craigy lee's photostream

Welcome to my page!
My name Is Craigy Lee, I have been intrigued by tattoos from an early age, my grandfather was in the navy and had traditional sailor tattoos, and my parents are in the motorbike community so I was often surrounded by lots of bikers with colourful arms. At school, art and punk rock were the only things I was interested in, playing in the band HER:ENEMY. I would spend my time designing t-shirts, gig posters and Cd covers for local bands. I went on to study art at GCSE, A-level, diploma and degree level, winning an award for Inspired Students at the Tate gallery along the way. After graduating from university I lived the Rock´n Roll life working as a tour manager driving bands across the UK and Ireland. I mainly worked with American bands such as Less Than Jake, Hellogoodbye and Seasick Steve to name a few. During this time I met a tattoo artist from the states by the name of Johnny Sandler. We became good friends and In 2008 I decided I wanted to pursue a more creative path in life.
I walked away from the music industry with my ears still ringing and after months of working on a portfolio I flew to Tampa Florida, where I apprenticed at New World Vision tattoo studio. I worked under the careful eyes of Johnny Sandler and Reno (Danny Fowlers master apprentice). My confidence, sketchbook and knowledge of the tattoo industry and tattoo art grew considerably during this time.

I returned to England in November hungry to continue learning and developing my skills, finding a new home at Ouch Tattoo in Ealing alongside great international artists such as Miguel and Paulo. Since joining the team I have been trained in body piercing under Paulo’s experienced eyes. I am excited to be working in the capital city with such great galleries and art history to motivate me.

Many artists have influenced me over the years, at the moment I am really inspired by Mark Ryden, Kuniyoshi, Egon Schiele, Sylvia Ji and tattoo artists Steve Byrne, Grime and Joshua Carlton.

I'm currently really enjoying drawing and tattooing traditional western old school designs and working with watercolour but my mind is open to all styles of tattoo art, and my imagination has no limits!