best portrait tattoo artist

deekme

hi i live in kerry but will travel wherever needs be to get a portrait tattoo of my daughter..ive been into metal urges in tralee where i got a large tattoo done before by a canadian girl called Krys and it was spot on but sadly she has moved on traveling around.I just want to ask who the best portrait tattoo artist would be in Ireland for a picture perfect tattoo..thanks in advance

Will

JMD in waterford is pretty good

deekme

yeah it does look good and the work looks spot on..thanks

Diceicle

Will would be right in saying Joe Myler from JMD's is probably the best in Ireland for portraits, having said that and as good as Joe Myler is, I probably still wouldn't pick anyone in Ireland to do a portrait, The best portrait artist without travelling to the States for my money would be Paul Naylor of Indigo Tattoo in Cheshire.

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=36651521&albumID=28016&imageID=53054936

tattoodublin

Diceicle wrote: »

Will would be right in saying Joe Myler from JMD's is probably the best in Ireland for portraits, having said that and as good as Joe Myler is, I probably still wouldn't pick anyone in Ireland to do a portrait, The best portrait artist without travelling to the States for my money would be Paul Naylor of Indigo Tattoo in Cheshire.

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=36651521&albumID=28016&imageID=53054936

Thats Terrible!! There's lots of good Irish Artists doing good portrait work, in all different styles ( mine arent TOO bad ummm i hope they not so bad oh god, they are terrible hahahaha )
We're in a recession, encourage to buy Irish, keep the money in the country for god's sakes check out some local irish studios!

Diceicle

tattoodublin wrote: »

Thats Terrible!! There's lots of good Irish Artists doing good portrait work, in all different styles ( mine arent TOO bad ummm i hope they not so bad oh god, they are terrible hahahaha )
We're in a recession, encourage to buy Irish, keep the money in the country for god's sakes check out some local irish studios!

I get what you're saying and I'm all for buying Irish with regards to meat, copybooks and furniture etc but for tattoos I'll go to whoevers the best (within a relative proximity), a tattoo will be on a person long after a recession ends (as we're all aware) and there's no point throwing a studio a bone because they're Irish when you could be left with a portrait tattoo that looks like a loved one having gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson. :pac:

tattoodublin

Diceicle wrote: »

I get what you're saying and I'm all for buying Irish with regards to meat, copybooks and furniture etc but for tattoos I'll go to whoevers the best (within a relative proximity), a tattoo will be on a person long after a recession ends (as we're all aware) and there's no point throwing a studio a bone because they're Irish when you could be left with a portrait tattoo that looks like a loved one having gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson. :pac:

so you're saying us irish artists cant do a decent portrait? :mad: "I beg to differ" hahahaha

Will

To add further fuel to the now sparking fire
I would boldly say that some of the best artists in Ireland aren't even Irish themselves...

tattoodublin

:pac: hahaha i would have to agree with that, there are some very good foriegn artists here all over the country, a "mini-invasion" hahahaha

The best builders are,nt irish, the best workers at dell were'nt, the best service in hotels and such isnt, the best IT specialists here arent, holly crap.... we're losing our country hahhahha

Will

It's strange alright but I'm not complaining at all

Diceicle

tattoodublin wrote: »

so you're saying us irish artists cant do a decent portrait? :mad: "I beg to differ" hahahaha

To my mind, portrait, Biomech and Bio-organic artists are very much lacking in Ireland unfortunately. Some Irish artists can do a decent portrait but I've yet to see one doing a portrait that would wow me, and thats what I'd want in a portrait artist.

truthinwords

Myth blows everyone in this country out of the water regardless of their nationality. There's some great portrait artists Justin Russell, Jani and Remis for example but it's actually cheaper to go to the likes of Myth since he only charges 70 an hour and a cheap ryanair flight will get you there for 20. I've no problem travelling to get tattooed if it gets me a better piece, as for the tattoo patriotism craic I find it a little hard to stomach paying 100 an hour for some very mediocre artists in this country when some of the best artists in the world charge less.

tattoodublin

truthinwords wrote: »

Myth blows everyone in this country out of the water regardless of their nationality. There's some great portrait artists Justin Russell, Jani and Remis for example but it's actually cheaper to go to the likes of Myth since he only charges 70 an hour and a cheap ryanair flight will get you there for 20. I've no problem travelling to get tattooed if it gets me a better piece, as for the tattoo patriotism craic I find it a little hard to stomach paying 100 an hour for some very mediocre artists in this country when some of the best artists in the world charge less.

Not everybody who does GOOD work is charging 100 an hour, in fact some people have been tattooing DECADES for the LOVE of it. I once did a portrait for a young man in Laos ( south-east asia) who was sweeping the floors in a hostel for the equivalent of three american dollars, because I could see he really wanted it, and probably earned about three dollars a week at that time. And we were BOTH real happy about it. I see MANY people posting artists rates in here and minimum charges in here... so?? do i get flack, and BANNED to simply RETORT to those postings and tell you that I have maintained an extremely reasonable 40 euro minimum since coming home? That any big custom pieces I do I do at EXCELLENT rates? Don't look in a goldfish bowl and think you know the ocean.

Another thing you should keep in mind is this: The government and bankers have royally F%$£D this country up. The overheads here are kiling everybody, and the majority of what I am charging goes towards paying rents, supplies and bills. Overseas studios with lower overheads and lower costs of living can charge less and still be making GREATER PROFITS.
I started a young lady who was doing henna on the sidewalks of Bangkok, and now she has a succesful studio and she has a greater standard of living than most artists in Europe. Im very happy for her, but it breaks my heart to see theres no F%&*N light at the end of the tunnel HERE for me in my own country.
What work do you do Truthinwords? Because when all your customers take their business overseas for cheaper rates, and you and your co-workers can no longer pay your motrgages or rents and and you are starving and have nothing to eat....:D you could always "eat your words" hahahha wont be so filling.

Seriously though, I dont get this thread, it just seems to be bashing Irish artists for some reason... I just dont get it.

I think you should read some of my property and economic related posts here and elsewhere on the web.

Diceicle

truthinwords wrote: »

Myth blows everyone in this country out of the water regardless of their nationality. There's some great portrait artists Justin Russell, Jani and Remis for example but it's actually cheaper to go to the likes of Myth since he only charges 70 an hour and a cheap ryanair flight will get you there for 20. I've no problem travelling to get tattooed if it gets me a better piece, as for the tattoo patriotism craic I find it a little hard to stomach paying 100 an hour for some very mediocre artists in this country when some of the best artists in the world charge less.

The quality of work Myth puts out is amazing. He's definately one to put on the list of 'go-to' artists.

Is Justin Russell Irish? I always had it in my head he was South African? Either way, his work is great, though I've not seen any of his portraits, same for Remis.
Jani's work is for the most part excellent, still wouldnt have him do a portrait. IMO the large pinup head he did recently, I would class as more of an illustrative style. In a portrait I'd be looking to get that photo-realistic quality (like the one I posted from Myth above.)

@Tattoodublin

I dont think this is a bash the Irish artists thread, it just would seem that the quality of 'foreign' artists is a sight higher on average than our homegrown ones, not sure why that is. I know I wont be going around with an ok tattoo from an Irish artist if I can travel to the UK or France or to a convention and get a great tattoo.


EDIT: I take back what I said about Jani.
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=69624705&albumID=327543&imageID=46634368

truthinwords

tattoodublin wrote: »

Not everybody who does GOOD work is charging 100 an hour, in fact some people have been tattooing DECADES for the LOVE of it. I once did a portrait for a young man in Laos ( south-east asia) who was sweeping the floors in a hostel for the equivalent of three american dollars, because I could see he really wanted it, and probably earned about three dollars a week at that time. And we were BOTH real happy about it. I see MANY people posting artists rates in here and minimum charges in here... so?? do i get flack, and BANNED to simply RETORT to those postings and tell you that I have maintained an extremely reasonable 40 euro minimum since coming home? That any big custom pieces I do I do at EXCELLENT rates? Don't look in a goldfish bowl and think you know the ocean.

Another thing you should keep in mind is this: The government and bankers have royally F%$£D this country up. The overheads here are kiling everybody, and the majority of what I am charging goes towards paying rents, supplies and bills. Overseas studios with lower overheads and lower costs of living can charge less and still be making GREATER PROFITS.
I started a young lady who was doing henna on the sidewalks of Bangkok, and now she has a succesful studio and she has a greater standard of living than most artists in Europe. Im very happy for her, but it breaks my heart to see theres no F%&*N light at the end of the tunnel HERE for me in my own country.
What work do you do Truthinwords? Because when all your customers take their business overseas for cheaper rates, and you and your co-workers can no longer pay your motrgages or rents and and you are starving and have nothing to eat....:D you could always "eat your words" hahahha wont be so filling.

Seriously though, I dont get this thread, it just seems to be bashing Irish artists for some reason... I just dont get it.

I think you should read some of my property and economic related posts here and elsewhere on the web.

Your overheads argument is null and void, studios in London city centre i.e. Frith Street in Soho charge less then the Dublin studios and have some of the best artists in the world. I'm talking Xam/Valerie Vargas/Piotrek etc who are all booked at least 6 months in advance and charge 70 an hour. You may be charging significantly less then other studios in Dublin but there are shops charging 150 an hour here for work that is not deserving of that fee.

tattoodublin

truthinwords wrote: »

Your overheads argument is null and void, studios in London city centre i.e. Frith Street in Soho charge less then the Dublin studios and have some of the best artists in the world. I'm talking Xam/Valerie Vargas/Piotrek etc who are all booked at least 6 months in advance and charge 70 an hour. You may be charging significantly less then other studios in Dublin but there are shops charging 150 an hour here for work that is not deserving of that fee.

Absolutley, I agree with this, my point being, WE'RE NOT ALL PADDLING IN THAT SAME BOAT. Saying all artists in Dublin are charging those kind of rates is a bit misleading. If somebody wants to go get inkwork anywhere in the world from a particular artist, all the power to them, I've tattooed in nearly 40 countries myself and can say first hand theres alot of great work being done all over the planet (Including here in Ireland) in all kinds of styles. Anyways, enough said, hahaha this thread is boring me

deekme

Wow looks like i started a big debate here :rolleyes:
anyway so who should i go to then
and i would preferre to keep it irish. cheers for the input chaps

Dancor

deekme wrote: »

Wow looks like i started a big debate here :rolleyes:
anyway so who should i go to then
and i would preferre to keep it irish. cheers for the input chaps

Will wrote: »

JMD in waterford is pretty good

.