Thanks Graeme, I'm glad someone recognized where he is now. Might have to get in touch with him.
On another note - I went into a tattoo shop the other day (called to make an apt for a consultation) armed with pictures of tattoos I liked. The artist I was working with was tattooing someone, so I explained what I wanted as he was tattooing a customer which I thought was kind of odd, but whatever. Explained what I wanted (I literally said I wanted something similar to Roxx of 2SpiritTattoo in San Fran.... bold, clean, black lines inspired by architecture and geometry, utilizing the natural movement of the body, similar to a polynesian in terms of detail and blackwork) and he said he would draw something up for me and get back to me next week. He told me how much it would cost and asked if I was willing to proceed. I said sure, as long as I obviously got to see his designs beforehand and make any tweaks that I wanted. So off I went.
So I get a call from the shop a few days later, and they tell me that he actually didn't draw anything up and that he just free hands polynesian tattoos. Problem is, I'm not looking for a polynesian tattoo. So I think this guy just totally spaced on what I was telling him when I described the tatttoo I wanted, and all he heard was "polynesian".
I did my homework on the artist and knew he would be able to do something I wanted, went in to consul with him about it and we agreed on coming up with some artwork next. So ofcourse I laid down a 200 dollar deposit to secure some time in his chair a few weeks down the road, artwork pending. But now I am just totally put off by this place by the fact that the artist changed his mind and now wants to "freehand" a half sleeve of geometric and architectural inspiration. Im almost positive they are going to take my deposit when I tell them I no longer want to work with them.
How should I proceed here? I feel like I just got robbed.