TATTOO YOU | Senior’s inspirations found right at his arm’s length

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To overcome boredom, senior CJ Srigley has used markers to create an ever changing variety of body designs that draw upon his love of caligraphy and traditional tribal symbols.

Senior CJ Srigley is not your typical artist. Rather than drawing on paper, Srigley uses his arms as his canvas. 

Motivated by boredom in class, Srigley creates unique designs that make up his own washable tattoo sleeve. 

“I think I’ve been drawing on my arm since the first time I got bored at school with a marker in my hand,” Srigley said. 

Srigley finds the traditional pen and paper to be too restricting. “I draw on my arm because I love tattoos, and paper is too boring,” Srigley said. 

His drawings go beyond random doodles, though. Many of his designs have a meaning, like the Chinese symbols he writes. 

“Some mean power and life, but the other ones I just made up,” Srigley said.

These types of drawings are Srigley’s favorite. “I like drawing calligraphy the most as well as random tribal designs,” Srigley said. “I just like calligraphy because it’s all about stamping your identity, and I’ve always thought that was profound, and I love the flow of tribal tattoos and tribal art.”

The attention and looks that come from his drawings is what keeps Srigley creating. “What inspires me most is the look of interest on someone’s face when they see what I’m doing or what I’ve created,” Srigley said.

Even though he prefers drawing on his arm, Srigley does enjoy other mediums of art, especially oils. “A lot of historic paintings were done with oil, and I enjoy how well they age, and the texture makes them feel alive,” Srigley said.

There’s more to art than just the kind made on canvas or played through a musical instrument said Srigley. “I think anything that involves movement can be a form of art. That’s why I love doing parkour and martial arts as well as drawing random fake tattoos on myself,” Srigley said.

Srigley said he enjoys the creativity and limitless possibilities he has in art. “You can free your mind from this world and be in your own creative head space while also expressing the person you are or the person you want to be,” Srigley said. 

Drawing cures Srigley’s boredom as well as provides a happy place for him. “I think art keeps me out of a dark spot in life, and it’s an escape from bad things that I don’t want or need in life,” Srigley said.