The search for a shop continues

Recommend Artists/Studios, ask for help finding the perfect artist for your tattoo.

Moderators: buttwheat, sidelvar, EvilJay, Sphenoid

Post Reply
User avatar
Feesh
Hardcore
Posts: 1070
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2008 12:51 pm

Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:25 am

What the hell? It helps to put in the time.

So I checked out a shop down the street from where I work.

One guy was there, Tommy. Tommy had no tattoos that I could see. I asked where all of the artists' portfolios were. "Oh, they're not here now. They'll bring 'em in later. Here's mine."

He had maybe 6 - 8 pieces of flash in there, plus a portrait of Mary, and one of Jesus. I started thinking, "apprentice?".

I talked to him a little about my idea, telling him that I wanted black and gray. We got around to discussing white, and he was saying, "Oh, white's not a color. I get black guys coming in wanting white tattoos, and I tell them it won't look good, and they get pissed, thinking it's a racial thing. [Tommy is a Chicano, not that it matters.] I tell them, 'no man, it isn't like that. As long as you've got the green, that's the only color I care about.'"

It was easy for me to cross that one off the list. The shop actually has a website. Tommy is supposedly the manager, and apparently the only artist at that location. And none of his work is available to view online.

http://www.absolutetat2.com/pages/sanpedro.htm
Last edited by Feesh on Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
imnotatfault
Hardcore
Posts: 2437
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2007 1:00 am

Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:29 am

fuck that place.
User avatar
MattCrunk
Hardcore
Posts: 759
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2008 1:42 am

Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:30 pm

The studio itself looks pretty good, a bit sparse maybe. Makes me wonder what's up with this place. That one procedure room looked like a piercing room, not a tattoo room.

Interesting choice of wording on the sign: "tattoos & body art". That's about like saying "guns and firearms"?!

Looks to me like somebody with a little bit of money decided to play tattoo shop owner.
User avatar
Aivanne
Hardcore
Posts: 5917
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 10:28 pm

Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:16 pm

MattCrunk wrote:The studio itself looks pretty good, a bit sparse maybe. Makes me wonder what's up with this place. That one procedure room looked like a piercing room, not a tattoo room.

Interesting choice of wording on the sign: "tattoos & body art". That's about like saying "guns and firearms"?!

Looks to me like somebody with a little bit of money decided to play tattoo shop owner.
pretty much.

but i still wish my shop would look nice like that. my shop is a PIECE OF SHIT !!! i ned to post pics.
User avatar
Feesh
Hardcore
Posts: 1070
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2008 12:51 pm

Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:45 pm

I checked out two more shops today.

One was clean, but I could've been invisible. That's okay; I sat down and started flipping through portfolios. Lots of trendy shit (tribal, tribal, tribal). I didn't see much custom work. Definitely not the place to go for a portrait.

The other shop was dirty. The portfolios were better. But I wasn't blown away. This was the spot cali recommended. Cricket's work was decent, but I wouldn't have him do a portrait for me. And I'd be really nervous there.

The search continues, but the other candidates are just competing with Doug at this point. I think his work speaks for itself.

http://www.douglasbillian.com/artists.html
User avatar
MattCrunk
Hardcore
Posts: 759
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2008 1:42 am

Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:11 am

Dude, I just looked at your profile to see where you are. If you're in San Antonio, why not just drive to Austin? Austin, Texas, is supposed to have more tattoo shops per capita than any other city in the US. I'm sure you'll find a good portrait artist somewhere there.

Also, keep in mind that a shop can have a cluttered, "dirty" appearance but still be clean where it counts. The reverse is also true: they can look all spic and span and still work dirty as hell.

I'd judge a shop on the quality of their portfolios and reputation more than anything else.
User avatar
Feesh
Hardcore
Posts: 1070
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2008 12:51 pm

Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:34 am

MattCrunk wrote:Dude, I just looked at your profile to see where you are. If you're in San Antonio, why not just drive to Austin? Austin, Texas, is supposed to have more tattoo shops per capita than any other city in the US. I'm sure you'll find a good portrait artist somewhere there.

Also, keep in mind that a shop can have a cluttered, "dirty" appearance but still be clean where it counts. The reverse is also true: they can look all spic and span and still work dirty as hell.

I'd judge a shop on the quality of their portfolios and reputation more than anything else.
I would not have guessed that about Austin. I'm definitely focusing on the portfolios. If I see something amazing, then I will look into it some more. I'll take a look at Austin shops, too. I've got time, after all.

I went in to Doug Billian's shop and spoke to him about my idea. He is definitely an option. I'm going to look at some more local shops (today), to make sure I get a fair sample of SA artists.

Did you check out Doug's work? What do you think of it?
User avatar
MattCrunk
Hardcore
Posts: 759
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2008 1:42 am

Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:56 am

Feesh wrote: Did you check out Doug's work? What do you think of it?
Doug is obviously a good tattooer, and looks like a very good artist when it comes to the more stylized stuff, but I'm not all that impressed with his style of portrait work. I've seen better.
Post Reply