sweetling

Thanks a million, everyone. You've been beyond helpful and may have saved me from a lifetime of regret. You have my most heartfelt gratitude :D

Thanks a million, everyone. You've been beyond helpful and may have saved me from a lifetime of regret. You have my most heartfelt gratitude :D

Thanks a million, everyone. You've been beyond helpful and may have saved me from a lifetime of regret. You have my most heartfelt gratitude :D

Thanks a million, everyone. You've been beyond helpful and may have saved me from a lifetime of regret. You have my most heartfelt gratitude :D

Great choice!! I hardly see anyone really take peoples advice lately and go with the cheaper option. Trust me you will not regret it later on if you decide to get more work. Also try not to over analyze it too much.
If you are looking for realism then Justin or Matt Bagwell are the best choices. Both of them are on instagram.
As far as color realism there are not many artist in NYC that can do that well but depends what exactly you are looking for. Something like Nikko Hurtado?
FWI they would tell you upfront if Justin couldn't or didn't do that style . In any case check out xskinny on instagram also.

All right guys, you've convinced me that money is no object. There is just one more thing (I think...I hope...) I want to check with you guys before making a final decision. I'm not sure the tattoo I'm looking to get is really Justin's style. I'm looking to get a semi-realistic to realistic (read: not too cutesy or cartoony) owl in a bright color like blue or orange (think red phase eastern screech owl), which I realize may not be up everyone's alley (not only because it's an owl, which I guess is pretty overdone at this point, but also because it would seem some artists are averse to mixing realism and color). I'm worried that I'd make an appointment with Justin and wait till September (since the consultation doesn't happen until only a few weeks prior to the initial tattoo date) just to be told that he doesn't do that kind of tattoo and I'll have to take my business elsewhere. Is that a legit concern? Or do you think Justin is versatile enough that he'd be cool with that?

This is something I've given a lot of thought to as well. I love the idea of having one artist who is *my* artist and who does all my work, but I have yet to find an artist who's equally good at everything. I'm planning of getting my next tattoo done by a guy whose color work is gorgeous and who's a great artist in general, and I think he could do a great job on most of the work I want to get done. But let's say I wanted to get a photorealistic lady portrait tattooed on me. Those are really tough to get just right; while this particular tattoist is a fantastic artist, I don't love all of his portrait work, and I'd be uneasy with the idea of having him put one on me. On the other hand, I know an artist who bangs out portraits perfectly - he's like a machine - but I asked him if he could do a colorful semi-realistic owl, and he told me he'd only do it if he could make it a black and white photorealistic portrait. So it seems to me that sometimes you just have to work with artists' specialties and go with an artist you know will be able to do a great job with that particular tattoo.

Thanks guys!
I know Kings Avenue! As in, I've been to their website and ogled their artwork...I'm not cool enough to actually KNOW any tattoo artists, haha.
Da Vinci, I've actually not heard of. Off to look them up now!