Today we’d like to introduce you to Camryn Thomson.
Hi Camryn, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m born and raised in the Linda Vista community of San Diego! I grew up constantly drawing and painting, my dad is an artist so I learned through him. I always wanted to do something that revolves around art, I won more artistic in my high school and have dabbled in many mediums. The moment I turned 18 I got my first tattoo, now at 23 I have almost half my body covered! I always thought I could never be a tattoo artist because I’m a woman and I have chronic illness. I was born with a condition called external tibial torsion resulting from hip dysplasia. In order to semi-correct it, I’ve had surgeries and it’s resulted in lifelong chronic pain. It wasn’t until I saw girls my age in the industry when I discovered how much times have changed from the scary, old-school way of thinking. I had no idea what my path was in life, I was in community college for five years bouncing from one major to another when I decided to quit school and pursue tattooing. Now I am almost 9 months into my apprenticeship and tattooing full time!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest obstacles have been my health and the stigma of the tattoo industry. I have Fibromyalgia resulting from surgeries in my teen years, this causes “flare-ups” which can mean migraines, full-body aches, and chronic fatigue. Thankfully, I am lucky enough to apprentice at Axiom Tattoo in Pacific Beach. I have never seen such a positive and caring tattoo shop before; everyone is so understanding and supportive. The stigma of tattooing is definitely something I struggle with still, I come from a very traditional German family who sometimes don’t understand what the hell I’m doing haha! Dropping out of college and pursuing a very different path was hard for my family to accept, but I’ve always been the one to go against the grain so they have gotten pretty used to it now!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a tattoo apprentice, right now I’m just finding my footing but my goal is to do neo-traditional style tattooing. The art medium I prefer is acrylic and graphic design! I love drawing women and girly things!
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
Come get tattooed! Right now, I’m doing $60 palm-sized designs, since I’m starting out any practice, I can get is amazing for me. I’ll be making art prints, stickers, and merch shortly!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://axiomtattoo.com/camryn
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/camrynjohanna/
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/rhubarbtattoo/
