Meet your trainers
Melinda Rose Kropp – Realism & Medical Tattoo Artist, Co-founder
Melinda is a realism and medical tattoo artist based in Toowoomba, where she owns two studios: Rose & Thorn, a tattoo studio, and Body Toowoomba, which focuses on cosmetic and medical tattooing.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design and has been creating hyper-realistic drawings since 2008. That fine-art foundation led her to a realism tattoo apprenticeship, and it's why her 3D work is so convincing. Using light, shadow and colour, she creates the illusion of depth on the skin, including 3D areolas and belly buttons.
At Body Toowoomba, Melinda offers 3D areola tattooing and scar and stretch mark camouflage, and she receives client referrals from surgeons and clinics. The techniques she teaches are ones she uses with her own clients.
Melinda holds the TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, is trained in trauma-informed coaching, and has trained tattoo apprentices in her studios. She's passionate about integrative somatic healing and the connection between emotions, skin, healing and trauma, and she brings that same gentle, client-centred approach to her teaching.
Kin+Sugi was founded by Melinda and Shelby, two artists from two different industries who share one goal: to raise the standard of medical tattooing. Between them they bring realism tattooing, cosmetic tattooing and years of medical tattoo experience, and both are qualified educators.
Shelby Brooks – Cosmetic & Medical Tattoo Artist, Co-founder
Shelby is a cosmetic and medical tattoo artist and trainer who specialises in natural-looking areola tattooing, facelift and self-harm scar camouflage, and stretch mark tattooing.
She completed her first cosmetic tattooing certificate in 2013 and has since completed more than 20 courses in Australia and overseas. Before opening her own studio, Shelby spent 10 years working alongside surgeons, doctors and nurses. That medical grounding shapes how she teaches skin, healing and client safety.
In 2021 Shelby opened Restore in Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast. Her aim is a calm, welcoming space where precision, experience and innovation come together, and where clients leave feeling more confident in their own skin.
Shelby holds the TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, which qualifies her as a trainer and assessor, and she has worked with Melinda to develop Kin+Sugi's areola and medical tattoo courses. Students often mention her patience. As one Google reviewer put it, "Shelby made learning so much easier for me."
