Meet Amelia Troup | Tattoo Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Amelia Troup and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amelia, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
“Life is an Adventure or Nothing at all” This was a quote used during my brother Jak’s eulogy. My Brother tattooed for a living, and I grew up in awe of his craft, when his life ended, a new one began for me. Losing my brother at 13 gave me a new perspective on how short life can be and how each day we should try our best, to be our best version of ourself. Live everyday as if it were your last adventure. I grew up with this quote branded into my memories, and when I was of age, I started my own tattoo career, begining with getting this quote tattooed on my chest so I can wake up everyday and rememeber, “life is an adventure or nothing at all. While Jak’s life was not nothing, it was an adventure some of us were lucky enough to share with him”. My brother’s lifestyle and artistic ability are what drove me into the career I love so dearly.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I have always been intrigued with art and have taken painting classes from a young age. When it came time to graduate high school after skipping a grade, I saw art college as an escape from my tiny town and jumped at it! I started off at the Art Institute of Tampa in media arts and animation but quickly discovered my passions lie in tradtional styles of art and I transfered to the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale into Illustration where I graduated top of my degree. In art school I learned that my true love of art is in creating pet portraits and helping those who have lost a loved one have something to remember their furry family member with. I started my tattoo apprenticeship early into my art schooling and I transferred this unique understanding of the love between a human and their pets onto skin and started tattooing memorials for all sorts of critters that have crossed the rainbow bridge. I would love to say I’ve had this unique gift from birth and have been a master artist my entire life. But that’s not the case. Was it easy? No. I’ve spent many years specializing in my craft. Hundreds and Hundreds of hours spent repetitively drawing the same things in an effort to ever better myself, always practicing, always learning. As an artist, we can be especially harsh on ourselves, always aiming for perfection, while knowing art is subjective and perfection is but ideology. My best life lessons? Knowing that everyday I wake up is a new adventure to be on, a new challenge to do my best and Be Better.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well, If my bestie was in town and we had the entire week to hang out, I would start off down south in Miami. I’d start the week off in homestead where we could visit some fruit farms and stands to get fresh fruit and smoothies. From there I’d bounce around Miami going to Little Haiti, the murals are beautiful and one of my favorite record shops, Sweat Records, is there! Brickell has some really awesome boutique shops and one of my favorite smoke shops aptly named Brickell Smoke Shop. My favorite area in miami is wynwood, day or night there is always something to do! I try to always stop into Panther coffee co and Zak the Baker for coffee and “cake” as my swedish grandmother would say, and then walk around the art district. From there we’d either go to Veza Sur or Blackbird Ordinary to catch a live show and cocktails. I’d start heading north from there, and we’d defiently need to go to downtown Hollywood for my favorite coffee shop El Cafecito, and the best pizza by the slice Mauro’s. I’d need a good day to show her all around the Yellow Green market where I get my favorite Boba from Jo’s Street Food, and it’s not a south florida tour without a trip to the Swap Shop! I love the wilton manors area and we could catch a night show at Lips. Heading more north, I like to stop in at Delray goodies for hot snacks and yummy boba, more north is my favorite specialty bakery Polar Bakery which has lots of scandinavian delights, and even more north is my favorite resturant Chunkay’s which has trinidadian food and lots of vegetarian options! We’d end the trip heading to downtown west palm beach to walk the strip and catch a shop at either respectables or propaganda.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to dedicate my story towards my Brother, Jak Frost, who let me peak into the undergrounds of tattoo culture at a younge age and gave me the spark to which continue on this path. Without his lifelong passion towards creating one of a kind art on skin, I wouldn’t have thought I had the ability to persue this amazing career.

x 

Website: https://www.dragonlilytattoo.com/amelia-1

Instagram: @supertrouperart

Other: You can check my work out on our shop instagram as well, @dragonlilytattoo