Re: Best Tattoo Place or Person In Fairfax/ NOVA area
Posted by:
Tattoo Novice
()
Date: April 16, 2011 08:30PM
Though I don't (yet) have a tattoo I would think "the best tattoo artist" very much depends on what type/style/whatever tattoo you want to get.
For example, it is rather unlikely I would get ANY "asian" tattoo anywhere in Northern Virginia - the bastardizations I've seen of, for example, Chinese characters are laughable at best, a true sob story at worst. I have a character I went to a back-alley calligrapher in a southern port city in Taiwan to draw - after explaining (via interpreter) what I wanted and what I wanted it for, he drew it multiple times, then pointed at one try and said "Use that one". He gave the drawing to me free - and there is NO WAY I would use a tattoo "artist" who isn't INTIMATELY familiar with Chinese calligraphy to even COPY that drawing onto my skin.
If you want a boilerplate tattoo - one out of a book tat thousands of people before you have gotten - then any tattoo artist who is a GOOD technician will do.
If you want something custom - maybe REAL custom to the point of absolutely no hard examples to go from - then you need a tattoo "artist" who is an ARTIST =and= a good technician - a rare breed.
In any case, good luck with your search - since your skin will be with you for the rest of your life you undoubtedly can take your time picking both tattoo and artist. If possible, I'd suggest getting the tattoo you ultimately pick done TWICE - once using something like henna or equivalent, then the final version done the permanent way. That way you can say "Uh...maybe not" if you so choose.
As you can tell from this message, I've done some serious LONGterm thinking about a tattoo I may eventually get. Maybe. But CERTAINLY a temporary version FIRST.