“Today my work draws its influences from many things, the sanctum of nature and natural forms, the unconscious, mathematical and geometric patterns, cosmology, and eastern religious images. He incorporates these ideas into intricate patterns and symbolism using complex pointillism, repetition, and detailed line-work with the hopes of creating a visual language that is both meditative and pure in form. A tattooist should always be striving to improve his or her skill and to be conscious of how their tattoos may relate and ultimately contribute to the surrounding world of tattooing, constantly exploring new ways to improve the skills and options available to him, Thomas strives to find new ways to develop techniques and tools beyond what is already necessary. Given that the skin is the primary material, the path forward for his craft to expand and improve is to find new ways to illustrate and decorate the people he is fortunate enough to tattoo, he explores this practice through the process of making flash drawings like the ones below. Enjoy!”
Tattoo Drawings
This is a selection of tattoo designs, flash and drawings, shared as a source of inspiration and a glimpse into our visual world. These pieces aren’t meant to be copied directly, but to spark ideas and offer a starting point for something personal and collaborative.
Thomas Hooper
Thomas’s style is deeply influenced by Tibetan iconography, nature and ornamental art from around the world, alchemical and early scientific illustrations, traditional woodcuts and mystic cosmology. I have always been interested in exploring themes and imagery connected with death, the cosmos and our natural surroundings, often my work will just take a ornamental path with no literal meaning except to create something beautiful to look at.
Harriet Street
Harriet’s drawings and flash carry the same sensitivity and storytelling that define her tattooing, but on paper her world expands even further. Working in a delicate, fine-line and illustrative style, she builds imagery that feels both painterly and quietly powerful. Her compositions pull from the same places that shape her tattoo work, ukiyo-e, manga, folklore, and the rhythms of the natural and supernatural world.
Her flash sheets allow these influences to breathe in their own universe, exploring ideas that she would like to create for her clients as tattoos. Her drawings balance romance, eerie mystery and playfulness with a strong sense of design, offering motifs that feel intimate, expressive and unmistakably hers. They reflect her curiosity and her ability to translate ideas into images that live and breathe, inviting people into her world to see her visual language, before they get translated into tattoos.
Adam Sage
Adam Sage has been tattooing in Brighton for over 20 years, he is always drawing and refining the themes and style of his tattooing.
In his own words “I am known for angular, sculptural tattoos that combine heavy lines with soft shading. I like to abbreviate complex objects into easily readable graphics. I often take inspiration from functional diagrams, public signs and vintage advertising. I also draw a lot of designs influenced by Eastern European film posters and brutalist architecture.”
