Thanks – seems like a silly question to have asked in hindsight.
Not really, a tattoo should be something with a proper meaning, not something done on a whim, and it needs to be executed properly and with care; just google ‘bad tattoos’!
Tattooing is like silverpoint art, you cannot rectify any mistakes made while the inking is underway, so your chosen artist has to be at least competent, ideally very good at freehand art. My tattoos I designed myself, and are pretty simple, but could easily have been messed up by a poorly skilled artist.
I have in idea for another one, but it’s more involved, and I need to be certain about who I ask to do it, it’s going to probably cost a couple of hundred to have it done, and that’s as a mono work, no colour. There was a girl at a place in Bath who did stunning mono work, really life-like portraits, but she’s moved away, sadly.
There are tattoo conventions that take place in different parts of the country, if you can get to one, do, it give you a chance to see the work of a range of artists and discuss what you want.
Or if you see someone with a nice tattoo, ask them who did it and where, most people are more than happy to send work to their favourite artist and talk about what they’ve had done.
Surely people are compensating for something, feeling the need to get tattooed?
Oh yeah? I’d very much like to hear exactly what it is you think I’m compensating for with my seven tattoos.