The Tattoo Chronicles

About the book

Kat Von D's followup to her "New York Times" bestseller "High Voltage Tattoo" offers an intimate look at a pivotal year in her personal and professional life through an illustrated diary that begins in spring 2008 and ends in summer 2009. When Kat does a tattoo, she writes about it and draws sketches in a journal, creating an entry for each piece. She has hundreds of ledgers of these entries in her own writing which reflect not only upon the significance of the tattoo for the person who is receiving it (their story), but also how the experience of creating this tattoo affects her personally. In these entries - some poignant, some hilarious, some serious - she lays it on the line about how doing these tattoos affects her life and her art. Here are the highs and the lows, the good, bad, and the ugly - including her feelings about her fame, her family, her boyfriend (Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue), her friends, and fans. Visually stunning, this graphically compelling diary is jam-packed with tons of Kat's sketches, candid photographs, images of a variety of amazing finished tattoos and her many unusual personal collections - all shot by Kat herself. Fans will love the array of clients featured here, including Metallica's Kirk Hammett, guitarist Dave Navarro, and Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister, as much as they will love seeing new photographs of Kat that were taken specifically for the book. Here's the real Kat Von D - unscripted and uncensored - and her fans are going to go wild for it.

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Kat von D Biography

Katherine von Drachenberg (born March 8, 1982), known professionally as Kat Von D, is an American tattoo artist, model, entrepreneur and recording artist. She is best known for her work as a tattoo artist on the TLC reality television show LA Ink, which premiered in the United States on August 7, 2007, and ran for four seasons. She is also known for being the former head of Kat Von D Beauty (renamed KVD Vegan Beauty). In May 2021, Kat Von D released her first single "Exorcism" from her album Love Made Me Do It.

Early life

Katherine von Drachenberg was born in Montemorelos, Nuevo León, Mexico. Her parents, René and Sylvia, both of whom were missionaries for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, were born in Argentina, and are respectively of German, Italian, Spanish, and Indigenous descent. Von D has a sister, Karoline and a brother, Michael. She moved with her family to the Inland Empire at age four and grew up in Colton, California. Von D was classically trained in piano beginning at age six.Von D credits her grandmother, Clara von Drachenberg, as an inspiration for her in music and art, and the culture of San Bernardino County as a major influence on her tattoo art and style. She began listening to the Ramones, Misfits, and other punk rock bands at the age of 12. She got her first tattoo at 14 and quit school at 16 to become a tattoo artist.When she was 15, Von D was sent to Provo Canyon School for six months, where she says she suffered abuse. Provo Canyon School is the same boarding school that Paris Hilton attended; Hilton has also alleged that she was abused while attending this school.

Career

Von D appeared in two seasons of Miami Ink, the reality TV show taped at 305 Ink in Miami for the cable network TLC. She was offered the place on the show after fellow artist Darren Brass broke his elbow, preventing him from tattooing. While on the show, she had a falling out with Ami James, which led to her decision to leave the shop and the show.She subsequently acquired her own TLC series, LA Ink, which chronicled her work at her tattoo shop, High Voltage Tattoo, in Hollywood, California. On the show, she broke the Guinness World Record of most tattoos given by a single person in 24 hours, with a total of 400. Accomplished in December 2007, it involved a Von D-designed logo for the city of Los Angeles, with proceeds going to the children's-blindness charity Vitamin Angels. LA Ink ran four seasons, ending September 15, 2011; TLC announced the cancellation on August 18, 2011. Von D has publicly said that the cancellation was because she chose not to continue doing the show.Her first book, High Voltage Tattoo, compiling her artworks and tattoos, with a foreword by Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx, was released in January 2009 and reached #6 on The New York Times Best Seller list. Von D described the book as "not an autobiography, you know, 'cause I'm too young to do that. But this is just kind of like a picture-driven outline of my career ... Read full biography