Hi guys. I’m relatively new to getting tattoos- I got my first (a simple neuron on my ankle) at 26. I decided I wanted a second when I graduated from graduate school a year ago. I spent the year narrowing down how I wanted to go and thinking Bout artists. The guy who did my first moved out of the area.
Several of my friends have work done by this one local artist and it’s all stellar. I went to him and liked him and we started a sketch process. He kept saying come back in a day or two, but when I would the drawing wasn’t finished yet. Everyone said to just trust him and I would love it. I liked the outline sketch, but no detail was in it and he said we’d do that part later. It’s a multi-session design. During my first sitting, he added some elements that were not in the sketch and detail I had not seen. I’m upset, and he told me he cannot show me a finished sketch because the shading and detail would look totally different on my skin. I’m freaked out by the idea of having no clue how it’s going to look and not being able to visualize it before it ends up permanently embedded in my skin. Am I being unreasonable? It seems odd that he wouldn’t put detail into a drawing for me to see when it’s permanent! Should I find a new artist to finish my tattoo? Should I stick with this artist, even though I do not like some of the changes he’s made without telling me first?
I’m losing sleep and am very stressed over this. Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Alright here is what you need to understand; Tattoo artists are ARTISTS. Not machines.
Some do very detailed scetches, but quite a few of the better artists only do rough sketches before hand, because they are creative and that’s just how it works.
You will actually never be able to see how a tattoo is going to look exactly by using a drawing. Never.
So yes – you should give him a break and trust him. When you pick an artist you need to know their art and trust their work.
Pictures help too, you can post pics and we can tell you if it looks good or not.
I can’t figure out how to post pictures on here.
It’s not so much that the tattoo looks different, it’s that it’s time and a half the size of the stencil he put on my shoulder, and there are mistakes. The tattoo is a brain, made of snakes. I’m a neuroscientist who also breeds vipers. There are some blown out lines, and the eyes on snakes within are too big and in the wrong place. A few snakes’ heads are missing bottom jaws. If someone can show me how to post the pics, I’ll get up one of it right after it was done, and another as it is now. It’s a week and a half old, so it’s still healing.
I just don’t know whether to trust him to finish it when certain shapes and lines are not right, or if I should find someone else I can trust to finish it/ clean it up.
Just post a link to where you have the pics posted like facebook,instagrm, photobuckect etc.
Post a link to the tattooist we can tell you whether to trust him or not. Trust in a tattooist (almost)always yields a way better tattoo.
80% of my tattoos I have given complete freedom to the carefully chosen tattooist.
Here’s the tattoo:
First pic is right after it was done: 
Here’s the current healing stage: 
Here’s the preliminary sketch. We removes the two detailed heads at the bottom because they didn’t flow, and added a brainstem. My issues are that several of the small snake heads look misshapen, their eyes are way too large compared to the sketch, and the big viper’s eye blends in with the scales too much. I was going to go just black and grey, but now I’m not sure if it will just look like a blur with all the detail…. 
He doesn’t have his portfolio online, but I saw a good selection in the shop, as well as his work on my friends. It all looked quite good, and my fiance wanted me to go to our friends’ artist. What really infuriates me is that I know he’s capable of far better than this. The shop is called “Hot Shots Tattooing” in Thorndale, PA. The artist was Charlie Morgan.
I went to several other shops yesterday and today, and found one that impressed me. It’s called High Rollers in West Chester, PA. The artist talked to me for a good 20 minutes on the phone, then I went in and showed him the piece and we discussed it for another half hour. He is sure he can fix it; it’s going to have to be color now though to mask the bad lines and pull the eye where he wants to. I’m going to check a few more places, but I really liked High Rollers. The shop was spotless, open and friendly. I’m really upset that I’m going to end up spending far more than I budgeted to fix this mess. I guess live and learn.
Anyone have any particular suggestions for shops in the Philadelphia, PA region?
@UrbanLegend711 140791 wrote:
He doesn’t have his portfolio online, but I saw a good selection in the shop, as well as his work on my friends. It all looked quite good, and my fiance wanted me to go to our friends’ artist. What really infuriates me is that I know he’s capable of far better than this. The shop is called “Hot Shots Tattooing” in Thorndale, PA. The artist was Charlie Morgan.
I went to several other shops yesterday and today, and found one that impressed me. It’s called High Rollers in West Chester, PA. The artist talked to me for a good 20 minutes on the phone, then I went in and showed him the piece and we discussed it for another half hour. He is sure he can fix it; it’s going to have to be color now though to mask the bad lines and pull the eye where he wants to. I’m going to check a few more places, but I really liked High Rollers. The shop was spotless, open and friendly. I’m really upset that I’m going to end up spending far more than I budgeted to fix this mess. I guess live and learn.
Anyone have any particular suggestions for shops in the Philadelphia, PA region?
Take a look at my signature link below on a PC preferably 🙂
Love the concept btw 🙂
Stop!!! It is easy to be dazzled by some tattooist bull shit but you don’t want somebody that isn’t up to the job trying to fix that! I looked at the poor excuse of a website for Hot Shot tattooing and the couple of pics on it are awful.
Post link of new tattooist please, or try Rob Diamond https://www.facebook.com/robertdiamondtattoos
I know now Hot Shots is not good….I’m not stepping foot in there again.
Here is a link to High Rollers Tattoo Studio on West Chester. It’s Douglas I talked with. He was very nice and he specializes in photo realistic cover ups and restoration work. He’s done a number of reptile pieces I saw in his portfolio that impressed me, but most of the newer stuff I saw at the shop portfolio doesn’t seem to be online. https://m.facebook.com/pages/High-Rollers-Tattoo-Studio/158967153381?_rdr
Another idea is Olde City Tattoo. Jason Goldberg’s work is great to me. Jason Goldberg | Olde City Tattoo
My fiance and I are in Vegas right now and I got to meet Sausage at Club Tattoo. I wish I lived closer to Vegas- I’d go to Sausage in a heartbeat. He’s so nice and talented.
@UrbanLegend711 140808 wrote:
Another idea is Olde City Tattoo. Jason Goldberg’s work is great to me. Jason Goldberg | Olde City Tattoo
You obviously do not have an eye for talent yet. His work is flat, boring and lacks detail. What was wrong with the link that I supplied you?
Nothing was wrong with your link per se. Harrisburg is a bit of a drive for me is all, and I want to have multiple artists to choose from. I can go to Rob’s shop and meet him and discuss the piece with him and see what he says.
I liked Douglas’ work better than Olde City Tattoo’s stuff. Olde City is highly recommended, but the online portfolios didn’t really wow me.
I could also wait until I can take another vacation and come have Sausage fix it at Club Tattoo in Vegas, but that will cost at least twice what anything in PA would. He’s an excellent artist though.
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