Finding the Perfect Tattoo Studio / Tattoo Artist:

Finding the Perfect Tattoo Studio / Tattoo Artist:

Selecting the tattooist is just as important as selecting a tattoo design and body placement. Several of her friends had gone to Main Street Tattoo of Longmont, Colorado and were pleased with their tattoos. Looking at the tattoos of her friends Melissa was indeed impressed with the work. She had also heard that Main Street Tattoo runs the TattooFinder.com website system in the shop, so she thought perhaps they might have some insight on the designs she found. Never one to just act on her friends word alone though, Melissa decided to go to Main Street and check things out.

Main Street Tattoo and Piercing of Longmont, Colorado, U.S.

First impressions are important when looking for a tattoo studio and artist to work with, and Melissa's first impression of Main Street was good. She felt the atmosphere was clean and professional and most of all, comfortable. Upon entering the studio, she was politely asked if someone could help her. She told Russ (a tattoo artist since November 2004 at Main Street Tattoo) that she had found some designs on TattooFinder.com that she liked and she wanted to see about getting one of them personalized to commemorate her Grandfather.
Before Russ could reply, Melissa brought up another concern: safety. She knew Main Street was a reputable tattoo studio, but she still wisely checked-in with Russ about shop policies and procedures regarding health and safety. Russ explained that the local health department inspects the shop regularly, that the shop's sterilizers are tested to make sure they are working properly, and that the shop uses universal health care precautions when tattooing.
When Melissa was satisfied that she would get a safe tattoo at Main Street, Russ suggested to her that she next take a look at all the tattoo artists' portfolios of tattoo work and get a sense of which artist she would like to work with. Melissa looked through the portfolios of all the artists, and they all looked really good. She felt a little naïve because she didn't really know what to look for. Rachael (Tattoo Artist since 1991) picked up on this and helped Melissa with her questions. While the process of determining what constitutes good art is somewhat subjective (including tattoos), Rachael pointed out some examples of things to look for in the portfolios to determine how "good" the tattoos are, including:

• Clean linework - not shaky, uneven, or blotchy
• Proper ink and line density so the tattoo will look better over time
• An assurance that the photos in tattoo portfolios are of completely healed tattoos, allowing for an accurate assessment of what the quality of the final tattoo will be.

Rachael also showed Melissa examples of tattoo designs on the walls at the studios that had been tattooed and photographed. This way, Melissa could compare some photos of tattoos actually created on peoples' bodies to what the original design looked like. Rachael told Melissa to take special note of the before and after accuracy depicted in the photos.
Even after getting a better understanding of what makes for a "good tattoo," she still felt all the artists' portfolios looked really good and was unable to decide which tattooist she had a preference for. Having talked now with both Russ and Rachael, she stated she would feel most comfortable if one of them tattooed her. She also particularly liked both of their styles of tattoo work in the portfolios. Since Rachael was booked for the rest of the day doing other tattoos, she decided to go with Russ as her tattooist, assuming he could do the personalized work on her tattoo design.