor.
I love tattooing and wouldn’t want to do anything else, but it’s one of the hardest and most financially volatile creative professions to pursue. Go for it if you truly love it – it’s a labor of love, and that passion has to be strong enough to withstand a lifetime of struggle and instability in an unpredictable future.
Pricing:
- $200/hour OR price by piece.
- $600 half day rate (3-4 hours of tattooing)
- $1,200 full day rate (6+ hours of tattoing)
- At the end of the day, I try to be flexible with pricing and willing to negotiate with clients to find a solution we can both work with.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://naomibutterfield.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alienboyfriend
- Other: https://bsky.app/profile/alienboyfriend.bsky.social
Image Credits
Naomi Butterfield
