Look at tattoo pictures. Lots and lots of them. Look at the lines, are they clean and even or does the line weight change. Are they straight or wiggly? Look at lots of good and bad tattoos and you will get better at spotting both kinds. Then there’s the shading, is it smooth? Does the piece look flat and lifeless or does it “pop”?
It takes a while, but you can “train your eye”. I still have a long way to go myself. But I only have one skin, so if an artist’s work doesn’t blow me away then I don’t have any skin (or money) for them. Like jerryatrophy said, they should make your jaw drop. I learned this AFTER I got a few tattoos, of course.
So, it seems that I may have a problem getting a good artist to do smaller work 🙁 At least that is the response I’ve gotten from one of the places I contacted.
I can understand why more in demand artists don’t want to do smaller pieces, but at the same time, I’m not going to trust someone to do a big piece until they can do a satisfactory smaller piece.
@Asrais 135323 wrote:
So, it seems that I may have a problem getting a good artist to do smaller work 🙁 At least that is the response I’ve gotten from one of the places I contacted.
I can understand why more in demand artists don’t want to do smaller pieces, but at the same time, I’m not going to trust someone to do a big piece until they can do a satisfactory smaller piece.
Your method has landed you some problems. Revise your definition of small from 3 cm to about 14 cm. Trust people with good tattoos, and trust impressive portfolios.
@Asrais 135294 wrote:
A bit far from me (2000 km)
I don’t know if that is an hour drive or a 2 day drive.
I’m American and was not taught the metric system nor anything about Australia except it is an island that England sent all it’s criminals.
@buttwheat 135341 wrote:
I don’t know if that is an hour drive or a 2 day drive.
I’m American ans was not taught the metric system nor anything about Australia except it is an island that England sent all it’s criminals.
Lol
Well it’s quite far, like from the UK to Poland:)
@buttwheat 135341 wrote:
I don’t know if that is an hour drive or a 2 day drive.
I’m American and was not taught the metric system nor anything about Australia except it is an island that England sent all it’s criminals.
A little over 900 miles.
@Asrais 135323 wrote:
So, it seems that I may have a problem getting a good artist to do smaller work 🙁 At least that is the response I’ve gotten from one of the places I contacted.
I can understand why more in demand artists don’t want to do smaller pieces, but at the same time, I’m not going to trust someone to do a big piece until they can do a satisfactory smaller piece.
Step one is finding a good artist. Step two is getting the tattoo. You don’t take a tattoo artist for a test drive. And if you don’t know how to judge an artist by their portfolio then how can you judge their work by a tiny tattoo on yourself?
I have a suggestion. If you contact a good artist who isn’t interested in doing work as small as your piece then ask if they can recommend someone else. Then look at that artist’s portfolio. They might be able to steer you to someone.
Keep looking until you find someone really good.
Matthew Bumer Joyce, South Australia – https://www.facebook.com/bumerr/media_set?set=a.10151649237163989.617557.681478988&type=3
There is a shit ton of artists in Melbourne, how far to Melbourne?
I think that pretty much anything I want at the moment would be regarded as a small tattoo – I didn’t mean to sound like I wanted to take an artist for a test drive, but it’s frustrating, to go into a shop and not be taken seriously because what you want is a smaller piece – which is what I now feel happened with my last one – they gave me the impression that they were confident that there apprentice could do the piece I wanted and because it was a reputable place, I thought it would be good to give the apprentice a shot – I trusted them and obviously that was stupid of me.
Melbourne is about a 10 hour drive – which is not out of the question in the future, but at the moment my car wouldn’t make it.
I have had a look at Matthew Bumer Joyce, his work looks good and he also has a few smaller tats on his facebook page, so that gives me hope.
@GrayCatLove – there’s only one thing I hate worse than doing something stupid, and that’s doing the same stupid thing over again – seems here is as good a place as any to learn.
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