Check Out Matt Page’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Page.

Hi Matt, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Matt Page is a professional artist, designer, and tattoo artist whose creative journey spans more than 15 years across fine art, design, and tattooing.

As the son of a military family, Matt spent much of his childhood moving from place to place, attending 14 different schools before graduating high school. Despite the constant change, one thing remained consistent: a passion for art. From an early age, he was always drawing, painting, and creating. Throughout grade school and high school, he received multiple awards for his artwork and participated in numerous gallery exhibitions. At just 14 years old, he began taking adult drawing and painting classes to further develop his skills.

Matt spent three years of high school living in South Korea before returning to the United States in 2007. After graduation, he pursued a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design, completing his degree in 2012. Following a year working professionally in the design field, he returned to school to earn a Master of Public Administration.

After completing graduate school, Matt worked as a Career Advisor at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) before transitioning back into the creative industry. Over the next decade, he built a successful career working as a graphic designer, UX/UI designer, and art director across a wide range of industries, including professional sports, children’s publishing, technology, healthcare, and manufacturing. His experience ultimately led him to a Senior UX/UI Designer role with Elevance Health.

By 2024, Matt had achieved what many would consider a successful corporate design career. Yet something was missing. Feeling disconnected from the creative passion that had driven him since childhood, he returned to drawing and painting in his spare time. It did not take long to realize that he had not lost his love for art. He had simply lost his connection to creating for himself.

That realization led him toward tattooing.

After assembling a tattoo apprenticeship portfolio and facing a few rejections along the way, Matt was offered an apprenticeship under Chris Bowen at Inked Arts in Buford, Georgia. Following a traditional 366-day apprenticeship, he completed his apprenticeship in January 2026.

Today, Matt specializes in American Traditional and Neo-Traditional tattooing. His approach is rooted in creating tattoos that are built to last, bold, readable designs that age well and stand the test of time. Just as important as the tattoo itself is the experience surrounding it. Matt believes every client deserves a professional, comfortable, and collaborative experience from consultation to final healing.

While he is newer to the tattoo industry, he brings decades of artistic experience and a lifelong dedication to learning. Every tattoo is an opportunity to improve, grow, and continue refining his craft.

Matt’s story serves as a reminder that it is never too late to change directions, pursue a new passion, or start over. The best artists, and the best people, never stop learning.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, it has not been a completely smooth road. Matt’s path has been defined more by constant change, reinvention, and long-term commitment than by ease or certainty.

Growing up as a military brat meant rarely staying in one place for long. Attending 14 different schools before graduating high school made it difficult to build long-term roots or a traditional sense of stability. While that experience helped shape adaptability and resilience, it also came with the challenge of constantly starting over socially and academically.

Even with a strong early passion for art, the path forward was not linear. After high school, Matt pursued a BFA in Graphic Design and began working in the field, but like many creatives, he faced the tension between artistic fulfillment and professional expectations. That eventually led him back to school for a Master of Public Administration, followed by work outside of pure design in higher education as a career advisor.

When he re-entered the creative industry, he spent over a decade building a career across multiple disciplines including graphic design, UX/UI design, and art direction. While successful on paper, working in corporate environments across industries like healthcare and technology came with its own struggles, including creative burnout and a growing disconnect from the original love of making art.

By 2024, even while working as a Senior UX/UI Designer, he reached a turning point where he questioned whether he had lost his passion for art altogether. The biggest struggle was realizing that the issue was not art itself, but the environment he was creating within.

Choosing to restart in tattooing came with its own challenges as well. Entering a new industry later in his career meant starting over as a beginner, facing rejection during the apprenticeship search, and rebuilding confidence from the ground up. The apprenticeship itself required discipline, humility, and relearning how to be a student after years of being established in senior roles.

Through all of it, the common thread has been persistence. Each transition required letting go of comfort, pushing through uncertainty, and trusting that continued growth was worth the discomfort of change.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Matt’s work centers on American Traditional and Neo-Traditional tattooing. He specialize in bold, timeless designs that are built to hold up for life. Strong linework, clear composition, and intentional use of color are the foundation of everything he does. He is not interested in trends that fade quickly. He focuses on tattoos that still look solid 20 years from now.

Before tattooing, Matt spent over a decade working as a graphic designer, UX/UI designer, and art director across industries like professional sports, healthcare, technology, publishing, and manufacturing. That design background heavily influences his tattoo work. He approaches every piece like a visual problem to solve, with attention to flow, readability, and how the design lives on the body.

What he is most proud of is making the leap into tattooing later in his career and committing fully to starting over. He completed a traditional apprenticeship under Chris Bowen at Inked Arts in Buford, GA, and rebuilt himself from the ground up in a completely new craft after already having an established design career.

What sets him apart is that combination of experience and perspective. He brings a designer’s eye for composition and a long history of working professionally in visual storytelling, but he also respects tattooing as its own discipline. He is still early in the tattoo world, but he approaches it with a strong foundation, a student mindset, and a focus on consistent improvement.

At his core, Matt cares just as much about the experience as the tattoo itself. He wants clients to feel comfortable, heard, and confident from the first conversation through healed results.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
The quality Matt values most is persistence.

His path has never been a straight line, and he doesn’t think success in any creative field is built on one either. From moving through 14 different schools growing up, to shifting between careers in design, higher education, and eventually starting over in tattooing, the constant has been learning how to adapt and keep going even when things are uncertain.

Persistence is what carried him through finishing his education, building a 13-plus year career in design, and then stepping away from something stable to pursue tattooing as a beginner again. It is not always comfortable to start over, but he has learned that staying consistent through that discomfort is where real growth happens.

In tattooing specifically, persistence shows up in the daily practice of improving line work, studying composition, and refining technique piece by piece. There is no shortcut. You just keep showing up, keep learning, and keep getting better.

That mindset has been the foundation of everything he has built so far.

Pricing:

• Yes, here is relevant pricing information that can be shared: Minimum tattoo price: $100 Pricing structure: Most tattoos are priced as flat-rate pieces rather than hourly billing Hourly guideline (for reference): $150/hour is used as a baseline when estimating larger or more complex work Deposit: 30% deposit required to book an appointment (applied toward final tattoo cost) Flash pricing (when applicable): Small traditional flash (approx. 3–4 inches): typically ranges from $200–$275 depending on black and grey or color Custom work: Priced based on design size, placement, detail level, and overall composition rather than strict hourly tracking All pricing is designed to be transparent and agreed upon upfront so clients know the full cost before the appointment begins.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mattpagetattoos.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattpagetattoos/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mattpagetattoos/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattpagedesign/