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The first places I always recommend for NYC are Adorned and Smith St. There's a thread in this forum with LST recommended tattoo shops as well you could check out.

Still not completely healed, but here are those English roses that Stuart Cripwell put on me last week (photo taken just after he put 'em on): English Roses by Stuart Cripwell, Spider Murphy's - Tattoo Gallery

man it sucks how many hacks are out there giving the good ones a bad name dont ever by scared to tell a tattooer "no i'm not getting this put on me" for ANY reason. You're the one who has to deal with it for the rest of your life, not them. They're done dealing with it the second you leave the shop.

got this from Ben Grillo last month...

While I was at Frith Street my beautiful squeeze had her second session. A really stunning Day of the Dead Girl, tattooed by Stewart Robson.

Jinx Proof Is a good place to get that hit with the laser.

the thing about tattoos is that the tattoo does not belong to the tattooer, but to the person who has been tattooed, and it is your body. some people might be pissed off if you had someone else finish their work, and lots of people might not want to finish someone else's work. i wouldn't finish that tattoo because it is a total mess and i wouldn't want to be involved in something that i think is not going to look good in the end. unless i knew you and liked you. or unless it was really slow in winter and i needed some money.

Anyway if anybody has bothered to read this far I guess my real dilemma/question is "When is it acceptable to find a new artist to finish my work?" ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ when he said "his teeth hurt and he had to run out and get his medicine 8 hours after your appt!

lasered coverup (on me)

I think it's acceptable to find a new artist right now.I wouldn't go back to that guy especially after looking at the scales on that dragon.And why would you wait 9 hrs for this dude when your appt.was at 12.And the fact that you say he does a lot of drugs would discourage me from the start.I would find another artist to finish your work.Here's some good artists to check out. E.GREGORY this dude does real nice work. JRanno.com also does nice work. Tattoo Paradise ::: HAVE FUN BE LUCKY ::: Orange Tattoo Company | Annapolis, Maryland

So far so good, amazing hosts and all we've done is eat, eat, eat. 4th of July party today --- tattoo tomorrow.

Here you go!!!

This is a test right?

Heres my latest, done yesterday by Jordan at Frith Street Tattoo, London. Eagle on my wrist and a couple of flower fillers. [/img]

no one has ever given me a large chunk of skin to "do whatever i want" on. ever. I appreciate all of my clients business and i verbally thank every one of them for getting tattooed by me. i am polite and do my best to give everyone a tattoo they'll love for as long as they have it. I draw every thing at the last minute because i can and because thats i like to work. when i'm drawing i make tons of mental notes about how im going to render thet final product(the tattoo). if i draw a tattoo a week in advance then by the time i sit down to do that tattoo all those mental notes are gone. I feel like it brings more creative energy to the tattoo. i like to think that when people get tattooed by me it is because they liked my work and are confident that i am going to give them a good tattoo and not because they are doing me a favor. and that they are paying me for a job well done and again not because they are doing me a favor. just like when i choose a hair stylist, dentist, doctor, mechanic, plumber or etc., etc. i pick them because they have the ability to to the job i want and i dont feel like im doing them a favor.

depends on who youre dealing with really... personally I draw EVERY tattoo the night before or the morning of the tattoo or sometimes i draw it on the client with markers when they get there as do a vast number of top notch tattooers that i know do as well. I've been drawing for 30 years and drawing for tattoos 5-7 days a week for 15+ years. so when it seems like i drew your tattoo in 15 minutes, really i drew it in 30 years and 15 minutes as Bob Ross would say. There are tattooers who can work on a simple design everyday for a week and have it suck and there are tattooers that can draw the most complex and large designs in 5 minutes and create an amazing tattoo. its all relative. like i said it really depends on who your working with. everyone works differently.

And as a client I like to think that my tattooer is so committed to my project that they carry it around in a special brief case hand cuffed to their wrist till my tattoo appt------ but as a tattooer I find it interesting that clients assume that as soon as they make their appointment- i'll be working on their tattoo non stop - till they're in my chair- This isn't directed at anyone who posted--- just a side note.

just show up and if the drawing sucks don't get it tattooed on you...

In defense of your tattooer I have done the same, many times. I take notes during my consultation with my customer--- but because I find that the closer to the appt time we get the more likely the client is to change their design. I do my final drawing just a day or so before the appt. At the start of each week though I start calling clients in my appt book to confirm their appt and a lot of times what they're getting isn't indicated in my appt book. So I might ask what they're getting or need a reminder

I've shown up to appointments when an artist hasn't drawn anything yet and yes I had to wait longer but I still ended up with some killer tattoos. Think about how many people/tattoos he/she has to deal with on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. I'm sure one or two clients are bound to slip through the cracks. If he forgets again on the day of just pretend you're a walk in- in which case you'd have to wait for him to draw it up anyways. I would be more concerned with your seeming lack of confidence in your artist's skill level more than his forgetting what you wanted tattooed.... The majority of your leg is a big chunk to give to someone you don't really trust is going to deliver you something you'll be happy with.

My grandmother collects clown statues. I told her she was the biggest ICP fan I know. She disowned me.

Thats like me and The Royal Tenenbaums. Every time I watch it, I catch a little bit more. And the life aquatic. There is an Easter Egg in the special features where its just Bill Murray trying different excercises with his Zissou Adidas. All he says is "WOW! These are great"

I have often wondered why celebrities get such bad tattoos with seemingly unlimited resources. I think it goes back to educating yourself about what's out there, like anyone else. There's probably a lot of really good tattoos out there that never get seen, too. I was in "Machete" and Danny Trejo has a really nice black and gray Virgin Mary over his kids(?) playing the beach on his back. The general public probably won't see it because it's not a 'character' tattoo though.

sleevin steve serazio....big steve serazio....Steve-o Serazio...SIR RAW ZEE OO.....thee most naturally gifted tattoo artist...spotlights janitor

You are some sort of a saint Shawn. Thank you.

I lived in Austin from 1990 to 1997, so I've seen more than my share of Dave Lum tattoos. That video was a time machine for me! I was really happy to see Waldo in it at about the 8:00 mark. I met him when I was just getting my first tattoos, around 1992. He already had his hands done, which, 20 fucking years ago, was out-of-this-world insane. But every time I ran into him, which was often, we'd talk tattoos and he would just light up. Even though I was just a kid with 2 or 3 tattoos, he never condescended to me and was always cool as hell. Here's are some then-and-now pics of him with Viktor the Viking:

At the shop I work out in Hollywood, Chris Brown and Rihanna came in (before he kicked her ass) and they both had some pretty ridiculous tattoos on them (some of which were done at our shop). On his upper arm, there was a Jesus in the clouds with ninjas popping out of all the clouds around it. I asked what was up with the ninjas, and he said they were to protect Jesus. I'm Jewish, so I don't know all that much about Jesus I guess, but I'm pretty sure homeboy doesn't ninjas to protect him when the shit hits the fan.