Degenerate Team
Let us introduce you to the incredible team that keep Degenerate Art ticking day to day and the faces behind the Art.
Before we do that lets give you a brief history of the studio and the philosophy we believe in.
Degenerate Art was formed by Kristian Jeffrey and Katie Leedham in the summer of 2014. The Studio went from strength to strength year on year becoming the largest, most established studio in Staffordshire and the Midlands. The Studio was later passed on and sold in December of 2021 to one of the studio Artists James Randall and his Wife Victoria Randall. The Studio continues to grow with 7 established award winning Artists and an Art Gallery on the Bottom floor.
The Philosophy of Degenerate Art is and always will be to provide the most relaxed and luxurious experience to our clients as well as incredible Art and Tattoos of course. We provide the best space, the best service and the highest quality Artists in their craft.
Artist/Owner
James has been tattooing for 3 and a half years. James had a vast portfolio of portraits before he started tattooing at age 23. This laid the foundations to a seamless transition to portraiture in tattooing.
James's style has vastly developed over the past 15 months to more colour realism/surrealism work which was inspired by experimentation in oil painting.
James started working at Degenerate Art at the end of 2019. Since then James's work has developed on all fronts which has led to him being invited to some of the biggest tattoo conventions in the world. As well as a feature in Global Tattoo magazine.
2 years on James and partner Victoria went on to take ownership of Degenerate Art, in which many thanks were given to Kristian Jeffrey and Katie Leedham for the foundations that were laid.
James Randall
Victoria Randall
The Real Boss
Behind a great business is a great mind, Victoria helps with all the behind the scenes work at the studio, all the work that not many people see but are vital to maintaining a successful business.
From designing T-Shirts, to helping create a new refreshing image for the studio, Victoria will continue to maintain and produce new material to keep up with a stylish and modern look.
Michael Rigg
Daniel Tomkinson
Experienced Resident Artist
Mike is our longest serving artist, with over 15 years in the field.
With such a vast range of experience in all areas of tattooing, Mike can produce work for most styles.
Mikes preferred styles are bio-mechanical, realism and larger scale work.
He has been here at degenerate art for around 4 years and counting!
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Black and Grey Resident Artist
Dan has been tattooing for around 4 and a half years. Dan's portfolio consists of many black and grey portraits, realistic images and animals.
Dan's art experience stems from the surrealistic drawings he did in college and previous experience from high-school.
Dan started his tattoo career in Stafford, where he did around a year before moving onto his next studio. He specialised in line-work and script in his apprenticeship and then slowly moved towards realism.
Emily O'Sullivan
Resident Artist
Emily joined the studio in 2021, after doing fine art at university she then went onto tattooing in which she has. 4 years + experience. Emily has expertise in several different areas, some of which included dot work and line work/illustrative pieces.
Her passion remains in more illustrative work and a sketched style of tattooing.
Clair Willet
Resident Artist
Character Specialist - Resident Artist
Clair started work at Degenerate Art early 2022, with her amazing talent and unique style she fit right in!
Clair loves more colourful and fun tattoos, with influence from things like Kawaii, Anime, Disney, Pokemon, Cartoons, Gaming, Popculture and anything cute.
Clair prefers bolder colours, or sketch style linework with watercolour.
With a very solid past of Art, Clair has studied many different medians some of which include painting and sculpting.
Brandon Archer
Resident Artist
Brandon has been tattooing since 2019 and loves any form of realism. He loves putting all the detail he can into his pieces and enjoys doing crossovers of different styles, from colour cartoon imagery to realism.
One thing Brandon does love is a good coverup, he will try lots of different techniques to get rid of old tattoos that people cant stand to see the sight of anymore!
Andy Hickenbottom
Resident Artist
Andy has joined the team in 2022, he has been tattooing for more than 7 years and started out as Kristian Jeffries apprentice.
He has drawn since a young age and is a good all rounder with tendencies towards pop culture style tattoos, this includes gaming, comic book style tattoos, manga and anime.
Chris Hart
STUDIO MANAGER/APPRENTICE
Chris has been with us now since 2020, he has spent his time managing the artists diaries and making sure the studio runs efficiently.
During his time here, he has learnt from the artists all about tattooing, and all the other elements that come with it.
Whilst practicing his drawing he has built a portfolio of drawings and started to learn how to tattoo along side being the studio manager.
If there's someone you'd want a cup of tea off, its this guy.
Mel Gaye
Tattoo Apprentice
Mel started with us in 2022, she is the latest apprentice and has been drawing from a young age.
She attended college to do fine art and since leaving has created a portfolio of her work online and offline.
Current tea making ranking - 2nd place.
Josh Hawkins
Body Piercer
Josh started piercing in 2019 after a lifetime interest in body art. He works with some of the worlds finest body jewellery companies and loves working with different styles of jewellery to create unique and cohesive styles. Josh regularly keeps up to date with the latest techniques and safety practises and takes continuing education very seriously, travelling all over the world to learn from his peers. So, whether its small and dainty gold or large gauge piercing work that you're after, Josh is more than capable of looking after you and your needs.