Tattooers with little to no tattoos

[bulldog]

That is so weird to me... IMO chest tattoos on men are the sexiest of all. I can't wait for my husband to get a badass chest eagle!

My girlfriend is well up for an eagle on my chest, i was going to just do my arms.

[hgiles]

Everyone approaches it differently -- tattoo artists are no exception. All of my artists have been pretty well covered though. I like to have most of my tattoos hidden, gives a little mystique to the whole thing. Besides, they're for me anyway.

[Scott R]

I like to have most of my tattoos hidden, gives a little mystique to the whole thing. Besides, they're for me anyway.

I agree with this, I imagine I will be completely covered back,belly/ribs and upper arms before i entertain a visable tattoo

[CultExciter]

I prefer the pea-cocking aspect of visible tattoos. Attract mates and deter foes.

[BoMcConaghie]

Half of the whole tattoo experience is GETTING TATTOOED! If you leave that out you will never understand. Most of my best tattoo experiences were on the customer side of things. I wouldnt trade those times or tattoos for anything regardless of whether or not those tattoos are dated now. Thats what made me the tattooer and person I am today. Not an abstract "love" of tattooing but actually taking part in it for the last 20 years. Its fine with me if you do not love tattooing enough to get tattooed, just dont expect any respect from those of us who do.

[hgiles]

Half of the whole tattoo experience is GETTING TATTOOED! If you leave that out you will never understand. Most of my best tattoo experiences were on the customer side of things. I wouldnt trade those times or tattoos for anything regardless of whether or not those tattoos are dated now. Thats what made me the tattooer and person I am today. Not an abstract "love" of tattooing but actually taking part in it for the last 20 years. Its fine with me if you do not love tattooing enough to get tattooed, just dont expect any respect from those of us who do.

I agree! The experience of getting the tattoo is a large part of the whole for me as well. Especially so having been tattooed by some great PEOPLE, not just great artists! Of course even the un-tattooed artist gets to be around those great artists in day to day goings-on. But yes, it's a different experience being under the needle at the time and different feeling putting that much trust in a person and then them upholding that trust by producing a bad ass tattoo...!

[Ismael Plascencia Zavala]

I have my legs and feet pretty much covered but nothing on my upper body besides my first tattoo on my shoulder blade. Im actually in the process of getting that removed to do a half back piece. Even after that I will have no visible tattoos in a tshirt and jeans. Do plan on getting my arm done but not for a while.

I've had the chance to work a few conventions and visit a ton of shops with my mentor. I have the feeling when Im talking to a customer or other artists that Im not being taken seriously sometimes. Dont know if I said that right.. kind of like Im not one of the guys I guess. I don't mind too much but I have had a few artists I respect and admire call me out and those did get me thinking. Brought it up to my mentor and he laughed. Said he wouldn't want to buy a tattoo machine off someone with no tattoos either. Oh well. Everybody has been good people either way and that's what matters.

I do believe if you're a tattoo artist you should love tattoos and with that have some. Where on your body, what you get and when you get them is your problem. Just wanted to share my experience on this topic. Thanks

[Scott R]

just read this and thought it should go here Just a Fat Tattooer

[Kev]

I've made a deal with my fiance' to not tattoo my chest, everything else being open to ink. So that should look interesting in a few years ; )

I would like to point out that exactly 7 months later, I now have a chest tattoo. Never say never ;)

[Tim Vedel]

hi there

[G.Uristti]

i was tattooing at the long island convention this past weekend. and some chick wanted a lightening bolt on her arm. she said she was a tattooer and had been at it 18 years. she had no visible tattoos. so i drew the lightening bolt on her three times and everytime she looked at it she kept saying to her friend " you know how i am" eventually she said sorry nevermind gave me 20 bucks and said "im gonna get it at my shop." lmfao. amazing!

[hogg]

i was tattooing at the long island convention this past weekend. and some chick wanted a lightening bolt on her arm. she said she was a tattooer and had been at it 18 years. she had no visible tattoos. so i drew the lightening bolt on her three times and everytime she looked at it she kept saying to her friend " you know how i am" eventually she said sorry nevermind gave me 20 bucks and said "im gonna get it at my shop." lmfao. amazing!

Amazing, indeed! At least she gave you $20 for your trouble (as well as a funny story to tell).

I can only hope that her clients are as big a pain in the ass as she is.

[David Flores]

Amazing, indeed! At least she gave you $20 for your trouble (as well as a funny story to tell).

I can only hope that her clients are as big a pain in the ass as she is.

Funny a couple of years ago a client and friend of the shop was dating this girl who was starting tattoo school. It was her birthday so he bought her a tattoo, but was at work so she came in to get it alone. She brought a bunch of Milton Zeis reference and a Stoney St Clair Sheet repainted by Danny Reed that is in the revisited book. She wanted a crawling panther type design like on those sheets, but with leopard spots. Pretty straightforward design, piece of cake. She must have made one of the guys draw it like eight times. First it was too simple, then he drew a better cat and it wasn't enough like the flash, there was a bunch of nonsense about the claws and putting eyelashes on it, but this went on for like an hour, the whole time she was trying to ask a bunch of questions about being a tattooer. So the last time we just handed her a piece of paper and a pencil and told her to draw what she wanted. She claimed she didn't work well with pencil and paper and did all her drawings on computer. At that point my boss got up from the back and asked her point blank "You actually think you are going to become a tattooer? I can't wait to see how you deal with a customer like you. " At that point she was instructed that these were not the droids she was looking for and decided to leave before she was asked to.

[ShaneRealz]

Its interesting to me how many guys let their partners decide when and what they can have tattooed.

[peterpoose]

I just had a full sleeve done by Dmitriy Samohin. He only has one tattoo, like 4 words down the side of his lower arm.

[SStu]

I just had a full sleeve done by Dmitriy Samohin. He only has one tattoo, like 4 words down the side of his lower arm.

and FABULOUS work it is, too! Love that eye+clock arrangement. Nice stuff.

[heathenist]

I would like to point out that exactly 7 months later, I now have a chest tattoo. Never say never ;)

Out of nowhere about a month ago my girlfriend just says, "You know? I wouldn't hate it if you got your chest tattooed." It seemed particularly odd because A)We weren't talking about tattoos and B) I've never really mentioned wanting my chest tattooed. (Not because I don't, but because I'm just focused on working on my arm for the time being and it'll likely be a while before I could even get to my chest.)

[Scott R]

Its interesting to me how many guys let their partners decide when and what they can have tattooed.

well for me its simple, happy wife happy life.

she could care less about tattoos so if she says have at it but leave the chest alone will do

[G.Uristti]

Funny a couple of years ago a client and friend of the shop was dating this girl who was starting tattoo school. It was her birthday so he bought her a tattoo, but was at work so she came in to get it alone. She brought a bunch of Milton Zeis reference and a Stoney St Clair Sheet repainted by Danny Reed that is in the revisited book. She wanted a crawling panther type design like on those sheets, but with leopard spots. Pretty straightforward design, piece of cake. She must have made one of the guys draw it like eight times. First it was too simple, then he drew a better cat and it wasn't enough like the flash, there was a bunch of nonsense about the claws and putting eyelashes on it, but this went on for like an hour, the whole time she was trying to ask a bunch of questions about being a tattooer. So the last time we just handed her a piece of paper and a pencil and told her to draw what she wanted. She claimed she didn't work well with pencil and paper and did all her drawings on computer. At that point my boss got up from the back and asked her point blank "You actually think you are going to become a tattooer? I can't wait to see how you deal with a customer like you. " At that point she was instructed that these were not the droids she was looking for and decided to leave before she was asked to.

i had a similiar situation years ago. some sort of tribal cat face and we went back and forth about the angle of the whiskers for about 2 hours. when she finally decided on what she wanted i went to the bathroom to wash up and came out and she was gone. the shop guy who was dating the boss told her if she wasnt comfortable with me she should just come back another day. i freaked! so then to make matters worse a few days later i was coming in to the shop on my day off and she was leaving with the tattoo i drew. the same shop guy gave the design to one of the other artists from off my wall.... doubly freaked!

[David Flores]

i had a similiar situation years ago. some sort of tribal cat face and we went back and forth about the angle of the whiskers for about 2 hours. when she finally decided on what she wanted i went to the bathroom to wash up and came out and she was gone. the shop guy who was dating the boss told her if she wasnt comfortable with me she should just come back another day. i freaked! so then to make matters worse a few days later i was coming in to the shop on my day off and she was leaving with the tattoo i drew. the same shop guy gave the design to one of the other artists from off my wall.... doubly freaked!

The next day after my incident we went to our buddys shop downtown to hang out for the afternoon and told him the story and he said that they had tattooed a similar design on a girl fitting that description the night before. He didn't do the tattoo so he couldn't attest to what interaction there was, but he approached the tattoo in the same manner, but I guess she had a few tattoos from him and his shop is downtown not in Beaverton so it was cooler. I have nothing against those guys in fact that is where I go to get my tattoos, and hang out. Funny end to the story she now is a tattooer and works at a shop in Beaverton and still has no clue how to draw.

[Shakkazombie]

When I was an apprentice, we had a lot of people coming in to ask for apprenticeships (of course). One night, a pretty nice looking girl comes in, and does the typcial dance: first asks to see books, walks around the shop for a bit, and then starts up a conversation with me about apprenticeships. I tried to steer her as well as I could; she had no visible tattoos, and only had a few poorly executed script and rose drawings to show anyone. First bit of advice I gave - get tattooed. A lot. Not only does it show that you're a committed participant in the tattoo world, but it will also allow you to build relationships with good artists that can possibly help you when the time is right for you to move into an apprenticeship. Next bit of advice: start copying flash. It went on from there, but she made a point to say how she felt like she shouldn't have to be "tattooed up" to be a tattoo artist, and how some shit-bag local artist (who also was very lightly tattooed) had agreed with her when they talked about it (no secret what that was about), and how they both hated the thought of being judged for having tattoos. When I told her that our shop wasn't accepting any apprenticeships at that time, she finished up by saying how some busy street shop owner in Garland, TX had offered to let her apprentice for a pretty sizable fee, and that she someday hoped to have an "LA Ink style" shop staffed completely by "hot tattoo chicks". I couldn't get her out the door quickly enough.

If they don't have tattoos, then fuck 'em.

[slayer9019]

When I was an apprentice, we had a lot of people coming in to ask for apprenticeships (of course). One night, a pretty nice looking girl comes in, and does the typcial dance: first asks to see books, walks around the shop for a bit, and then starts up a conversation with me about apprenticeships. I tried to steer her as well as I could; she had no visible tattoos, and only had a few poorly executed script and rose drawings to show anyone. First bit of advice I gave - get tattooed. A lot. Not only does it show that you're a committed participant in the tattoo world, but it will also allow you to build relationships with good artists that can possibly help you when the time is right for you to move into an apprenticeship. Next bit of advice: start copying flash. It went on from there, but she made a point to say how she felt like she shouldn't have to be "tattooed up" to be a tattoo artist, and how some shit-bag local artist (who also was very lightly tattooed) had agreed with her when they talked about it (no secret what that was about), and how they both hated the thought of being judged for having tattoos. When I told her that our shop wasn't accepting any apprenticeships at that time, she finished up by saying how some busy street shop owner in Garland, TX had offered to let her apprentice for a pretty sizable fee, and that she someday hoped to have an "LA Ink style" shop staffed completely by "hot tattoo chicks". I couldn't get her out the door quickly enough.

If they don't have tattoos, then fuck 'em.

That sounds like a mechanic that doesn't drive.

[Kev]

That's also a good anecdote about how you can find someone to cosign on any bullshit if you look hard and low enough.

[mblx]

she someday hoped to have an "LA Ink style" shop staffed completely by "hot tattoo chicks".

That made me cringe.

[heathenist]

I just realized a tattooer I kind of know (separately from tattooing) who has both his arms covered, hands, knuckles, and throat/neck all tattooed, doesn't have anything on his torso at all, and seems to have quite a bit of space left on his legs. I mean, he could just be saving those spots, but it seemed odd to me when I saw it, definitely not what I was expecting.