Meet Koko King

Today we’d like to introduce you to Koko King.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I’m originally from Tokyo, Japan and that’s where I started tattooing. I always loved to draw as a kid and my dad decided to teach me more advanced art although he was a banker by trade, he was also a talented artist. I feel like I won many art awards in school because of my early exposure to training.

In college, I studied to be a fine art teacher. There, I experienced my own personal revolution. While studying art, I made some tattoo designs for my friends and I. We went to a few different tattoo parlors in Tokyo with my designs. Unfortunately, none of my designs came out the way I had planned. Most tattoos at the time were simple, but I knew they could have more details in them like fine art. This realization motivated me to apprentice and learn how to tattoo. I was just trying very hard to make my designs fully realized as tattoos.

With my growing desire to tattoo in more western style, I decided to relocate to LA in 2001. Eventually, I landed at Purple Panther Tattoos in 2006 and I’ve been there ever since. I’m fortunate to work with such a great group of artists there.

Please tell us about your art.
I’m a tattoo artist. And I specialize in geometric and fine line work. What I like about my work is to collaborate with my customers to create new work. This is very different from the approach I take when I’m painting where I isolate myself from society. I often think my mission in life is making people happy using my art, and I work very hard for that.

Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
I think following a passion is the only way to navigate through the hard times. For me, it was all hard work first but I still enjoyed the process because I was passionate about the work. When I finally opened a small tattoo shop in Tokyo in 1997, there still weren’t many female tattoo artists out there and I felt that I had to be strong to survive in male-dominated business. I’m happy that it’s now better in that respect.

I think the most difficult thing about being a tattoo artist is responsibility. The responsibility to make permanent art on a living canvas would be a lot for anyone. I have seen many tattoo artists quit this job because of that. All I can do is my best every time and enjoy being in the moment.

I’ve been tattooing for more than 20 years now, but the learning and improving is never-ending. It took me about 2 years to make decent tattoos, and it took me about 5 years to really feel and communicate with the skin. Skin is actually very talkative and I think its probably a bit challenging for many people to get to that point. If you stick with what you’re doing and work hard, rewards will come.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I show most of my current work on Instagram. For anyone who would like more information of what I do, please contact me via email.

Contact Info:

• Address: 7560 W. Sunset Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90046
• Website: www.purplepanthertattoos.com
• Phone: 323-882-8165
• Email: pinkballpointpen@yahoo.com
• Instagram: tattoosbykoko

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