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This Tattoo Artist Is Kind of Awful at Drawing, But People Are Loving Her 'Trash Tattoos' Anyway

This Tattoo Artist Is Kind of Awful at Drawing, But People Are Loving Her 'Trash Tattoos' Anyway
@Malfeitona/Instagram

It is kind of a dream to get paid for doing something you are not really great at.

And Instagram user @malfeitona is living all of our dreams.


@malfeitona, who, according to her profile, is from Salvador, Brazil, is a...

...different kind of tattoo artist.



She shares her story on Instagram as well as photos of her body artwork.


Her tattoos...don't exactly look like what their subjects should look like.

And it turns out that is their appeal.




But none the less, you can't deny that there is something really appealing about all of them.

According to her profile, this artist, Helen Fernandes tattoo shop is Malfeitona, in Salvador de Bahia.

Her specialty is "tatuagens peba", which literally translates into "trash tattoos."





Not even really sure what that last one was supposed to be, but go off.

"I started to draw because my parents were taking me to the church 3 times a week," she told Bored Panda.

"To keep me quiet, they would give me a pen and some paper. But I kept drawing because I liked it."

The drawings have certainly turned into a form of art that is unique.




Fernandes says she was "never into realism" which is why her drawings are the way that they are.

"Drawing was just something I really enjoyed doing. It made others happy and it made me happy. It still does."







Besides her tattoo parlor, Fernandes has a few other cool achievements under her belt.

"I never thought I could be an artist. By specialty, I'm a mechanical engineer. I got my degree in December 2016 and had been attending a post-graduate course on materials engineering at the Federal University of Bahia until last year."

After that, she says, she took on a research position more closely related to her job.

"[I] recently I switched to being a researcher, studying the relation between tattoo and Instagram. I am, however, interested in other fields as well. I'm also a digital influencer and I give art classes (mostly on "how to find your own style"), and work as an illustrator."




"Malfeitona" literally translates to "badly done."

Fernandes has built her brand on her specific niche of non-art art.

"When booking is open and I'm up for it, I can produce 30 a week, especially if I go to Sao Paulo (i live in Salvador but I do tours)."





Fernandes said:
"I think people like my style because of how cute and funny it is. But it's a number of things. People don't just like my designs, they also like my pictures, captions and stories on Instagram."
"Stories that explain my tattoos and help them relate to them. A tattoo is something very personal and I try to make the entire experience of getting it as nice as possible."
"I spend as much time on my customers as they need, we talk and develop ideas together. Also, I have a very clear political position and use social media to spread it. Brazil is currently in a very complicated political situation."

The election of Jair Bolsonaro, a very frightening far-right President, has Brazilians on edge.

Fernandes expresses her support of marginalized communities, such as the LGBTQ community. This is a direct statement against Bolsonaro himself.


So while her art may not be "good," her heart is in the right place.

We'll be following her as she continues.

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