Born in Indiana as "Clifford H. Ingram," Cliff later shortened his first name and adopted his business name of "Raven" as his legal middle name, largely to facilitate mail delivery.

He and a partner quickly established Tattoo Works—two sister studios, with one in Los Angeles (Cliff Raven Studios, now known as Sunset Strip Tattoo) which was, for years, located on the edge of West Hollywood on the famed Sunset Strip, and one in San Francisco (now defunct).

Cliff was unusual in that he was an openly gay man in a profession that, at the time, was strongly homophobic.

There he wrote editorial cartoons for the Hi-Desert Star and ran a used/rare bookstore, Raven's Books, until his death in 2001.

An oral history and some of Raven's tattooing memorabilia is housed at the Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago.