Best Tattoo parlour in Dublin.

daiixi · 30-10-2006 8:13pm

That looks like a pretty good smiley face to me! Why on earth anyone would want a smiley face inked into their skin is beyond me though. Each to their own!

porn_star · 30-10-2006 8:15pm

can't say I can see anything wrong with the actual tattooing of it

what do you expect out of a circle, filled with yellow...you can't get too artistic with something like that

truthinwords · 30-10-2006 8:26pm

porn_star wrote:

can't say I can see anything wrong with the actual tattooing of it
what do you expect out of a circle, filled with yellow...you can't get too artistic with something like that

Well a quick trip to bmezine and I found some artist who can do something interesting with a smiley face for example:

and even this simple one shows what a bit of shading work could have done:

and yes I agree it was a stupid tattoo idea.

.truth

el rabitos · 30-10-2006 8:44pm

well did u show the artist a picture of the particular type of smiley face you wanted? he's professional tattoo artist not a professional smiley face drawer

did he draw the image and show it to you before he tattooed it on you?

did u sit there and say "yeah thats awsome" after u looked at it in the mirror as soon as it was done? its not like u cant get it touched up, and it should be free if your not happy with it

truthinwords · 30-10-2006 8:48pm

It's not my tattoo it's a friends. My problem with it is any tattoo artist who does a tattoo like that knows the person walking out the door is a walking advertisment for their work and would you want that image associated with your work?

.truth

porn_star · 30-10-2006 8:49pm

Well yeah, you can get artisic with a smilie like that...but I wonder did your friend actually ask for something like that or did he just want a simple smilie like he got. cos there's a bit of a difference between the two and I'd imagine he asked for the latter. makes no difference to me, I just don't think Zulu are a bad shop from the work I've seen. Each to their own and whatever though.

porn_star · 30-10-2006 8:56pm

truthinwords wrote:

It's not my tattoo it's a friends. My problem with it is any tattoo artist who does a tattoo like that knows the person walking out the door is a walking advertisment for their work and would you want that image associated with your work?

.truth

what? that's crap.
that smilie isn't a bad smilie, it's just a stupid tattoo (in my opinion yadayada)
A lot of tattooists aren't gonna like some of the work they have to do, but it's the customers choice as to what they get tattooed, it's the tattoists job to do it properly. If a person really wants a smilie tattooed on them and they're set on the idea and they're the right age, then it isn't for the artists to decide whether or not it's a good choice or not, they just do the job they're paid for and try and make their input as good as possible.

truthinwords · 30-10-2006 9:01pm

Basically as a result of the ****ty smiley face tattoo nobody I know would even consider Zulu. I know other people who've gotten pretty dodgy tatto's from Zulu and everyone I know who's been there once hasn't returned. I think this says a lot about the place. The tattoo (and I know its a stupid idea) even as a simple tattoo could have been done much better I mean what sort of tattoo artist would put that on someones body? It's a piece of crap and could have been done a hundred times better and still been kept simple.

.truth

el rabitos · 30-10-2006 9:10pm

you get the tattoo you deserve

daiixi · 30-10-2006 9:11pm

Is your friend happy with it? I know a lot of people who have been to Zulu and I've not really heard any complaints and a lot of the people i know go back and their stuff is great. I'm also planning on going in to the lads in the next week or so so will post my tatt once it's done and see what people think about it.

s.bal · 30-10-2006 9:13pm

Expensive? Looking to get something intricate and a little tricky... where they based?

daiixi · 30-10-2006 9:18pm

I dont know how much they charge. They're in Temple Bar in Dublin. I don't know the name of the street I'm afraid but if you check out the sticky you'll find it in there.

truthinwords · 31-10-2006 12:12am

el rabitos wrote:

you get the tattoo you deserve

I just think everyone deserves a high quality tattoo. The thread was about peoples oppinions onthe best parlour in Dublin and based on this tattoo and others from Zulu I've seen I wouldn't recomend them. I'm sure a lot of you are huge fans of their work and if they've given you tattoo's you love that fair enough but in my oppinion a professional tattoo artist shouldn't be producing such low quality work.

.truth

el rabitos · 31-10-2006 12:20am

your basing your opinion on work that isnt on your body and as far as we know, you werent there when it was done.

its a tattoo artists job to do what he's paid to do, if your buddy put a piece of paper with a design on it down on the table and said i want that, is it the tattoo artists fault that its a crap design?

the tattoo artist can re-draw a design or suggest alteration and the work on your friends shoulder is nothing that cant be touched up.

abviously your friend left the studio happy that he got what he wanted, if he didnt then thats really his problem. you have to communicate with the artist to get exactly what you want.

truthinwords · 31-10-2006 12:34am

From what I know the guy I know just asked for a smiley face to be drawn. It wasn't from the flash or a previous drawing it was a custom tattoo. I'm pretty sure he regrets it now and I just feel it was of a low quality for a top class tattoo parlour.

.truth

porn_star · 31-10-2006 12:46am

truthinwords wrote:

From what I know the guy I know just asked for a smiley face to be drawn.

From what I can see, it looks like that's exactly what he got.

el rabitos · 31-10-2006 12:46am

ok, let me get this all right...

your friend goes into zulu, says he wants a smiley face

the artist draws it on a piece of paper, asks ur friend "hows that?"

your friend says its great, wants to go ahead with it.

the tattoo is done, he has a look at it, he's happy, goes home

some time goes by and he comes to the realisation that he has a sucky tattoo, you agree, and now your here saying zulu suck?

just because the guy is a tattoo artist doesnt make him a smiley face expert. if your buddy wasnt happy (which he obviously was) then he should have suggested some alterations to the design to the artist (he didnt do that). so its zulu's fault that the artist gave your buddy the tattoo he asked for? is that what your trying to tell us?

truthinwords · 31-10-2006 1:53am

Look its fine we don't agree on this and I never said Zulu sucked I just said I wouldn't recomend it. Let me put it in context for you, I design websites for cash on the side. If a client wants say a theme thats pretty crappy I'm still gonna make it but I'm going to do it as well as possible. I have to be happy with it before it goes to the client because it shows the quality of my work to the world. I take pride in all my work whether I think it's a worthwhile site or design idea and do it as well as I possibly can. I think an artist should feel that way and I really doubt this is the best the tattoo artist could have done. I send out the design in screenshots as its done so the client can see and often times they'll say "that's fine I want it now" on some of the preliminary work and my reply is always "I'm not done it's not good enough." I'd expect the same from someone who puts a permanent design in someones body. My work can be erased with the click of a mouse a tattoo artists cant.

.truth

Sean7 · 31-10-2006 8:23am

Honestly, I wasn't happy with my tattoo from zulu either and even the touch up a month later didn't make me happy with it. It just looks like sloppy work to me.

Fantasy_Suicide · 01-11-2006 12:46pm

Interesting. One of the girls I work with gets her ink by Tara in Zulu and she loves all her pieces to bits. And I must say the work was amazing.

2funki4wheelz · 01-11-2006 4:55pm

My bf got his tattoo in Celestial Ring in Stephen's Green, upper arm, I drew the design for him, a tiger's head with 2 tribal stylised letters in the b/g. He had a few copies of the design, b&w & a photo reference and I'm really not impressed with the work. (:mad: And a smack for bf for not researching enough or ever complaining)
specifics:
He showed design and they suggested artist (Mark - not 100% sure), yet his portfolio pics on the wall were mostly tribal/black only.
Some of the yellow eye colour went outside the line
The tat was not stencilled on but done 'freehand' which resulted in some slight skewing in the design (like the top and bottom of the letters not really being in line)
The black just isn't 'black' enough, some tiny dotty gaps
Shading and detailed colouring was asked for but it was kept very simple which made it look a bit cartoony.

Having looked here it looks like the important thing is research and communication and getting the right person depending on what you're looking for, no single person can be recommended.

Blub2k4 · 02-11-2006 10:40am

truthinwords wrote:

Well a quick trip to bmezine and I found some artist who can do something interesting with a smiley face for example:

and even this simple one shows what a bit of shading work could have done:

and yes I agree it was a stupid tattoo idea.

.truth

The thing is that the top two are what most people would call nu-skool and the bottom one is a winged smiley, if you search google images then all sorts of smileys are there and the one illustrated would be one of the more simple types. Unless your friend asked for a stylistic spin on it they got what they wanted.

Which artist did it there in Zulu, you never mentioned?
I'd be very surprised if it was Justin, and to be honest by ruling out Zulu on the basis of that tattoo you're missing out on the best artist in the country IMO, him being Justin Russell, ( although I believe like any artist he's had a few duds too).

ShagNastii · 29-11-2006 9:06pm

Any thoughts on classic ink crow street. And how many people commenting on this boards belong to certain parlours

Blub2k4 · 30-11-2006 7:52am

ShagNastii wrote:

Any thoughts on classic ink crow street. And how many people commenting on this boards belong to certain parlours

People are becoming more aware of boards, I think that a few of them are around but they mostly keep a low profile and don't show their colours too often.

Star Lord · 30-11-2006 8:30am

I used research from here, looking at the tattoo parlours websites, and going in person to see the place and view the 3 artists portfolios and deciding on which one I though was best for the tattoo design that I had before getting mine done. Was done on the 17th of November, and was fantastically well done, no scabbing over at all, surrounding redness gone after the first day, a little peeling of the skin (to be expected) after about a week, and now it's looking really really well.

Was done by Mariusz in Snakebite, €75 an hour there now, and I couldn't reccommend him highly enough. He showed me the design to make sure it was ok and the size I wanted it before transferring it onto my skin and doing the tattoo, and was able to advise me on it and aftercare very well. Even the guy that was working on the desk in Snakebite was able to talk over the design with me, casting a critical eye over it and telling me little things would be better changed, and what would work and what wouldn't.

I'd suggest to anyone here thinking of getting a tattoo, be it your first or tenth, whatever design you want, look around at who is the best for that style. Most places have a website with a gallery that you can check, but its hard to beat goin in and seeing the portfolio yourself, possibly talking with the artist if they are not busy.

CorsetRibbons · 06-12-2006 5:08pm

Did anybody ever have any tattoos done in The Mint? It's just on a side street off Henry Street. I've had 3 done in there. The artists really nice in there but some people beg to differ in opinion. I think Snake Bite will be my next place of call though. There is a hot female working in there. This is not the prime reason.

It looks a lot cleaner in there and I had a piercing done in there too. Couldn't recommend them highly enough.

CorsetRibbons · 07-12-2006 5:11pm

How come no tattoo places in Ireland look as pristine as this:

http://www.hartandhuntingtontattoo.com/gallery.html

?

Chitterchatter · 31-12-2006 12:28am

If you're looking for recommended tattoo artists, then go see John in Abbey St (celestial ring) ......he puts everything into his work and always tries to improve the flash if u let him. And if you want free hand ur def in the right place.... check him out!

Fantasy_Suicide · 31-12-2006 9:56pm

Agreed with that one.

Mark in celestial's done most of mine and I'm very happy with them. He's really good.

hot2def · 02-01-2007 6:21pm

CorsetRibbons wrote:

How come no tattoo places in Ireland look as pristine as this:

http://www.hartandhuntingtontattoo.com/gallery.html

?

because that one is in Las Vegas. They can afford it. Why doesn't all of Dublin look like Las Vegas?

And Im John's apprentice. There's my colors....

Best Tattoo parlour in Dublin.

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