My Daily Tattoo

Choosing A Talented Tattoo Artist

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On December 8, 1891, the first electric tattoo machine was register by Samuel O’Reilly, it’s inventor. It was based on a machine for embroidering fabric patented by Thomas Edison in 1875. O’Reilly began working out of a barber shop in New York City, and called his business a “tattoo parlor” which was the first one in the United States. Soon tattoo parlors were showing up all over the country, often in port towns and cities, to serve members of the navy which was the first branch of the military to widely adopt tattooing as a tradition.

From that beginning there are now thousands of tattoo artists in the country. Just like in everything, some are better and more talented than others. You want to spend a little time finding that artist who you like and who will do a quality job for you.

The only real way to tell whether or not an artist is good is to see examples of their work. Verbal recommendations are helpful, of course, but carry a lot more weight if the person making the recommendation is able to show you a real example of the artist’s work - like on their own body. It’s best to not take someone’s word for it. You should get a look at the artist’s work yourself. It’s always best to see actual examples of the work on a live person who can tell you who created he tattoo.

People are usually proud of their tattoos, and if you seem genuinely interested most folks will be happy to tell you about their design. Tattoo magazines are also a good source for information. The photo-essays they publish about various artists are likely to be well-researched and legitimate examples of the artists’ work. The key is to shop around and find someone really talented as the quality of your tattoo depends so much on the talent of the tattoo artist.

Not only must a tattoo artist be excellent at drawing or tracing many designs of tattoos, but many times the customer will come in with a tattoo design and want the tattoo artist to interpret the customer’s idea. By taking the concept of the customer, the tattoo artist must try their best to bring the customer’s idea to life. The tattoo artist must be able to relate to the customer, understand the customer’s request and be creative enough to materialize the idea. Some customers may come in with no specific tattoo design, just the idea of what they want the tattoo to represent, and leave it up to the artist to create the kind of tattoo they are requesting. Now that takes talent and creativity!

As we have advised before don’t be in a rush. Take your time to find an artist whose work you have seen and choose a design you will be proud to wear the rest of your life.

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