Hilary Jane: The Journey and Experience of going from Full-Time Tattooer to Multi-Disciplinary Artist
- 11 hours ago
- 9 min read
Tattoo News has had the pleasure of chatting with the very talented Hilary Jane! Hilary spent her early artistic career as a successful tattooer, but has gone through many different creative avenues and experiences and now currently works as an entrepreneur, intuitive consultant, and renowned designer/brand owner of Hilary Jane Home residing in Montréal, Canada!
You can learn more about Hilary through her lecture at McGill University Faculty of Architecture!
Tell us a little about your early start as an artist! How did you get into art and what sort of goals did you have with it?
You’re going to roll your eyes when I say this but, I never intended to become a tattoo artist. That being said, you’ll see how this journey is a perfect example of destiny unfolding.
When I was 15 years old in 2005, I was gearing up for a career in costume design and illustration.
While I was into historical fashion and art, I was also interested in body modification, goth and punk subcultures. During class I was drawing tattoo flash and giving myself fake tattoos with sharpies. Then I think one of my parents’ encouraged me to sell some of the flash to tattoo shops. So as my mom and I were driving by a shop one evening, I was pulled to stop at this particular studio not far from my house. I remember walking into the smell of dettol and alcohol, mixed in with the fact that this might be the ultimate playground for creativity. It was enticing, but like I said before, it never was my intention to become a tattoo artist. I didn’t even think it was possible.
I went in and the owner saw that I had my fake tattoo sleeve. It was an amalgamation of lady heads, nautical stars and leopard print and all that stuff, but all neatly coloured in with bold colors. He checked out my flash and then asked me to come back the next week with my portfolio. So as requested, I came back the next week and out of nowhere—I’m a little slow—he asked me if I wanted to be his apprentice.
I said yes.
As someone who has gone through multiple artistic mediums, we are curious to know; What was your style like when you first started tattooing?
At the beginning of my career there was quite a disconnect between what I was drawing and my tattoo style. While I was drawing colourful illustrations of women, I was tattooing black and grey realism, portraits and roses and such. But I felt pressured to commit to that style because it was working well, and to be honest, needing validation, as you’ll understand it, is a life theme of mine. At the same time, I was licensing art to clothing companies, for festival posters and album covers so there were opportunities there for pursuing my “other style”. But I continued, uninspired and slightly frustrated, until I hit a point where I was like I can't do this anymore.
So I took a risk and went into a more colourful neo-traditional direction. Then as creative alignment naturally progressed, I started getting invited to do guest spots around the world and started gaining recognition. I truly believe that when you do what you love, opportunities start appearing more frequently.
Upon following your journey, we have often heard your style described as "Organic Psychedelia" and have heard you have gone through a "Spiritual Awakening" of sorts. Could you tell us more about this?
There came a point when I had what I guess you would call a “spiritual awakening”. Around this time, I began having very strange encounters with animals and experiencing precognitive dreams, like predicting births and deaths. At one point, for weeks on end, I was seeing eagles everywhere for example. As I was entering my friend’s car, I noticed she had a blanket laid out on the seat that had an eagle on it, so I told her about my eagle situation. As we were driving on the highway, a bald headed eagle swooped down right beside my window. I remember her turning around and calling me a witch. Haha.
So I’ve had many, many encounters like this. It really opened my perspective to the nature of reality, and my work started serving as a bridge between multiple realms. This relationship unfolded within my art which I now call “Organic Psychedelia”. It's a mix between visionary art and botanical art.
It also serves as a placeholder for energetic blueprints, especially through my depiction of women. Whether you see yourself in them or want to step into their energy, they also serve that purpose. They are mirrors and blueprints to experience and manifest from. A lot of people have come to me to tell me how deeply they feel their energy and inspired them to step into empowerment.
So this new way of understanding my life completely shifted the narrative as to what I was meant to be expressing, something that had more depth and meaning.
What are some of the brands you have collorborated with over your artistic career?
As the connection to myself deepened and alignment with what I was meant to be doing progressed, opportunities also became more available. In 2015, I was contacted by Lizzie Armanto, a professional skateboarder, to design her first pro-board with Birdhouse, Tony Hawk’s company. Then, some years later, I was approached by Arbor Collective to license work for a series of skateboards and snowboards. This continued with clothing companies and publishers.
We understand you went through a bit of a "burn-out" period so to speak; What sort of challenges have you had to face and how did that change your path?
At this point in time I was licensing work to companies, creating art that I loved, and was attaining new heights in my career. However, I had been battling with health issues for over ten years, which I thought were related to Lyme Disease. Moreover, I was struggling with showing up consistently due to my Autism and ADHD. So I began reducing my hours, from working full time to part time, to three times a week to twice, so on and so forth. And the demands created a pressure I found difficult to escape, so I kept saying yes when my body was screaming no.
I had dealt with shorter-lived burn outs that would resolve themselves with a vacation, but unknown to me, this one was going to end up being a permanent setback.
In 2020, I made the decision to at least leave the shop I’d been in for seven years so I could work in an environment better suited for my needs. I always needed at least an hour after work to lie down before walking home which was only three blocks away. I decided that a space where I could regulate the music and dim the lighting so I could avoid having more migraines was essential for my continuation as a tattooer. And just generally, a quieter space for my clients and I was more in tune with the experience I wanted to deliver.
So while I made the move home, I was happier but I still felt like I needed some novelty so I started my sustainable homewares brand, Hilary Jane Home.
How did you come to create Hilary Jane Home? What inspired you to venture such a project and what sorts of challenges/experiences did you have transitioning from a tattooer to a 3-D artist?
The idea with Hilary Jane Home was to add a new dimension to my work, and apply tattoo designs to surface patterns which would then turn into fabrics and wallpapers and pillows. Being just as passionate about interior design, I felt like it was a natural progression to take.
My business model was to be as sustainable and ethical as possible, have products be made-to-order to reduce over production, and produced using sustainable fabrics such as organic hemp cotton and hemp paper. In my opinion, these incentives to being more mindful of consumption are pretty undeveloped in the industry. Growing up literally at the foot of one of the largest protected land trusts in Quebec—where my family fought against clear cutting—I told myself that if I were to create anything new it would have to be pretty well thought out or I wouldn’t do it.
It is still in its infancy, so I am still in charge of every aspect of the business though. I direct the collections, design, draw, do the photoshoots, create the mockups, source manufacturers, do branding, marketing, communications, social media, partnerships, design catalogs, price lists, wholesale orders. I built my own webstore, I update and run it, make some of the products myself, print all the prints in house and deal with shipping and handling. All while dealing with chronic health issues, Autism etc.
But I continued in this manner until last year. Then back to back, I hit my last burnout with tattooing and my first burnout with my brand. So I quit tattooing indefinitely, and took a sabbatical from Hilary Jane Home to become a mentor and intuitive guide for creatives. And Hilary Jane Home is still on break at the moment as I figure out my next steps.
How did you come to process your decision in quitting tattooing?
The process of arriving at this difficult decision was marked by intense inner conflict and constant ups and downs. There were lots of tears and frustration, and anger with myself and my limitations but also how far I pushed myself into doing something that wasn't aligned anymore. And most of all, wanting to keep control. There was the desire to make it work and not being capable of it, and just having to say goodbye to a huge part of my life.
Grief, really. 20 years is a long time to be doing anything.
With the end of tattooing, you seem to have pivoted to new diverse directions and oppurtunities! How did this come about?
I've trained myself to follow my gut the moment I get an intuitive hit. If I feel called to take a risk and do something completely different or unexpected, I do it. Becoming a psychic consultant is a perfect example; that journey is wild.
I'd always gravitated toward designing tattoos intuitively, and it allowed me to create work that felt deeply aligned with my clients. One day I thought, why don't I take those intuitive hits and do commissions based on them? I'd never actually tried it before, but I just knew I was supposed to. In the process, I discovered that I really was psychic because my readings were incredibly accurate. I'd know things like the fact that a client was going through a divorce, and all I had to work with was their name.
Around the same time, I had been invited to give a lecture at McGill University's Faculty of Architecture. I was feeling pretty lost and discouraged about my business after a disastrous collection launch that ultimately led me to take a sabbatical. I was dealing with setback after setback and constantly chasing opportunities that weren't landing. It was a hard year.
During that period, my coach told me, "See these new avenues as a crop rotation. Maybe they're going to bring you back to where you want to be, but with a new perspective and new experience."
A temporary side quest, if you will.
Then, while preparing my lecture, I realized, "You know what? I have more than twenty years of experience under my belt. Maybe I'm ready to help guide others."
So I merged my clairvoyant readings with mentoring through intuitive consulting. I started helping people build strategic business plans while also offering psychic readings.
And this is where it gets crazy.
The week I announced I was offering coaching, I received a request for the biggest wholesale order I'd ever had. The next day, another local store contacted me about carrying my products. Then I received unexpected government funding. Then another custom order came in from a small business.
Some people believe there are angels that block and angels that bless, and the moment I reoriented myself toward serving the collective, the blocks seemed to disappear and the blessings started arriving. Whether you believe in angels or not, it's still a pretty cool story.
How do you realign and honour your multidimensional self today? And what are you working on right now?
And while I did gain some clarity about my purpose, I still feel like I'm in a transitional phase of discovery today. But I've learned to let go of the outcome and allow myself to arrive in a space of not knowing.
Even if I'm being pulled in all sorts of directions because things aren't working out as planned, or because I'm naturally drawn to new ideas and opportunities, maybe that's exactly what I need. Maybe the value lies in having explored those paths, so I can better help others navigate their own.
If everything worked out perfectly, perhaps I'd be less inclined to experiment, take risks, and try something new. But right now, I'm completely open to whatever opportunity wants to come through.
For the first time in my life, I'm less concerned with where I'm going and more interested in paying attention to where I'm being led.
Tattoo News thanks Hilary Jane for their time and allowing us to get to know more about them and their journey! You can check out more from Hilary Jane below. We look forward to seeing what they have next in store with their artistic career!
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