Depending on what style you want for your new tattoo, there are a number of factors you should consider when picking a suitable tattoo artist. Obviously, you must first think about whether your tattoo must be custom drawn, or if you’re fine getting tattooed with a pre-made design. Whether or not you need your tattoo design drawn completely from scratch, going with a custom tattoo artist can be a good idea for many reasons.
Firstly, a custom tattoo artist with good drawing ability can alter your design so it either fits better on a particular area of your skin, or so that the tattoo flatters your body figure as much as possible. A custom tattoo artist can also enhance the design and make relevant suggestions so that your final tattoo is the best possible design for you.
With so many custom tattoo studios around, it can be quite hard to know where to go to find a good tattoo artist. A good rule of thumb is to never judge by the tattoo studio. Sure, one custom tattoo studio might be more popular than the others – but that doesn’t guarantee you will get a good tattoo artist there. The studio’s reputation might be due to one particular tattoo artist, or maybe all the really good artists have moved on.
Make sure, when deciding on your tattoo artist, you actually get a look at the artist’s previous tattoo work. Analyse the artist’s portfolio for shaky, unsteady lines and uneven line thickness. These things are a tell-tale indicator of a bad tattooist. Even if a tattoo is free of mistakes, think about whether it involves any real talent or it’s just a really simple design. You shouldn’t trust a tattoo artist to do a complex and detailed tattoo design on you, if you haven’t seen evidence that they have good attention to detail and can work with fine lines and small spaces. Make sure you find a tattoo artist with experience in the style you want.