New guy saying hi joined site to get some advice on picking a quality artist

[Tuchaka]

Hi i am 40 years old from San Diego and I have literally 0 tattoo's , I have always liked Tattoo's and really like hearing about the stories people have about their ink and what it means to them. I think the reason I held off on getting a tattoo is because i didn't wanna get something that looked great but i had no personal connection to the image and what it meant to me. At this point what i am leaning toward is a full sleeve neo japanese design i have a rough idea of what elements i want i do not have a complete image in my head what it is gonna look like. Right now i am researching studio's and artists in my area and have found some that their work is jaw droppingly amazing , but this is permanent and i really wanna do it right. So main reason i am here is to get some help with what is the best resource for searching for an artist. I have looked at yelp and several other search engine review type sites and funny they all list different places/artists as the top.....so for me i kinda have this ohh sweet 10 different places say they are the best in town now what.......anyway nice to be aboard and looking forward to learning a lot.

So right off the bat is this a good resource >>>>> TrueArtists - WORLD'S LARGEST ASSOCIATION OF CERTIFIED TATTOO ARTISTS

...anyway i am sure many people have been in the exact situation i am in so i will do some searching on this site.

[HaydenRose]

Welcome! The best resource IMO is... LST! If you let us know where you are located, someone will be able to recommend shops/artists near you. Also, when it comes to tattoo shops, I rarely trust Yelp or similar sites. They tend to be platforms for (uninformed) people to complain on.

[tatB]

Check out Bill Canales at Full Circle Tattoo in San Diego.

Also that website looks worthless so I would ignore it.

[Killercook76]

Hi i am 40 years old from San Diego and I have literally 0 tattoo's , I have always liked Tattoo's and really like hearing about the stories people have about their ink and what it means to them. I think the reason I held off on getting a tattoo is because i didn't wanna get something that looked great but i had no personal connection to the image and what it meant to me. At this point what i am leaning toward is a full sleeve neo japanese design i have a rough idea of what elements i want i do not have a complete image in my head what it is gonna look like. Right now i am researching studio's and artists in my area and have found some that their work is jaw droppingly amazing , but this is permanent and i really wanna do it right. So main reason i am here is to get some help with what is the best resource for searching for an artist. I have looked at yelp and several other search engine review type sites and funny they all list different places/artists as the top.....so for me i kinda have this ohh sweet 10 different places say they are the best in town now what.......anyway nice to be aboard and looking forward to learning a lot.

So right off the bat is this a good resource >>>>> TrueArtists - WORLD'S LARGEST ASSOCIATION OF CERTIFIED TATTOO ARTISTS

...anyway i am sure many people have been in the exact situation i am in so i will do some searching on this site.

state of grace is an incredible shop. Incredible artist.

Meaning behind tattoos are great but I feel it's more important to find a design that is awesome. Best research site that I like is Instagram. Follow people like Mike Rubendall, Regino Gonzales, Chris Garver, Chris O donell, Shige, Federico Ferroni, Vincent Moisdon. Yeah if you check out their friends list you should see hundreds of high end artist.

Most important is find an amazing artist they will layout your tattoo .

[Tuchaka]

Thanks for the advice ya i have found some pretty lame comments about phenomenal artists on yelp, Bill Canales is someone i am leaning towards i just wanna spent a lot of time researching before i commit to one artist, also i am open to driving to Los Angeles or anywhere in between San Diego and there. Is state of grace in San Jose or is there one in San Diego as well ?

I will check out instagram