Tattoo idea, need some opinions.

Robbie444

Hey, I am heading to New York next summer and want to get my next tattoo done there coz I like having a place associated with them. Anyway I have had this idea in my head of getting the cover work of an album which is of a very popular new york 60's rock n' roll band and one of my favourite bands. However I am not sure if this would turn out well as it might be hard to replicate given the sort of 3D like effect. I would like to get it done in all black ink with some shading. Anyway, any if you guys who know a bit about tattoo art I would appreciate if you had a look at this pic and give any opinions you might have. Would really appreciate it, thanks.

P.s, I won't be getting the text on the album cover, just the pic. Oh yeah and it will be on my upper arm between shoulder and elbow

Jesus Juice

Dude,I think that would look awesome,it would be a really original tattoo.Gopher it!

Diceicle

I think that the image would be fine for a tattoo. You may want to consider moving the placement to a wider surface area, such as your side / thigh area, to me ( and I could very well be wrong) the detail you'd be looking to achieve may be lost unless you happen to have hige biceps, like I said I could very well be wrong but theres no harm in having a plan B in case the artist agrees with my instinct.

Robbie444

Ty Jesus Juice, yeah its definitely a bit original and I really like the sort of comic book like drawing style of it. Diceicle this has entered my head alrite about the size of it in relation to my arm. I am actually quite slim so don't have very wide arms. I am worried that the artist might loose some of the detail if he makes it too small to fit my arm. I guess the only way to find out is to sit down with an artist and have him draw it up for size.

Delorian

Quick question, why are you going for black and grey? I think the colour of that cover would work pretty well on a tat.

Robbie444

Delorian wrote: »

Quick question, why are you going for black and grey? I think the colour of that cover would work pretty well on a tat.

Yeah I have been thinking about this a lot also and I think you are right. The colour is sort of the essence of the pic and gives it the cool look about it. Just never really thought I'd get a coloured tattoo because of the colour fading or something or how it might loose its appearance over the years. Thought black ink might look better in the long run. I think with the steam clouds though it might not look as good if it was black shading. I guess I'll just have to wait and see when I sit down with an artist.

Delorian

Robbie444 wrote: »

...Just never really thought I'd get a coloured tattoo because of the colour fading or something or how it might loose its appearance over the years. Thought black ink might look better in the long run. I think with the steam clouds though it might not look as good if it was black shading. I guess I'll just have to wait and see when I sit down with an artist.

I think it should hold up well once:
- you've decent skin (not too blotchy or spotty)
- the artist does a good job
- you look after it (healing ointment and moisturiser)

Think it would look pretty sweet if you got the cloud done in colour without black lines around it. You generally see colour surrounded by a black border but oftentimes I think it looks better without that border. The artist could also work in some transparency with the lamp-post, which would look good but you may not want since it's not that way on the cover.

Robbie444

Delorian wrote: »

The artist could also work in some transparency with the lamp-post

Yes really like this idea thanks. As for the colouring I think I will get it done coloured. After all I want it to be the same as the cover and the colouring is a big part of it. I have good clear skin so should be good. Was looking in to this guy from new york called nyartman. His work looks really good and he seems to specialise in comic style stuff but he's PRICEY! $175 per hour! I'm sure I'll find plenty of great artists in new york over the summer.

truthinwords

Delorian wrote: »

Think it would look pretty sweet if you got the cloud done in colour without black lines around it. You generally see colour surrounded by a black border but oftentimes I think it looks better without that border. The artist could also work in some transparency with the lamp-post, which would look good but you may not want since it's not that way on the cover.

Check out tattoos without lines after a few years and tell me if you still think it looks cool.

The artwork has a lot of traditional elements like the cloud is done in a simmilar way to a lot of the clouds in traditional american stuff. I'd say do it in colour and maybe change the script, it seems very small in comparison to the main part of the image it'd need re-working for it to look well. If you book now you could get someone really good, I'd recommend pretty much anyone at Smith Street tattoo in Brooklyn. Eli Quinters, Steve Boltz, Bert Krak and Daniel Santoro are all at the top of their game.

Robbie444

truthinwords wrote: »

Check out tattoos without lines after a few years and tell me if you still think it looks cool.

The artwork has a lot of traditional elements like the cloud is done in a simmilar way to a lot of the clouds in traditional american stuff. I'd say do it in colour and maybe change the script, it seems very small in comparison to the main part of the image it'd need re-working for it to look well. If you book now you could get someone really good, I'd recommend pretty much anyone at Smith Street tattoo in Brooklyn. Eli Quinters, Steve Boltz, Bert Krak and Daniel Santoro are all at the top of their game.

Thanks for your input and your recommendations. So when you say book it now, do you mean I should contact somebody and send them on the pic with ideas so they can do a draft sketch on it? You think many places would do this since I am now in new york yet?
Thanks

Robbie444

truthinwords wrote: »

I'd say do it in colour and maybe change the script

If you mean the words over the smoke cloud, I was not intending on including them in the tattoo. Just the pic.

truthinwords

If you want a booking with somewhere good your going to have to book well in advance. It's not like Dublin where you can generally get an appointment within a week if not on the day. Contact them via email/myspace and they might ask for a deposit via paypal or something like that.

Robbie444

truthinwords wrote: »

If you want a booking with somewhere good your going to have to book well in advance. It's not like Dublin where you can generally get an appointment within a week if not on the day. Contact them via email/myspace and they might ask for a deposit via paypal or something like that.

Hey, found this guy on the net who has a big enough web site and seems to be pretty well sought after. What attracts me to his work also is that it specialises in sort of urban comic art work which is exactly like the tattoo I want done. His work also looks really good and seems to have a big studio too.

Anyway I have emailed the guy enquiring about prices and stuff and he has gotten back to me saying that he would have to charge a design fee first of $150 to sit down and draw out the tattoo on a computer etc. He then says we could modify it when I meet him to fit my arm etc. The artist then charges $175 ph and says he can usually cover an area of 2.5"x3.5" in about 2 hours. I am not sure how big the tattoo will be on me but I am like 5ft8 and skinny enough so not exactly loads of space on my arm.

The particular tattoo I want is not too detailed but it is very important that it looks well, anyway not sure if I can afford the above as it seems pricey. Perhaps I would be better off just trying cheaper tattoo parlours in new york as I am sure most of them are very good? I'd say my total budget would be no more than $200 for this. Is that too tight?