Given that I regularly profile so many different tattoo artists here on the Tattoo Blog, I just realized today – and found it quite surprising, actually – that I can’t remember the last time (if ever) that I’ve done a profile on an artist who more or less sticks to black and grey. To me, black and grey tattoo work is like black and white photography – it enriches the image and gives it a whole other worldly and highly unique texture. Naturally this only occurs when the art is done well, which is why a good artist becomes all the more memorable when they clearly have a strong command of the black and grey tattoo.
Amanda Ruby has not been tattooing for long. In fact, throughout the years while many tattooists were honing their skills in apprenticeships or as lowly scratchers in dingy basements, Ruby was working in advertising, her art typically gracing brochures and covers. She spent the first 21 years of her life in Zimbabwe before finally deciding to move to England. After bouncing from job to job for a while and really not finding the enjoyment from her art that all artists naturally crave, she ended up in Folkestone, working a rather unexpected apprenticeship at Squid Ink. Within 3 months of this apprenticeship, Amanda did her first portrait and the rest, as they say, is history. That was 2 and a half years ago. Not long ago at all and certainly not a long time to be tattooing for.
Regardless of the short length of time that Amanda Ruby has been tattooing for, her black and grey work is really nice stuff. In her own words, Amanda likes to mix pattern work with realism – a style she feels is genuinely her own and one which she hopes to continue to improve upon. She works with a constant eye on what can be improved, what works and what doesn’t and always seems to be thinking ahead in terms of getting better as a tattoo artist and providing the best work possible for her clients. Check out some of Amanda’s wonderful black and grey work and consider popping into Squid Ink if you’re ever in the Folkestone, Kent, England neck of the woods!