Ink13 - Tattoo blog

Choosing a tattoo artist one of the single most important decisions you have to make when you’ve decided to get a tattoo.

Some rely on recommendations, some on the galleries they found on the ‘net, you just have to have a keen eye and an observing mind. I even had a friend who dared an artist to come up with something awesome out of something so bland. This friend is a huge fan of o2 so he dared an artist to create art out of o2 phones. The result was a genuine piece of tattoo art.

There are certainly many hundreds and thousands of tattoo artists out there, but who should you choose to permanently leave their mark on you!

Using this 6 point information list, ink13.co.uk will give you a good idea of how to find the best artist available, and with a little guidance, we’ll also help you with the questions that you should be asking!

1) Recommendations

If you have a friend or colleague who has a tattoo that looks well done (remember you don’t have to like it!) then why not ask where they have had it done! Also ask if they would recommend the artist to other people. A personal recommendation is really a very good, safe way that you are picking a ‘tried and tested’ artist.

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2) Style Matters

Look through a prospective artist’s portfolio of work. When you meet them for the first time, or go into their studio, ask to see photo’s of work that they have personally done. The style of these tattoos will give you a very good idea what sort of style the tattoo artist is best at. If they are all portraits, then chances are, if you are looking for a portrait piece, then they would be more than happy to do it, if however you are looking for a traditional Japanese piece, they may not feel as confident or comfortable with that style. Saying that though, many artists are comfortable switching between traditional Japanese, old school English tattoos and tribal, but they may not be able to design these from scratch.

3) Locality

How far away is also something that needs to be taken into consideration. You want to choose the best artist for the job, who may not always be the most local artist. This shouldn’t be a problem, as a tattoo is forever, and a couple of hours in the car or train isn’t the end of the world! But, saying that, if you choose an artist who is too far away it can be very inconvenient, as a reasonable sized tattoo will take several sittings, as well as the initial design consultations.

4) Listen to the professionals

When you first decide you want a tattoo, you will have in your mind what you want. Usually this will be an eclectic mix of crude idea’s, different images, and to be honest it would make a rubbish tattoo. That’s why you go to a professional, Your initial meeting you will list all the idea’s you have to your tattoo artist, who will listen politely and then discard the ideas that won’t work as a tattoo. Try listening to what he says, as they generally know what works well as ink.
Next you can discuss placement, and the artist may take a tracing of the part of your body where you want it so they have an idea of size that they can work with.

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5) Previous work

Looking through your tattoo artist portfolio is the clearest indicator of how good an artist is. Line work should be really clean, and un-waving. You should not see joins in a long single line (where the artist stops and restarts the same line)

Designs should be proportional and adhere to the usual laws of perspective, unless they are of course a copy of some abstract Picasso painting!
Colours should be nice and bright and clean looking, remember, when ink is first done, the blacks will appear blacker and bolder, and the colours will appear more vivid than when the tattoo has healed.

6) Cleanliness and Sterilisation

Meeting your artist, take a look. Does his workspace look clean and hygienic? You are receiving a small operation when you have a tattoo, and your skin will be wide open for infection, so it’s important that the artist takes care of his studio, so you don’t catch any nasty disease!
Ask about sterilisation, this should be done to all equipment before use. A common tool for sterilisation is an autoclave. Also ask if he uses new needles for each tattoo, the answer should be yes.

Best of luck choosing your tattoo artist, I hope you find someone you can have many fantastic tattoos from!