Here’s a bit I wrote a few years back… I overheard a younger tattooer recently bashing one of the industry veterans’ work as “irrelevant” due to lack of “specialty.” Now – So much of this situation can be a hornets nest of conflict. First of all: there’s the respect issue, some of these old dudes […]
Category: For The Tattoo Newbie
Weekly informative posts about how the industry works and how you should behave as a client
Tattoo Placement
One of the beautiful things about custom tattoos is how the placement can accent body shape. When designing a tattoo, especially a big one, we take a tracing of the area you’re getting tattooed that maps out where your muscles are. This way the artist can compose a design that flows with your muscles and […]
How to Compile References
As you probably know when you get tattooed you show your artist a reference photo, these are always helpful but some make better references than others. Here are some tips for finding the best reference photos to create the best tattoo: Find real photos. Tattoo photos are helpful to see the style you’re after but […]
Training Wheels – Pregnancy
Welcome to another Tuesday Training Wheels! This week we’re here to remind you that you can’t get tattooed if you are pregnant. Tattoos always have an infection risk, we do our best to mitigate that by: using high quality materials to tattoo you, providing you with a state of the art bandage that promotes happy […]
Deposits
Going into the busy season we want to give a little reminder about how deposits work and maybe a bit of why. If you’re a regular tattoo client anywhere you’re familiar with dropping a deposit to book a tattoo, but this is just a little reminder or for anyone new to the tattoo scene. At […]
Tattoo Sleeves
What are the different styles of sleeves if I can’t decide on one big tattoo? Hi anon! I’m super pumped about this question and I totally understand why you’re asking it. Though I do write from my own knowledge I also do research to fact check myself and make sure I’m not missing anything; and […]
Reworks
Is it okay to rework an artists work that is currently not tattooing? The short answer is yes, especially for an older tattoo. As tattoos age they fade and wear with the skin (checkout an earlier post on why ink fades) so it is common for people to want reworks and touch ups down the […]
Tattoo Artwork
“Ok… So here’s some training wheels for tattoo clients. Your artist is absolutely not required to draw (work) for you for free. If your artist is kind enough to do this they have given you a gift. If they send you a preview they are making themselves extremely vulnerable. Requiring uncommunicated revisions on a piece […]
Tattoo Designing
Tattoo designing When your decision is made to get a tattoo, that is the very beginning of the process. Ten years of “I’d never get one but if I did I’d want THIS” ISN’T ten years of preparing. When you walk into the studio- an artist will give you as much as you give them. […]