NATALIE DAVIS

Nina was born and raised on the Oregon Coast, which she proudly calls home. She has been involved in the arts ever since she could remember involving anything from metalwork, pottery, painting, and of course, drawing. She was a ballerina for 17 years and believes that’s where her strong sense of selfdiscipline comes from. She takes inspiration from nature and feels a close connection to the energy of the earth from either spending her free time at the beach or on a hike with her two dogs.

What did your family and friends think about you getting into the tattoo business? My friends and family were highly supportive when I chose to get into the industry. I couldn’t thank them enough for the endless support and love they have all given me throughout my career. My husband especially has sacrificed a lot for me, including moving across the country for my apprenticeship so I could start my career. I don’t think I would be where I am in my career today without everyone’s love and support.

Was it hard getting an apprenticeship? How was yours? My apprenticeship was rather unusual. I met my mentor’s mom at

1 Year

Tattooing

Palm Bay, FL Location

Independent Artist

Black and grey realism

Illustrative Specialty

@ninas.tattoos_and.art

Instagram ninastattoos @gmail.com a previous job, who then passed on my information to my mentor. After seeing my work, she offered me an apprenticeship. From there, my husband and I moved from Oregon to Florida so I could pursue my dream. The duration of my apprenticeship was very short, and during that time, my mentor was also in the process of opening her own studio. With my apprenticeship being so short, I felt I always needed to be on my game, and I had zero room for error. My mentor helped in any way that she could, but I felt it was rushed toward the end. She ended up cutting my apprenticeship short as her new shop was opening around the same time my apprenticeship ended. That’s where things ended up taking a turn. Her shop ended up being one of the most hostile work environments I’ve ever worked in. Shortly after her shop opened, the other remaining artists and I left. It was hard having a fallout with my mentor, especially so soon in my career, when I felt like I didn’t have all the tools under my belt. I later found another shop that was willing to bring me on, and I couldn’t be more grateful for everyone there. They helped fill in the gaps and brought me new confidence within myself to keep pursuing my passion.

We are identical twins Ryan & Matthew Murray, of the Black Veil in Salem, Massachusetts. We are tattoo artists/ multi-media artists centralizing and drawing heavy influences from nature, Victorian era macabre as well from the history and practice of witchcraft ⸺ Who or where do you get your inspiration from? We’ve always found ourselves drawn to the darker aspects of life, death, and the macabre. For us, there have always been elements of immense beauty to be found there, and it has always seemed to wrap us up and hold us close. Our artwork draws very heavy influences from the death & mourning etiquette of New England’s Victorian past times as well as the energy and history of our home, Salem, Massachusetts. Our illustrations manifest a deep fascination for capturing a glimpse through the keyhole of a veil between two worlds ⸺ What was it that initially sparked your interest in tattooing? The initial spark that led us down the path of tattooing was when we first watched one of our older childhood friends getting a tattoo for the first time, it was something simple, but we were instantly fascinated, especially with already being so inter- ested in illustration, painting, and all other art forms. It just seemed like the next step, and we were determined and fixated on learning as much as possible ⸺ What is the most important advice you can give someone new to the art of tattooing? The advice we would give someone new to the art would be to just be yourself. Create with the intent that is true to yourself, be patient, and continue to learn;

We are all still learning, and there is no finish line in any art ⸺ How do your styles differ? Over time our styles and skills have organically grown and developed with one another; we love to learn and feed off of each other’s techniques as well as concepts and ideas; consistency is something that we’ve also always consciously strived for since we were children and has carried over into our adult careers. Through this, it’s become very difficult for others to distinguish whose artwork belongs to whom at times.

In all of our work, we both share our matching black widow spider signature as well, representing the cycle of life and death, a creative force weaving a web of fate through a life of solitude. ✕