Selecting a Tattooist & Studio

By the Editors of TattooFinder.com

When your car transmission needs work or your laptop gives you that haunting fatal error, you have to seek out someone you can trust with something very important to you. Selecting a tattooist is a similar situation — you need professional assistance and how you make your choice will definitely affect your experience and the final outcome. If you don’t make an educated decision when looking for help, you could end up with a transmission or a computer that’s still busted . . . or a poorly done, permanent tattoo. Before you’re inked, educate yourself on your options so you can feel comfortable putting some level of trust in the person you choose to ink you.

Tattooing is a trade that consists of specific knowledge and skills. The practice is generally learned through an apprenticeship with one tattooist (the master) teaching a student the craft. But, while the apprenticeship tradition has produced some incredible talent over the years, it can fall victim to “weak links in the chain” and some apprenticeships simply don’t produce good tattooists. And to compound the issue, there is nothing preventing a “disreputable” tattooist from apprenticing others and producing more poorly trained tattooists.

To make things even more complicated, there isn’t an industry-wide, uniform set of standards, training and testing on the craft of tattooing. Governmental regulations at the state, county and local levels will vary widely, from having no regulations at all to mandatory testing and licensing, but they are generally focused on safety and health concerns, with no criteria for testing actual tattooing skill. If any regulations exist in your area, they are probably also going to be difficult to find — sometimes being folded into the state’s cosmetology standards and other times regulated by localized health departments. Consequently, tattooing is largely a “self-regulated” industry, meaning that tattooists ultimate decide which ethical approaches they may or may not bring to their work. When choosing a tattooist and studio, it is very important to be aware of any applicable health and safety regulations, understand your risks and look for applicable safety documentation.

And, finally, we don’t recommend money as a primary consideration in selecting your tattooist. You obviously don’t want to agree to something you can’t afford, but “bargain hunting” isn’t an appropriate method to shop for something that has potential health consequences, may be highly visible to others and will be with you for the rest of your life. Most reputable tattooists will give you a fair price for the work, generally basing their estimate on the number of hours it will take to do any design modification and to apply your actual tattoo.

 

Ten Tips to Finding a Good Tattooist

• Listen to your friends . . . and your gut

  Word of mouth is one of the best ways to find a tattooist. Chances are that if one of your friends had a good experience at a particular shop or with a certain tattooist, so may you. However, being that each person and tattoo is different than the last, you need to find someone that you feel comfortable working with. You can get a good sense of a studio’s work by looking at their online portfolios if they have them posted. Otherwise, feel free to go into several shops, start a dialogue and look over the tattooists’ photo albums in person. If you don’t click with a particular tattooist on a gut level, don’t let them tattoo you.

 

• Scrutinize their portfolio

  Any reputable tattooist should have a photo album for you to look through and their previous tattoo work should be diverse and well done, with at least 50% of the examples looking healthy and healed (unhealed or just-completed tattoos will look red around the edges, swollen and have a definite sheen). Do the black lines in the tattoos look smooth and clean or are they raggedy and uneven? Are the color fields solid or patchy? Are the transitions from shading to solid pigment smooth or awkward? Try to look at the tattooist’s past work with an aesthetic eye. While you may not personally connect with all of the work displayed, you should take note of the professional touches. Also, if a particular tattoo was done from tattoo artwork in the shop, ask to see the original design on the wall. How does it compare with the actual tattoo in the photo?

 

• Do their specialties match your needs?

  Any professional tattooist should be able to tattoo anything well, keeping in mind the limitations of the craft. But some tattooists do focus their work on certain types of tattoo styles like photo-realism and Japanese. This type of specialization might be based on a tattooist’s personal preference, so if you have a particular vision in mind, find someone who you feel is genuinely interested in doing your tattoo. Sometimes this can be determined by simply looking through their portfolio and at the types of work they most commonly do.

 

• Use the bathroom

  When you’re considering a studio, use the bathroom. No, we’re not kidding! Is it clean? Is it presentable? The outward appearances of a tattoo shop can oftentimes be a reflection of the tattooists’ dedication to cleanliness and sterilization practices in general and, more specifically, when it comes to the tattooing process. The shop should feel clean and hospitable. Your tattooist, too, should look clean and kempt, regardless of their personal fashion tastes.

   

   

   

• Your health is a primary concern

  Reputable tattoo studios should have a policy regarding “Universal Precautions” — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines to prevent transmission of HIV and other blood borne diseases. According to the CDC, hands must be washed routinely, gloves should always be worn and all tattooing tools and equipment must have some barrier (paper towel, plastic, etc.) between them and the normal work surface. The sterilizer used in the shop (“the autoclave”) should undergo monthly spore testing to make sure the equipment is working properly and your shop of choice must practice a “single needle use” policy. As a matter of fact, all needles and tubes should be taken from their sterilized packaging before each individual use and you can note a color indicator that turns brown once they’re properly sterilized. You have every right to ask your tattooist to set up in front of you, show you their spore testing records and make available their applicable health and inspection documentation and any certification required by the local authorities. If a tattooist refuses any of these requests or if you’re uncomfortable with what you see, don’t hesitate to leave and seek out a more reputable studio.

 

• Be comfortable in the hands of your tattooist

  Needles alone can be unsettling, so being tattooed by someone that you’re not personally comfortable with is only added stress. You may be collaborating with this person, spending several hours together and, quite possibly, showing them parts of your body you wouldn’t generally let others see. Part of your tattoo experience is your memory of actually getting your artwork tattooed and your time spent in the chair and your shop of choice should provide you with top-rate customer service. As Guy Aitchison, long-time professional tattooist, explains, “The personal connection must be there. You don’t want bad tattoo ” Feel free to ask any and all questions and expect to have them addressed respectfully and intelligently.

 

• Ask about apprenticeships and training

  Generally, a reputable tattooist has gone through some type of apprenticeship (oftentimes lasting several years), during which they would have learned the many skills required of the craft. More recently there has been an influx of “tattoo schools,” but there is definite resistance to them from within the industry. Since these programs are generally short term (sometimes six months or less) and don’t often include any actual tattoo studio experience, it’s hard to balance the education of a “schooled” tattooist with someone who went through an apprenticeship. Talk to your tattooist about their training experience, including education on health precautions and practices.

 

• Understand what is (and isn’t) guaranteed

  Some shops guarantee their work for life, while others will only guarantee your tattoo for a certain period of time, maybe six months or a year. Some shops abide by a “one pass, first class” policy, which means that, if there is a problem with the tattoo, they believe it’s the fault of the client and ultimately due to incorrect healing and aftercare. If your studio has this policy in place you should expect to be charged for any subsequent touch-up. Ask questions and educate yourself before you’re tattooed — you should know and be comfortable with whatever shop policies are in place.

  (the better shops are "One Pass First Class" and generally the flash shops with several apprentices are the ones that the house guarantees the new employees work.  Guns 2 Roses does not use untrained apprentices to do the work, your tattoo will come out right the first time if you take care of it)

   

   

• Make sure both you and your tattooist share the same vision

  Both you and your tattooist should have the same design goal and mental image of what your ultimate tattoo will look like before needles hit your skin. If your tattooist isn’t committed to your design collaboration and willing to work with you until you’re really happy with your tattoo design, you may need to find someone else to tattoo you. Avoid tattooists who are less focused on your vision and more on their own and don’t let your excitement in getting new ink distract you from really evaluating them and choosing a tattooist that’s right for you and shares your tattoo vision. Compromising on this point may leave you with a tattoo that the tattooist wanted to create, but not one you want to wear forever.

 

• Communicate any special needs or considerations

  If you want to cover a scar, if you have a dark skin complexion or if you have any conditions that might affect healing or how well the ink takes to the skin, you need to include these factors when deciding on a tattooist. Make sure you are working with a tattooist who has experience in dealing with your particular needs or circumstances and don’t be afraid to ask for evidence through photos, stories or both.