Priorities and tattooing

Black Sheep

Lately I've been thinking about some of the priorities people I know seem to have when it comes to tattoos.

I'm going to chuck up two that seem to recur, and I'd be curious to hear some views.

I know this is a bit of a rant - but that's what the internet is for, right? :pac:

1. Price

I think the recession has probably reinforced the tendency, on the part of some people, to bargain hunt for tattoos. To me, bargain hunting for a 'cheap' tattooist is a little like bargain hunting for a cheap orthopaedic surgeon when you need a knee op that is going to affect you for the rest of your life... Or shopping for cheap breast implants, if you're a woman.

To me, the right tattoo for me is priceless. If it's with the artist I want, and it's a sweet design, then I will save months or years until I have the disposable income to afford it.

I know some people who don't want to wait (which is essentially what they're saying when they say it is 'too expensive'). They don't want to defer getting the tattoo they want, so they get the less-desirable tattoo they can afford immediately.

Which means that the scratchers and fly-by-night tattooists still have a very thriving client base here in Ireland. People who are happy to get sub-par work because it is 30-40 euro cheaper per hour than a legitimate and talented tattooist.

Tied into this is peoples' obsession with speed. They want to know how long X piece took, because they're concerned that a slow tattooist may be an expensive tattooist (never mind that he or she may do sh*t hot work).

2. 'Freehand' work

What's this obsession with freehand work?

Even the best custom artists in the world - Shige, Lars Uwe, Chad Koeplinger etc. all use stencils and pre-drawn designs for the most part. They might freehand in something like a background, but usually not the fine details.

Why is it a badge of honour for a scratcher to 'freehand' a tattoo on someone if it means shaky lines, dodgy proportions etc. ...Give me a stencil that has been based on a carefully-prepared drawing, skillfully applied to the skin and then meticulously followed by an artist with an even hand.

Someone like Horiyoshi III is an exception to the rule, he can blaze on work freehand these days. But I think it's fair to say there aren't any artists in Ireland working at that level.

When I hear about a provincial artist freehanding an entire tattoo what it says is that he has essentially not bothered to actually draw a design and make a proper stencil. Perhaps because, in some cases, he might not even know how to prepare one.

Discuss!

niallam

Price - A good artist doesnt have to be expensive, but i do think that some studios are just a little over the top with their prices still, i know 1 artist that moved from a dublin shop to another outside The Pale and price went down 40% per hour but the quality of work didnt, yes i know overheads in the city are higher but so is the custom...
I've never based work on the end cost, 4-5 hour sessions is how i get my work done. I'd only regard 1 of my limbs as actually finished now and the rest are still works in progress Whenever i have the time to take a day or two off and the € for them but first i need things in my life to happen that warrant tattoos A death and a birth started off 14 hours of my last inspiration


Freehand - Wouldnt let a full freehand tattoo near my body would need to see the drawing first to make sure it's what i want. my 2nd last session on my leg i got over an hour of freehand drawing done on it but that was to tie in the stencil drawing into the work already there and to draw on the windbars and that sort of stuff

Star Lord

The only 'freehand' tattoo I've watched being done in person (while I was getting tattooed myself) was freehand drawn on in marker, then the tattoo (including the little details) were tattooed on.

Elbow

DamoElDiablo wrote: »

The only 'freehand' tattoo I've watched being done in person (while I was getting tattooed myself) was freehand drawn on in marker, then the tattoo (including the little details) were tattooed on.

This was always my understanding of a freehand tattoo,

Black Sheep

I don't think you're wrong, guys-

My point, though, is that unless you're doing something like wave bars in the background or are ****-hot, you should be using a stencil based on a carefully prepared drawing.

FoxyVixen

A two - pence "newbie's" perspective:

Cost:
Certainly did not bother me. I can understand the cost of photographers and international artists, both hand artistically based as well as musically. It doesn't come on the cheap. So why should a tattoist, considering heavily on the fact that it's for life and shouldn't require too much if any touch up once it has healed, cost any less?? To me it should cost more for the fact it's an imprint of an image on your skin that you believe is worthwhile for life!!. Don't cheap out, in the same way that most won't cheap out on the simple things in life such as coffee, drink or fruit!!

The only thing the recession may have brought forward is more people believeing they can tattoo, thereby being scratchers. Being made redundant but thinking that art on skin can be a career on account on certain "ink" programmes is acceptable as well as maybe postive comments from family/friends on doodles they've drawn. Just because you can throw a few watercolour paintings together does not mean you can permanently ink human skin!!
Everybody is trying to find a way to get by. Photography seems to be included in this.

Free-handing:
I would not let anyone near my skin putting a "free-hand" sketch on it unless I was very aware of their artisitic interpretations. To even combine two tattoos of a differant style on the same side of a limb encorporated into a full sleeve would require some amount of skill!!
Free handing in no way exudes excellance!!


Ignorance to accepting a cheaper product for something that will last for life as well as thinking "free-handing" proves as a worthiness within the trade is an idiotic approach to considering having a tattoo.

IMO it means that you really should take another few months to consider what you're having done, by whom is doing the procedure!!

ZombieBride

Cost - I'd rather pay through the nose for the right artist and the right tattoo for me, am saving at the moment for my new one.

Freehand - I actually have a massive freehand from hip to ankle, but trusted that the artist could do it. I'm not going to name check here, but lets say he's been on NY Ink.

Hail 2 Da Thief

ZombieBride wrote: »

I'm not going to name check here.

Ah go on, you know you wana!

Nunez?

Black Sheep

Chris Nunez posting a picture on twitter of flower petals going from hip up onto the ribs which he did recently at All Star in Limerick. I don't know if that's the tattoo being referred to, but either way- it's the type of design that can be freehanded. Simple, uncluttered etc. I doubt he would freehand a more detailed design. Clean looking tattoo, BTW. It's fantastic to see All Star continuing to get in regular guest artists from abroad - it raises the bar. Although funnily enough although the various TV artists seem to attract the most attention probably the more exciting visitors, IMO, were guys like Chad Koeplinger and (in the past) Tim Pausinger.

Last night I was reading a book and there was a note on Shige (Yellow Blaze). Apparently he used to freehand all his work, even the large scale backpieces, up until 2001. After that he went to stencils.

Now, the reason why wasn't mentioned, but I would hazard a guess that around that time he was spending more and more time meeting artists like Filip Leu, Paul Booth and others abroad, whereas before that he had been working and learning on a more solo basis. I think it's not a coincidence that he began making extensive use of stencils, from then up until the present. And this is arguably the most accomplished tattooist in the world we're talking about....

Melion

Hail 2 Da Thief wrote: »

Ah go on, you know you wana!

Nunez?

I wouldnt trust him to free hand anything on me, let alone something from hip to ankle.

ZombieBride

Not Nunez, he doesn't work well with my style.