Tattoo you: 8 tips for first-timers … and veteran ‘collectors’ too

By David Chesanow | June 2, 2010 | Category: Advice, Tattoos

Tattooing knows no season, but with the warm weather fast approaching and people showing more skin, you can bet that tattoo shops everywhere are looking forward to more business as people decide to adorn themselves.

I wish I could say that tattooing has undergone a renaissance, but that would suggest the REBIRTH of a golden age of tattooing. In fact, that golden age is RIGHT NOW, thanks to people like Ed Hardy and lesser-known pioneers going back to Sailor Jerry Collins in the 1940s. Before then, there were some legendary artists in the early 1900s through the ’30s – George Burchett in England, Charlie Wagner and Lew Alberts in the Bowery in Manhattan, to name just a piddling few Westerners, not to mention a legion of anonymous Japanese and other Asian masters – but it’s Hardy and others who took what many considered a lowbrow art form at best (a symbol of moral bankruptcy and criminality at worst) and applied their prodigious artistic abilities – drawing (no pun intended) on other artistic traditions ranging from Japanese ukiyo-e prints to hot rod detailing – to create a cultural phenomenon that has exploded in the past 20 years. Much as I enjoy “L.A. Ink” on the Discovery Channel and love Kat Von D (a seriously talented artist, and a serious fox besides: Her shop Web site is www.highvoltagetattoo.com), she and Ami James (a REALLY great artist but not my idea of foxy: Check out his work at www.lovehatetattoos.com) from “Miami Ink” will no doubt be the first to acknowledge that their series’ popularity owe a debt to the efforts of long-laboring tattooists over the decades who wouldn’t be caught dead on a reality show. (After being the outlaws of the art world for most of their lives, many old-timers hate the idea of being socially acceptable.)

All of which is to say, never before have there been as many good tattooists, and never has it been easier as in this Internet Age to locate them and see their work – although it shocks me that so many artists have such a meager online presence. (Show your stuff already!)

But I digress …

There’s a famous Norman Rockwell painting of a tattooist inscribing “Betty” on a sailor’s arm – seventh in a list of other girls’ names, with the first six crossed out. If laser tattoo removal is the growth industry it’s said to be, it’s because people don’t think deeply enough about the designs they’re getting.

Here are some tips on getting artwork you’ll want to show off to your bingo buddies at the nursing home in 30 or 50 years …

Be sure you really want one. If you’re vacillating even a little, you’re not ready. Don’t waste a tattooist’s time by making an appointment, having him or her draw up a design, then hesitating because you’re not 100 percent sure you want a tattoo at all. Don’t do it on a dare or get pushed into it by a boy- or girlfriend seeking proof of your love. Don’t do it to show support for your friend because SHE wants a tattoo and doesn’t want to do it alone.
Choose a design you’re going to be happy with for the rest of your life. A tattoo makes a statement: Be sure yours is not one you will feel embarrassed by 10 years down the road. Fashions change, and what may seem hip in 2010 may be the height of nerdiness by 2020 (think of the barbed wire armbands of the 1990s).
Don’t be afraid to “experiment” before you get the real thing. Don’t know how big a tattoo you want, or where on your body you want to have it done? Buy a tattoo decal or get a friend to draw a temporary tattoo on you and wear it around for a while. It won’t be the design you really want, but it will help you get an idea of how a real tattoo will look on your body. And if you are very sensitive to other people’s reactions, either to a particular design or to tattoos in general, it’s a good way to test the strength of your commitment to getting a tattoo (and maybe reconsider).
Select your tattooist carefully! In order to make a living, most tattooists have to work in a range of styles – Japanese imagery, tribal designs, classic pinup babes, rockabilly, punk, you name it – but every good tattooist has at least one specialty. Some are great at typography – an art in itself. If you want a tattoo that’s a photo likeness of your child, you better find an artist who excels at portraiture. If it’s a Japanese design you want, there are tattooists who are exceptionally skilled at it. How do you find out what an artist is good at? A lot of tattoo shops have Web sites with galleries of their artists’ work, or the artists put photos of their happy clients’ designs on Facebook or MySpace. Also, they all have portfolios in their shops: Don’t hesitate to go and look, and don’t feel compelled to get a tattoo until you feel sure you’ve found an artist you’re comfortable with.
Concerned about infection? You’re nuts if you’re not. Licensed tattooists have to pass health department requirements in order to do business – that means strict sterilization of equipment, the wearing of gloves, etc. – and tattoo conventions always have educational programs to keep artists apprised on the latest health considerations. (The majority of tattoo shops are probably more hygienic than my dentist’s office back in Japan.) However, don’t be afraid to ask about this: Any reputable artist will be happy to tell you the measures they take to ensure the safety of clients as well as themselves. If you still don’t feel comfortable with that person or the shop, then don’t get tattooed there. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has some information on health risks and advice on taking care of your new tattoo.
Be ready to spend more for the best work. I once saw a sign in a tattoo shop that read: “Good tattoos are not cheap. Cheap tattoos are not good.” Getting a tattoo is not like getting a haircut: You might be able to make some minor adjustments, but you don’t get to start over in a month and a half if you’re not 100 percent happy with the result. If you really like a particular artist’s work, be ready to pay for his or her talent. Therefore …
Be prepared to travel if necessary. I got my first tattoo from Bob Roberts in New York in 1981 (he since became firmly entrenched in L.A.: www.spotlighttattoo.com). When Bob decided to pick up stakes and head west, but didn’t know where he’d end up, I asked, “Well, who should I go to?” He replied, “What about Ed Hardy in San Francisco?” Duh. Why didn’t I think of that? Of course, Ed wasn’t the household name he is today (more on that in an upcoming blog), but I knew his work from grainy tattoo newsletters (there weren’t even any magazines devoted to tattooing in 1981, unless you counted “Easyriders,” which was more about motorcycles and the biker lifestyle), and Bob had introduced me to him once when Ed was visiting Bob in Manhattan (they had shared a shop in San Francisco previously). So I called Ed at his old shop, Realistic Tattoo, on Van Ness (he now owns Tattoo City on Lombard: www.tattoocitysf.com) and flew out to California on three occasions, which became a kind of pilgrimage. Long story short: If you care enough about art to wear it, consider making the trip to get work you’ll really be happy with.
Work with your artist! Shows like “L.A. Ink” give a false impression of the amount of work that goes into doing a custom tattoo: Kat or Corey Miller (Is he really leaving??? Stay tuned!) or Dan Smith – or the other artists who don’t get any real airtime – may listen to what a client wants, or even have a photo or sketch to work from, then say “OK, I’ll draw something up: Come back in half an hour. But those 30 minutes are crucial in the artistic process: It’s the time when all the artist’s energies and experiences are focused on designing a picture that a person will wear for the rest of his or her life. If you’re getting custom work – and especially if you have some time to work with – then collect some good reference material for your artist to work from. You may get charged for some extra hours, but the result will be well worth it.