Looking for tattoo artist recommendations for my son

[Eagle]

Hey TCG, my son is looking to get a pretty significant tattoo done soon after he turns 18 here in a bit over a week. Anyone out there with first hand experience able to recommend good artists? NW burbs would be ideal, but if moving further out is required, then I'm sure he'd consider that.

He's still seeking out the exact artwork he wants to use, but he has ideas. He asked me to start the post and will reply here shortly with some examples.

Thanks boys and girls!

Click to read more...

 

[P40E]

This guy does all of a friends tattoes . https://m.facebook.com/ryan.nutini?tsid=0.24847283237613738&source=typeahead

 

[Miss Esa]

Several of my coworkers have gone to (and love) Color Theory in Lombard.

 

[2QuikTA]

I've gotten all of my tattoos from Brent O'Leary at blue collar tattoo in Plainfield. Good, clean, and professional.

What's he looking to have done? While good artists should be able to do anything well, usually they have something they're known for doing well. I.e. lines, writing, faces....

http://www.bluecollartattoo.com/brent-oleary

 

[Shawn1112]

Probably depends on what he wants. Some artists specialize in different aspects of tattooing.

 

[Eagle]

*I think* he's looking for something like this, but with a couple other things incorporated, but all in black ink:

 

[boostedguy05]

[MENTION=340]Eagle[/MENTION] good friend of mine strictly goes to Rod at Vanity Tattoo.
he has had both arms done in full sleeve. he wants to get either a back piece or chest piece to tie them togther soon.

would you like me to text you pictures of my buddys arms. i think i still have your number.

 

[Eagle]

[MENTION=340]Eagle[/MENTION] good friend of mine strictly goes to Rod at Vanity Tattoo.
he has had both arms done in full sleeve. he wants to get either a back piece or chest piece to tie them togther soon.

would you like me to text you pictures of my buddys arms. i think i still have your number.

Go for it! Thanks!

 

[bmoore04]

Rachel @ https://www.facebook.com/DarkHeartTattooStudio/?pnref=lhc

 

[Shawn1112]

[MENTION=340]Eagle[/MENTION] good friend of mine strictly goes to Rod at Vanity Tattoo.
he has had both arms done in full sleeve. he wants to get either a back piece or chest piece to tie them togther soon.

would you like me to text you pictures of my buddys arms. i think i still have your number.

Rod is pretty fucking good especially on black and shading!
Marco at Big Head tats in Elgin is also pretty good with black and shading

 

[boostedguy05]

Rod Pronos


here is his file, i dont think any of my buddys are in there, but i can send you those when i get a chance.

 

[SHOmuff]

DJ is the owner of Burnt Tiger (Irving Park & Western) and does all my work. He loves doing new school color, but also does a lot of black and gray. He can do most anything from portraits, cartoony stuff, japanese, water color, line and dot work, etc.

https://www.instagram.com/djauld/?hl=en

 

[Yaj Yak]

im buddy's with this guy johnny, he's been in mchenry, now moved to johnsburg.

https://www.facebook.com/LUNCHBOXTATTOO/

known him for 12-15 years now, has done a bunch of my friends, is really talented imo.

link to some of his work.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/LUNCHBOXTATTOO/photos/?tab=album&album_id=112242829958

 

[MuffHugger]

I definitely would not recommend the guy that did my tattoo in the barracks. He was wasted.

 

[FESTER665]

Best advice I can give is to have him give the artist his ideas and then let the artist run with it, but try to find a guy who specializes in black and grey tattoos if he wants no color in it.

 

[Bruce Jibboo]

hedman knows his tattoo stuff for sure, forgot his alias

 

[OffshoreDrilling]

A couple things here.

1. everyone has the best tattoo artist, and they're going to tell you about them(see above posts)

2. do some research and find people doing the style of work you like and dig through their portfolios. Most have their work posted online

3. "next week" isn't a realistic timeframe for a good artist and a piece that size. You're looking at a month or more for getting on their books in a time slot that works for you

4. DO NOT BRING AN EXACT PIECE OF ARTWORK YOU WANT DONE. Unless it's something like a family crest or a piece of art you drew yourself as an artist. Tattoo artists are....artists. Your best result is always going to be from giving them some creative freedom on a design. This is why you find someone with a style you like and give them some basic parameters to guide their design.

5. Good work deserves a good tip, i'm talking at least 20%. It's not a restaurant with some pimple faced kid serving you a beer and a burger. Also good work is not cheap. $400-600 is about what i'd ballpark something like that covering the shoulder and outside of the arm.


good luck!

 

[FESTER665]

A couple things here.

1. everyone has the best tattoo artist, and they're going to tell you about them(see above posts)

2. do some research and find people doing the style of work you like and dig through their portfolios. Most have their work posted online

3. "next week" isn't a realistic timeframe for a good artist and a piece that size. You're looking at a month or more for getting on their books in a time slot that works for you

4. DO NOT BRING AN EXACT PIECE OF ARTWORK YOU WANT DONE. Unless it's something like a family crest or a piece of art you drew yourself as an artist. Tattoo artists are....artists. Your best result is always going to be from giving them some creative freedom on a design. This is why you find someone with a style you like and give them some basic parameters to guide their design.

5. Good work deserves a good tip, i'm talking at least 20%. It's not a restaurant with some pimple faced kid serving you a beer and a burger. Also good work is not cheap. $400-600 is about what i'd ballpark something like that covering the shoulder and outside of the arm.


good luck!

All great points here..... You don't want a guy who's sitting on his ass waiting for walk-ins to do work... You want the guy that's booked out a month.

 

[OffshoreDrilling]

you can get lucky with walk ins some times, it'll be for a small piece and the guy has a two hour slot for a cancellation. Warm weather time of year, anyone worth their salt is fairly solidly booked out.

 

[Eagle]

A couple things here.

1. everyone has the best tattoo artist, and they're going to tell you about them(see above posts)

2. do some research and find people doing the style of work you like and dig through their portfolios. Most have their work posted online

3. "next week" isn't a realistic timeframe for a good artist and a piece that size. You're looking at a month or more for getting on their books in a time slot that works for you

4. DO NOT BRING AN EXACT PIECE OF ARTWORK YOU WANT DONE. Unless it's something like a family crest or a piece of art you drew yourself as an artist. Tattoo artists are....artists. Your best result is always going to be from giving them some creative freedom on a design. This is why you find someone with a style you like and give them some basic parameters to guide their design.

5. Good work deserves a good tip, i'm talking at least 20%. It's not a restaurant with some pimple faced kid serving you a beer and a burger. Also good work is not cheap. $400-600 is about what i'd ballpark something like that covering the shoulder and outside of the arm.


good luck!

Thanks for the feedback Jared! Not really trying to get it done next week, that's just when he turns 18 and can start to get work done. He's been wanting to do this for 3-4 years now, but now that its close, he's really excited to get an artist nailed down and start working with them.

He did talk to a couple artists about a year ago, and we decided the project would probably take about 1200-1400 to finish correctly - so we are on the same page there.

As for letting the artist ARTIST - completely agreed. Casey (my son) has an idea in his head that he wants someone to bring to life for him. Of course he wants it to look amazing when its done too. Now we just need to find that guy (or gal)!

 

[330xi]

Thanks to everyone for all the feedback! I'm beyond excited to get this process rolling here shortly.

Here is a pretty good example of the work I'm looking to get done.

Strengths in black ink and shadowing I feel will be pretty important.

Thanks again for all the recommendations and other help!

 

[boostedguy05]

THE SON HAS ARRIVED.

 

[Mook]

Holy shit. After 10 years, Casey has finally joined.

 

[Eagle]

 

[Pressure Ratio]

hedman knows his tattoo stuff for sure, forgot his alias

I would talk to Jeremy for sure. Pretty sure he has even won some awards for his.