Kat Von D has revealed why she is still blacking out her tattoos four years after a first-of-its-kind lawsuit.
The celebrity tattooist, 43, was sued in 2021 for tattooing the late Miles Davis on the arm of her friend.
Photographer Jeff Sedlik sued the LA Ink reality star for copyright infringement because she inked his 1989 picture of the jazz musician.
Sedlik claimed Von D replicated the portrait he took of Davis without giving him proper credit or compensation.
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His attorney Robert Edward Allen argued: “If those two things are not substantially similar, then no one’s art is safe.
“It’s about copying others’ protected works.”
After what went on to be a two-year legal battle, a jury found her not guilty of copyright.
“We’ve said all along that this case never should have been brought,” her attorney Allen B. Grodsky said at the time.
“The jury recognised that this was just ridiculous.”
After the case was resolved, Von D said she wasn't keen on adding any more tattoos, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“I think I don’t want to ever tattoo again, my heart has been crushed through this in different ways,” she said. “We’ll see with time.”
It turns out, however, the American-Mexican artist actually started blacking out her ink a year before she was sued.
In a recent interview with Billboard, Von D explained: "I’ve been blacking out my tattoos for a while now. I really like the aesthetic.
"I know that it’s off-putting to a lot of people, but it looks clean and simple to me. I’ve been getting tattooed since I was a teenager.
"There was not a lot of good stuff, especially as a tattoo artist, you use yourself to practice on.
"There are some tattoos that I was emotionally attached to, but for the most part, I’m OK with changing that chapter of my life.
"I think some of my fans were heartbroken about it because they were attached to a certain era.
"But everybody grows up, and everybody evolves."
Von D admitted that she really 'loves the process' despite 'some people think there’s no art to it'.
"But it’s a very difficult thing to make it look so smooth and so consistent," she added.
"I get tattooed by a guy in Philadelphia named Hoode [Philly], and he specializes in blackout tattoos.
"We’ve been chipping away at my whole body for the last couple of years. I share here and there, but I’m pretty modest.
"I don’t show off my body too much. But maybe when I’m completely done, I’ll show a final reveal."
Anish Vij