PHOTOS Hannah Aitchison joins Best Ink 2 as new judge

Best Ink 2 judge Hannah Aitchison

Tonight is the premiere of the second season of Oxygen’s immensely popular tattoo competition series Best Ink and in addition to the 12 new tattoo artists competing for the $100,000 grand prize, fans will also see a new face on the judges’ panel. Joining head judge Joe Capobianco and judge Sabina Kelley will be “distinguished pinup and portrait tattoo specialist” (and L.A. Ink veteran) Hannah Aitchison!

From Hannah’s Oxygen bio:

With nearly 16 years of tattooing experience, Hannah Aitchison is a world-renowned tattoo artist and educator who brings an academic voice to the judging panel as she joins the second season of Oxygen’s hit competition reality series Best Ink.

The Chicago-based tattoo artist is well known for her pinup designs, portraits, and vibrant color work. Her tattoos are so sought-after that she has up to a two-year waiting list. Beyond her work as a tattooist, Aitchison is a classically trained singer and expert knitter. She is also the sister of renowned tattoo artist Guy Aitchison.

Hannah Aitchison tattoos

For those wanting to know more about Hannah, here is a brief “about me” from her Facebook page followed by a lengthy Q&A with her. Mixed in are a number of photos, a couple of video interviews with Hannah, and at the very bottom are all the links for Hannah Aitchison’s Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, website, etc!

Hannah Aitchison specializes in bold, colorful, illustrative works including life-like portraits, pin-ups and classic Americana. She enjoys a technical challenge in the tattoos she creates. A single mom, Hannah worked two and three jobs while apprenticing just to support her daughter. When not tattooing or spending time with her daughter, Hannah enjoys painting, knitting, boxing and traveling.

Q&A with Hannah:

What is your favorite music?

It depends entirely on my mood, and whether I’m listening to it for myself or as background music for tattooing. I love rocking out to heavy stuff like the Melvins, Clutch, Motorhead, super heavy metal and old school punk rock — but I also love Billie Holiday, Al Green, instrumental stuff like God Is An Astronaut, Sigur Ros and even Serge Gainsbourg. Plus my mother is a flautist so I was raised on classical music, so I’m really passionate about that as well. I’m either well rounded or musically schizophrenic…

What is your favorite movie?

Again depends entirely on my mood – the original Star Wars Triology, Harry Potter, modern metaphysical films like Dark City or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, old noir stuff like Blue Dahlia, even old MGM World War II era musicals!

Tattoo artist Hannah Aitchison

What is the strangest tattoo you ever designed?

The oddest one I ever drew had to be a bucket of feces with chunks sitting in it, flies circling around it, a rose growing out of the top with the word “Mom” in script above it. It’s not actually as peculiar as it sounds – when pressed for an explanation, he told me that his mom had always said he was the only person she knew who could step into a bucket of shit, and still come out smelling like a rose. So ultimately it’s kind of sentimental, in a bizarre way…

What is your favorite tattoo on your body and what does it symbolize?

My favourite tends to change depending on where my head is at! Right now I love love love the Mucha-esque female face on my right forearm done by the wonderful Sabine Gaffron in Berlin.

What’s your horoscope sign?

I’m about as Sagittarius as they come!

What is the best vacation you ever took?

Berlin, November 2004. Lots of love and magic, Christmas market, historic art and architecture, gluhwein, the forbidden donut and one of my very favourite tattoos.

What are the 5 things in your life that you couldn’t live without?

1. My work!!!
2. My daughter
3. Culture – movies, books, music & art
4. Knowing I have great love in my life
5. Fogo de Chao

If you only had 1 meal left to eat, what would you choose?

See #5 above!!

Where are you from?

Ann Arbor, Michigan. A midwestern girl from the get-go.

When did you first start drawing and tattooing?

I’ve been drawing since my earliesst known memory. Each year as a child since I could hold a crayon, I got the Crayola box of 64 colours and unlimited drawing supplies. I was a lucky kid who received a lot of encouragement from my parents! I started tattooing a bit later than most, in my late 20s, since I was a single mom and prior to that had been focussed on what I thought were more stable, financially viable jobs. Duhh.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Different types of inspiration exists in virtually every aspect of my life – inspiration to achieve and do well in my work can be found every time I look at the unhappy faces of people plodding along on the way to jobs they obviously don’t enjoy doing, and I realise again how lucky I am to be doing what I love. Visual inspiration can be something as simple as a great combination of colours in the sky at sunset, or a cool book of Victorian engravings in the back of the Dover book store. And of course music… where would we be without it anyway? If anything, it would be difficult NOT to have these great moments of epiphany all the time. Hope that doesn’t sound too new-agey…

Hannah Aitchison Best Ink 2 new judge

Name some artists that inspire you.

Visual artists would include Alphonse Mucha, Arthur Rackham, Maxfield Parrish and great pinup artists like Vargas, Elvgren and McPherson. As far as tattooing goes, my heroes have been the great figurative artists like Joe Capobianco, Timothy Hoyer, Steve Moore, my coworker Tim Biedron from Chicago, my partner on the show Kim Saigh, and of course my brother for his insanely creative use of light and colour.

What’s the last book you read?

Fiction: re-read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Non-Fiction: The Devil in the White City

Is there a charity you’d like to get involved with?

Architectural preservation is interesting to me, but not exactly a charity. I’d love to do some art workshops for homeless kids… always wanted to bring art to children who don’t have access to art supplies. Does something like that exist?

What were your first thoughts when TLC approached you about being on LA INK?

It was difficult to accept that it was really happening! But once I managed to wrap my head around the idea, I couldn’t stop thinking about all the possibilites for the show. I was excited about being an ambassador for something I feel so passionate about!!

Is there anything else you’d like us to know about you?

I’m quite the accomplished knitter. And I’m a classically-trained singer who studied opera for two years. Really. Bottom line, I guess with so many things to try and do in this life I love to try a little bit of everything and just plain have fun with the ongoing learning process. Boredom is never an issue for me!!

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