Can You Recommend A Local Tattoo Artist To Me? Because I Am An Idiot Who Needs Ink.
A few months ago, on Facebook, I asked people for a recommendation of a good local tattoo artist. And then, because I am stupid and Facebook is impossible to search, I lost about ten good recommendations from people.
I’m going to be getting a tattoo of Rebecca – a silhouette of a photo taken of her, so I need someone who’s very good at doing photo-perfect work on flabby skin. My friend Kat will also be getting a tattoo to commemorate Rebecca’s life, but hers will be a design that she needs help with, so I need an artist who can also translate rough sketches into actual beauty.
This will be my only tattoo, I think. God willing. So make it good.
And it has to be a local tattoo artist – we have someone good in Pennsylvania, but we don’t want to drive three hours to what might be a multiple-session tattoo. So while I know there are many fine artists in your town, I’m not interested unless your town is near Cleveland.
(I’m also smart enough to know that tattoo artist > tattoo parlor, so specific names will be weighted better.)
Anyway. Thanks for everyone who did recommend last time, and I’m sorry I’m sufficiently dumb to forget to bookmark a Facebook post. If you can recommend here, I will at least be able to Google this post when I find it.
If you don’t find anybody local, my cousin (Dan Clay Smith, if you want to Google him) is in Harrisburg, PA and has lots of experience with portrait tattoos. It’s kind of far, but it was worth the trip to me to get a piece that I’d hopefully still be happy with in 5, or 15, or 20 years. Jason wants to get something too, so maybe we could carpool or caravan or something.
Atom Bomb is a popular east side favorite. I like Greg at Tattoo Faction in North Olmsted.
Tina and I use Dave at Atom Bomb Tattoo, he does great portrait work. Some examples: http://atombombtattoo.com/Dgallery.html It’s a ~2 month waiting list last I heard, but his work’s worth the wait.
There’s a guy here in Connecticut who does great work called Mike Falcigno. He’s on FB. Not sure if you’re coming here, but figured I’d suggest (even though I am tattoo-free).
Jerry suggests http://www.empire-ink.com/local/