VALENTINA RIABOVA

With over half a million followers, Valentina Riabova is one of the most sought-after artists in Germany. However, if you asked her, she would tell you that she isn’t driven by the goal to become world-famous or make as much money as possible. Instead, this color realism artist is continuously inspired to perfect her talents as a tattooer using the training she developed as a fine artist. We sat down to learn this everevolving artist’s perspective on developing a signature style, tattooing a self portrait and where she finds inspiration for her coveted horror designs.

When did you To be honest, I wasn’t always interested in tattoo culture and at the time I started, I only had a couple tattoos. But, I’ve always drawn, painted and studied art. One day towards the end of 2012, I realized that tattoos were a kind of art, but very few built something artistically. They were mostly copies of pictures. I thought to myself that it was possible to make my art look good on skin because you can build the image on any canvas. I can’t say that I was inspired to start tattooing by someone in the industry, because I barely knew anyone in the first year of my tattooing attempts. But I was inspired by my painting teachers and the classical artists of the past.