David Flores

@David Flores Hear hear! What I don't understand is why everyone has to have their own damn shop. Why not go work for the qualified people already in town? Aside from how much more a tattooer could learn with that opportunity, running a shop is stupid hard work and a ton of responsibility. I honestly cannot imagine wanting to open a shop any time before my 15 years. Perhaps too many people in tattooing for the wrong reasons...

I heard some guy the other day talking about wanting to leave and open a shop, and all I could think was "you don't even have a bank account, you pay your rent in money orders!" but I kept quiet and knew he was just talking shit. He found another fit that was better for him as he should.

Shops are all different and I think everyone has their own idea about how one should run and I think it's always a balance between doing it your own way vs just having to come to work and put on tattoos. Their are variables about what shop you work at, but to work for someone or have your own place seems to come down to that.

Then there are the people who just aren't good enough to be hired at a shop, so they start their own.

Hi, like I said I like to paint things, I'll attach an example of one of my digital paintings, to prove that I know what art looks like. I'm a 25 year old female and I have wanted a tattoo for my whole life, which is why I am here. I like this forum because it focuses on the artistic quality and longevity of tattoos, instead of just hyping the newest fads.

I'll also attach an image of the most appealing tattoo idea I have found so far. This isn't a picture of me. I really like both the placement and the design. I like that it's simple and elegant, and it looks like something I won't need to find a super expensive artist to pull off. I'll need to figure out what to change so it isn't a complete rip off of what this guy has, though.

Welcome to the forum, Hope you find it helpful.

The first thing that stands out to me is the idea the whole I don't need an expensive artist to do my tattoo, which in part is true, but you do need a good tattooer to do a good tattoo, not all people who are good are expensive and not all expensive are good. I think people assume they they have to settle for lesser quality tattoo. The price of a tattoo is relatively small in regards to how long you will be wearing it, and a cheap wrist tattoo and an expensive one, aren't going to vary that much. Also I have found professionals are way more efficient with their time and end up costing less in the long run, even if their price is more per hour.

Second, what is the image in the tattoo reference you posted. Not trying to be a smart ass, but it's hard to ask someone to create a custom tattoo of a design that really doesn't have a description. I think people gravitate towards these ideas because they can't commit to an actual image on their body, or don't know what they want, I would say this is the reason there were so many tribal tattoos in the 1990's. That being said, these types of designs can make a nice tattoo if you find the right tattooer, you probably just need to find someone with a knack for this kind of design or still has their Spirograph from when they were a kid. Just saying may not be the design to price shop on.

You could draw something yourself, but I have always found it best to advise people to let tattooers design tattoos, even those who are artistic, hence the expression "artists pay double", nothing set in stone, just all things to consider.

I have been wearing this for awhile, but this was done by Ross Carlson from Artwork Rebels awhile back, before the AWR days.

Third vote for Marco Hernandez

I think that if people still act with courtesy in mind, it exists. My own personal opinion is that it is a low blow and incredibly rude to swipe business from people that you look up to.

I think that's what it boils down to is courtesy. I don't think you only have to respect and not open up next to people that having been tattooing longer than you in a city, but the younger people with newer shops have to respect the old guard if they expect that courtesy to be extended to them. There is a group of shops that haven't been around as long, but their is a two way professional respect for the work they put out, their business and general attitude about tattooing that would definitely have to be considered. It's not that we don't feel we could open up next to those people ethically, we just wouldn't cause of personal respect. What I was trying to say though is at this point, there have been so many people that have been around for a few years and have some level of respect in town, and they just move into all these neighborhoods with established tattoo shops and everyone acts like it's okay, and they are all best friends, so clearly they couldn't be pissed unless their idea of professional courtesy only exisits when it's someone opening up on top of them and not the other way around. Then there is about 30 shops that are the product of tattoo school graduates who couldn't get hired at exisiting shops and people who moved up from California thinking business would be cheaper, that have no leg to stand on in my opinion and all of them at some point moved in on someone else that has been tattooing there longer and deserve to have the same done to them, whether that will be us remains to be seen ( not likely) but I think they should have to work a little harder to make a living and really earn the right to be in a high profile spot , or leave.

My friend opened up his shop closer to where he lives, and pretty close to a lot of shops, but far enough to not be opening up next door.

For people that have already tattooed me, I would choose Ashley Howell, because he is one of my best friends, probably the smartest guy I know, but has no formal education, can tattoo any style, has tattooed all over the world, and we can get a beer afterwards.

If he was off the table, I would have to say Matt Arriola, or Steve Byrne would be my choices because they are versatile as well, like everything they do and they create the type of tattoo experience I am looking for.

If I'm not mistaken, as a tattooer, you're supposed to open everything, needles, tube bags and disposable tubes, all in front of the client... In NYC, it's one of the things they stress at the board of Health, when getting you're tattoo license.

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I hate those guys that show up 8 deep.

Usually, we let only one person, in the back while the tattoo is being done. Either the rest get restless and leave, look at the books or just fucking lounge around the front like they own the place. Rarely, do we get one out of the group that decides that he/she wants to get something cool put on them, while they wait.

I honestly don't get it.

I'm 38 years old. I started getting tattoed when I was 21. I went with one other guy, to Mackenzie's Custom Tattoo in Lake Carmel, because he was getting tattooed too. It was almost like a right of passage.

Now, it's a TV show.

I also don't like when people walk in the shop and shove their cell phone in my face, asking how much? I usually try to steer them in a better direction, but they usually want the same shit everyone else has (I don't think I need to explain).

I'm not new to getting tattooed, but I am new to being a tattooer, so I really can't complain too much about lame people, because I haven't been doing it too long. I'm not sure if this has been covered else where, but the mystique and magic is gone. It's been gone for some time I guess. I kind of miss when people were a little apprehensive about walking into a shop. I know I was.

I got my first tattoo in 1999, lived behind a tattoo shop in a basement apartment. You used to walk in there and you had to wait in line, you didn't come back a month later to get a consult, and you couldn't even book an appointment, you waited till your name was called in a sea of people and if you didn't pick something off the wall, it better be something the tattooer wanted to do, or the tattooer would move on to the next person and you waited for nothing.

I feel like my version of "tattooing" is different than is portrayed on tv or even some degree on this site at times, although there is a lot of good on here and I enjoy the discussion and the people here. We don't just get to see the cool parts and get the gratification of a new tattoo. Hanging out all day waiting for someone to walk in the door that isn't going to waste your time and possibly spend money. Knowing that 99% of tattooers are just trying to make a living and deal with whatever walks in the door that day and don't have a tv show or a year long wait list.

I'm not impressed, if you are going to troll you have to be more subtle and more believable.

Mav Mess just dropped this book by the shop today.

From time to time people toss around the idea of moving their shop to a different location. The most recent version of this was a friend who's lease was going to triple downtown so was looking to move to different spot, but didn't want to open up right next to anyone he respects or any other shop for that matter. I think he got different advice from everyone, but the way I saw it was he has been in town for longer and when he opened up his shop there wasn't a million shops and everyone carved up big territories for themselves and was careful not to infringe on turf, but now that everyone has carved those territories up and opened up on top of each other, I wouldn't be as concerned with where you open up as long as it's not across the street from another good shop. Incidentally a lot of places I have lived and visited all the tattoo shops were on one side of town and usually on the same drag, but that was another time i suppose.

I guess what I am asking is does it really matter anymore where you open up? Does the fact that your business is established or that you have been tattooing in town for longer carry any weight? What if your shop is just plain better? Don't get me wrong every once in awhile we toy with the idea of moving the shop and there is always a couple people we respect to much to open anywhere near them, but I guess I am wondering is that just leftover mentality of a time past or does this courtesy really exist?

http://tattooforrest.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/20130714-162850.jpg

I don't know if this is going to work (never posted a link like this before) but I just got this from Forrest Cavacco's blog and thought I'd post for the LST community. I'll be in Brooklyn, NY that weekend, but for folks who'll be in Dallas, have a great Friday the 13th weekend!

Damn that is quite a lineup.

It was the clerk who was saying he wouldn't be available. The shop was closing up and I literally caught the artist as he was walking out the door, I'm sure if that wasn't the case he would have spent a few mins and signed me up right there. Meshing schedules was the issue. With the "consult" yea its like a few minute thing. He fits in consults on days he already has appointments with people. He found a day that he had open (Sundays are the only day where I didn't work and he did) and then he just set up the consult a week before that. I left. I realized the consult day was the long weekend i'd be out of town. So that is what messed everything up time wise. Now I want more then just an Eagle. ANd in fact aren't really that conerned with the eagle.

Makes more sense, getting schedules to lineup can be tough. I guess I just find it weird how people do business, and how it works for them and how it shapes what is expected in a tattoo shop or the process of getting tattooed in the general public's eyes. Getting a good tattoo is not that hard, once you know what a good tattoo is, and I am sure it will work out fine.

This looks like the best place to get some insight into my "problem".

I've got some Japanese style tattoos. I went to artists that liked doing that style to get them. On my other arm I want to go American traditional. I wanted a bad ass eagle on my forearm. Did some research on here and online a bit. I found two artists I liked in particular. The next time I was in the city I was going to stop in and see what the shop was like and look at either of their portfolios. Happened to by near one of the shops two weeks ago. Went in. Talked to front clerk about looking at some books. They told me most of their artists (including the guy I liked) were backed up and not really taking appointments but handed me a book from a guy who I could see sooner. I got the run around a bit but ended up looking at all the books of all the artists and I managed to talk to the artist I liked as he was leaving. Set up a consult and my tattoo appointment right there. Didn't really expect to book an appointment that day, but really happy I did.

Since I've booked the appointment I spent more time looking at this guys work and have been following his instagram. I absolutely love his work. I find it to be ridiculously good and there hasn't been a tattoo of his I don't like. I have gone from wanting an eagle, to now wanting from around my elbow down to my cuff completely done by this artist. I kinda don't care what he tattoos at this point. I am wondering if I could just walk in there and say "tattoo whatever you want". To me, it sounds bad, lol. I really like his work, I don't think he could do something I didn't like.

So if any artists want to chime in. Have you had clients be such a fan of your work they just say "yeah I want you to do my whole forearm". Do they have to give you some idea? Should I say. I like Eagles, Old fashion trains. I like Cats. I like the traditional flowers. Ships. Snakes. I don't need them all in there, just do what you feel would fit nicely in the space? Do clients say that to you? What kind of position does that put you in? Should I walk in there with a better idea out of respect for the artist? At this point I don't care if I get an eagle or not. Do I say put an eagle on this part of my arm, but can you fill in the rest of my arm with stuff that will work nicely? I don't know if that is appropriate, lol. I do not have an artistic bone in my body. The pictures I go in with are no where near close to what the artist ends up tattooing on me. The picture I have in my head is horrible compared to what an artist does.

To people that have gotten tattoos by just saying "tattoo me". How has that worked out for you? Good or bad experience? Did you find you annoyed the artist?

I have a month and a half before my consult and then my appointment is a month after that. So I got time to figure it out. I'm just curious to see the feasibility of basically saying "tattoo me". I very well could have a better idea of what I want by then, but If I don't can i just fall back on "tattoo me".

Thanks for any responses.

I can't imagine some dude telling me to come back in a month so I could talk about getting an eagle on my forearm. A japanese back piece or sleeve, yeah I get it. But it's seems like most of the top people these days would take five minutes talk to you about what you want and set up your appointment and do the drawing the night before or just draw it on with a sharpie. I am not saying you won't get a good tattoo, just wonder how this became the process to get tattooed by some people. I think some people put on an act cause they want to seem busier than they are, meanwhile people who are actually busy don't care how busy they look and most of the time work harder to try to tattoo more people and make people wait less. I have no idea who you booked your appointment and whether this is the case for them, but really a consult for an eagle?

I could proably spend a month in Chicago and get a sleeve at Great Lakes from most of the top tattooers in the country, no consult needed. That is if I had any room left on my arms. Everytime I buy into thinking all the good tattooers are booked, I call the shop and they make me feel weird for booking an appointment so far in advance(two months), Spider Murphy's was like of course you can get tattooed by anyone you want if you book two months out, don't know if it's still the case by was last summer.

getting my knees done is what put me over that line as far as I can tell.

Even people who knew ahead of time about my plans for leg tattoos seemed shocked when I got the knees done.

Knees are kind of becoming the in thing. I feel left out cause I don't have any knee tattoos, yet I should say. I mean it doesn't matter what order you get tattooed if you are going to be tattooed all over, but I see so many people starting with the knees and working outward. When I think about it, makes sense, just never thought of going that route. Until a few years ago I thought of the knees as a super hard core place you only did at the end of filling your body suit.

End Of An Era And The Beginning... - Luke Wessman - Self Made Tattoo Artist

There is some cool photos of Dave's shop in San Diego on Luke Wessman's site. There is just one angle of influence he had on tattooing, it's hard to really define what each persons role in history of tattooing is, but Mr Gibson definitely has one. I hear so many different stories about the guy good and bad, but his stuff speaks for itself and his influence is undeniable.

Funny when I look at pics I think about how similar our shop looks to that, and then I read I find out there is a good reason for that, Terry Tweed helped him set up that shop. Our shop is not exactly set up like Terry's shop, but our owner spent a whole decade working at Terry's shop, so there is a lot of his influence on how a shop should be set up.

Dave that is Matt Arriola's work.

My first thought was this has to be Matt Arriola if he is getting tattooed in Seattle, but I know embers had traveled to get tattooed a few times as well.

tapped out. finishing in another week.

getting my knee done by derek noble on tuesday!

Who is doing that tattoo on you? You probably have said I just can't remember. Almost looks like a Bob Roberts Eagle. Anyway it's rad!

Hi, I got a small, one-worded tattoo just over a month ago. The tattoo artist told me that I only needed to care for it for a couple days since it was so small, but I did it for a week to be on the safe side. Now, however, it is starting to flake off and fade in some spots. I don't know what to do?! Hopefully you can advise :] Thank you!

Yeah your tattoo is healing. The dry skin is flaking off not the tattoo and the reason your tattoo looks faded is because you have a new layer of skin coming in and you are seeing the tattoo thru it. If it still looks that way after a full month of healing then i would go see the tattooer, but I would say once a week someone comes in saying the same thing you do, I give them this advise and everything turns out okay.

When your tattooer told you that you only had to take care of it for a couple of days, I am assuming that meant the application of some sort of healing cream, which is what I would do even for large scale work. sometimes babying a tattoo does more harm than good, but if you really want to dive into this topic there is a whole section of this forum devoted to aftercare.

The price of gas to go to Chicago vs plane ticket to NY, not that much of a difference, but what I always do is plan a vacation around my tattoo, so that it's not like i'm flying somewhere to get tattooed, I am getting tattooed while on vacation. If it's that important for you to get this tattoo it's worth the extra money.

Tattoos - Daniel Trocchio

Daniel Albrigo

I think if you can't book Hooper, you go to New York and see someone at Three Kings or John Sultana at saved. But NY seems to be the common thread.

Edit;

I guess I should throw this out there, there are quite a few capable tattooers in Chicago that might be able to do your tattoo, but it may not be what they normally do. Mario Desa comes to mind, don't know if he would be up to it, but he seems like the kind of guy who prides himself on being able to do all styles even though he specializes in his own. If someone walked in the door of our shop and wanted something geometric, they would walk out with a well done tattoo, even though that's not what we normally do. In either case if you don't ask you will never know.

What the hell, I will enter this one, pretty sure everyone knows who did it, haha. Man that Kore Flatmo sleeve is great, that is who I am voting for this month.

Natural progression. Eagle is to Owl as Octopus is to Jellyfish. I really don't have any evidence to back that up, but it sounds nice.

There are like a million versions of this design floating around. Some without the cap maybe a candle behind the book, or oil lamp.

UPDATE

Funny didn't read through whole thread, just posted this. Great minds think alike i guess.

where is your shirt?

What you don't get buck naked to photograph a tattoo on your arm, where is the fun in that.

Everyone deserves to have something nice. In the scheme of things, you have your whole life to do good, this was just one moment when you took some time and resources for yourself. There will be plenty of opportunities in life to help people in need and your tattoo money isn't going to be the deal breaker here. If anything use this a motivation to try to find ways to help people in need in the future or find a way to put money aside to causes that are actually doing good. It's not just about giving people money, it's about giving the right people money who know how to make it work for the people who need it.

Glad to hear you had such a great experience. Matt is a good dude, and the spider is killer.

It was a crazy day all around, Seattle really kicked my ass. In hindsight maybe would have been better to book earlier appt, but then I probably wouldn't have got to hang out with Ernie, that dude is such a character and his collection is amazing. Matt and the shop was super busy, but we had a good chat and a few laughs and yeah I love the tattoo. Wrath's place was amazing too, that guy paints so nice, and I guess having a printing company helps as well. It really is such a small community, it's crazy sometimes.