Portrait of a tattoo artist: Mizu's Ink

Hello! Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions! Can you introduce yourself to our readers?

Hello and thank you for this invitation!

I'm known by the pseudonym "Mizu", I'm the manager of Mizu's Ink, a company known mainly for tattoo activity.
I express my art through other media, being primarily an illustrator. I also sometimes take logo commissions for small businesses. Finally, I sometimes take the time to test my skills in photography, and recently in sculpture.

What has been your journey in tattooing? (studies, career change, apprenticeship, self-taught, relocations, ...)

I studied graphic arts and visual communication, first at ESAAT in Roubaix, in secondary and then in higher education, and I continued my studies in Namur at the Haute Ecole Albert Jaquard. I first did a year specializing in Video Games, then I switched to the Illustration option, as 3D digital was frankly not my forte.
I was initially destined for character design and concept art, but over the course of internships, I ended up changing my mind and turned towards tattooing. The process took me time, I needed to have enough confidence in myself to say that I was capable of inking people without the possibility of going back, and finally I was lucky enough to meet a tattoo artist who told me he had the same phobia of blood as me, which basically removed the last psychological barrier.

I moved to Brussels after finding an apprenticeship to start tattooing. Once I had honed my skills and built a loyal clientele, I started working alone, privately. After 10 years in the flat country, I had to return to live in the Lille region, in March 2020. It was the best time in the world to relaunch a tattoo business, wasn't it? Yeah...

Can you tell us about your preferred style, which is easily identifiable, and your influences, both graphic and musical?

I'm identified with my style that combines my influences from Japonisme, Art Nouveau, Symbolism, Gothic art...
There's a term I learned in school that sums up very well what I'm trying to express: The images of the floating world.
It's the translation of Ukiyo-e, the Japanese artistic movement of the Edo period. It's a bit as if I was trying, through my means, to transcribe my parallel world which would be a sort of patchwork of divine, ethereal, sometimes epic visions.

Music has a very big importance in my life, and it inevitably has consequences on my art. Not with everything I listen to, obviously. I must say that I have very eclectic musical tastes. Ask my clients, it can go in all directions haha! 

I listen to a lot of extreme Metal, that's where I have the most knowledge, but if it's violent it will just affect my recreational plan and not my creative one.
I could obviously produce darker things but I think I would need to be commissioned for that, it wouldn't come from me naturally.
So, the music that has a real impact on my production are projects that have the same desire as me ultimately, but instead of expressing themselves visually, they express themselves through music. I'm thinking especially of Alcest and Midnight Odyssey. I can also be influenced by classical music. Music that really allows you to detach from our world, in summary.

During this period when tattoo parlors are closed, how are you currently spending your time?

I sleep! Hahaha...
In truth, I'd like to be a bit more active on my professional and personal projects, but when morale is low, it's difficult.
I do some flash designs when the mood strikes, I have some client projects but I don't like to draw my designs too far in advance because I prefer the design to still be fresh in my mind when I tattoo. It avoids moments of confusion like "oh no, what was this line here again, the tracing paper is half erased...".
I have a logo commission, I've finally seriously started modeling, and that's basically what it comes down to right now.

You have already used Distrolution Merch for merchandising and/or communication materials. Can you talk about your experience with us and the reason why you make merch?

Yes, do you remember the time when there were fairs and other conventions? There you go... haha!
Basically, it was obviously a desire I had, as an illustrator, to produce prints and t-shirts, and conventions were the best place to promote and sell them. In the end, all of this stayed at home, I sold a few which made some clients happy. They are so happy with the t-shirts that they ask me for new ones!

Because we have quite a few musician readers here, do you play an instrument, do you have a band or a background in music?

I can't say I play an instrument yet, no. I bought a bass last year, I had started to practice and let's say a difficult event made me drop the learning. Since then, I've been trying to find the energy to take it up seriously again along with my other activities, but it's difficult, I'm mentally tired.

What is your ideal playlist for working?

I have a miscellaneous playlist #2 that I like to put on when I tattoo, in which I've banned all the aggressive sounds that can be found in my miscellaneous playlist #1 haha!
Whether it's for clients who don't appreciate it, or for me if I need something calm for my concentration. There's a lot of stuff in there, pop, electro, rock, shoegaze, rap... Everything that's cool and not too scary!
If I'm working solo on a drawing, during the creative process phase, I need a playlist with long tracks. If I listen to things that are too structured, it will break my trance.

To conclude this interview, can we talk about your (future) projects?

It's still too early to communicate about my future projects because they haven't even reached the prototype stage yet, whether in sculpture or other areas... I will obviously not fail to communicate things on my networks, so don't hesitate to follow me on Instagram, Facebook and regularly on live sketch on Twitch: @lencredemizu