Drawing since
before I could
write.
Hi, I'm Emma! I'm a fine line and illustrative tattoo artist at Dear Vincent Studio in Port Credit, Mississauga, and I work with lovely people from all over Toronto and the GTA.
There's a stack of sketchbooks at my parents' house that starts when I was about four and never really stops. Most of the early ones are anime characters copied badly off a paused TV, then anime characters copied a bit better, then my own characters, and then somewhere around fifteen I figured out that the thing I actually loved was the line itself. Not the colour, not the story. Just the line.
Tattooing came later, and it happened because a friend asked. I'd been drawing designs for people for years and somehow never once thought about who was putting them on skin. Then someone said "why aren't you doing this yourself?" and I had absolutely no answer. So I bought practice skin, found a mentor, and spent a genuinely embarrassing number of evenings tattooing fake forearms at my kitchen table with a playlist on repeat.
I'm early in this career and I'd much rather say that out loud than pretend otherwise. What it means in practice is that I over-prepare, in the best way. I draw more versions than I need to. I test my shading on practice skin before it goes anywhere near a person. And I'll always tell you honestly if a design won't age well at the size you want, because I'd genuinely rather lose the booking than put something on you that looks tired in five years.
The work I love most is fine line and illustrative. Botanicals, characters, script, tiny detailed things that reward standing a bit closer. And if you've got a really specific idea that you're worried is too weird or too nerdy, that is exactly the message I want to find in my inbox. Please send it.
Always custom
Your piece gets drawn just for you
Private studio
Appointment only, nice and calm
Free consult
Fifteen minutes, zero pressure
Touch-ups on me
Free within six months
Ask me about
any of these
at your peril.
Things I will happily talk your ear off about if you give me the tiniest opening:
How she
got here.
My first sketchbook. Mostly anime characters, mostly traced.
Started designing tattoos for friends without actually tattooing them.
Bought practice skin and a machine. The kitchen table era begins.
Found a mentor, started apprenticing, and took my very first paid client.
Joined the lovely team at Dear Vincent Studio in Port Credit.
Books are open and I'm building this portfolio one piece at a time.
What she works in
What people say
afterwards.
8 reviews · Google & Instagram
“I sent Emma a chaotic mood board and a paragraph about poisonous plants and she came back with something better than what was in my head. She redrew the whole thing freehand on my arm when the first stencil didn't sit right, which must have cost her forty minutes she wasn't charging me for. Three sessions and she never once made me feel rushed.”
“My oma's handwriting from a letter she sent in 1998. Emma spent longer redrawing it than she did tattooing it, and explained exactly why, which is that the original strokes were too thin to last on skin. It still looks like her handwriting. I didn't expect to cry in a tattoo chair but here we are.”
Daan V.
Mississauga · Handwriting memorial · Google
“I study moths. I was fully prepared to be annoyed about the wing venation being wrong. It is not wrong. She asked me for reference plates and actually read them. Sternum is brutal and she stopped every time I needed her to.”
Ren M.
Toronto · Luna moth sternum · Instagram
“Emma was the only artist who told me straight that a true fine line cover of my old anchor wasn't possible without laser first. Every other consult just said yes. She showed me exactly what the compromise would look like and then absolutely nailed it. Honesty at the consult is worth more than anything.”
Marcus T.
Etobicoke · Cover-up · Google
“Fifteen inches straight down my spine and it is dead straight. She spent close to an hour just on placement, checking it standing, sitting and lying down. That's the part you're actually paying for.”
Alina S.
Oakville · Spine piece · Google
“I asked for a D&D dungeon map and she modelled it on a 3D cylinder so the grid would look square once it wrapped around my arm. Nobody asked her to do that. Absolute nerd. Highest possible compliment.”
Sam R.
Mississauga · Illustrative forearm · Instagram
“First tattoo and I was genuinely terrified. Emma walked me through every single step before it happened, including what it would feel like, and checked in constantly. The studio is private so there's no audience, which mattered to me way more than I expected.”
Jess H.
Toronto · First tattoo · Google
My books are open
Let’s bring your
dream piece
to life.
Send me your idea, even if it's only half an idea. I get back to everyone within about 2 business days, promise!
Dear Vincent Studio · Port Credit, Mississauga