We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chelsey Franklin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Chelsey , thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

The biggest risk I took was when I first got straight out college, I got my bachelors degree in art and was so proud!! But I got scammed out of an apartment, and most of my money was stolen from said scam. I had no where to go, and was terrified. I just landed a huge opportunity job to not only work the front desk but with a great tattoo shop, but to start an apprenticeship. I knew it was the right thing to do, but I was very scared, as I was basically homeless for a moment. But, I have amazing friends who let me stay on their couches while I pursued my dream, and ended up living with some amazing people. I’m very grateful for all their help and support while I was struggling.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hi! I’m Chelsey Franklin, I have spent most of my life pursuing the darker side of art, but in a fun way. I’m heavily influenced by music, other artists (of course, always a wonderful source of inspiration when stuck) and dreams. Like a lot of artists, sometimes I get stuck in a rut where I don’t wanna draw for myself for months, and I feel like I’m stuck. But luckily, that will always be helped with seeing the creativity with my friends or inspirations. One thing I really love when I feel stuck, is a client will come in with the most bizarre thing I never would have thought of, and I just think “HELL YEAH!!” And there I am drawing some weird shit I know they are gonna be stoked on. One of my absolute favorite things, is of course weird shit, but seeing the full joy on my clients face when I’m done tattooing. Whether it’s just the line work, or if it’s all finished, it’s the joy from them and my own that makes me proud to be an artist.
But I’ve been an oil and watercolor painter for years, my favorite has always been more of a pen and ink style. So, tattooing has always been an every day learning experience and I always want to get better. I personally think every artists beats themself up thinking they’re not good enough, and that’s how they get better anyway.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Personally, as someone who creates permanent art, I get extremely frustrated when someone doesn’t respect my time. I’m always excited to properly do a fresh great tattoo, but it feels disrespectful when they expect me to draw something huge in ten minutes. It’s worse when they just ask me to trace out someone else’s already done tattoo. I usually tell people that are trying to get me to do a 5 hour tattoo in 30 minutes “do you want a good tat, or a rushed tat?” They luckily usually change their mind, and I can understand if it sounds rude, but I don’t wanna be the person to do a garbage tattoo on someone. It can be really stressful, but I pride myself on my work. However, sometimes they give me hell for not giving them what they want, even though it’s impossible.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Stop supporting AI, stop giving money to NFT’s and to actually give money to an artist you like. Doesn’t have to be expensive, could just be a 10 dollar print. A sticker. A patch for your jacket. Anything else. It’s helping an artist that you like, and that 10 dollars is most likely gonna help with rent or groceries. Starving artist is a saying for way too long, but what’s a life without art?

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Chelseyfranklyinks

Image Credits

I did all that!