Joe Shit

https://www.facebook.com/BackboneTattoo
https://www.facebook.com/totemastattoo
Eddy Tattoo Studio

if you dont mind the drive i would vote for dave fox. i love his punkish take on trad japanese.

Brian would be my first choice just on talent alone.
Andrew Conner | Artist is very good.
E Y E S P E A K | tattoos by Mike Sikes
Dana Helmuth :
TONY MORRELL l 2012
Resp
Martin@ Olde City Tattoo | Just another WordPress.com site
www.davefoxtattoos.com

I have a list somewhere around the house with close to 40-50 names of ladies that tattooed from the 20's thru the 70's!
There were a lot more women tattooing than I think most know about!
Names like Dee Brown and Bernice Steinhart from Portland, OR......(60's & 70's)
I think @Joe Shit added Debbie Lenz from Youngstown, OH to this list....I'll be finally adding something from her this Summer hopefully!
Not really sure if they are legendary though.......
My mentor (who is female) opened her shop here in Maryland in the 1970's and has been tattooing 30+ years!

I wish I could start all over and have two awesome sleeves like that.And done by two of the most humble,and talented tattooers of our day.You can't go wrong with any artist at Kings Ave,and Invisible.I also like Rodrigo Melo@ North Star Tattoo.David Sena@ SENASPACE - David Sena - TATTOO - FIRE DRAWINGS
Kris Magnotti@ NY Adorned,Bern@Daredevil Tattoo

Spoilt in London, but I love the street shop feel at Frith St - it feels a lot more relaxed to me than some of the other shops. I like that it's both a shop for people who are getting their first tattoo as much as it is for the serious collectors.

I was always a fan of Suzanne Fausier (sp?) from Michigan.
And I've known Annette since I was.... christ.. 15? Deb tattooed my brother when he was on vacation once.... small tattoo world.

I will say they only names I know that you did not put Jennifer,
Kandi Everett, Jill Jordan, and Kari Barba.

Atom at Artcore is one of my favorites
Atom at Artcore Studios

I agree with everyone's suggestions from Portland. I really like all those shops and have got tatttooed in most of them, but a couple shops I think people sleep on are
Imperial Tattoo, Todd J does some clean traditional and I have seen Josiah Laughlin turn out some pretty killer Japanese pieces.
Blacklist Tattoo, Eli and Tim do great stuff and Tron is working there from NYC now
also
Sean Lanusse at Infinity Tattoo

Another great artist residing in London is Kanae of Nine Tails Tattoo , previously she served her apprenticeship at Hocus Pocus Studio Japan and her work is the simple , bold very traditional Japanese style .
Nine Tails Tattoo § Kanae

Caz at Seven Seas Tattoo in San Diego.

Sanitary Electric Tattoo Company
Tattoo Union Jeremy's a member on LST
Atlas Tattoo :: Portland, Oregon
Mav & Terry@ http://www.deluxetattooparlor.com/
Seattle Tattoos | Jackson Street Tattoo Co.

Nick is, IMHO, the best traditional American style tattooist out there. Mario's work is most excellent, slightly different feel to it, but I'd recommend either of them in a hearbeat.
Course, if you go to CTC, it might pay you to take a look at Mike Dalton's work. Man been there something like 30 years, quiet, steady, tattoos like a mofo.
Hard to beat-or equal-that shop for talent, history, and surroundings.
One thing I like about Nick working is that he's working. Oh, he's friendly, personable, all of that, but I mean, forget about smoke breaks and all that shit, unless you request it, it's needles in for the whole time, str8-up. The last work he did on me, he stopped after he did all the blackwork, maybe an hour and a half, two hours in, for a tem minute break to let me stretch and hit the head, after that it was another couple hours non-stop.
Some artists, especially the smokers, man, they can make a 4 hour tattoo take 6 hours!

My wife has promised me a trip to the Uk on our 10 yr wedding anniversary for a sleeve from one of the great artists over there. That's 7 years from now, maybe Valerie will be taking new customers again then?

I travel to MAKE tattoos! 3 hours each way two days a week to New Jersey.

I just booked two appointments at BlackHeart in S.F. I'm going to get a Zeis style dragon from Jeff on my left forearm, and a day of the dead skull on my right inner bicep from Juan. I'm impressed that both Scott and Tim are pretty well booked solid 5 weeks ahead of time! I'm in on the 26th of July and super stoked about it. After that I've got a week to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of the city.

I get tattooed at Name Brand in Ann Arbor fairly often, which is a four hour drive each way from where I live. I've made the trek to Chicago (8+ hours each way) to get tattooed by Mario a few times, and last year, I drove around 7.5 hours each way to Toronto to get tattooed by Lizzie Renaud and Adrian Menzies. There's a rad shop in my town, and I have a lot of tattoos from them, but there's something so fucking awesome about tattoo road trips.

Gonna try and make it on Saturday,and possibly Sunday.I guess i should get tattooed instead of just walking around and grabbing business cards.

Mia is real sexy,and does nice work too.Same thing with Alex Strangler..Also this girl Amanda that works in Nashville.
gallery meta title*|*Black 13 Tattoo

My latest, another torch. Done by Xam at The Family Business in London, last Monday. Healing up pretty good. Pic is fresh, as you can tell from the bloody paper towels!

Josh Stephens, Steve Byrne, Marie Sena, Paul Dobleman are my dream team at the moment
crush crushing on Alex Strangler. she's a cutie :o

Crush crush for me would be Mia Graffam. <3

Jason McCarty Tattoo Artist « BODY ART TATTOO STUDIO
Sean Karn Tattoos
duhsquared.com
Alex@ Welcome to Alex's New Tattoo!

Thicker Than Water Tattoo - East Village - New York, NY - RICHARD SMITH
Something about this dude's work that i like.
THoTH
Same thing with John..I can't put my finger on why i like his work,but it just looks pleasing to the eye.