Do you go for lots of work by the same artist, or one piece per artist?

[Rightonkaleyross]

Almost all my tattoos are from the same artist, but he is versatile and always down for whatever idea I come up with. Not to mention I am a creature of habit.

[Zillah]

I haven't been tattooed for 12 years due to not being in paid work until recently (studying, parenting) and the studios I have been to previously have closed. Looking forward to building a relationship with one artist starting with my upcoming half-sleeve in early April.

[joefalotico]

I just started being tattooed recently and ive already had the same guy draw up 4 more tattoos but in the future im pretty sure I was drift away to a different artist tho cause I will be moving.

[r6yzf600]

I like to stick to a good artist, that way all the work flows together

[Rikhall]

Back to this old thread. I've got two tattoos booked in in the next 6 months, but I'm

Considering going back to my usual artist and getting a say 60-70% bodysuit just wondered what people think if this will work or not, got a couple of little pieces il get lasered just to make it look as good as it can, instead of having a few pieces that wouldn't fit in and to add symmetry to it, itl mean flying to Texas every few months but whatever.

[scubaron]

I live in a large city with a lot of talented artists. I have and will go back to the same artist to expand on their work, but I do want to take advantage of the opportunity of having so many great local tattooers.

[BlownRealms]

Personally, I like getting pieces from different artists, if your chosen artists are good then they should be able to make the work flow alongside work from other artists. There's just so many good artists out there! Just in my city there's probably 5+ artists I'm hoping to get tattooed by, that's not including visiting tattooers.

[LanaZellner]

I definitely have "My Tattoo Artist" at home, but I like to travel and get tattoos from other people as well. I enjoy collecting the different styles and meeting new artists.

[Regis Gl]

All my tattoos from same artist...I think it could be great if great artists like Gogue put the needle on me :)

[MissMetal]

I like to get tattooed by different artists but I usually get more than one tattoo by each of them. There's so many talented people in my city, I can't stick with only one of them, plus I like a couple styles of tattoos so I wouldn't get them done by the same artist.

[Breakme]

I'm going for work by a couple of different tattooers at the moment and have a couple more on my list of who I'd like to get tattooed by, however I like to give them a specific body part on both sides of my body as I have this weird thing for symmetry.

[OutOfIdeas]

For a while, I got about 20ish hours in with one artist. Since then, I've decided im going with one piece per artist; trying to get a good variety going. Not sure if that rule will stick forever, but it's been fun so far!

[purplelace]

I've been tattooed by 8 different tattooists in 3 different countries. After many years of not getting tattooed I'm sticking with one tattooist in Belfast. I love his style and he understands what I mean, even when I don't!

[MrsGougeTheEyes]

When I first started getting tattooed I stayed with one person. Basically, I thought I should treat the whole thing like I treat my hairstylist and assumed I should never cheat on him. Then I realized it was totally fine to see other people and now I enjoy getting a variety of different styles and meeting new artists.

[Patrick Bateman]

Personally, there are some artists that I just want a piece done from them because I like their work (tattoo or drawings). I don't really care if they are popular or not because in the end it's the work their pumping out which grabs me.

Then there are some artists that I love their art but wouldn't get tattooed by them.

[Colored Guy]

There are 2 ladies in the shop I go to. I'm going to have my next work done by the artist I haven't tried yet. She did a lot of work on my son and it looks great. So I'm going to split up my next few pieces between them.

[KBeee]

In the beginning....

I really thought that I would only receive tattoos from one person for the rest of my life. It was the early 90's. I wanted all my tattoos to be Korean. I was in TX. There weren't tons of local people doing that kind of thing back then. Chris Trevino (Perfection Austin) UNDERSTOOD the difference between Asian styles and the quality of his work blew me away. I felt very committed to him as my tattooer.

I moved to CA. Years later I tried to "branch out" and get a little, traditional, floral tattoo and HAAATTEDDDD the placement of it. It was traumatizing. There was such a difference between Chris' sense of design/approach and, well...everyone else's. He had been the only person with whom I had worked. It was so easy and the end result was perfect. I probably learned more about tattoo and tattooers from those two experiences than anything ever since.

After Chris started working with Horiyoshi and favoring Japanese traditional, I assumed that I was never going to get tattooed again (out of respect for my Korean family who wouldn't understand why I was covered in Japanese art. They were greatly affected by the Occupation). No tattoos for almost ten years (with absolutely no desire to get tattooed...weird, right? I felt fully, totally committed to Chris especially after the flower incident).

The floral tattoo didn't age well. I was over it. I was going to have to get it re-worked and fill up almost my whole arm to balance it out. Hubbs had just started catching the tattoo bug and turned me onto the amazing world of tattooers on social media. THAT completely blew my mind. Things were soo different from when I had gotten my first one! There was creative and technical, tattoo INSANITY happening EVERYWHERE. The next couple of years I saw a lot of different people and went through a stage where traveling for tattoos was what I wanted to do.

Then we settled down and started going to Spider Murphy's a lot. I love that shop and everyone in it. It's just a great crew. I've gotten tattooed by Theo, Paul, Bryan, Heather (pre-Blackheart, of course :o ) and I carry Laurant's first official paid-for-on-the-books-tattoo from his first official day on the shop floor. There is a definite tendency to "keep it in the family". More and more, I just book with Paul Dobleman. I love him. A session with him is like Christmas. I can see myself getting many, many more tattoos from just him and being really happy about it...

...except for that Stewart Robson character :mad: ...he is so NOT close but so good and I loove my tattoos from him...he's a real pea in my mattress that one. :mad:

I guess, @metalmancpa, I could have just answered your question "Yes" but thanks for hanging in there if you have read this whole thing. :o

[beez]

@KBeee that was an awesome post. Thanks for sharing! Also drooling over your "line-up", so to speak. I definitely want to be tattooed by Paul and Theo! How did you end up @ spider murphy's? I'm curious about The rest of your tale, as well!

[KBeee]

Thank you @beez! I got a little rambley there :eek:

It was my husband who took us there for Theo flash. He happened to luck into a cancellation with Paul that day. I really liked Matt Howse's stuff online so was considering seeing him at some point but I was immediately consumed with jealousy about him getting in with Paul. That is when I knew.

The more time you spend there seeing everyone's work and how lovely they all are...you are just ruined and doomed after that. ;) Beeeeware!

How did you get started with Diamond Club? You have A LOT of (really amazing) work from them (that I love).

[suburbanxcore]

Most of my tattoos are by two people (Grez and @KeithReed), but I have started branching out a lot more over the last few years. I love getting to see new shops, see how new artists work, and get new stories. But I also love that I have developed a pretty solid relationship with two people over the years, know how they work, and can trust their judgement/ability.

[beez]

@KBeee Once upon a time, many moons ago, I decided I wanted a back piece in the Japanese style.

I found an artist who I thought I wanted to work with here in Seattle - he drew some beautiful stuff for me, but (in my opinion) dicked me around quite a bit, and I eventually felt so uncomfortable with this guy that I forfeited my considerable deposit and decided to start from scratch.

One thing he said that stuck with me was that Japanese tattoos could be layered on piece by piece, and that I could start with just my arm and not a full body outline. I didn't understand how things were put together then - not that I claim to understand it now, but I have a better idea of what I'm looking at. I knew I wanted an orange peony on one of my flanks no matter what though. (why that was so clear i will never know lol)

I was regularly visiting a friend in Oakland at the time, so I figured I'd just make my trips that much more fun by getting tattooed! And then I started learning about San Francisco tattoo culture and whoa. WHOA. All the reading and researching I'd done over the years sorta clicked and I recognized names and work and styles and it was awesome. Through all that, Diamond Club Tattoo kept showing up.

Purely because the name kept blinking in my memory lights and showing up in my reading material, I decided to look at Diamond Club a little more closely. I liked what I was reading, and then I somehow found an article - I mean, I was digging DEEP through the internet, all sorts of sideways searches and whatnot, so I really am not sure how I got there - but I found an article in galley pages on the author's personal tumblr page about Diamond Club, and the content of the article basically sealed the deal. (It was for the Nov 2012 Skin and Ink mag I believe). (This was Sept! The mag wasn't even out yet!)

In the article, Bill and Junii discuss their passion for the craft, how they are just beginning to build their legacy, how they like to stick to positive images and motifs, and how their shop is like a family. I really like this vibe, so this stuck out in particular to me.

They discuss their history and how they met, and I was struck by this woman who had a full fucking bodysuit in Japan in the 80s!!! Who was brave enough to move to a new country! Who had so much passion for tattooing that she kept trying even after she was repeatedly told that women do not tattoo! I wanted to be tattooed by this badass.

And THEN - in the years I had spent researching back pieces and saving images to an inspiration file, one in particular kept coming up. And in this article, there was the same picture! IT WAS JUNII!! When I found out that the image I had so long admired actually belonged on a living BADASS who could, in fact, also tattoo me, I sort of lost it.

I called the next day and made an appointment to get a peony on my left flank. I hadn't been tattooed in too long, and I just wanted to get started, and this crazy thing had just happened (crazy for me anyway - it was like years of pieces of a puzzle finally falling into a sudden, jarring, crystal clear place) and so that's how I found Diamond Club. (IT JUST FELT RIGHT ;P.) I kept going back, and we kept adding pieces, and that's pretty much it!

I found LST right after that, actually. So it sort of worked out in ALL ways for me :)))).

Like you said, the more time spent seeing everyone's work and how lovely they are eventually sucks you in and ruins you for most anyone else! (MOST anyone, but certainly not everyone!). DC was just a super good fit for me. Right place, right time!