Choosing Your Tattooist
♦
Where to find a good tattooist
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Listening to the word on the street
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Will this fit in your schedule?
♦ Is this tattooist for you
Finding a
good tattooist is very easy. There are so many good tattooists out there
waiting to tattoo you. Unfortunately, there are also some bad ones. That is why
it is important to take your time in finding the right person to tattoo you.
You have your whole life to wear the tattoo.
A few extra days waiting to
find the person who will get the job done right isn’t too much to ask. Perhaps
you need to get the tattoo done quickly without a lot of mulling over the
subject. Some people are like that, and that’s fine, too. There is no need to
worry as long as you take the right precautions when walking into a shop.Many shops
are designed for people to walk in and get a tattoo on the spot. Many of these
places have amazing artists working there who
will put a nice, clean tattoo on you.As long as you know what to
look for, you won’t have any mishaps.
Where
to Look
It is time
for you to start looking for the tattooist who is the best person for the job.
There is a whole global community of them waiting for you to seek them out.
Your tattooist is out there somewhere, and you will find that person. Now,
where do you look?
If you have
found the name of a tattooist or tattoo shop, you can then look it up on the
Internet. Most shops have websites containing portfolios and photos of the
shop. This way you can get a basic idea of the place without actually going there.
(If you don’t have access to the Internet, take the time to stop by and check
out the shop.) If you can’t get a referral from anyone, you can always look up
local shops on the Internet. Google or Yahoo! are good places to start. MySpace
also has many tattooists who have their portfolios posted in their photo
sections. In addition, the artists who have contributed to this book are
amazing tattooists, and this book is a good place to start looking.
Tattoo magazines will have
pictures of tattoos with each artist’s information. Many magazines will have
full articles on the artists so you can learn about them before you meet them.
This way you can see what the tattooists are into before you go out of your way
to meet them.
Shop
Reputation and Experience
One of the
best ways to tell if a shop is good, bad, or ugly, is by its reputation. It
takes years to build a good reputation, no matter what you do. A good
reputation means happy clients, which means good tattoos. Because it takes
years to build a good reputation it typically means a good reputation comes
with experience. Experience is important because the tattooist will know what
she’s doing. She won’t be experimenting or learning on you. She will know how
to guide you through your tattoo experience and what to do in case of an
emergency such as if you should pass out.
Many people
find their tattooist through word of mouth. The best way to find a tattooist is
to meet or know someone who has tattoos. It’s hard not to find someone with at
least one tattoo these days. Perhaps one of your co-workers or church buddies
has been tattooed and can tell you about his or her experience.
Finding a
tattooist through word of mouth also enables you to see the artist’s work
firsthand. It’s good to see how a tattooist’s work looks after it’s healed. You
can make your judgments without the pressure of being in a shop or in front of
the artist.
If you see people in public
with tattoos you think are nice, ask them where they got their tattoos. You
will find many people get really excited to promote their tattooist. Many
clients carry the cards of the shop where they got tattooed. Sometimes a
referral may get them a discount on their next tattoo.
Availability
We all have our own lives
and our own schedules of things to do, like doing the food shopping or going to
Grandpa’s birthday party. It’s a fact of life that sometimes you only get
certain windows of time to get stuff done for yourself. When looking for a
tattooist, you need to keep this in mind.
It’s not
uncommon for a well-known tattooist to have a very busy schedule. Some
tattooists are booked up for a year. Some are booked for six months, while
others are just waiting for you to
walk in. If
you don’t mind waiting, that’s great, but it may be hard to plan your life a
year in advance. There are too many things popping up to plan that far ahead.
It’s good if you are sold on
a particular artist and don’t mind waiting for an appointment. Then you are
all set. But if you don’t have that kind of patience, it’s best to look around
to find someone who is available when you are. You want the experience to be a
pleasurable one, so give yourself enough time to do things right.
Easy
to Reach
Location is a
big issue when you are looking for your tattooist. If you are getting a tattoo
that takes more than one session, you may want to find a shop that is near
where you live. If it takes you over an hour of travel to get to the shop, you
may be tired by the time you get there. The more tired you are, the more the
tattoo will hurt.
Traveling
with a fresh tattoo can be uncomfortable also. Plus your tattoo will be
bleeding on the way home. Being stuck on a bus or train during rush hour while
you are recovering from a fresh tattoo is not fun.
There are many tattooists who are worth traveling to
get tattooed by. But because tattoos are not cheap to begin with, the
additional costs of traveling a great distance and possibly needing to stay
until the tattoo is finished can make the whole experience a huge financial
commitment.
Personality
Because you
are having someone change your body permanently, you may want that someone to
be a person you like and trust. Having a pleasant tattooist can really make
your tattoo experience a good one. Ask yourself the following questions:
♦ Do you feel comfortable?
Feeling comfortable during a tattoo session is important. Feeling comfortable
will keep you from jumping around during the tattooing process. What are your
first impressions when you meet your tattooist? Some tattoo- ists can look
really burly on the outside but are friendly and understanding on the inside.
You will have to spend some time with this individual, because you don’t want
to have a tattooist who gives you the heebie-geebies.
♦ Do you like the tattooist?
It is always nice to hang out with people you get on with. They can make the
time go by faster, which is important when you are getting a tattoo. When
talking to a tattooist, ask yourself, “Is this person someone I could get along
with outside the tattoo shop?”
Not that you
want to be best friends, but for the moment you are together, there won’t be
any hang-ups. You don’t have
to agree on everything, but
it’s nice to be around someone pleasant.
Style
For a tattooist to do the best job he can, he needs to
want to do the tattoo you chose. Not all tattooists will tattoo anything. Some
are quite specific about what they are willing to tattoo. Some have studied
hard to tattoo a certain kind of style and don’t want to be bothered with
anything else. This is why it’s important to do a little research before
speaking to a tattooist. A tattooist’s style is what sets his or her tattoos
apart from everyone else’s.
If
the Idea Fits
Style can be
very specific. Many themes and ideas can be transferred from one style to
another. A good example of that can be
seen in
classic art. How many different artists for the last 2,000 years have painted
the Madonna and Child? From Duccio to Raphael, the image has changed with each
passing style and trend. It wouldn’t fit so well or at least have the same
meaning if someone like H. R. Giger painted the Madonna and Child. There is no
way that painting would make it inside a church and no way any devout Catholic
wouldn’t be offended by the image Giger would make.
With this in mind, you must ask yourself, while you
are looking through portfolios, “Does my idea fit this style of tattooing?” Someone
who tattoos graffiti isn’t necessarily going to want to draw a tribal sun. You
will probably find a similar version of your idea in someone’s portfolio, so
just keep looking.
It’s easy to
tell if a tattooist is into your idea. You can usually see it in the expression
on his face. That’s why it’s important to meet with him beforehand and discuss
your plans. Forcing someone to do something artistic that he doesn’t want to do
can result in a bad tattoo. If he’s not into your plan, then you can do one of
two things:
1. If you really like this
tattooist for personal reasons as well as liking his portfolio, you can ask him
what he would rather do. From there you can go back and forth until you both
are satisfied with your future tattoo. You will probably end up with a tattoo
you love more than your original idea.
2. If you are really into your
idea for a tattoo and must have that idea, you can ask the tattooist if he has
a friend who can tattoo or a co-worker who may be into the idea. This enables
the tattooist not to have to do something he doesn’t like, as well as hook up a
buddy or respected tattooist.
Cleanliness
To avoid any
possibility of infection, make sure the shop you go to and the artist you want
to do your tattoo are clean. It is not easy to infect a tattoo, but it is
possible if the shop is dirty. Look for dust balls or ink stains on the floor.
If the floor hasn’t been mopped in a while, chances are nothing else has been
cleaned either. A clean toilet is a sign of a clean shop. Being clean is
another sign of a professional and a good sign of a competent tattooist.
You already know about the
sterilization equipment and Matacide from Chapter 5. Make sure there is some
form of Matacide or bleach cleaner kicking around the shop. That’s a good sign
that the shop is kept sterile. You should be able to smell the bleach or
chemical cleaner in the air. They are unmistakable smells and point to a clean
shop. Look for boxes of surgical gloves as well. These are also a sign of attention
to cleanliness and detail.
Check out the
tattoo area while you are looking around the shop. If you see the garbage cans
are overly full and appear to have been sitting around for a while, you may
want to look somewhere else. The trash in the garbage will be contaminated with
blood and dirty ink.
The
Least You Need to Know
- Recommendations and seeing tattooists’ work first hand is the best way to find your artist.
- Be sure to meet with the tattooist, look at his or her portfolio, and discuss your plans first.
- Having a good professional rapport with the tattooist will make your tattoo experience a little easier.
- Cleanliness with tattooists is a sign of professionalism and makes for a better tattoo.
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