Custom Tattoo Artists, What Is All The Hype About?
Located a authentic custom tattoo artist may be more difficult than you think especially now that the market is flooded with so many tattooists. How do you know that your are dealing with the real deal and what should you be looking for when picking your custom tattoo artist?
It seems like everywhere you go now a days you will find a tattoo shop. Of course this is not surprising, tattooing had finally left the shadows of the underbelly of society and is now firmly apart of mainstream culture. Whether you like them or not tattooing is here to stay. Knowing that the once taboo craft has become acceptable many are considering getting inked. But where do you start?
Sure, it’s easy to visit the local tattoo parlor, pick some design off the wall and have it tacked into your flesh, but this would be akin to walking into a used car dealership finding the coolest looking car in the lot and paying whatever the dealer asked, then drive out of the lot and have the wheels fall off and the engine blow up, not smart. So why risk your body to the same kind of foolishness? What should you do?
First if you want and nice tattoo don’t let the price be your main concern. With the advent of the Q-Switched laser tattoos may not as permanent as they once were, but bad decisions and a lack of good research can be very costly. A little footwork can save you from enormous regret and an empty wallet. Good tattoos are expensive. Just know that! Picking up the yellow pages and calling every tattoo shop listed to find the cheapest price is frankly stupid.
On average tattooists in the U.S. Charge between $100 and $200 per hour. Often times the better artists are in the bigger cities where their rent is higher so their rates will be at the high end of that scale. Even if you are quoted a flat rate the tattooist is figuring that rate on how long he thinks it will take him to do the work. That being said, it’s always best to work by the hour not a flat rate. Why? A tattooist may quote you $500 dollars for piece that he thinks it will take him about 5 hours to do. Understand that if there are other customers waiting to get work done by him or if he can rush your job so that it only takes 3 hours instead, then he will. Instead of making $100 an hour he just made $166 an hour! That’s great for him but your tattoo will not look as good as it could have. Almost all custom tattoo artist work by the hour. It’s fair for the artist and the customer. Don’t rush them! Let them work their magic, when it’s finished you glad you did.
Custom tattoo artists are generally speaking the elite among tattooists. If you are considering getting a new tattoo. I strongly recommend that you only deal with custom tattoo artists. The difference between a custom tattoo artist and the typical parlor tattooist is that primarily the custom tattoo artist tattoos designs that they themselves drew up specifically for you. They are indeed artists and many of them hold art degrees. They almost never work from flash designs. Flash are the designs that commonly line the walls of the majority of tattoo shops. If you get one of these design you can be guaranteed that it has be tattooed on hundreds if not thousands of other people. Although the flash may be very nice looking and designed by professional artists many tattooists working in flash tattoo parlors are basically tradesmen who have limited artistic capabilities and trace these designs onto your skin to the best of their ability. It’s a real gamble when dealing with these flash parlor tattooists. You never know if your tattoo will end up looking good in the end or not.
Do your homework and find a custom tattoo artist that you feel comfortable with. Here are some of the United States’ more famous custom tattoo artists. Check out their website and you will see for yourself way they are considered the Nation’s best. Arron Cain of Cedar Ridge, CA. and you can find him at http://www.aaroncain.com. Cain specializes in science fiction, bio-mechanical art and is an incredible tattoo machine builder. His tattoo machines are works of art in their own right. Jeremy Garrett of New York City and his site is http://www.nyartman.com. Garrett doesn’t specialize in any particular style but his work has a comic book edge to it. He is one of the country’s most respected cover-up tattoo artists. Last but not least you have the very strange but awesome work of Chris Dingwell up in Portland, ME. Check out his wonderful weirdness at http://www.chrisdingwell.com.
I had included more in this article but articlesbase only allowed three links. Do a google search for Nick Baxter who does amazing soft airbrush looking tattoos, Paul Booth the king of all that’s evil and Guy Aitchison another master tattoo artists.
No matter which tattooist you chose make sure they are licensed tattooists. They will be regulated and trained in infectious disease control. Ask to see their license, make sure it has their name on it and that it is current. Good luck and happy inking.
Paul Nelson is the president of a book publishing company specializing in tattoo art and culture.