yeah i wonder what he means with that, does he just make a preview in photoshop or does he actually have a way to make a print on your body so he can draw over it with ink
The process is basicly always the same...
The tattoo artist of your choice sits down with you and you explain him what kind of piece you want. Probably making some scribble while talking about it clarify some details and positioning. Then the artist sits down and makes a clean and proper drawing of what you discussed. Few days or weeks later you'll meet again and he'll show you what he got, again talking about, maybe make a few minor changes here and there and make an appointment some time later for the actual session.
When you get back for the actual session he takes his drawing and makes a copy with thermal transfer paper which means he gets a piece of paper with the drawing on that will be placed on your body and leaves all the lines in place.
Then he starts with tattoo'ing the outlines, then probably the solig black parts, then the shadows and most likely do coloured parts at the end. The bigger the piece the higher the chanced that it takes more than 1 session to do it.
The guy everyone seems to really dig here makes his "drawings" not by hand and with pen and paper but instead uses photoshop (the software) to create the piece. The rest is probably the same process.
I've wanted a tattoo for some 5 years now but haven't gotten one for a couple reasons. I'm afraid how it would hold up with my lifting and training and I also wouldn't want to get one unless I felt the tattoo artist was a 'true' artist; able to actualize whatever was envisioned.
And you should. A tattoo should always mean something. Little stars on the foot - fuck that. The same fucking butterfly on the hip, like the last 25 girlies - fuck that.
A good tattoo guy asks you really detailed about what you want and probably even why but a good one will never just do exactly what you tell him. He'll always put a little bit of himself into it.
I am really lucky to have my friend doing the pieces for me. I met him first when he was still an apprentice and I was actually the 5th guy he ever tattooed. That gives me some special "rights" with him. He started out doing those girlie butterfly things just because he had to pay his rent, the shop rent and his food. But he became pretty famous in quite a short amount of time and today as a regular customer you'll have to wait up to 9 months to get an appointment with him and only if he is interested in the piece you want. He even had invites to several international conventions like in NY, Singapour, Toronto and his proudest moment to Tokio. But he wants to keep his business small, so no big appearance on the web, small shop, no big advertisement on the front door... I already posted the link but seems he is pretty subtle indeed cuz nobody seemed to notice.
Instead everyone went crazy about a guy who puts digital photoshop pics onto some poor guys body
