THE CREEKMAN

Kevin Creekman is a prime example of the massive impact tattoos can have on someone’s life. Following a struggle with weight and self acceptance that saw him drop to nearly half his size in just one year, Creekman embarked on an epic tattoo journey that involved getting a full bodysuit. During the process, which was completed two years ago, the ink not only changed him on the outside, but it also helped him find strength and self-love, impacting him at his very core

By the time Kevin Creekman was 18 years old, he tipped the scales at 150kg. A year later, he had lost 80kg thanks to pure de-termination and hard work, but rather than celebrating, he still felt uncomfortable in his own body. The fat was gone, but the excess skin remained and, in 2014, Creekman went under the knife to surgically remove skin from his belly, back and lateral body. He thought that would be the final step in his transformation and yet, something still didn’t feel right.

“After the surgery, I was hoping to find more confidence in my skin, but I still felt ashamed of my body and the scars,” he admits. “My scars told a story I didn’t want to tell everybody. I couldn’t even show my body shirtless without people asking me what had happened. I wanted to be free in my skin without people asking questions, so covering the scars was the way to go for me.”

Although he “really never planned” on a bodysuit, it just made sense, especially since Creekman was no stranger to large-scale tattoos. “I already had two full arm sleeves and chest tattoos before I did my skin removal surgery,” he says. Initially, he decided to solely tattoo his torso to hide the scarring, then one thing led to another. “I wanted to balance out my body with leg tattoos and after so much was covered, the only way for me to feel kind of complete was going for a full bodysuit,” he explains.

The size of the work and the commitment it would require didn’t faze Creekman in the least, given his attraction to massive pieces. “Aesthetically, I always liked tattoos that cover full body parts,” he notes. “I was never into collecting single tattoos, so whenever I was working on a new tattoo project, I was always planning with the artist to cover a whole body part. That’s why full arm and leg sleeves and a full front and backpiece were the only option for me.”