She may spend her days in a laboratory or advanced science courses, but genetics senior Diana Nucuta enjoys the hours she spends sketching more.
She's now marketing her passion to a nontraditional group of art fans: tattoo enthusiasts. Nucuta created Ink'doll Tattoo Designs earlier in July.
"I knew that fine art doesn't really sell unless you're a collector," she said. "It sounds bad, but nobody buys paintings anymore."
Nucuta creates custom art for people looking to get inked. She's been drawing for years, and she said she's considered starting a business for the last few.
With her senior year about to start, she launched Ink'doll Tattoo Designs. So far, she's had one commission but is looking for others.
Dennis Morgan of Scottsdale commissioned her first design earlier this month. He already had two tattoos, one of which is a large dragon on his stomach, and he wanted to add a half sleeve on his right arm.
Morgan's idea for a design was voodoo-themed, featuring a voodoo zombie woman. He couldn't find any bases for his regular tattoo artist to work from, and the artist wasn't willing to design the tattoo based just on Morgan's mental image. He turned to Nucuta.
"I just kind of gave her the idea and what I wanted, and she got it spot on," he said.
He had his half-sleeve tattoo, with a female voodoo zombie, city backdrop and colorful rose, inked in Chandler about a week ago.
Morgan said he would definitely go back to Nucuta for help designing future tattoos, though he doesn't have any planned now.
"Most artists don't like you to just give them the idea of what you want," he said. "They just want to sketch them up quick and ink it. It's a lot easier to work with someone who gets paid to draw than someone who gets paid to ink."
Nucuta is also cheaper than most professional tattoo artists. Unlike many of them, she doesn't charge for preliminary brainstorming with the client or for early sketches. Her rate of $25 per hour working on the final design is also lower.
Nucuta wants to work with the U.S. government after graduating and has chosen not to get any tattoos because of requirements in those careers. However, she said she thinks they're becoming more acceptable, especially among younger people.
"It seems like more young people and students have tattoos," she said. "Now that it's becoming more accepted in the workplace, the younger generation is getting more."
Because of this, Ink'doll Tattoo Designs is targeted to students and 20- or 30-somethings.
Nucuta has commissioned other artwork, including posters, in the past, but this is her first foray into tattoo design. Samples of her art, much of which is drawn in a manga style, can be found on her deviantART page.
Microbiology senior Shay Ravacchioli has been friends with Nucuta since they rode the bus together in their freshman year of high school.
"She's been drawing since I've known her," Ravacchioli said.
Ravacchioli is a big fan of her friend's artwork. She said she's hung on to a birthday card Nucuta drew for her years ago just because it was so well done.
"If I were going to get a tattoo, I'd definitely go to her to design it," she said.
Nucuta hopes other students will make the same decision. People interested in commissioning a design can message her through Ink'doll's Facebook page, facebook.com/inkdolltattoodesigns, to set up a brainstorm session.
"An easy way to have art you can carry with you is a tattoo," she said. "If it's on people's bodies, it's definitely more seen."
Reach the managing editor at julia.shumway@asu.edu or follow @JMShumway on Twitter.
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