Von D described the book as "not an autobiography, you know, 'cause I'm too young to do that.
Her first book, High Voltage Tattoo, compiling her artworks and tattoos, with a foreword by Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx, was released in January 2009 and reached #6 on The New York Times Best Seller list. Von D has publicly said that the cancellation was because she chose not to continue doing the show. LA Ink ran four seasons, ending SeptemTLC announced the cancellation on August 18, 2011. Accomplished in December 2007, it involved a Von D-designed logo for the city of Los Angeles, with proceeds going to the children's-blindness charity Vitamin Angels. On the show, she broke the Guinness World Record of most tattoos given by a single person in 24 hours, with a total of 400. She subsequently acquired her own TLC series, LA Ink, which chronicled her work at her tattoo shop, High Voltage Tattoo, in Hollywood, California. While on the show, she had a falling out with Ami James, which led to her decision to leave the shop and the show. She was offered the place on the show after fellow artist Darren Brass broke his elbow, preventing him from tattooing.
Von D appeared in two seasons of Miami Ink, the reality TV show taped at 305 Ink in Miami for the cable network TLC. Von D at the 2007 Calgary Tattoo & Arts Festival Provo Canyon School is the same boarding school that Paris Hilton attended Hilton also claims that she was abused while attending this school. When she was 15, Von D was sent to Provo Canyon School for six months, where she says she suffered abuse. She got her first tattoo at 14 and quit school at 16 to become a tattoo artist. She began listening to the Ramones, Misfits, and other punk rock bands at the age of 12. Kat Von D credits her grandmother, Clara von Drachenberg, as an inspiration for her in music and art, and the culture of San Bernardino County as a major influence on her tattoo art and style. Von D was classically trained in piano beginning at age six. She moved with her family to the Inland Empire at age four and grew up in Colton, California. Her parents, René and Sylvia, both of whom were missionaries for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, were born in Argentina, and are respectively of German, Italian, Spanish, and Native descent, Von D has a sister, Karoline and a brother, Michael. Katherine von Drachenberg was born in Montemorelos, Nuevo León, Mexico.