Well, i'm going to throw my 2 cents in. I wouldn't say I had a bad first experience but it got a little complicated for me. Basically, I found a well rounded artist in my state to go to. Setup an appt but was told he would draw something up the day of the appt. I show up and he tells me my idea wouldn't work. No problem, I go with his advice and get one of two ideas I had on my back.
Fast forward, to my second appt with the same artist. I want to add on to my first piece and possibly turn it into a back piece. I show up and plan to give him free reign just want to stick with a nautical theme. So, I try to give him some direction tell him a couple design elements I would like to see. Again, he tells me my idea will not work but this time tells me. I can do something similar to what he said couldn't be done on our first appt. This raises a red flag and I can tell he's not really digging the tattoo in general. So, I decide to take off and end up losing my deposit.
Afterwards, I thought I would never go to an artist without having something drawn up before hand but now that I think about it. I just picked the wrong artist and instead of going to someone who is well rounded. I would go to someone who specializes in Japanese work if I planned on getting a koi, dragon or phoenix. This way you know it's something they are both interested in and good at.
Consider it a lesson learned and make sure you don't make the same mistake the second time around. Living in Cali you have plenty of options. Just find someone who's portfolio blows you away and don't settle for the first available.
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I missed this post. So, whatever happened?
