Wondering if any artist types out there can help me with a design for a tattoo I'm thinking of getting. I went and talked to a few artists today at local tattoo places, but only one of them offered to draw me something before hand (sometime this week). All of them said if I had a design for them they could reproduce it, but all of them wanted to charge $100+ to draw me something I might or might not like, which I'm not a fan of. I'm also not a fan of just trusting them, which is what most of them suggested. I might have faith in their technical proficiency, but not in their ability to read my mind.
So. For any who are willing and able, or who just have an opinion on tattoos, here's what I want:
I have no real idea how I want them combined. I was thinking a background that looks similar to one of those paintings, and then inside that, outlined strongly so you can see it, is the mix of the two images I want. One of the tattoo artists suggested JUST the outlined image, and then the inside of it is in that style. I don't hate that idea, but I was leaning more towards those images being incorporated into a painting, and then the whole imagine not having heavily defined borders.
Any help or advice or actual images (please) would be helpful. Thanks
Posted by Stone_Wolf_ (Member # 8299) on :
I have no tats.
However I love tattoo reality shows!
Just a few (second hand) thoughts...
When picking an artist make sure you can see healed skin work and not drawings or only fresh tats.
What to look FOR: Clean outlines. Thourough color saturation. Artistic body placement. Over a decade experience.
What to AVOID: Blowouts blowouts blowouts. Hyperspecialuzation in one style (unless your style?) Free hand (no stencle) Low cost
Fading: over time the crispness of the ink degrades...the most durable tats (and the most readable at a distance) have strong, black outlines.
Backgrounds: be super careful of elaborate backgrounds! You can ALWAYS add to a tat, but I have seen many great tats which would have won the day or simply been readable from a distance instead go down to the bottom because of some blobby swirly crap in the back that the client requested.
Skin breaks: leaving skin bare of ink to provide highlights and breathability. ..they can really help depending on the design.
My own advice is when you do decide on a design, get it done in henna...which lasts for a ?week? or so...because cover ups are always dark and huge and laser removal is expensive and each session is -more- painful than the initial tat...and takes multiple sessions to remove.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Interesting.
I was planning on not having outlines, having a background (of a sort), and was told by basically everyone that it would have to be done freehand because it's too custom for a stencil.
What are blowouts?
Posted by Stone_Wolf_ (Member # 8299) on :
quote:Definition: A tattoo term that refers to an error on the part of the artist when he/she goes too deep or holds the needle at too much of an angle. The result is a hazy or fuzzy (but lighter) shadow of ink either to one side or surrounding the actual line. This is usually the result of inexperience or irresponsible tattooing, although a jumpy customer can also sometimes be the cause.