The evolution of Em Reid: success as a rural tattoo artist

But Em Reid has cultivated a relaxed atmosphere at her Blanc Space Studio in Milton, with its white walls that mimic that of an art gallery, luscious ceiling-height fiddle leaf figs and Sid the "shop dog" who usually lazes by the front door.

"I worked in a traditional tattoo store with reflective windows and metal playing all day," said Em.

"Clients would come in to see me and I could feel their uncomfortability. Even asking them to lay down, they would be really embarrassed. And I kind of felt embarrassed for them.

"As soon as I had the opportunity, I thought, 'I'm gonna make a shop that I would want to go into and feel confident in' - and make people feel safe enough to ask to move a tattoo, or ask for it to be smaller - without having heavily tattooed men turn around and roll their eyes at you."

In her six years of tattooing, Em's managed to make quite a name for herself. Her fine line designs are highly sought after, attracting interstate travellers to her South Coast studio and more than 31,000 Instagram followers, leaving her books full for months in advance.

"Never in a million years did I think people would come all the way from Brisbane to Ulladulla to get a tattoo, it's just crazy," the 30-year-old said.

Em's also paved the way in showing others its possible to open tattoo shops that break away from traditional stores. Her online platform helped with that, she said.

"I can see now that even more shops are following the trend that we started of making an open, safe space," said Em. "Other shops are going 'oh, this is what people want.'"

Art runs in Em's blood, but it was never in her plans go down the path of tattooing. She thought she'd follow in the footsteps of her late father, who passed in 1996, and was an animator who worked for Disney. Em listed Aladdin, The Lion King and Goofy as some of the films he worked on.

"It was actually my dream to be an animator like him," said Em.

"When he passed away, everyone told me 'you're an artist just like your dad' and it's the only thing left of him that I've got to hold on to. It definitely inspired me to keep going and keep drawing...But I think he would roll in his grave if he knew I was tattooing!"

When Em left for the city as an 18-year-old to "just get out of the small town", her talent landed her in sell-out exhibitions. After linking up with an old friend from high school to do a local exhibition, Em realised there were no "funky galleries like they have in Sydney", so she opened one in Ulladulla herself.

"In a couple of weeks, we had a space and everything. It just so happens that we opened up next to a tattoo shop," she said.

Em made friends with the tattooists next door who took her in as their apprentice when her gallery closed. She eventually bought the Ulladulla shop and her platform slowly started to build itself - she still doesn't know why.

"I still have no idea why people are drawn to my work, I think it's because I was the only person doing fine line, at least on the South Coast," she said.

"That was probably the attraction at the start. I just think I'm so lucky."

There are some downsides that come with having a large online platform though, with copycats nothing new to the artist.

"It's started happening more," said Em. "Now that all my pictures are leaking onto Pinterest, you lose all control which is extremely heartbreaking."

"It happens so much now that I try not to look at Instagram, all over Australia people are copying my work.

"I even have people coming into the shop that don't know who I am bragging about their tattoo that they got based off an Em Reid design."

From her old shop, clients copped views of the rusty boats moored at the Ulladulla Harbour. But now, settled into her new Milton store, she prefers the views of horses roaming in the adjacent green paddock.

"There's even an ocean view," Em said as she pointed to Ulladulla's Green Island from the window.

It feels like a "full circle" moment, seeing as the shop space she's moved into used to be a craft store where she spent most of her teenage years buying supplies for her upcoming art exhibitions.

"It's actually kind of awesome," said Em. "I spent so much time here picking out pens and pencils and paper for exhibitions and now I'm actually in the space making art."