Portfolio opinions

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

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Freddie
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Tue Jan 13, 2009 9:51 pm

to that same token :

In my personal experience, I work at a busy street shop 6 days a week. My basic day is hitting the shop between 9 and 10, drawing until 12:30 when i set-up for my first appointment of the day, opening the shop at 1:00, and then doing anywhere from 2 larger to 4 smaller tattoos a day, until 7 or 8pm. After that, I close up and work on soldering needles and running needles/tubes until 9 or 10.

It makes for a long day and a busy week, but I love it, and I can generally get most clients in within a week or 2 this way.

My boss is the opposite. He's generally at the shop 4 days a week and books his appointments farther apart. That being the case, he's booked "farther out" solely because he chooses (as is his right because he's put 25 years into the business) to have a lighter workload.

Me? I'd go insane with too much free time, lol. Beyond that, it all stems from when i was apprenticing AND working 35 hours a week unloading a produce/frozen food/meat truck AND going to college full time to finish up my Graphic Design degree. At that point, I was literally working 7 days a week and sleeping 2-4 hours a night, but I adjusted (and, in fact, I'm only now, within the last month or so, sleeping a "normal night's sleep", as it took the better part of 2 years to deprogram myself from it).

I'm only 25 and 5 years in, so I still enjoy "the game". That said, get ahold of me in 15 years and ask me if the long days and long work weeks are still my thing. :wink:
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anthoync
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Wed Jan 14, 2009 10:12 pm

magnumman wrote:Please give your opinions of these artist's overall work. My next piece will be traditional with a mix of color and black and grey with some flowers, flowers likely B/G. Does one stand out more than another good or bad? Thanks.

http://www.hopegallerytattoo.com/tattoos/Tim_Harris/

http://www.hopegallerytattoo.com/Tattoos/Phil_Young/

http://www.hartfordcountytattoo.com/agallery.html
not a fan of "angel"
phil seems to be a safe bet
tim, has some killer pieces in his portfolio, but would he be the right guy to do a traditional piece? seems he would put a new school spin to it, if thats ok with you. but thats pure speculation ofcourse. when i think of old school, i think of something like this
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magnumman
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Thu Jan 15, 2009 12:05 am

Thanks for all the feedback, it's helpful. I must admit I'm a little surprised Angel hasn't really got favorable comments. Maybe I just don't know what I'm looking at but I thought his work looks pretty good. But then again that's why I asked for opinions.
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arebirt
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Thu Jan 15, 2009 2:56 am

I totally didn't even realize you wanted a traditinal piece. Why did you chose hope???? Just curious.
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magnumman
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Thu Jan 15, 2009 8:51 am

Probably traditional is the wrong description...I don't know. I'm basically getting something to represent my adoptive parents (still living but in 80's). The most important things to them are their faith in religion and tight family bond with their three kids. So this may be boring and played out to many but very important to us. The best I've come up with so far is a realistic wooden cross and banner with three flowers at the bottom (in B&G), with the flowers coming from the birth months of us kids...rose, daffodil and gladiolus. I wanted to add more representative elements but didn't want to cram too much in. So I don't know if traditional is the right choice of words or not. I chose Hope for their overall reputation of having a strong crew of artists.
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anthoync
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Tue Feb 10, 2009 11:16 pm

so who did you choose?
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magnumman
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Wed Feb 11, 2009 10:32 am

I chose Tim Harris, thanks for asking. I went to the shop a couple of weeks ago to talk ideas and see if it was even something he wanted to do since it seems different than what's in his portfolio. He said he welcomes a change of pace, especially with a meaningful piece. I'm still debating a few things, though, such as color or black & grey (leaning there) or mostly B&G with some color accents. I also originally thought chest but he thought that wouldn't be the best fit. He said due to it being a vertically shaped piece it would go better on arms (already taken) or legs, especially if we go big enough to have adequate detail. Maybe back of shoulder but I'd like it more visible to me because it's personal. He suggested upper leg but I'm thinking calf if it won't fit right on chest. My appointment is April so I have time to think out the details. Any opinions? Thanks for all the feedback.
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