Meet Lyn Collins | Tattoo Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lyn Collins and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lyn, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I have been drawing since I was five. My mom is a painter, so I was lucky to grow up in a house full of art supplies with a parent who encouraged my artistic side. However, with my mom being a painter, I had a very realistic idea of how hard it can be to make a career out of art. Art has always been my number one passion and hobby, as well as a source of catharsis. At the end of high school I had to make a choice between art or following a traditional route, and I ultimately decided to go to college and get a degree in Environmental Science. While I don’t exactly regret that decision, as it is a subject I am very passionate about and enjoyed studying, I ended up in a string of unrelated jobs trying to find something I could be happy in. I was a pharmacy technician, a veterinarian intern, a soil technician, a floodplain management specialist. I enjoyed what I learned from each job but found myself quickly burning out. My therapist at the time told me that my job didn’t HAVE to be my passion— it could just be a job, but what do you do when you are so drained outside of your 9-5 that you have no energy to pursue your passions? It felt like some kind of moral failing to not be able to tolerate these jobs that brought me no joy, and it took several years for me to be honest with myself about only being happy if I was making art. I draw a lot of inspiration from the natural world. When I was in high school, I wanted to be a scientific illustrator for textbooks. So I slowly built a portfolio based around flora and fauna, and eventually found the courage to pursue a tattoo apprenticeship. I had a strong interest in tattoos that began with nights in my late teens doing at home stick and pokes— this is a taboo to admit in Professional Tattoo World, but it’s true. It seemed like a pipe dream to get to do it professionally and when I was finally offered an apprenticeship, it was horrifying to leave my salaried desk job to essentially be an unpaid intern for an indeterminate amount of time. But, a year and some change after I started apprenticing, I am still here and have zero regrets. It was really the best decision I have ever made.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Learning to tattoo was way harder than I had anticipated. I’ve drawn all my life and when you watch a tattooer work, it’s easy to assume it’s similar to drawing. But the hand movement, speed, pressure, it’s all so different. I struggled with that a lot at first, because I’m so accustomed to the techniques I know work on paper. It is difficult in a literal sense because of this, but it’s even harder emotionally. There is a finality to every decision you make in the tattooing process. I used to crumble up and throw away a lot of art when I was unhappy with it. You can’t do that with your tattoos. You have to be very intentional with every needle stroke. You can’t rush. You can’t start over halfway through. You have to rock it out, and then it will be on display to strangers forever, and completely out of your control. That is a tough thing to grapple with, and one that artists with years of experience still grapple with at times.
It’s a double-edged sword. The more obsessive and passionate I get about tattooing, the more imposter syndrome I feel, the more I see places I want to improve, the more I fixate on my mistakes. I tell myself, “if I can recognize new mistakes and ways I want to improve, it’s because I’m learning. I’m not satisfied because now I’ve figured out a way to do it better.”
I’m only a year in but I take it very seriously. I want my clients to know I am going to deliver the best product I can. If I sound overly critical of myself, it’s because of my passion to improve in this trade with every piece I do. It’s awkward to talk about mistakes and imposter syndrome publicly, because you have to put on such a confident face in the job, but I’ve found my clientele gives me a lot of grace and appreciates the authenticity.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
North Florida nature is an underrated gem. I would take them to the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge in the Gulf Coast. It’s such a cool example of a transitional ecosystem. You start by driving through a pine forest, which slowly transitions into a coastal habitat. It’s completely flat and feels like it goes on forever. It’s an incredible place to watch the sunset. You’ll probably see some alligators. It’s so Florida. And it’s the inspiration for Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer, which is one of my favorite sci-fi series. We’d also have to hike Garden of Eden, which is fifty minutes outside Tallahassee and one of the biodiversity hot spots of the North American coastal plain. It’s got some shocking elevation changes that feel very not Florida, and it ends at a bluff overlooking the Apalachicola river.
We would go to Tally Cat Cafe— shameless plug because I work there part-time and design their merch. But cats and coffee, what more do you want? It’s a very queer friendly space which is important to highlight in the South.
We’re going to the Bark, a vegan restaurant where everything is good. They have a lot of small, DIY shows. Being a small city surrounded by not much else, we end up having a pretty active counterculture. There is some really cool stuff going on in this town beyond the Capitol and the university.
Maybe we’ll forage for wild mushrooms, maybe we’ll go to a queer warehouse rave. That’s the beautiful duality of Tallahassee I guess.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My friends and my partner are my support system. So many people cheered me on and pushed me to pursue tattooing for years. They listened to my deepest, most shameful feelings of self-doubt and pushed me anyway. When I needed some brave people to let me put the needle to real skin for the first time, they lined up without question. It takes a lot of trust and faith to agree to do that. A tattoo can change your life, no joke. And in the past year, while it’s been exhilarating and exciting and crazy, I have had more than a handful of bad days, when I felt like the biggest imposter and like I had no idea what I was doing— they were there every time. I don’t think I could do anything without community. I feel like I know some of the best people in the world.

Instagram: lyndoesart