Calgary woman vying for top spot in Inked Magazine's cover-girl contest

Thousands of women from all over the world are seeking votes to become the next cover girl of U.S.-based Inked Magazine and Caroline Lupypciw is one of them.

The 36-year-old Calgarian has endured a lot of hours in a tattoo artist's chair – almost half her body is covered with ink.

"I've sat in that chair for 185 hours," said Lupypciw.

"So, over a week of sitting there and enduring tattoo pain and healing as well. Like, once you leave the chair, it's not over – you have weeks of healing ahead of you so it's an investment, for sure."

It's been a 10-year journey and she's spent more than $30,000 on her tattoos.

Lupypciw first tried her luck in the competition two years ago and made her way through four elimination rounds.

She's ready to try again for the US$25,000 grand prize, which includes a two-day tattoo session with artist Ryan Ashley and a two-page spread in the magazine.

"I'm at a time in my life – I'm confident. I'm enjoying being part of the tattoo community," she said.

"I'm ready for people to judge me and vote for me and get excited with me and take the journey with me. I'm excited."

The magazine organized thousands of contestants into about 1,700 groups.

While there are multiple phases, the public can essentially view individual profile links to find out more about each woman, then place a daily vote for their favourite model.

"My group is 44 at the moment," said Lupypciw.

"You submit some pictures, you talk about your favourite tattoo, what you would do with the prize money – that kind of thing."

Her dad, Michael Lupypciw, might be her biggest fan and supporter.

The 60-year-old waited until his daughter started getting tattoos before he got his first.

"My mother used to draw on my hands when I was a kid," he said.

"That's where the fascination came from. I'd get in trouble at school for wearing that stuff, but yeah, I've always wanted them."

The father and daughter have similar tastes of body art and developed a competition with each other over the years.

"The process is that she'll send me a text and I'll say you beat me to something or great idea," he said.

"Shortly after that, I'll be booking an appointment and getting something done myself."

He says his tattoos are a type of expression and the art form is a way to display his family's history permanently on his body.

"My right side is dealing with my mother in her generation. She was born in Calgary," he said.

"My left side is my father's. He was born in Ukraine so there's a whole bunch of stuff being dug up these days with what's going on there, but (my tattoos are) usually a family history, labels of what I am, where I've come from."

Diego Middleton is Caroline's stepbrother and a young tattoo artist.

He's a graduate of the Alberta University of the Arts and hopes to one day add to his stepdad and stepsister's body art.

"Michael is awesome. His entire back is all script and it's really nice," Diego said.

"I like it a lot and he's really cool and Caroline is almost completely covered in tattoos. Some of those tattoos she has are really awesome. I'm supposed to tattoo her at some point – I'm not sure when."

Middleton is a fan of the Inked Magazine competition because it showcases artists' work from all over the world and he'd like to be a part of that one day.

Lupypciw says people can submit a vote once a day and is hopeful Calgarians support one of their own.

"My grandma is rooting for me," she said.

"She's in her 80s and I think that says a lot about where we're at with tattoos in today's culture – more people have them and people who don't have them are interested in them rather than being, like, completely offended by them.

"I think everyone is open."

You can learn more about the competition online at https://cover.inkedmag.com/2023/caroline-lupypciw.