Katherine Von Drachenberg

Katharine Von Drachenberg

Kat Von D. [short for Katharine Von Drachenberg] is my hero and role model. I look up to her in every way. She is talented, generous, beautiful, Independent and so much more. Katherine Von Drachenberg was born in Monterrey, Neuvo Leon, Mexico on March 8, 1982. Her first language is Spanish but she also speaks very fluent English. When she was 14 she got her first tattoo; it was a old English J for one of her young summer loves. When Kat was growing up her grandmother took a big part in teaching her about art and introducing her to piano. She began to listen to Beethoven and grew a great appreciation for him. Later on in 1996 her friends asked her to pick up a tattooing machine and work on them, she agreed to. The tattoo was a misfits skull using a homemade rig or tattoo machine. It was then that she realized her amazing talent.

Kat started out working in a tattoo shop with a couple of her friends; Chris Garver and Ami James. As their tattoo shop became more known it was aired on TV. It was called Miami Ink. After awhile Kat seemed to be having some troubles getting along with her co-workers, she decided to leave Miami Ink and pursue her own dreams of having a tattoo parlour. She now owns her own tattoo shop in Los Angles called "LA Ink."

She has worked very hard to get where she is now, persisting even when times got rough. When Kat was in high school she was a dropout. She doesn't really like to revisit this memory so not many people know anything about this part of her life.. Kat is very generous. For instance, on Dec, 14th 2007 Kat tattooed 400 people in 24 hours, charging 20$ dollars per person, and all the money went to the Vitamin Angels. This is an organization that raises money for kids in Africa with hearing problems. Kat ended up raising $8,000 which helped to save 32,000 children.

Katherine's artwork is amazing. It is the epitome of beauty. Her black and white portraits are striking. She can tattoo better than most artists can paint, and this is on a person's skin with a vibrating tattoo machine. Think of how much harder that would be! She truly is a remarkable artist. I have an appreciation for the amount of detail she puts in her work. When you see her tattooing someone, she gets very absorbed in her work and nothing distracts her. You can tell that she draws every line with complete dedication. When you see portraits that Kat has done, you can almost see that there is a story behind it. Just by looking at the way she does the shading and picks every detail, you can see that she makes every tattoo unique.

This is a tattoo done by Kat. (This is only scratching the surface of her amazing talent.)

I admire Kat's unique talent and dedication to her career. It would be an honour to meet her some day.