International Women's Day is meant to honor the strength and celebrate the achievements of women across the globe. Here at FK Irons, we are lucky to work with and feel compelled to recognize the bad ass female artists who produce memorable work using our devices.
These talented women are our industry’s dominatrix, solidifying the fact that women can kick as much ass in the tattoo industry as any man can. In a male dominated space where women make up of only 25% of the tattoo industry, it is important to highlight those who have broken barriers and inspire dedication through their work.
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Ryan Ashley Malarkey (DiCristina)
Making industry history, Ryan Ashley Malarkey was the first female artist to win Season 8 of Ink Master, and the winning piece was a 90’s New School, hot rod piece.
With a background in fashion, Malarkey uses her fashionista artistic skills to produce unique, ornamental designs and is known for her intricate black and gray pieces, along with her jewelry and lace-like skin art. Implementing her fashion skills into the tattoo space, she found herself tattooing black and gray, realism, illustrative and more within her work.
After her win on Ink Master, Malarkey spent some time co-hosting Ink Master Angels, judged on Paramount Network’s Ink Master Grudge Match and is now tattooing at Elysium Studios in Grand Junction, Colorado.
Here are a few of her pieces and more can be found @ryanashleymalarkey on Instagram.
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Lainey Bee
Specializing in full-color realism - with a slight painterly twist - Bee is a Dutch artist who works out of her shop, Custom Cult and Flow Ink Studio in the Netherlands, where she was raised.
After recovering from an illness that kept her away from her work as a Project Manager for a boarding school and juvenile prison for several months, Bee found herself well enough to return to work, now as a shop manager and piercer. This ultimately led to a spark in creativity she once had as a child and was the start of her tattooing career.
Over the years, Bee has developed her unique style and has a variety of memorable pieces that we’d like to share.
You can find more of her work @tattoosbylaineybee on Instagram.
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Tatu Baby
Making her debut on season 2 of Ink Master, Tatu Baby, aka Katherine Flores, is one of America’s favorite tattoo queens, specializing in realism and absolutely killing the game.
Born to Colombian parents, Tatu Baby hails from Queens, NY, and moved to Miami, FL, with her family at the age of 6. It wasn’t until she was 14 that her mother decided that the two should get matching tattoos. Upon entering the shop, Tatu Baby found inspiration and a passion for tattooing, starting her professional career at the age of just 19.
Now Tatu Baby runs her own shop, Til The End Tattoos, in Miami, FL. When she’s not in the 305 tattooing clients, she’s traveling across the globe creating memorable pieces for her international clients.
You can find more of her work @tatubaby on Instagram.
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Debora Cherrys
Founder of La Mujer Barbuda, in Madrid, Spain, Debora Cherrys creates beautiful Neo-Traditional style pieces, and her favorite subjects are women. Drawing inspiration from powerful mystic women like witches or goddesses, and even mythology themes, Cherrys honors the female figure.
Originally an interior designer, Cherrys found herself tattooing when her husband, who’s also an artist, recommended she expand her creativity and try out the tattoo world. During that time, she found inspiration for what would become her tattoo style from artists like Emily Rose, Alix Ge, and more.
Using clean compositions, Cherrys creates simple line work with colors and emphasizes her beliefs that “less is more” with her pieces. You can find her sketch work in her e-book, My Girls, where she showcases how she prepares for her designs.
Check out some of our hand-selected highlights and find more of her work via @deboracherrys on Instagram.
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Daria Pirojenko
Working out of Russia, Daria Pirojenko started tattooing in 2013 and has an ever-changing, unique style of color realism that incorporates graffiti, watercolors and so much more.
She found herself in the industry not long after she began spending time around an inked crowd, some of whom happen to be artists. Helping her friends with sketches, she realized she could tattoo as well.
Loving to experiment with other elements, Pirjoenko has no set style and pushes herself each day to improve her work, ultimately creating pieces her clients will love. Finding inspiration in a variety of spaces, you can see, first-hand, how her work has evolved.
These are just some of her designs, and if you’d like to see more you can find @pirojenko_tattoo on Instagram.
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Reese Hilburn
An award-winning artist who’s well-known for her abstract realism style by using monochrome and color palates. Tattooing out of her private shop in San Diego, California, Reese Hilburn loves to design playful realism works with bright, bold colors.
When she’s not tattooing, she’s teaching artists across the globe about what it takes to be successful in this industry. Utilizing social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, Hilburn has become somewhat of a tattoo marketing guru.
Always eager to learn, she loves to take part in a variety of seminars and classes to improve and hone her skills. You can see her ever-growing imagination within her work and can find more @theartofreese on Instagram.
