Chris Thayer was born and raised in the MD/DC/VA area. Coming from a very large, artistic family, Chris has been drawing since the day he could pick up a pencil. He began working in different areas of art such as music, screen printing, and digital art in his late teens and eventually going into a career as a graphic artist. He worked in Virginia, Philadelphia, and southern New Jersey. Although Chris made a good living for almost 10 years as a graphic artist, earning several awards and certifications along the way, he would soon find his true calling. This would mark as a turning point for Chris. After buying equipment and practicing to tattoo on himself, his brother, some friends, fake skin, etc., he was able to get an apprenticeship from William Webb at Evolution Tattoo in Mantua, New Jersey. Chris learned quite a bit from William Webb as well as the other great artists that worked there(Tim "victim" Pangburn and Ryan Lebiedzinski).
At the end of his apprenticeship, Chris relocated back to where he came from.... Silver Spring, Maryland. Where he started his first job as a professional tattooer at Capitol Tattoo in early March of 2007. He spent 2.5 years at the fast paced street shop, developing familiarity with machines and the application of tattoos. In September of 2009, Chris left Capitol Tattoo to work at Dream Wizard Tattooing in Rockville, Maryland. He was able to do more custom tattoos and develop more as an artist. After almost a year working in Rockville, Chris met with James Hughes about coming to join the crew at Bethesda Tattoo, where he's been tattooing at since July of 2010. Chris specializes in(but not limited to) realism/surrealism and color.