Getting a Tattoo Step 1: Finding An Artist/Shop

So! You know what you want to get. Now what? So many people have tattoos now but where do they go to get them? I honed in my artist-finding-skills when I lived in NYC. I used to walk around and stumble across shops all the time. Here you could drive around but the shops are more spread out. Don't worry, I plan on answering any question's and concern you may have.

For starters, there will be weekly profiles on local artist's and shops coming very soon. For the time being, there are a few of my favorite shops listed in the blogroll to the right of the screen.

Talented artist's come first. I strongly recommend looking at an artist's portfolio online before you go in. If you hear amazing things about an artist but they don't have an online portfolio, just go into the shop and they will definitely have one. Be sure to look at their skill level, content, and consistency.

First, you have to be sure that the artist can do what you're asking. This isn't usually a big deal for most tattoos, but there are tattoos for everything imaginable. Sometimes tattoos require a lot of different color's, or a lot of detail.

That is a compass rose, on my dear friend Anna Laytham's wrist. She came to me last year asking about tattoo artist's in New York City. I told her it would be hard to fit so much detail in such a small area, but after digging around we found Bart Bingham at Adorned. We went into the shop and Anna told the shop boy she wanted a lot of detail in a small area and he sent her to Bart saying that he was the perfect man for the job. So we looked at his portfolio and almost the entire thing was tons of detail in small areas.

Shon Lindauer was the perfect artist for my wolf in sheep's clothing tattoo. I had been a huge fan of his traditional work for over a year before I finally decided to go into the shop and present my idea. The fact that he was really excited on it just made me more excited to get it.









Before I start rambling into oblivion, my point is that you have to find the right artist for the job. So when you're looking at artist's work you have to realize that what you want may not be their thing, but it will definitely be someone else's. Some artist's enjoy fitting a lot of detail into a small area, which may drive some other artist's crazy. Some artist's really like old school traditional style work with a lot of bold color. Some artist's really love tattooing giant monsters on large areas of skin. Some artist's only like to do black and gray. If they generally like doing those different type's, they're probably really good at them because they did a lot of them.

That already covered most of the content part of it too. Why would you even bother going in to a shop to talk to an artist who strictly does black and gray, if you want a large colorful tiger with a landscape behind it on your back? You get the idea.


Artist's who have been in the business a couple years will already have consistency, but this will tell you how new to tattooing an artist is. If they have developed they're own personal style, they're really good and you know what you'll get going into it. It doesn't have to be the same girl on the side of the thigh over and over, but if they have the same style or same look to a tattoo where you can see a tattoo and go, "Oh that's a Shon Lindauer tattoo." Then you're looking in the right direction.

Next, Step 2: The Consultation.