Meet Maksim Twenty Eight | Tattoo artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Maksim Twenty Eight and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Maksim, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
Hi! My name is Maksim “Twenty Eight”
I am from the northern part of Russia, from the City of Arkhangelsk. I am sure that the environment and conditions in which I was brought up and grew up certainly influenced my thinking and who I am now. It’s a place with harsh people, strict social rules – street rules. It’s a tough time. From childhood I was a very artistic child, I was interested in music and drawing. And I can say that it was not easy for me, because society did not welcome it and tried to suppress it in me in every possible way. But I am what I am and this inner struggle and struggle with the accepted social patterns made me more independent and shaped my personality. And from the moment I decided to connect my life with art, it gave me a great motivation to prove to myself first of all that what I do is important and motivation to move forward, to learn and to be better than I was yesterday.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m excited to share my story! 
My journey as an artist in tattooing started in 2010. And it was a very eventful and emotional journey. I was so interested in everything related to tattooing, technical aspects and finding my own handwriting in my work. During my 14 years in the industry, at different times I’ve been interested in different styles of tattooing and design. So from each style, I have emphasized some points that are close to my heart, which along with my love of detail and time spent have shaped my thinking and helped me find recognition in my work.
 As for my love of detail, mixed with perfectionism, it’s my passion! I think many clients choose me as an artist for this reason. And I, in turn, try to instill in my clients a love of detail and fill these details with meaning, important both for me and for my clients.

About style. Most of my work is devoted to Baroque ornaments. I just love it and feel very organic in this direction. Twisting complex ornaments, playing with shapes and finding new movements in ornaments, playing with light and shadows it makes my brain boil hahaha! I love the feel of it.
A special love for me is combining plant ornaments with different objects, be it a realistic object or street art elements, graffiti, whatever. The point is to not get stuck on one idea and to keep looking for something new using the experience and skills I have.
 It gives me confidence and motivates me to develop and understand more about what I do.

I also want to talk about the fact that tattooing is definitely a creative endeavor, but don’t forget that I create my work for the client. And here I am really grateful to my clients for their trust! I am sure that the right work with the client, the ability to understand and the ability to bring your vision and logic to the client and find a compromise is the key to comfortable work and unique design. That will allow the artist to enjoy the work and develop, and the client to get an individual approach and a unique tattoo.


As for the themes for my works, it may sound banal, but I think a lot about life and people, society and what is important for some may not be important for others. What is freedom, what is love and kindness, all these concepts are so vague and everyone puts different views and principles into these concepts. It’s very interesting. And it does not mean that in a tattoo should be a semantic load. After all, for someone a tattoo is just a decoration of the body, for someone to show his inner world or a memorable moment. The task of the artist is to understand this and find a compromise, so that everyone would be happy with it.
Understanding of many points did not come immediately, many of them took years and a lot of hard work. And I think that’s great! Facing challenges and finding ways to solve them, I think it’s a creative process.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Oh, there’s certainly a lot to think about)
I would definitely call the best time for fun is attending a live music concert. Music is a big part of my life! I write music with my wife Mandy whenever I have free time and desire. Her voice is just delightful! You can find our project “MJ8T” on all music platforms. I compose music, I listen to music all the time and I don’t think I can imagine my life without it.
Also I would go on a small trip to nature, to a quiet and beautiful place to enjoy nature and spend a great time with my favorite people. Hiking, taking pictures. I also believe that road trips by car have a special mood and atmosphere. Eating fast food on the road, which in normal life is not really present, is a pleasure)))) But if we are talking about restaurants, then Japanese cuisine is definitely the priority here! Well, and pizza too ahaha
To be honest, I have a hard time relaxing and I’m not very good at having fun (in the conventional sense of fun). I’m often so immersed in my work and creative process that thinking about it doesn’t let me go and sometimes it’s a problem for others haha. But I try) As I realize that it’s important to rest and have fun sometimes to reset myself and rethink things.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Of course, throughout my life and career different people, situations and things have influenced me, but for who I am now, first of all I am grateful to my parents. They showed by their example how important it is not to give up in a difficult situation and how important it is to be honest with yourself first of all. My grandmother, although I hardly remember her, but my mother says that it was my grandmother who instilled in me a love of cleanliness and neatness, which I believe has had a great impact on my work and character.
If we talk about creativity, it is very interesting. Since childhood I have loved painstaking work. Going into art college I was one of the only people who hadn’t studied drawing before. So being one of the most inexperienced in the class was a big motivation. And in college, which by the way I entered by chance, besides drawing and painting and composition, I studied traditional ornaments of the peoples of the Russian North, which greatly influenced my career as a tattoo artist. As I spent 10 hours a week for four years training my diligence drawing rather monotonous detailed ornaments. I didn’t like it at the time to be honest, but now I’m grateful for that time. And now the long painstaking work gives me pleasure.
II’m also sure it’s important to meet like-minded people along the way. Which I’m sure happens to those who are focused on what they do and love. In my experience, I can say with certainty that the thought process and sharing experiences with like-minded people is a big part of the learning and growth process. It’s always a joy to meet someone as “crazy” as you)))
I’ve worked hard, thought, dreamed, searched and tried and it certainly got me where I am today, but I also believe that every person along the way, whether they loved me or not, has contributed to who I am today. I am grateful for that! So my shoutout is be grateful and honest with yourself!

Website: https://www.maxtwentyeight.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maxtwentyeight/

Image Credits
Maksim Twenty Eight