I’m always surprised to see the lack of consideration that people put into finding, vetting, and questioning their tattoo artist before they go about and put something permanent on their body. On top of this, the quality of the tattoo artist tends to emulate the quality of the tattoo healing as well.
The best way to prevent having a horrible tattoo on your body is to consider who is doing it and seeing their work before it has begun. When searching for the artist that I have now, I went through numerous portfolios of those both local and abroad to my location. I wanted to make sure if it was going to be on my body it was going to be high quality.
From there, I went and met the tattoo artist’s we talked briefly and I got to feel their vibe and if we would get along. It’s always great when you can hit it off with another person and build a relationship overtime; this is something I put consideration into.
Above everything else, I must say that the one attribute that sealed the deal for who I chose as a tattoo artist was the skills he possessed between envisioning the tattoo and producing it.
As a visual person, I have an idea in my head of how I would like to look with the tattoos on my body, when artist’s sketch out what I have asked for, it doesnt quite complete the vision for me. My artist was able to take it to another level by creating my tattoo exactly how I pictured it in photoshop to then tattoo it. I think this is one of the best, if not the best thing someone who is unsure about getting a tattoo can do. Of course, it is important to make sure your tattoo artist can also pull off what he has done in photoshop on your skin.
You can see the effect this has from start to finish
As you can see, it is a work in progress that is most likely going to take a couple of years to complete. However, the effect of seeing the work before it was done allowed for needed corrections, color changes, design changes, and overall better placement as time went on.
As my forearm got started, I wanted to do something that no one has ever done and display a powerful message that would remind me of one thing everyday.
Remember that you will die
That is something I have always been very aware of and I wanted to incorporate the message into the whole theme of the sleeve. Once again, the usage of photoshop was essential to mastering what I wanted done.
See the process we went through from conception of the idea to creation.
When a tattoo artist can use photoshop, the customization and quality can be taken to a whole other level. Hopefully now, when you go and find a tattoo artist you have higher expectations, better quality, and an outline you can see.