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Arts & Entertainment

Dallas Ink Master Deanna James’ baroque-inspired tattoos are taking over TikTok

The artist shifted from traditional painting to tattoo art while at Booker T. Washington High School.

Update:
This story was originally published on June 26, 2023.

Imagine the shadowy folds of blue and yellow fabric, the soulful eyes and delicate porcelain features of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring.

But instead of seeing the painting in The Hague, you can find it tattooed on a person’s arm.

For tattoo artist Deanna James, it’s just another day’s work. She co-owns Eden Body Art Studios in North Dallas and her shop’s TikTok page has 1.6 million likes.

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Tattooing is absolutely an art,” she said. “I’ve tried out every art form imaginable: printmaking, photography, watercolor, jewelry making, ceramics, sculpture. Tattooing is by far the hardest medium to accomplish.

Tattoo artists manage to create art in the most unlikely of circumstances, she said. Think about drawing with a buzzing machine that has a three-second ink flow on a person who could be moving around. Not to mention the safety precautions that come with working with delicate skin.

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James is from Richardson. She grew up with a talent for art that her family fostered with painting classes. Her grandmother, also a painter, would draw in sketchbooks and James’ father would draw abstract figures like squiggles for her to complete.

As a teenager, in a streak of rebellion, she got her first tattoo, which she designed. The experience led her to wonder whether she could pursue tattooing as her career.

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So I thought maybe I could bring something different to the table and gain notoriety and be able to sell my work and actually make money while I’m alive,” she said.

James, a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, appreciates the community of like-minded artists she found. But she also faced pushback from a department head who tried to dissuade her.

“It was very taboo for me to say, ‘I don’t want to go to an art college and become a tattoo artist,’ " she said. “So I was told that I wouldn’t get anywhere with it or make any money with it and it was going to be a big failure.”

But James has pushed back against that perception. She was on the popular reality competition show Ink Master and is now at the top of her field.

She said being on the show is crazy, exhausting and rewarding.

It’s like an art boot camp. You’re just hanging out, drawing with people till all hours of the morning and cameras are in your face for 15 hours a day,” James said.

Changing Culture

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Deanna James refers to her sketch as she tattoos a client.

Credit: Jacob Wells / KERA News
Deanna James refers to her sketch as she tattoos a client. Credit: Jacob Wells / KERA News(Jacob Wells / KERA News)

Despite her success, James said her start in the tattoo industry was scary and hard. As an apprentice, she recalls not being taken seriously. While conditions have improved, she said young women are often susceptible to abuse in the tattoo industry.

James said she faced fraternity-like hazing as an apprentice: cleaning baseboards with toothbrushes or having to drink milk until she threw up. Once, she had to advertise for the store in a tube top and shorts.

“So I looked naked and had to stand out in the summer heat for hours without water, with this sign for the tattoo shop and you know had to dance when they told me to in the middle of the sidewalk in a very busy street,” she said.

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That’s why James is intent on making Eden Body Art Studios in North Dallas a supportive and healthy environment. Of the 10 resident tattoo artists on her team, 8 are women. She also offers a free service to tattoo nipples on women who’ve had mastectomies. On average, she does about five nipple tattoos a month and the process takes her about 30 minutes.

“I think there’s always somebody out there who hears that and is like, ‘Oh, I can come to her and get this done’ who maybe couldn’t afford it before,” she said.

James said while there has been improvement in the tattoo industry, she’s eager to see greater change.

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“I’m just trying to create a whole new environment, something that I feel like should be more implemented into the industry,” she said.

Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.

This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access’ journalism.