Colin Raffa was born in 1975. Raised in Newburgh, NY. At the age of 5, Colin was very interested in art and would always be found drawing. Throughout elementary, middle, and high school, art and art school was his main focus. At 17 he became very interested in tattooing and tried to find an apprenticeship to no avail. At 18 he then focussed his creativity towards food. He became a skilled chef in NY and then later brought his skills of culinary to Cleveland, Ohio when he moved there in 1999. In 2001, while looking through a local news paper, he found an add that read; Tattoo artist needed, no experience necessary, will train and must have drawing ability. This being the break he was looking for, he applied for the job. After a few weeks, he was interviewed and hired. It didn’t take long for Colin to realize the apprenticeship was very short and the training was inferior. With his foot in the door, Colin decided it was time to move forward and seek out more training to improve on his craft. This brought him to a local studio in northeastern Ohio and an artist named “Fingers”. Fingers took Colin under his wing and passed down any knowledge he could. Fingers later then offered an opportunity for Colin to come work with him at studio on the gulf coast of Alabama. Colin eagerly accepted the offer and moved to Mobile. Once in Alabama, he spent 3 and a half years working in a suburb of mobile tattooing. Not long after Colin was on the move again, this time it was Hattiesburg, MS. It was for a short stint of 6 months awaiting the build out on a new studio in Thibodaux, LA. Unfortunately after 6 months, the studio in Thibodaux, LA closed its doors due to financial trouble. This would bring Colin back to Mobile, AL working with Paul Averett, Suzette Callahan, and Tori Lane. Not long after being back in Mobile, Colin would be introduced to CW Neese and the rest of the crew at Royal Street Tattoo. Colin realized that RST was the type of studio he was searching for. The RST crew were the type of like minded people he wanted to work with. When talk of a second Royal Street Tattoo location was in the works, Colin approached CW for a spot in the RST family. Now part of the crew, Colin continuously pushes forward to an exciting future at RST.

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