For Cyndi Lou, creating tattoos is about more than just being an artist. “It’s a service industry,” said Lou, 35, from her chair at Tsunami Tattoo on Pleasant Street in Portland. Lou, who has been tattooing for more than seven years, likes seeing people from all different walks of life come through the door and request a wide variety of tattoos. “You don’t take yourself too seriously, which is nice,” Lou said. The hardest part of Lou’s job? “People not actually acknowledging that it’s hard work,” said Lou, a New Mexico native who has lived in Portland since 1999. “You can’t do much more than six to eight hours of tattooing in a day if you’re working full time.”

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