Tattoo Artist of the Week Jinx

We’re proud to bring you Tanya Rothfusz, better know and Jinx, as our featured Tattoo Artist of the Week. Working out of Fallen Heroes in Parkhurst, Johannesburg – Jinx has created some of the best detailed tattoos we have seen. Her focus on realism and producing the best possible tattoos shows through her work, which is nothing less than amazing!

Name: Tanya Rothfusz
Nickname: Jinx
Age: 25
Hometown: Johannesburg
Shop: Fallen heroes
Years tattooing: 2yrs
Tattoo style: Focusing on realism, but I enjoy getting into other styles.
Hourly rate: R900-00

“I think realism is my strongest style, and where my passion lies, whether it’s colour or black and grey. I love tattooing”

Welcome to the pages of LW Mag. How do you feel being featured as our Tattoo Artist of the Week?
As a featured artist for LW Mag I’m very grateful for the opportunity and the chance to exhibit a bit of my work, and for people to get to know a bit about me.

Tattoo Artists are “usually” covered in tattoos but you on the other hand are not. How many tattoos do you actually have and do you ever plane on getting “covered”?
As an artist, large scale tattoos appeal to me the most, most of my tattoos are incorporated into each other to work as one continuous piece of art, so if I had to break them up as separate tattoos I have 10 pieces.
As for the future, I want to eventually work my way to being tattooed quite heavily.

Tell us your story about getting into the industry and becoming a full time tattoo artist?
My passion has always been centered around the creative field. I got my first tattoo in high school and then began my fascination with the art of tattooing. To me tattooing is the purest form of art, as you have one chance to get it right, and there are no erasers at the back of your machine. After high school I got my degree in fashion, all the while looking for an apprenticeship. I knew fashion was not the sole direction I wanted to be heading, eventually the persistence paid off, I started an apprenticeship and so started my journey in the tattoo industry.

How did the nickname, Jinx, come about?
My nickname was given to me by the artists at the first shop I worked in as an apprentice, it became the joke of the shop as I was never a clumsy person until I started there, everything I touched broke. The artists always commented that I was jinxed, granting me the name Jinx.

How would you explain yourself as an artist?
As an artist I feel my strengths lie in attention to detail, I have a strong appreciation of fine detail and photo realism and apply these principals to my tattooing. I’m also getting into oil painting, it’s a new challenge for me but I’m loving trying new things and gaining skills in other mediums. As long as I’m learning and challenging myself I’m content with where my art is taking me.

Working out of the awesome Fallen Heroes shop, what is the vibe like in the shop and between colleagues?
Every artist in the shop is really talented and driven, there is always a rad tattoo being done which makes me want to better my art every day. Working at Fallen Heroes doesn’t feel like work to me, I look forward to coming into the shop and spending time with the FH family, we have a blast all the time and the energy is great. Surprisingly, with the amount of people working out of FH we all get along really well.

What goes through your mind while you are working on a client?
Am I ready for this? [laughs]. It differs for each tattoo I’m doing. I believe in giving every tattoo and client the respect they/ it deserve/s.

What type of tattoos do you enjoy doing which suit your style the most?
I think realism is my strongest style, and where my passion lies, whether it’s colour or black and grey. I love tattooing .

Your ultimate tattoo. What image comes to mind?
Wow. There are so many ideas that come to mind so it’s hard to narrow it down to one thing, but it would be colourful.

Which local and international artists do you think are the best in their field?
Tattooing has exploded so much that there are loads of crazy talented artists out there , local and international. Exceeding our expectations all the time. Locally, I’m a big fan of the work of the artists at the Black Lodge, and I see great work coming from my peers at FH. Internationally, Paul Acker, Nikko Hurtado, Randy Engelhard, Moni Marino are all artists I greatly respect and steal from with my eyes.

If you could guest appear in any shop in the world, which would it be and why?
Black Anchor Collective tattoo studio. Nikko Hurtado is a legend in the industry, taking tattooing to a whole new level.

Where would you like to see your tattoo career take you?
I would love to travel and be involved in international conventions, working with amazing artists around the world. All I want from this career is to create rad pieces of art and to make sure every tattoo is better than my last, striving to exceed my own expectations as I grow in the field.

Name some of your pet peeves when it come to clients?
As artists I’m sure we all get the clients that don’t look after their new tattoos, giving us the explanation “I just don’t know what happened?!”

What does a day in the life of Jinx consist of?
Too many things!

For anyone wanting to get tattooed by you, what is the next step?
You can contact me directly:
tanya.rothfusz@yahoo.com
Instagram- jinxtattooartist
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