( By John Mowatt )
You have been hankering after a nice tattoo for some time. Now you have decided that it is time to leap right in and get it done. Be careful--you must choose the right parlor and a competent artist. Just because someone sets up a tattoo shop does not mean that he is a competent professional. You will see some pretty poor quality tattoos going around on owners who really regret this poor quality job. Check out the reputation of any tattoo artist before entrusting your skin to him. If you know someone who has a good tattoo, and has recommended the artist to you, that is a good step in the right direction. You can go into the tattoo parlor and talk to the owner. He and some of his staff will probably be tattooed themselves. Do their tattoos impress you?
The tattoo artist himself should look clean and healthy and his parlor should be spotlessly clean. He should completely clean and disinfect his equipment after every use. If he does not do this properly he will spread infection for sure. You should beware if there is any likelihood of this happening. The whole place should give an impression of cleanliness and professionalism. If not you should leave and go elsewhere. If the parlor does check out well visually the next thing is to ensure that the artist is a licensed professional. He should also be friendly toward his customers and open to discuss your wants. His role is to provide the type of tattoo that you desire, rather than trying to sell you something else that is more costly. By all means of course, listen to his advice. He is experienced in the business, and can advise you on all aspects of getting your tattoo.
Don,t let some gruff speaking macho type tattooist push you into what he wants to do, rather than fulfilling your requirements. They are around and it would be much better to use someone else who is interested in doing what you want, even if it is just a small starter type tattoo. If you develop a good relationship with the artist, and like his work, you will feel better about entrusting him with more tattoo work in the future. If you are bringing a design to the artist, which you obtained somewhere else, you should listen to his comments and to any suggested improvements. Many of the free designs you can find on the internet are not the best, and a few changes suggested by the artist might improve the design immensely. A good artist will not simply try to talk you into spending more money. He will however offer good advice which you should listen to and evaluate before proceeding with the tattoo.The best tattoo parlors will charge more than some of the others, but the work they do is likely to be worth the extra cost. You are going to have to live with your tattoo for a long time so choose well before taking the leap.