Some people spend years trying to figure out what they’re supposed to be doing. Liam Alvy didn’t. He just kept drawing the things he loved. A tattoo artist and painter working in classic traditional style, Liam is best known for bold, clean designs inspired by animals — tigers, panthers, frogs and lizards — brought to life both on skin and on canvas. His studio, Tattoo Days, sits just minutes from St Ives Harbour, surrounded by beaches, galleries, and a town long celebrated for its artistic heritage and luminous light. Adorned with his own paintings and flash, the space draws in tattoo clients, curious passersby and gallery-hoppers alike.

We caught up with Liam, originally from Leeds, to find out what brought him to the very end of the country — and how the move has helped him stay true to himself.

What were your earliest artistic influences?

“I was a little skater kid from when I was about 10. When buying skateboards, you're picking it literally based on the graphic — what’s on the board. The design might be bright red with a blue dagger on it; you want to be able to see what it is from across the street, you know? I think that carries through to the way that I tattoo now. I keep it super clean.

“I was obsessed with animals as well, especially frogs, lizards and stuff like that. I used to always draw out of nature books. When I was about 10, I went on a family holiday to Australia — we have some family over there. I remember the day we arrived and my cousins had caught a lizard in the garden and had it in a box. We’d just come from the airport and suddenly I was holding this lizard. I was like, ‘that’s so cool!’”

How did you first get into tattooing?

“When I went to university, I was getting tattooed by a few people in Leeds a lot. I was just nagging them constantly for an apprenticeship. I'd hang around in the shop with them and they’d tell me what machines you should be using and stuff like that.

“Finally, a guy at a shop I knew through going to gigs took a chance on me, and I managed to get in just based on my drawings. It was kind of like an apprenticeship, but it was very clear that I’d already done all the drawing time I needed. So within about two weeks, I was picking up a machine.”

You lived in a few different cities before moving to St Ives, right?

“I was in Leeds — that’s where I started tattooing. I was there for 10 years or something, tattooing for maybe three or four years. Then I did the Amsterdam convention. It was the first time I’d ever been there and I really liked the place. I got chatting to a guy who had a shop there and he was like, ‘come work whenever you want.’

“So I went back about a month later, did a guest spot, we really got on, and he was like, ‘you know you guys could live here if you wanted — you’d have a job.’ And I was like, ‘let’s f****** go!’ I just want to try new things all the time. We stuck it out for about a year, but I got a bit homesick for England, surprisingly. I didn’t think I would. Then a job came up in London. I applied, did a guest spot, it went really well, I got the job — and I stayed there for seven years.”

What inspired your move to Cornwall?

“I was between two cities at the time, living in Leeds but working in London, going back and forth. Where we lived in Leeds was on the outskirts of the city, near some woods. We really enjoyed just being outside with the dog, going running and stuff.

“I also got really into watching surfing documentaries and just wanted to try it. So I said to my wife, ‘Why don’t we go to St Ives for a week? I’ll have a surfing lesson.’ We came here and on the first day I saw the shop with a little ‘to let’ sign in the window and a phone number. I thought, 'f**k, that would be such a good tattoo shop.' I had to sell a motorbike — I used to be really into motorbikes — but that paid for me to open the shop.”

How does the studio feel now that it’s all yours?

“It’s so nice just to walk into a place where literally everything on the walls is mine — stuff that I’ve painted. It’s kind of a private studio, but it’s on the street, so a lot of people come in just for a little nosy.

“The music is all mine too. Then you’ve got the flash books and a few of the bigger paintings on display.”

Does being in St Ives affect who walks through the door?

“There are more art galleries here than anything else, so you get a lot of people who are just going around galleries. Luckily, I’m right next to the train station, so they all walk past my shop.

“If I’m sat in the window drawing, I get loads of people coming in asking about it. Many don’t even realise it’s a tattoo shop straight away.”

Your work is very much your own style — how important is that to you?

“Because it’s just me here and I only really offer one thing — which is my thing — I know it can be a bit ‘my way or the highway.’ But it’s my shop, you know? If you’re coming in here, you should be coming here for what I’m selling. You don’t go to a steak restaurant to get a salad!

“I don’t want to do a painting I don’t like the look of, or a tattoo that I wouldn’t get myself. If you don’t even like your own work, what the hell are you doing? You’ve just got to be yourself and do what’s right for you.”

How does working like this compare to working in other shops?

“It used to feel more like a job when I worked in other shops. You have set days and you’re tattooing whatever comes through the door. Sometimes it really did just feel like a job.

“I probably do work seven days a week now — but I don’t work seven days a week, you know? I paint every single day. It’s normally the first thing I do.

“My favourite time of day is the first three hours. I get up at 6am, paint for a few hours, then I start my day.”

Has Cornwall given you any new inspiration?

“When I first moved here, someone asked me if I’d ever heard of the Bodmin Beast. I was like, ‘what the hell is the Bodmin Beast?’

“But apparently there’s a black panther on the loose on Bodmin Moor, running around Cornwall, eating livestock and stuff. It’s kind of like the Loch Ness monster — is it true or is it not? So the first collection of paintings I did after moving here was The Beast of Bodmin Moor.

“This year, I’ve got an exhibition opening down here on the 28th of March, which will include some of my bigger paintings. It’s at the Crypt Gallery and it’s called Birds of the Atlantic.”

What does being authentic mean to you?

“I don’t think you’re ever really going to stand out from the crowd if you’re just stealing bits of ideas from other people. But if you’re doing what’s natural to you, that’s how you develop your own style — and that’s how people recognise your work.

“If you do what you want to do and you’re authentic to yourself, hopefully you live a good, happy life. For me, I just literally draw, paint, go to the beach. I never thought I’d end up with my own shop that’s also a painting studio, covered in my stuff — tattooing drawings straight off the wall.

“If someone told me that’s the life I’d have, I’d be like, ‘that’s f**king sick.’”

See more from Liam @liamalvy.