Man you put that in your book!

This somewhat runs along the modern tattoo post, but not really…Since I have been really getting serious about tattoos, which has been well before I got my first one I have been making it a point to check out any studios that I come across in travel. Regardless of how well known it is or who works there, if I see a place and I have time I stop by. Sadly I have to say that I have come across three times as many crappy shops as nice ones. First off I am talking strictly about shops not artists. I have been in some of the dingiest places every. I was in a place that was really a cloths store and they had a small area, one seat, where in fact yes someone was getting a tattoo. I am not going to even get into shop cleanliness cause this post could be pages. Getting to my point…. I have looked at so many books and seen so many bad tattoos its almost overwhelming how many tattoos I have found myself looking at and saying to myself how could this guy even put this in his book. The tattoo that most comes to mind is a “The Trooper” Iron Maiden tattoo. God I have seen so many bad ones. They just look like crap. I have seen some good ones but they have been few and far between. As for the modern tattoo post someone commented about waiting 10 years and paying big bucks for one of the big guns to do their tattoo. Personally, I think if you serious about getting a good peace done and doing some real collecting its about the only way to go. You get what you pay for not just in the tattoo business but in every business. Even though I feel this way I still personally am in search of the no name starving tattoo artist who is well before his time making magic in a shop he doesn’t own, between his so called real job. Unfortunately, I still haven’t found this guy and the search goes on. The question is has anyone really come across an artist who is still a no-name but does CRAZY work? If so throw up some sites I would love to see their work. Also I know that there are a ton of artists out there who do not have a TV show and are still considered big guns. Just cause there are not on TLC doesn’t make them a no name.

Man, that sreally subjective and hard to answer! I know people who have been tattooing ~4 years who are insanely talented beyond their years, but just do to the nature of tattooing if your really good you are probably very booked...

In my search for the "perfect" tatttoo artist, I've found that the best way to find good talent in your area is to go to a few local tattoo conventions and begin to collect cards. When you get home look at each and every website on the cards and check out their work. I've also found that really good tatoo artist know eachother so once I found a few that I really liked I would then check out all the other tattoo artists that they have links to. These two steps will expose you to a whole variety of really good local tattoo artists. For years I've been wanting to have work done by mike giant, he hasn't been available to the masses for a little over a year, so I emailed him and asked him if he was in LA who would he get a tat from and he pointed me to Juan Puente who is a really nice guy, although I didn't get any work from him, Marco Cerretelli worked at the same shop (Spotlight Tattoo) and he hooked me up. hope some of that helps