Whether it’s a more comprehensive illustration, such as a full sleeve, or six minutes spent on what she calls a “flash tattoo,” Ally Wilcutt says what she most loves is the connection she makes with her clients.

“It just makes me really happy to see the outcome of my work and to see them so happy with it,” she said. “The relationships with my clients mean a lot to me.”

Wilcutt said she has been drawing most of her life, something that was passed down and taught to her by her grandmother. She once thought she might like to be a makeup artist but decided it just wasn’t the right route for her.

Eventually, she was inspired by her children — she has an 8-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son — to take a shot at another dream. She started searching and found a home at Gypsy Tattoo, where she spent about 18 months as an apprentice.

“My mentor taught me a lot, and after a year and a half, he felt like I was ready to go out on my own,” Wilcutt said.

She did just that, forming Tatted Beauty Ink. Wilcutt tried a couple of different locations but wasn’t happy until she found her current spot, 160 E. Griffith Road, which has been Tatted Beauty Ink’s home for the past four months.

“It’s been a lot better here,” she said. “We are getting much busier here than we were at any other location.”

Business seems to pick up especially on Fridays and Saturdays when she focuses on those flash tattoos. She said she usually has between 80 and 160 different tattoos people can choose from that are relatively small and take about five or six minutes to draw. There is also prep and finish time, and the whole process can take about 15 to 25 minutes from sitting in the chair to walking out the door.

“I can do as many as 80 people on a Saturday,” she said. “It is by far our busiest day.”

Wilcutt said there is often a line out the door, creating three to four hours worth of flash tattoo work. She opens at 3 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and said closing is at 11 p.m., but she will often find herself there until 1 a.m.

“I don’t want to disappoint anyone who spent that much time waiting,” she said.

Thursdays are also set up for flash tattoos, but the hours are much shorter, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tatted Beauty Ink is open seven days a week, and while Thursday through Saturday are reserved for flash tattoos and open to walk-ins, Sunday through Wednesday she is open from noon to 7 p.m. Those days are reserved for the larger illustrations for clients who are seen by appointment only.

She loves doing all types of tattoos — fine lines, floral, lettering — the list goes on.

“I am an artist who is down for doing what my client asks for,” she said.

But she does have a favorite style.

“I love doing Chicano Realism,” she said. “I love the detail it has in it — the way it puts more of a face on the tattoo.”

Chicano Realism tattoo style has its roots in the 1940s and 1950s Mexican-American culture in California. It typically features fine lines, black and gray colors and high-contrast shading. They often feature themes that can include cultural pride, family, loyalty, religion and urban life.

“Chicano Realism just brings something out in me,” Wilcutt said.

Right now it’s just her at Tatted Beauty Ink, but she’s not opposed to one day having another artist in her shop. She just wants to make sure it’s the right person who will take the shop’s reputation as seriously as she does.

For now, she is content living her dream of putting smiles on people’s faces with her art on their bodies.

“I feel like I will be tattooing for the next 30 or 40 years,” she said.