KASEY ROY-- IT IS NEVER TOO LATE
"My kids are seeing that I’m doing what I want to do, and it’s a bigger message to my children that if there’s something that you want to do, it’s never too late.”
Self portrait, charcoal
It is never too late to start working towards your passion, just ask Kasey Roy.
Roy first tried her hand at tattooing in the early 2000s', and while she loved the art, she ultimately chose to start a family. Flash forward to 2013 when she had another chance at becoming the accomplished tattooer she had hoped to become ten years prior.
Roy currently works under the mentorship of Will XX at Blaque Salt Studio in Salt Lake City, Utah. In the last year of her apprenticeship, it is hard to believe by looking at her work that Roy is still fairly new to the industry. Once you hear about the time and dedication she has put into her career, however, her mind-blowing body of work comes as no surprise.
Roy and her mentor, Will XX
“I’ve seen it on other people’s ends where they just get turned away. It’s kind of a test. No, you have to be persistent and show them that you want it because, unfortunately, when people just give apprenticeships to other people they have the tendency to just take advantage of it, and they don’t ever complete it,” Roy explained. “They don’t ever follow through and become tattooers, or good tattooers at that, if they don’t want it badly enough to fight to get into it initially.”
Roy truly appreciates the private, custom studio she is stationed in now. In such a shop, Roy has had the opportunity to develop her style which she describes as centering around portraits and “illustrative neotraditional” pieces. After apprenticing in a variety of shops, Roy has finally found a studio that matches with her own views on tattooing and art.
“I’ve been on both sides of it, and where I’m at now, I’m super grateful. Not that I can’t handle being humiliated and being treated like garbage, but this is more of an art studio,” Roy described Blaque Salt Studio. “My mentor in this apprenticeship has taught me the difference between being a tattoo artist and an artist who tattoos.”
Roy is already looking to the future. Not even finished with her official apprenticeship, Roy has already built up an almost month-long wait-list and has been featured in books. The future is looking pretty incredible for Roy, but she is not riding on her early-found success. Simply put, Roy never plans to grow stagnant.
“I just want to continually grow. I never want to reach a point where I feel like ‘yeah, I’m pretty good, I can stop here’,” Roy explained. “My kids are seeing that I’m doing what I want to do, and it’s a bigger message to my children that if there’s something that you want to do, it’s never too late.”
Roy's workstation
CHECK OUT KASEY ROY'S WORK ON INSTAGRAM AT @_murder_of_crows_ AND EMAIL HER AT [email protected]