Check Out Luna Snow’s Story

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Luna Snow.

Hi Luna, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I started tattooing in 2017 at 18. My apprenticeship started the day I was supposed to walk for my high school graduation. I started tattooing at a small street shop in Murfreesboro and started building a name and clientele for myself there.

Eventually, after working there for a few years, I craved more knowledge and experience, so I started traveling and doing guest spots in other states. After that, I worked at a shop in Franklin, TN, for six months before opening my private studio in Murfreesboro; after another six months, I decided I preferred the atmosphere of working in a shop, and for the last few years, I’ve been at Electric Peach.

I will be moving to Monolith in July to hopefully learn from Zach, the owner of Monolith, on how he has become so successful and talented in our industry. I spent a lot of time trying to hone in on the kind of work I wanted to provide to the middle TN area and found a lack of the style that I specialize in— anime, kawaii, and glitter tattoos.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s not been easy; tattooing as an industry has not always been as welcoming as it is today.

Retrospectively speaking, I had a fairly easy apprenticeship compared to some of the stories I’ve heard from other folks in the industry. However, I did have to overcome a lot of sexism in my experience of overall unfair treatment of myself in comparison to my male peers.

The expectations of myself not only as an apprentice but as a femme person within the industry were to be as bubbly and nice as possible while working more hours and having more responsibilities than my male peers. I was expected to manage and clean the entire shop on top of handling my clientele. My male coworkers were allowed to leave early and could be more blunt with folks, for example. In many instances, if I were to leave early, I would get in trouble with the shop owner, even if my male coworkers could. This continued even after I was a fully-fledged artist.

I also had to spend a lot of my time presenting myself in a way easily accepted by the industry. It was a lot easier to muddy down my own identity early on, for my own safety and protection. Being queer, especially trans and non-binary, during this time was absolutely not okay within tattooing— male tattooers already saw women as a threat to the industry, so there was so little room to be myself.

When I began working in Franklin, I was lucky enough to be at an inclusive and friendly shop where I was able to explore my own identity and be comfortable within myself. This allowed me to feel comfortable transitioning and becoming the person that I am today.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I specialize in Anime, kawaii, and neotrad style tattoos. I work with vivid colors on all skin tones. Like most artists, I also have my own curated art style that follows a bright color palette with original anime characters— some key characteristics of my art are big spikey eyelashes, sparkles, and lots of neons.

You’ll see a lot of pink, cyan, and neon green in my work. I’m proud to provide safe, good-quality tattooing and a queer-friendly atmosphere to my clients.

What matters most to you? Why?
It matters most to me that I can work inside of an industry to change it for the better and to help pave the way for more people to feel comfortable in tattoo shops that previously did not.

I want to continue to strive to provide the best quality of work possible to people who have felt they were not welcome in tattoo studios and show them that quality work is for everyone. I want to harbor safe spaces for my community and create room for people like myself in the industry.

Pricing:

• $200/hr for large-scale, multiple-session pieces.
• Flat rate pricing for single-session projects.

Contact Info:

• Website: Lunainks.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/lunainks
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553886114203&mibextid=LQQJ4d