JO BLOGS: Planning your tattoo and choosing your tattoo artist.

How do I choose my tattoo design?

I get asked about the best way to plan a tattoo all the time so I thought I should write a blog about it.

Firstly try to decide on your subject matter and placement. Look outside of tattoo imagery for your design ideas and especially outside tattoo fashions, collect images or ideas if you want to but don’t get too set on a design you find, if you have found it other people will have and you could end up with the same tattoo as someone else! Google and Pinterest have become the new ‘tattoo flash’, use it for inspiration but don’t copy designs! Ask yourself who you are, what are your beliefs, interests, hobbies, passions, whats important in your life, what resonates with you above anything else and how you want to represent yourself to others. Don’t rush this!

How do I choose my tattoo artist?

Do your research on artists, this is the most important. Find someone who’s work resonates with you and someone who’s style you love. Don’t scrimp on time, money or convenience for this.

What makes a good tattoo?

This is a tough one because part of this question comes down to taste, art is subjective and not everyone will like the same thing. I would say though that quality of the tattoo technically is very important; line quality, color saturation and technically how well the ink is put in to achieve a smooth tattoo with no scarring. There is also the question of how good of an artist the tattooer is. There are things that are really essential to me in terms of design such as how well the tattoo fits and flows on the body, how well The ideas represent the client and the fact that each tattoo is finished but easily extended if you do decide to go bigger. One piece of advice I would like to share is to go bigger than you were thinking! Don’t ruin a large body part with a small design, the scale has to fit on the body not the body part. Sometimes the bigger you go the more it can be integrated with your own skin rather than being stuck onto it! it will feel large only for a short time then you will be glad you went for a statement piece rather that a collection of add ons that look disjointed! If you are not sure on the best body part to start with I would suggest the back, a lot of people leave it until the end as it is the biggest canvas but I would tackle that as early as possible because it is the central piece that everything else feeds from, it sets the mood, balance and flow for the whole body and makes it easier to get a consistent look to your body. Even if this is the only tattoo you get (and thats not likely) it is big enough to stand on its own right or to extend. It could be a backpiece that flows down one arm or leg or it could be more of a traditional Japanese back piece shape taking up the bum but in my opinion its the best starting place.

How do I get a good quality tattoo at a cheap price?

You can’t! Something that is on your body for the rest of you life that you will be seeing every day isn’t in my mind something to be scrimped on! Choose the artist whose work you love and don’t compromise, try things like spacing appointments out further apart to make it more affordable, ask friends and family for birthday and Christmas contributions to help rather than choosing a cheaper artist who’s work you will forever look at and be disappointed with, maybe even lasering and/or covering at greater expense and pain!

Hope this helps and here are a few of the in progress pieces I have been working on through 2019…..