A painter and tattoo artist, formed in the study of the body.

I'm Juano Frías, an Argentine painter and tattoo artist with over 17 years of experience across both disciplines.

My training is rooted in classical drawing and anatomy — the same discipline of observation that has shaped figurative painting for centuries, applied here to both portraiture and tattoo work. Long before either practice became a career, it was hours spent copying anatomy plates and old master drawings, learning to see structure before I ever learned to render likeness.

That foundation is what eventually pulled me toward tattooing — a chance to apply the same drawing discipline to a surface that moves, ages and belongs to someone else's body. It changes the stakes of every line, and it's shaped how I approach painting ever since.

I'm currently spending my final year in Florence, Italy, before relocating to Galicia, Spain — closing one chapter of study and opening the next. Florence in particular has been formative: painting daily in a city built by the same masters I studied from books, walking past the work that originally set the standard for everything I'm still trying to learn.

Alongside the studio work, I've been documenting the process on YouTube — plein air sessions in the streets of Florence, tattoo timelapses, still life studies, the occasional trip abroad with a sketchbook. It's become as much a part of the practice as the painting itself.

Whether the surface is canvas or skin, the process stays the same: careful drawing, an honest read of light, and a commitment to realism over shortcuts.