slayer9019

Absolutely! So far I have found this site eye-opening compared to the usually BS I was fed for years from the media, parents, ect. Art has always consumed a portion of my life, but combined with living flesh it breaks into a whole different realm altogether. Thanks to everyone for letting me in on just a taste of something I myself would never be able to do.

Hello everyone here on LST. I have been following all the threads here and have found much greater insight into the world of tattoo through you. Before this site I did not understand much of the hard work put forth by tattoo artists. I have appreciated the art of tattoo from afar for awhile and love to see as much as I can (hopefully in the next 20 years hand over my body as a canvas).

Living within a community of artists I feel that a large portion of at least the younger generation (>30) feel they know WAY more than they do about web design. The problems usually arise when the pencil hits the paper (in web design its the fingers hit the keyboard) and they usually fall flat. I myself have devoted a large portion of my life to the skill of programming and have talked much on the topic to my other artist friends. I relate it like this....Anyone can hack at a skill with little knowledge and produce something that is OK, but to get something that looks amazing takes the years of trial and error, working under someone and blood/sweat/tears to get a solid outcome. (I guess that relates much to tattoo from what I gather). While I gather no traction in the field of creativity, when my fingers dance on the keyboard I make my own art form in my opinion of code. It is much harder than most people realize to make something that works. As a customer I think that studios/artists that have an attractive site make the art look a bit better. Just as you can't polish a turd, you also have to "frame" your work in an appealing way. The mona lisa would look better in nice frame in a gallery, then hanging in my bathroom! Also I tend to gravitate to a cleaner site to showcase the work instead of crowd it with other frivolous decoration. That's just me though.

Just another side note, that the linked site above is obviously not the "style" I would assume most would go for, it is more of a technical preview. I will possibly do some free sites just to build my own portfolio and to help some people out if they would like. Send me a PM if you are interested in some free work

Funny thing is I actually know someone who recently "graduated". Shaky lines at best, and I don't even have an artist's eye for it!

Ok, just to start off tell me if I cross a line or am wrong on ANY point and I will kill the thread. Now that's out of the way.... I have been crawling through portfolio and portfolio for some time now and found that some are a bit boring, outdated or non-existent. This parallels much into the art world that I know quite well (advertising or illustrations or more "mainstream"). Most of my family works in the art world in one way or another and most if not all have nice portfolio sites as it is how you get work. I am pretty good at developing sites and would like to see if any tattoo artists would need my expertise. While I know in the world of designers they sometimes take a big offense to asking if they want their site remodeled since that is very close to what they do for a living. So just asking if their are artists that would like to get this done (for MUCH less than what most agency will charge and I think that some artists' sites are not a good showcase for their work. Just my opinion. http://kristiandmaggie.com/ ^^ Above is the last site I just finished. Loading times may take a second since they wanted super high resolution pictures ^^

Yes absolutely.

Why is that?

While I am going to seek out other artists for the rest of the open space I would not trade off my current outline to someone else. I think he is doing a pretty good job right on it now.

I always laugh when I see "best at ..." or anything related. At the shop he does have a bit more larger pieces than what is online (i think there are better in his physical portfolio than what is online). I checked out a few shops, but being as new to the subject as I am, I apparently went to all the "wrong" shops. Google was my friend and turned up a lot of garbage (places I walked in, then simple walked out). Only more recently have I found a few shops that are definitely in my lineup to go check out and most probably get more work done at. (To name a few Invisible NYC, Last Rites). The only problem I am finding with my current artist is lack of availability due to the shop being high volume. My roommate told me about his tattoo being done in an appointment only shop and said the experience was much smoother as there were less people milling around, and it was a more one-on-one situation (he is signed up currently to get a tattoo at NYC Invisible). As for what I want to get from Toxyc is a bit hard to describe in words, but very much along his style. I heard somewhere he is around 300ish an hour, correct me if I am wrong.

It would be the other leg. I was going to stick with this guy (Palino) for the current leg. My arms will have to wait till I feel comfortable with wearing long sleeve shirts for the rest of my professional life. :(

New York Tattoo Parlor | Rising Dragon, One of The Best Tattoo Shops in NYC ^^ Found a gallery ^^ While it was a bit of a drag to sit at the shop for the majority of the day I still am happy so far with the outcome. I have already left a lot of shops to this one because of their lack of enthusiasm. Their shop is really busy (NYC in summertime) so I can see why it took some time, plus he seemed like he was making sure it was exactly perfect since he was extremely interested in what I wanted. I am going to stop by Last Rites to see Toxyc in the next week or so to get started on another piece (who the hell knows how long that will take). (A side note, is it taboo to have too different people/shops working on you at once?) Please remember I am a bit naive to the world of tattoo outside of enjoying the art from afar for a long time. The process behind it is still much of a mystery to me.

Yea from here on out it will be a much faster process. I'm getting the shading done on the current outlining (next session is August 27th :( ). I'm waiting for this to get done so I can see how I am going to continue up/around my leg, since until it's finished I don't know what else would look right with it.

It was 3 hours to start from scratch the design, build an original in pieces. Questions back and forth. Then applied the stencil to my leg, modify it on my leg with some time in between to dry, food, smoke ect. I haven't found a website for him yet. I know I was only charged for under 2 hours for all the work. We were also talking about where we are going further since the design will be going up my leg further (about ankle to my waist)

It took about 3 hours to draw it (the outline is still not finished) and close to 3 hours to outline. Smoke breaks and food time included

It came out far beyond what I had expected! While it was not for me to be there for 6 hours, I'm sure it was much worse for him, and I have great respect for his ability to stick it out till almost midnight.

Well about to leave now. We will see how it turns out. If all goes well I will be posting up a picture of what gets done today.

I know what your talking about, in my job I deal with a lot of clients that always assume that THEY are the number one priority in my life, which is not the case almost all the time. At the same time I personally would feel like a idiot if I completely forgot everything altogether. I have been trying to be understanding about the situation it is just a bit scary especially since it is my first tattoo and I do not understand the norms of the process. I still feel that at the end of the day it is a business and if I am not going to be even partially satisfied I will take my money and go. I have gotten a much better response from the other shop I stopped by while talking about the other piece I am getting done at the end of the summer.

Granted he is kinda busy (new york city) but seriously? I do not know what to expect since I am scheduled late in the day (6pm) and am getting a bit nervous. I have been waiting a month and have 1500 waiting. I have come to the decision if I show up and he is completely unprepared I will flip a shit and ask for my deposit back. For a large custom piece at 200 an hour I feel at least a little bit entitled to some respect. I can take my business elsewhere. I know and respect a lot of artists out there but if you do not respect me enough to remember ANYTHING, I am not letting you near me. I would rather pay 500 an hour for a honest professional than 5 an hour for a half respecting artist. I am already asking Toxyc at Last Rites to do my next piece and I might bail on my current artist. I would say this current artist is good but not "gifted" in the craft.

I got a strange call today. My appointment is in two days and my artist called me and asked me what I was getting again. He had no recollection of anything we talked about and apparently had lost all of my references. After he asked me if I was getting a custom tattoo or flash (i am getting the majority of my leg done) he hung up... Is it normal to be completely forgot about, especially on a relatively large custom piece? I am a bit nervous now since I feel he is completely unprepared for me to come in, and will have no idea until I show up. Should I be worried?

Crazy Fantasy Tattoo

Im almost always in a 2 or 3 piece suit (suit with a vest). I could probably go everything but hands, face and neck but I do like to roll up my sleeves so i would probably stick with 3/4 sleeves. Oh yea everyone on Wall St. rocks shirtless. It mores goes that I travel globally for my job (consultant) and need to look "normal" under their definitions.

Personally I have a strong opinion against smaller tattoos. I like very large pieces and plan probably having a bodysuit with 3/4 sleeves (job :( ).

To start off as of right now I have no tattoos. I have been trying to get a tattoo for awhile but money or other issues have cropped up. Two weeks ago I got in touch with an artist and signed up for a leg piece. (starting at the foot to the knee filled in completely. My friends said that was "too much for a first", but the funny thing is I am already looking at getting another huge piece started by a favorite artist, and the possibility of sleeve by the same guy by next year. Although the sleeve is a bigger step since I work in a VERY Conservative field (Wall St) and will need to think more about that. Am I going way to fast? I personally don't believe so