mellowyellow Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 who are some of the hardest artist to access and book. i'm sure they are hard to book cause they are good but are they a fad or are they really worth it? Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perez Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Mike Roper. Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-9978 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwar Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Second Roper. I have also heard that Lars Uwe is damn near impossible to get an appointment with. Guessing Filip Leu, Shige, Horiyoshi III and Mike Rubendall has quite the waitlist too. TheFnTexan 1 Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-9980 Share on other sites More sharing options...
s33ktruth Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Grime, I wish I could get tattooed by him!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-9982 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perez Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Higgs is pretty hard to nail down too ;) Ursula, PopsBdog, Jack and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-9984 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avery Taylor Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Higgs is pretty hard to nail down too ;) You can't nail him down because so many people have nailed him up on a tattoo cross. hogg, cookietruck, PopsBdog and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-9985 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julio Avila Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 i think its not too difficult to get tattooed by somebody you really want if you are patient. WAIT. get in contact with the person, let them know what you want, drop off a deposit and wait. save that spot you want to get tattooed for that tattoo. people bug out when i tell them they gotta wait two weeks for their tattoo. like they are going to die or go to prison in that time. CHILL. if you aint a pain in the ass, itll happen peterpoose, Richo, KeithReed and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-10007 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Yarian Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Greg Irons JohnBentrup, hawk, Julio Avila and 7 others 10 Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-10008 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawnPorter Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Greg Irons I have an appointment with Irons on Sunday, Rapture permitting. Kevin Campbell, Ursula, Deb Yarian and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-10009 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewart Robson Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Man, everybody already used my smart-ass answers but the Greg Irons quip was funnier than I could have come up with. But back to the original question. This is one of the newer approaches to tattooing that makes me slightly uncomfortable to be honest. Myself and a few tattooers I know and work with have noticed the trend of customers finding a sense of pride in how long they had to wait for their tattoo. As if that makes the tattoo more worthwhile. With some of the currently living/working tattooers mentioned in this thread, I personally know people (not even on the internet) that have tattoos from all of them. Filip, Horiyoshi III, Shige and Mike Rubendall. Yeah, they had to wait a little while for some of them but not as long as you'd think for others. Mike Roper is a different situation because he makes it deliberately difficult to get in touch with him, which answers the question posed above. But that wasn't really the question that was asked and it's rarely the question that gets asked. The question, or at least the implication, is "who has the longest waiting list' or "who has appointments booked furthest into the future". If I were to be snarky "who gives me the most bragging rights". For me the hardest people to get a tattoo from are the tattooers who are located furthest away from me. The ones where I have to get off my ass and do something about it. Time is easier to overcome than distance although patience is a different matter. It astonishes me that people call our shop from the outskirts of the city expecting us to change the way we work because they are catching a train to get here. On the other hand, we are humbled and honoured by the people who cross seas and continents to get tattooed regularly with us. But that's aside from the issue. Why is it a trend that makes me uncomfortable? Because I've heard people brag about how long they had to wait for 'x' artist and wear that information like a badge of honour. It feels almost as distasteful as bragging about who charges the most. Yeah, tattoos are for tough guys and tough buys like to brag and maybe that seems harmless, but it makes me uncomfortable and I have trouble clearly explaining why. Maybe it's because it's a phenomenon spurred on by the internet and the gossipy world of hearsay. Nobody calls and checks with the artists or shops they want to get tattooed at. Nobody travels down to the shop to ask the question. They just ask random strangers on the internet who have a lot of time on their hands and like to talk about something they know nothing about. Then the reality gets lost or twisted and in the end the real information is lost. I see this a lot with regards to the shop I work at. Forums are (or certainly used to be) bursting with 'facts' about how much we charge, how long we take, how far 'x' and 'y' are booked or how long their waiting lists are. Nobody calls the shop to ask and nobody suggests that the person calls to ask. I know that happens with a lot of things but it seems like this is starting to have a real-world effect, however small. People who wanted tattoos that we would love to do heard that we wouldn't tattoo them at our shop because we were so cool and busy and booked up for decades and rolling around in money 'n' bitches or something. We've heard of this a few times and it seems to be happening more. Yeah, we're busy, you may have to wait a little, maybe not. If someone has contact information, especially a phone number on their website it means that they want you to call. I'm not really going to touch on the tone of the "are they a fad or are they really worth it?" comment, except to say that if you have to ask, the answer is "no". Sorry to jump on this fun thread with a rant. I look forward to more witty quips. jade1955, A.Sanchez, Erica and 20 others 23 Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-10011 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Yarian Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 And customers often make the assumption that the person booked out the furthest is the best! I used to work in a shop with 6 other tattooists. We were booked according to seniority at the shop. So, inevitably some were booked out further than others. A customer would come in only to be told that Joe is booked out for 6 months and Jim for 3 months and 2 months out for Jay and John but You can get in with Deb TOMORROW! Customers assumed then that if you weren't booked you weren't worth waiting for, usually not taking in to account that Jay only booked 1 appt a day or Jim only worked every other week. People are weird, they like the hard to get, the over priced . G.Uristti, Valerie Vargas, Tick and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-10012 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrome Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Roper: nearly impossible to get his number. Grime: 3 year wait list Marcus Pacheco: from what I hear he never check his voicemail therefore never calls u back. Lot of them are fucked up in their own way. Pick ur poison. Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-10013 Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylegrey Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Don't know about booking but even locating Ivan Szazi seems pretty tough ,real treasure awaits the successfull though!! Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-10014 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julio Avila Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 grime's at three years?! dang. id really hate to know all the shit ill be doing for the next three months, let alone years!!!!!!!!! glad i only waited like three months to get tattooed by him. G.Uristti and dari 2 Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-10015 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebushido Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 ive been so lucky! i got a appoinment with grime when i got tattoed by another artist that helped me out.. about 5 months wait.. but it was perfect cos i needed to plan my trip to the states and fucking save the cash! And Mike Roper.. i stalked some people that knows him and got an email adress!(not giving it out though) i sent him a mail and dident think he´d answer but he did! dident set a date because i havent my trip all planned out yet but im going to Tempe getting a Tiger on my tigh!!!! sooooo stoked!! im a fucking lucky guy i know!.. maybe long way travellers get some special treatment.. hahaha irezumi, JohnBentrup and Stewart Robson 3 Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-10016 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avery Taylor Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 I think that a lot of the tattooers with the longest waits are the ones that do mostly large scale work. If someone is getting tattooed by Mike Rubendall (Chris Trevino, Mike Roper, etc..) then it is probably going to be a large piece that takes multiple sessions, and that person books multiple appointments. This means that one person's tattoo takes up a lot of that tattooers time so they end up tattooing less people. On the other side of things the dudes at Smith Street do mostly one shot tattoos, and are not booked out for years in advanced. Personally I would never book an appointment more than six months in advance, unless it was based on travel. Valerie Vargas, AlannaCA, hgiles and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-10017 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Jeff Gogue Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-10025 Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOLLY J Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 To wait a long time for a notable artist like Grime or Filip is understandable,but I have seen artists that aren't even very good that are "booked solid" for several months. Like Deb said some artists only book 1 appointment a day.That equals out most times to be a little over 20 tattoos a month,while other artists do that many in a couple of days.Being the "hardest artist to book" may mean that they are very good but it could also mean that the artist has no work ethic.I think a lot of times artists do this to stroke their own egos and seem more in demand than they actually are. I get a lot of customers saying that they went to other shops for something small like a name or something and they are told that they can't get it done because everyone at that shop is fully booked,but the customer says that there were like 5 artists there and none of them were tattooing or drawing custom pieces,but instead just hanging out and playing video games or watching TV. It is a lot like people in the 1970s waiting on line with a few hundred people to get into an exclusive club like studio 54 or something,only to finally be let inside to find out that there are only a handful of people inside the club.What I am trying to say is that while for a great artist it is worth the wait,in most cases it is just a manufactured waiting period and a marketing gimmick to charge more and act exclusive........just putting on airs. mario desa, dari, Dan S and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-10053 Share on other sites More sharing options...
remindsmeofyou Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 I am such a huge fan of Valerie Vargas' work. Her waiting list is currently closed. She does take bookings at conventions, or for last minute cancellations, which are announced on twitter. I developed a seriously geeky system in order to monitor any twitter announcements, which includes alerts set up on my desktop and work, and text alerts on my mobile, for all tweets from Valerie or Frith Street Tattoo. Ah, one day.... In the mean time I'm saving up all of my best spots. I sound like a crazy fan girl, don't I? PopsBdog, dari and AlannaCA 3 Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-10352 Share on other sites More sharing options...
MsRad Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 I am such a huge fan of Valerie Vargas' work. Her waiting list is currently closed. She does take bookings at conventions, or for last minute cancellations, which are announced on twitter. I developed a seriously geeky system in order to monitor any twitter announcements, which includes alerts set up on my desktop and work, and text alerts on my mobile, for all tweets from Valerie or Frith Street Tattoo. Ah, one day.... In the mean time I'm saving up all of my best spots. I sound like a crazy fan girl, don't I? you know she's on here and bound to read this don't you? ;) Jake 1 Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-10357 Share on other sites More sharing options...
remindsmeofyou Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 you know she's on here and bound to read this don't you? ;) I suspect the existence of legions of fan girls will not surprise her! Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-10363 Share on other sites More sharing options...
remindsmeofyou Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 Oh, and I also have a folder of reference material to hand in case of scoring one of the coveted last minute cancellations. Yes, I'm that lame. Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-10364 Share on other sites More sharing options...
mario desa Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 i just got tattooed by her yesterday, we traded! it pays to be connected ;) MsRad, s33ktruth, Stewart Robson and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-10381 Share on other sites More sharing options...
conor blue eyes Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 mike giant. he tattoos, he doesn't tattoo, he tattoos for a limited time. wtf. then i saw dude was booking temporarily at 300/hr. phew. Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-10456 Share on other sites More sharing options...
irezumi Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 i sent him a mail and dident think he´d answer but he did! I think he's more accessable than people think if they put serious effort into contacting him. but that would only be the case if you were serious about getting tattooed by him. JohnBentrup 1 Quote Link to comment https://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/t/798-hardest-artist-to-book/#findComment-10463 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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