Hi,I am new to these awesome forums,and my real name is Aaron.
I am getting my 1st tattoo from a shop in my area call White Tiger Tattoo.Is it important that I see the final design drawn up in color before I get it done?My Dad is adamant that I should,and he insists that I won’t like it if I don’t make sure everything is right before it gets “put on me”.I know that it is my body,and my tattoo but he does have a point.
The only reason he insists on it so much is because he went to the same tattoo shop and they gave him a color drawing off the bat when he went for his tattoo.That said he hasn’t gotten a tattoo in about 12 yrs.so we are talking about a completely different artist here.
I have seen the design itself,and it will use color,it will be a arm piece about 8-9 inches long 3-4 inches wide.
It is of a Dragon wrapped around a sword.I had her draw it up in her art-style from a tribal design I had found.
you have the right to see it in colour if you really wish to, if you have found this artist and happy with her work i wouldn’t really let it bother me . just ask her what colours she has planned .
with my tattoos i never bothered :rolleyes:
with my wings i told them i wanted them with plenty of green and with my arm because its a cover up i left it totally up to her ..
Hi
Your dad is right.
If you know an artists work inside out or have had plenty of ink from them in the past then go for it on trust.
If it is a first piece and you have had little time to study their work I would request that they do a quick shade to show how the colour scheme will work.
It is on for life and you want to see examples of the filling in as this is one of the most important aspects of the tattoo – don’t want it all spotty and crap.
Colour usage is also another imagine if she slapped a colour in you hate eg purple right across the centre of the head when you thought it was going to be blue.
An extra 15 mins of her time is no big deal to a lifetime of wearing it.
Listen to your dad he is trying to help you so you don’t have to go through the mistakes he did.
Take Care
Matthew
Thanks very much for your replies!!I will definetly be calling them up today to have them draw it up in color.I know it’s a pain in the ass for them but,this is going to cost enough,take long enough to do (4 hours) and going to be big enough that I think they can spare a little bit of their time to color a picture in.
I mean,if I had something else done by this artist already I probably wouldn’t bother with this.Going by what I have seen of her work already she is a great artist,has a good eye for color,and of course a very unique style.
I realize now that my Dad was only trying to help.I though he was just trying to stop me from getting it because I am on a tightly run budget,but it appears this is not the case. I talked to him this morning and he said he is not trying to stop me from getting the tattoo,he was just trying to make sure that I had seen the final design in color so that I would not walk away from getting it disappointed,and kicking myself for the rest of my life.
Thank you again for your help,it really is very much appreciated!I will post again later about my talk with the shop.(I am going to call them about 12pm eastern time)
AWESOME site btw!!
Ok,I just called the tattoo shop and they had me talk to the artist.She said that she would draw it up in color,and have it ready for me to see on the day of the appointment,and if I needed to make any changes she would make them then.She then asked me what colors I wanted it in,so I told her,and then she told me that it would be no problem.:D
Thank you all for your advice and encouragement,it has helped greatly to resolve a conflict (between me and my dad)and has given me the piece of mind of knowing that I will get a great tattoo!
Sincerely,
Aaron.
Hey all,I just wanted you to know that I decided against getting this tattoo because I feel that I would later come to regret it.I mean I have always loved dragons and still think it is a great design but it really doesn’t have any real personal meaning to me.
I have cancelled the appointment for now,if I change my mind later I can always have let them know but for now I think it is best that I wait. Thanks again for all of your help!
Note:I think right now I would really like to get a tattoo in memory of my mother,not sure what to get though cause she was a very practical person and would not want me to get a portrait of her done or anything like that so it will take some time.
I’m going to take another direction. So far, universally, everyone has advised you to demand your picture in color first.
So you call the artist and you demand it. She agrees, then the next day, next couple of days, whatever, you call, change your mind and cancel.
Do you know how much of a pain in the ass you are being for your artist?
Yes, it is your right, and yes you have the right to change your mind, but you just cost that artist a lot of time for nothing. If you weren’t sure you never should have talked to her. Period.
Its exactly because of things like that that I charge a $100.00 deposit before I’ll start drawing anything.
The artist, if they are any good, don’t need the color work. All they need is the line work. You want the color work, and you expect them to take the time to do it. For nothing? You are not paying for them to draw you a picture, you are paying for them to do your tattoo.
It takes a hell of a lot longer to do the color work in a drawing than 15 minutes, especially if you expect to see it exactly how it will look when finished. You want a particular set of colors, just tell the artist. It takes all of five minutes to set up a color pallette before you begin. Make it clear what colors you want.
I never wait until the last second to do a line drawing. I always get it done as soon as me and the client agree on the drawing, the size and the price, so if that were me you were dealing with, I would have had the line drawing done an hour after you left my studio, provided I didn’t have any other clients, and it would have set there until you came back to approve it.
Then you call and say you want to see it in color. After kiking everything over, I would have done it in color for you, which would have taken another hour to two hours, and then you call and say you don’t want it?
You know how much that screws with a tattooist? That is why I won’t draw ANYTHING custom until I have a hundred dollars in hand. Then if you back out at least my time isn’t wasted.
This is what you do.
You search out tattoo artists, and you look at their portfolios until you find an artist that does work the way you want it done. Then you let them do it. If you have specific requests, such as color, make that known during the interview.
I know my opinion differs from everyone elses, but I deal with people who back out all the time, and here is a fact, in the past four months every single time except for 1 that I did the drawing without taking a deposit, the client backed out before getting it done. Never yet has anyone backed out after giving a deposit.
Here’s fact number 2. When the people who backed out come back, they must pay twice as much as before to cover the time they wasted the last time.
First of all I never wanted to inconvience the artist or their shop.I am not that insensitive that I would do this just cause I can or to waste peoples time.
The shop was actually very nice about it and supported my decision to hold off on it untill I am 100% sure.
As I mentioned before this is my first tattoo,and it took me 3 months to find a design that I was passionate about.When I finally found one I was so excited to get it done that I rushed it a little.
I don’t know if I mentioned this or not,but I never got to take the picture home in any form,and I did give them 40.00 deposit.(its not much,but its something.)
I apologize for posting here and upsetting anyone.
hi ya ,
1st of all no one is upset , its more a matter of us all having different opinions .
Its normal not to take your drawing home because someone people would get a great design done and then take it along to a cheaper shop .
so if you want to remember what your design looks like while you are making up your mind its best if you take a pic with a camera phone .
I was lucky that my artist emailed me my design ( hardly any will do this for the same reason above )
Hi
Don’t worry we get a lot of frankness on the forum and it keeps our ego’s in check. You have to remember many artists work killer hours so if a person cancels or withdraws the lost time usually = lost money.
It depends on the artist how cool they are with that some of had less exp of it than others and the more it happens the more annoyed artists will be.
My artist told a client to fuck off today as he had booked a 4 hour session not bothered turning up and then told the artist it was their fault for not reminding them (we get an appt card of each booking) and then stated he wanted his deposit back as it was ‘their’ fault not his.
It also turns out he did not bother coming in or making contact for nearly a month.
That is bound to piss anybody off.
That said you have to be sure what you want on your skin 100% before going in as many studios may not be as easy going.
Take Care
Matthew
You must be logged in to create new topics.
