Christy Brooker

By Christy Brooker: I started tattooing in 1999 fresh out of High School. I can't remember a time when I didn't draw. Some of my first memories are of my sister and I doodling in church. After twelve years of working in some of the best tattoo shops in Missoula, Montana and Seattle, Washington I decided it was time for me to open my own studio and do it my way.

In 2009 I opened Damask Tattoo llc. I've created a spa style environment with antique furniture, light colors and brightly lit private tattoo rooms. Damask is in a discrete office building on top of Queen Anne hill in Seattle, alongside a naturopath, acupuncturists and massage therapists. I've also become very involved in the tattoo community in Washington. As director of the Women's Tattoo Forum I plan events and host a yearly art show that features all women tattoo artist from around the country. I'm also Treasurer of the Washington Association of Body Artists and serve on the advisory board for the Washington State Department of Licensing's Body Art Department helping to write rules and bring new legislation to improve the standards in my field.

In addition to tattooing I paint in oils and acrylics and am taking classes to improve my skills in these mediums. I love learning new techniques, tricks and tools in all of my art forms and am constantly looking for more knowledge that I can implement in them. Stop by the website, take a look and and drop us a line!

1. Al Capone portrait - There's always an attraction to the bad boys for us. This client has a whole sleeve based on the romanticized 1920's gangster and we couldn't do it right without All Capone.

2. Art Nouveau poppies - I'm a big fan of the art nouveau
era and it comes up in my custom pieces quite often. I also like to use
the shape and flow of the body when I design tattoos. I use the flow of
the muscles so that the tattoo moves with the person rather than looking
like a sticker. I used solid fields of color rather than blending to give
the poppies more of an angular, printed look rather than a realistic look.

3. Betty Page pinup - How could we go wrong with Betty
Page. She looks like an exaggeration of a societal ideal without any Photoshoping
needed. I worked straight from a photo with no adjustments. This tattoo
is about fourteen inches tall and done on a dear friend of mine whom I
worked with when I first started tattooing back in Missoula, Montana.

4. Crying Girl - taken from a painting that the client
loved by Vincent Marcone and the title of the original piece is "Mary."
My client wrote me stating "I selected that particular image to deal
with the grief of losing my grandfather, and in my own way to honor his
memory."

5. Emma Goldman Portrait - a feminist and anarchist
in the early 1900's Goldman was an outspoken advocate for spreading illegal
information about birth control to women, freedom of speech and woman's
suffrage. She was an outstanding woman in general and worth reading about.
Researching people's ideas for tattoos has brought me so much knowledge
of things and people that I otherwise may never had known about. It's
very inspiring to learn about other people's hero's and they become my
new hero's when I research them.

6. Dogwood Flowers and bees - This is another Art nouveau
inspired custom drawn piece except the bees. The bees came from the beehive
collective. My client wrote me and said "I got the dogwoods just
because of my affinity for that particular plant. They feel sort of Pacific
Northwesty for me (I know they grow everywhere, but I associate them with
moving out here from Hawaii). I'm also a big fan of bees ... and bees
remind me of a friend who passed away. She always said she wanted to be
reincarnated as a bee."

7. Johnny Cash portrait - I adore Johnny Cash and was
working with a guy who did too. We decided that he should get a portrait
of him. We searched all over and landed on this image because of the deep
lines in his face. Rendering smooth skin on a portrait or pin up is great
but getting into the wrinkles and pock marks of old skin is really a challenge
that I love.

8. Keyhole Pinup - This piece was taken straight from
the painting by Gil Elvgren. One of the great pin up artists of the original
pin up era. I'm a pin up nerd and like to research the artists of that
time and differentiate their styles. My personal favorite is Rolf Armstrong
because his girls always look like they are uncontrollably giggling or
just got the best surprise in the world.

9. Nikola Tesla - Nikola Tesla is my hero. I was talking
about him one night with my boyfriend and it occurred to me that I wanted
to do a portrait of him as a tattoo on someone. I searched around and
fell in love with this photo. I posted it on MySpace and said "first
one to respond get's it for free". I had several responses and did
this tattoo on another tattoo artist's leg. Occasionally I'll decide that
I want to do a portrait of someone that I respect and admire and post
it one of the social networking sites like that. So far I've given away
this one, the Tom Waits, and a Mae West. I have a R.L. Burnside picture
up on MySpace that I want to do but no one has taken me up on that one
yet.

10. Octopus - This woman is a biologist and picked
the octopus as her tattoo because of how amazing and dynamic they are.
I'm a huge octopus fan as well so I did a bit of research and combined
a few pictures to get this guy. She made sure that I didn't forget the
valve like allot of people do when they draw octopus. We had allot of
fun with the texture and colors on him and she was absolutely thrilled
with it as was I.

11. Portrait of a Clients Mother - This was taken from
an old photo that the client had always loved of his mother. We wanted
to really showcase her so I added the frame around it. He didn't tell
his mom what he was doing but asked her to send the photo to him. When
we where done he traveled home and when he revealed it to her she cried.
She was so honored. I teared up a little too when he told me that.

12. Tom Waits portrait - I love Tom Waits and was inspired
one day to do a tattoo of him. I looked around at photos and landed on
this one. I feel like it shows his passion and has a great impact. I posted
it up on Facebook and offered it up to the first person who responded
for free. I couldn't have asked for better client to tattoo it on. She
travels to tattoo conventions all over the states and photographs for
a tattoo magazine and for herself. She won me an award for it before it
was even done. Obviously she loves Tom Waits as well and we really took
our time with this one to get it just right.

Contact Info

Christy Brooker

Damask Tattoo LLC

2206 Queen Anne Ave N. Suite 202

Seattle, WA 98109

206-257-0051