people, the pace of life, nature, the ocean, the
rainforests... my heart belongs to the island.
It wasn’t until I met an amazing girl back in
Calgary that I felt the need to travel back and
forth from BC to Alberta. I decided to create
“Ink by Saga” and start tattooing again, as
full-time as I could make it. For a year, I would
drive to Calgary to visit and tattoo, then I would
come back to Victoria to live the party life for a
couple of weeks.
After a couple years on the island with limited
success in art and tattoos, I decided to apply
at shops in Calgary. Ten shops later and a trip
up north to work the oil rigs, Brandi Lee, the
owner of Human Kanvas Tattoos and Piercing
in Calgary, realized I had some potential and
gave me a shot. While it took getting rejected
at forty-five shops in total, I couldn’t be happier
with where I ended up. Nothing in life worth
anything comes easy.
“
I realized early
on that in order
to stand out I
would have to
devote my life
completely to
drawing, art,
and the study of
tattooing.
”
Starting as a junior artist, Brandi was able to fill
the gaps in my learning and help me take my
skills to the next level, something I’ll be forever
grateful for. Human Kanvas is a custom tattoo
shop hidden away in north east Calgary. Super
friendly, clean, and diverse; We pride ourselves
on having artists for every style.
I realized early on that in order to stand out in
Calgary, a city with amazingly talented artists,
80+ shops and 400+ artists, that I would have
to devote my life completely to drawing, art,
and the study of tattooing. I have always loved
markers; I used to tag the walls of this city with
magnum markers, and never lost my passion
for them. I started creating art pieces with
markers, and got myself into a few art shows,
where my work was well received. After picking
up a set of prismacolor markers, I have spent
the last couple years teaching myself the art
of realism, first on paper, then on skin, as any
tattoo art should be learned. Going from the
graffiti, illustrative style to realism and portraits
was a lofty transition; I spend an average of 30
hours a week now practicing portraiture with
copic and prismacolor markers.
While people say artists have an innate talent
for it, I say we just have the drive to put in the
hours to practice. My drawings sucked for
years but after thousands of hours of practicing
anything, we will all be good at something. This
applies to not just art, but anything you love.
My marker portraits have taken on a life of their
own now, in the last couple years I have had 3
solo exhibitions, 8 group shows, and a show
in the Museum of Contemporary Art Calgary.
My work also hangs in the Motion Gallery of
Calgary.
ISSUE 3 | 13