Outside the Tattoo Studio: The Art That Keeps Me Creative

By Frankie Sketch — Athens Tattoo Company, Bel Air MD

Most people know me as a tattoo artist, but tattooing is only one part of how I like to create.

I’ve always enjoyed making things, experimenting with different styles, and jumping into projects simply because an idea sounds interesting. Sometimes that means digital illustration. Sometimes it’s painting, customizing something, building a sculpture, or taking an idea that probably doesn’t need to exist and figuring out how to make it exist anyway.

And honestly, I think all of that makes me a better tattoo artist.

Creativity Doesn't Always Need a Purpose

Tattooing is creative, but it also comes with a lot of responsibility.

Every design has to work with the body. It has to age properly. It needs to fit the client, the placement, the skin, and the size. There are technical decisions constantly happening underneath the artwork.

Creating outside of tattooing gives me a different kind of freedom.

There doesn't always have to be a client, a deadline, or even a practical reason for making something. I can experiment simply because I want to see what happens.

That freedom is important.

Different Mediums Make Me Think Differently

I love bouncing between different types of artwork.

Digital illustration lets me experiment quickly with composition, lighting, color, and exaggerated ideas.

Character and anime-inspired artwork pushes expressions, movement, silhouettes, and personality.

Simpler linework forces me to think about how much information an image actually needs.

More symbolic pieces let me focus on storytelling and meaning instead of pure realism.

Even projects outside traditional drawing can teach me something about shape, texture, contrast, or presentation.

Every medium makes my brain solve a slightly different puzzle.

Sometimes the Weird Ideas Are the Best Ones

One thing I've learned about creativity is that not every idea needs to be serious.

Some of my favorite projects start with a random thought:

"What would happen if I made this?"

Those experiments might never become tattoos, but they still influence my work.

A strange character design might inspire the expression in a future tattoo. A color combination from an illustration might eventually show up in a piece of realism. A sculpture might make me think differently about depth and lighting.

Creativity has a funny way of recycling itself.

Nothing really gets wasted.

It Helps Keep Tattooing Fresh

When your art is also your career, it can be easy for every creative decision to become attached to work.

That's why I think it's important to occasionally create without worrying about whether something is marketable, tattooable, or even particularly useful.

Sometimes I just want to make something cool.

Those projects recharge the part of my brain that originally made me want to become an artist in the first place.

Then when I come back to tattooing, I usually have new ideas waiting.

Everything Eventually Connects

The more art I make, the more I realize there isn't a hard line between my tattoo work and everything else I create.

They're all feeding each other.

Illustration affects my tattoos. Tattooing changes the way I illustrate. Character design changes how I think about portraits. Realism changes how I think about lighting. Simplifying tattoo designs makes me better at recognizing the most important parts of an image.

It all becomes part of the same creative toolbox.

Frankie’s Final Thoughts

Tattooing will always be a huge part of what I do, but I never want it to be the only place where I allow myself to create.

Sometimes an artist needs to make something with absolutely no plan beyond:

This sounds fun. Let's see what happens.

And sometimes those little experiments end up quietly influencing everything that comes afterward.

So if you see me posting artwork, illustrations, characters, custom projects, or something completely random that has nothing to do with tattooing, that's why.

I'm still creating.

I'm just using a different canvas.

Frankie with a Giant Chocolate Bar

Silent Hill inspired Gameboy Color

Gold Pug Sculpture