Rec.arts.bodyart Tattoo FAQ Part II: Artist List
Lani Teshima-Miller
5. Who is a good/bad tattoo artist near me?
5.1 US West Coast: Washington, California
5.2 US Southwest: Arizona
5.3 US Midwest: Ohio, Minnesota, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois
5.4 US East Coast: Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island
5.5 Pacific: Hawaii (US)
5.6 Canada: British Columbia, London
5.7 UK: London
6. Where on my body should I get a tattoo?
5. Who is a good/bad tattoo artist near me? ----------
The following is a growing list of artists, most of whom come with a personal recommendation by readers of r.a.b. In some cases, artists have been posted here as a warning against visiting them. A posting on this FAQ does not constitute approval. It is YOUR responsibility to check out the artist and make sure s/he will do quality work.
You may submit names to: tes...@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.edu. Include the artist's name, address, phone number, & specialization. In order to avoid "politicizing" this list, please use some common sense by not posting a "mediocre" artist and proclaim him/her as excellent, or submit a bad review as a way to bad-mouth someone. Good artists should also have some business sense--a clean, sanitary environment, straightforward fees, insurance coverage, etc. Fly-by-night operations will NOT be posted here (unless the
artist has a reputation for doing this, and should be avoided). You can include other information, such as whether they've won some awards, travel the convention circuit,
take credit cards, or what their policy is for out-of-town customers.
5.1 West Coast:
WASHINGTON (state)
--VyVyn Lazonga Dermagraphics 94 Pike Place, Seattle
(206) 622 1535, by appointment only.
VyVyn specializes in pieces that combine bold primitive lines with
colorful, feminine abstract geometrics (lines, bubbles, etc.). The whole
effect is very pleasing, and rather unique, and would work well for
both men and women, I think. Also works out of San Francisco.
--Seattle Tattoo Emporium, 1106 East Pike St., Seattle. (206) 622 6895
CALIFORNIA
Bay Area, California (South Bay):
--Pinky Lum, Dragon Tattoo, San Jose:
Top of file, stay away from Pinky Lum. He was good in
his day, but I've seen some *horrible* work he's done. Word is out
on the circuit that he's going blind and getting clumsy, botches
tattoos and hurts people. I've heard this from several other artists.
He's in San Jose, Dragon Tattoo, I believe... (Someone should confirm
the studio---I'm not sure if that's correct.) I've seen a couple of his
recent pieces, and they were blurry and badly done.
Karl Elvis MacRae (bat...@cisco.com) says: "Old. Pinky used to be
very good; excellent. But that was a long time ago. He's old, his
hands shake, his vision is going. And he never was the really good
color man in the shop; Eddie (Now of Eddie's Skin Works) did most
of the color in Pinky's good days."
Becky Fenton (forsythe.stanford.edu) says: In reference to Pinky Lum
at Dragon Tattoo in San Jose - I would like to second the opinion on
KEEPING AWAY FROM HIS SHOP! I have seen some fine work out
of his shop, but I am very unhappy with the quality of the Too I got
there 3 years ago. Thick, uneven lines, poor color. I will be getting it
covered shortly.
--Eddie Lum, Eddie's Skin Works, in Santa Clara 1207 El Camino Real
(408) 554-8520
On the other hand, I highly recommend his brother, Eddie Lum. His
forte, not surprisingly, is Oriental stuff. Very good with flowing lines,
dragons,tigers, flowers. I have 2 pieces from him and am very
pleased. Warning: if you're taking in a custom design, there's a
language barrier, and you may have to explain it several times.
--Robert Roberts, Mad Dog (His name is Robert Roberts--Mad Dog is
the name of his tattooing enterprise.)
Inconsistent. While some of it is truly outstanding, others aren't that
great: It really depends on what you're getting. Robert is great w/ all-
black, but you might want to go elsewhere if you want color.
--Ed Hardy, Tattoo City on Columbus, 415-433-9437
The best in tattoo shop in SF (Actually, without a doubt the best in
the state, and possibly the best in the country) "Tattoo City" on
Columbus; the shop is owned by Ed Hardy, and the guys who work
there (Freddy Corbin, Eddie Deutsch, Dan Higg) are simply great.
You cannot go wrong with the three; Freddy and Eddie are the two
best tattooists I've ever seen.
--Erno Tattoo 252 Fillmore, San Francisco, CA 94117 (415)861-9206
Hours: Noon to 9pm. Appointments recommended.
Shop is clean, businesslike. Autoclaving used.
-Nalla: Specializes in blackwork and celtic designs, excellent artist.
Also knowledgable about piercings.
-Patrick: Good at black & celtic, but specializes in high fantasy art.
Excellent dragons, fairies, etc. Also excels at sci-fi art).
-Jaime Trujillo: More traditional stuff. Good artist--ease & skill of a
seasoned pro.
San Jose:
--Steve Cameron at Zap Illustrations. 1385 W. San Carlos, #202
(408) 287-4011
Mostly custom work; not for beginners. May try to talk you out of a
tat, if he doesn't think it appropriate to the rest of your body-scheme.
Very good free-hand work; likes bold, aggressive designs. He'll also
put in vast amounts of design work for free, if the design excites him.
REDWOOD CITY
--Redwood Tattoo, 846-M Jefferson Ave., Redwood City, CA
(415) 369-6365
Walk-ins welcome, but appts have priority. Closed Sun. & Mon, appts
required for custom work. Cash only.
Artists:
Paco Dietz: Previously of Picture Machine in San Francisco,
specializes in fantasy art, custom designs.
Carl:
A new shop with a lot of new flash (very few of the old standard
designs). They have some beautiful tribal and celtic designs, as well as
some unusual Native American designs.
Santa Barbara:
--Pat Fish, Tattoo Santa Barbara
Bar-none! I've seen some of her Celtic work (her specialty), and she's
*really good*. (I read an interview where she said she thinks it's a
genetic race-memory or something, and went into tattooing
specifically to get into Celtic work.)
Los Angeles:
--Kari Barba
Extremely well-known for her work with nature and wildlife. Her
style is reminiscent of a watercolor-like quality, which sets her apart
from many other artists. She works out of Anaheim, but I don't have
her phone number right now.
San Diego:
--Avalon Gallery
Needles autoclaved & new ink used for each new client. Hours: Noon
to 8pm. Appts preferred--walk-ins on Sat. only. Credit cards accepted.
Artists:
Patti Kelley: Has won awards for cover-ups. Patti specializes in
bright color work, moreso than in minutely detailed designs. Her
father, Mouse, did the pegasus LP cover for the Steve Miller Band.
Fip Buchanan (her husband): Graffiti art. More detail work than Patti.
Randy:
Steve:
5.2 Southwest
ARIZONA
--Jil, Skin Alive Tattoos, Prescott, Arizona. (602) 772-2387.
Formerly of Bodygraphics, Reno. By appointment only.
My *favorite* tattoo artist. Her forte is wildlife, but good with just
about everything. In another medium, she could be a very successful
wildlife artist. Her tattoos have an incredible amount of life, and her
detailing is incredible. 20 years' experience. She's a custom fineline
specialist, and has won awards. Her style is what I think of as
"fineline steel engraving" (as opposed to Kari Barba, who does
incredible animals, but primarily with striking colorwork). I found
her by pouncing on a total stranger and demanding to know who
did his *incredible* tats.
5.3 Midwest:
OHIO
--Marty Holcomb, Marty's Artistic Tattooing, 3160 West Broad St.,
Columbus, Ohio
Marty won several national "Best Tattoo Artist" awards in the 1991.
--Dana Brunson, Designs by Dana, 4167 Hamilton Ave., Cincinatti, OH
(513) 681-8871
MINNESOTA
--Acme Tattoo Co., 1045 Arcade St. St. Paul, Minnesota, (612) 771-0471
Acme Tatoo is *good* but expensive. The pre-designed tats are costly
and other work is 200$ an hour (as of '92).
--Steve Butterfield, Tattoos by Yerkew, 3127 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis,
Mn (612) 825-6161
Steve is real good, but the shop's owner, Dave "the fat guy" Yerkew
leaves quite a bit to be desired. Steve around after about 6:00 pm
INDIANA
--Jeannie Fritch, Personal Art Tattoos, 3453 Central Ave., Lake Station,
IN, (219) 962-3600
--Roy Boy's Badlands, 3849 Broadway, Gary, IN 46409, (219) 884-4965.
Needles autoclaved. I had an all-black, tribal piece done (a very even
dark gray), so can't comment on the artist's skill w/ colors. My pre-
drawn design was reproduced on my skin quite accurately, so that
was a positive experience. Their flash was very stereotypical and old-
looking, though there were some photocopied sheets of nice Celtic
designs. Felt vaguely sleazy--badly painted signs in the front, water-
damaged ceiling panels inside. Actual work areas were spotless, but
the building doesn't inspire confidence. Good enough, but not really
anything special, what with Guy Aitchison a few miles away.
MICHIGAN
--Suzanne, Creative Tattoos, 307 E. Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104
Specializes in celtic work.
ILLINOIS
--Guilty and Innocent Productions, 613 W. Briar, Chicago, IL
(one block south of Belmont, just west of Broadway)
5.4 East Coast:
MARYLAND
--Main Street Tattoo Studio, Starlite Plaza, Rt 40, Pulaski Hwy,
Edgewood, MD, (410) 676-TAT2 (8282)
They also have an Elkton, MD shop (410) 398-1202. He's done some
very spectacular work and just completed an excellent cover-up of 2
small pieces (which were quite dark; red, green, blue, purple) I had
for over 10 years. The cover up is a tiger lily (magenta, black, pink
w/ yellow tipped petals) w/ delicate curving tribal thru the lily that
is quite breathtaking and required his exceptional artistic talent.
NEW JERSEY
--Ernie White, Tattoo Factory, 94 Main Street, Butler, NJ.,
(201) 838-7828
NEW YORK
--Spaulding & Rodgers
Sells tattoo guns, needles and ink. The few artists that have worked
on me (Cliff Raven, Kevin Brady, Phil Payton) usually do a lot of
custom work on their needles if not the gun itself. Needles
continually dull from use or sterilizing and have to be resharpened
and soldered into the appropriate groups and configurations.
--C&C Tattoo, 307 Congress St., Troy, NY 12180, (518)272-0576
Ask for Sue Daves (apprentice). She did my full back piece, and it
came out AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RHODE ISLAND
--Electric Ink Tattoo, 153 Waterman Ave, E. Providence, RI
(401)435 3393.
Needles autoclaved (required by law in RI). New needles/ink for
every customer. Cash only; walk-ins welcome.
Artists:
Chris Borge: All-around great tattoo artist. Specializes in tribal;
probably the best in the shop.
Skott Greene: Great for those who like to customize to a greater
extent. Doing them since Dec '92, he's already very adept; the one to
see about great custom designs. (Trained as an airbrush artist)
Don L.: Graffiti art & modern methods, the one to see for all the
off-the-wall, weird imagery. (Trained as commercial & graffiti artist).
Upon reading the latest update of tattoo information, I realized that
the tattoo artists I like to go to had not been included. I have 2
oriental style dragons, one on my back and one on my ear, done 3.5
years
and 6 months ago. I got them at
--Artistic Tattooing, 405 Atwell Ave., Providence RI, 02909
(401)861-7373
All needles are brand new and autoclaved, artists wear gloves, and
ink is individual.
Artists: Rusty, Dean II
Pricing is done by the piece, but may be hourly for large pieces. I
found pricing to be very reasonable and am very happy with my tats
(backpiece by Rusty, earpiece by Dean II). They do everything from
tribal to coverup. They do not participate in any tat conventions.
5.5 Pacific
HAWAII
--China Sea Tattoo, 1033 Smith, Honolulu, Hawaii, (808)-553-1603
The oldest tattoo studio in the US with a grand tradition. Mike
Malone and Scotty, the guys who work there, are both excellent. Mike
Malone is very active in the tat world, and attends, and has served as a
judge at tat conventions. ___________ only works there on Tuesdays -
(also works at Dragon Tattoo in Wahiawa on Saturdays), specializes in
Hawaiian-style designs. 10 years' experience.
--Skin Deep Tattooing, 2128 Kalakaua Ave, Honolulu (808) 924-7460.
If in Waikiki, you may want to stop by , as it's right on the main strip.
The place is run by Winona Martin and several of her workers.
5.6 Canada:
BRITISH COLUMBIA
--Sailor Cam, the Dutchman Tattoos, 630 12th St., New Westminster,
BC, Canada, (604)522-5156
LONDON (Canada):
--Blue Dragon Tattoo, 253 Wellington London, 519-434-4706
The busiest shop in town, does a lot of flash work. I have found them
either pretty grumpy/opinionated or at times friendly.
--Tattoos Unlimited, 847 Dufferrin, 519-672-8025
Al Newcombe has been tattooing in London for a looong time. His
work is mostly flash, he can create stencils from your artwork. His
work tends to have a '50s feel to it--the stuff you see on ex-seamen.
--Tattoos by Gypsy <does not list address>, 519-453-0822
Tony is pretty young and is a design artist. I've created some really
nice work with him starting with my rough sketches. but his work is
pretty uneven it can be really good or really bad.
--George Lewis, Tattoo Art (est. 1980), 244 King St. S., Waterloo, Ont.
N2J 1R4, (519) 576-8054
Artists: George Lewis, Ken Lewis, Todd Evans (I have experience
only with George--cannot commend on the other two).
"Sterile conditions", "lifetime guarantee" (which I assume means I can
return to touch up color fades, etc.) by appointment only. Does exotic
piercings. Visa and Mastercard accepted.
Mine are very well done--lines are even and seem to connect
properly and all of my friends are amazed at the fine detail and how
bright the colours are!
5.7 Great Britain
LONDON (UK)
--Dennis Cockel, Walkers' Court London W1 (a small side street in
Soho)
Tattooed myself and a girlfriend about four years ago and we are
both very satisfied.
---Mark and Andy, Kensington Market, London W8. Their designs
were drawn by several artists over many years, they claim to do
award winning custom work and my opinion is they are good. The
parlor is on the basement of the market building, it doesn't have any
name (as I remember) and is not listed on yellow pages.
--Saint's Parlor, Portobello Road, London
Warning: He had some photos of the tattoos he had done that at first
looked ordinary, but if you look at them more closely, you can see he
has *redrawn* parts of the design on the photo afterwards by pen. At
least I wouldn't trust on a tattooist who does that.
--Terry's Tattoo Studio, 23 Ghisholm Street, Glasgow G1 5HA, U.K.
Tel (041) 552 5740.
Three artists in 1992: Terry, Stuart, and Steven--Quite popular. The
ready-made designs were nice and my boyfriend is very satisfied
with his tattoo. I think in this parlor a first timer can feel comfortable
in, since it looks a lot like an ordinary shop with show window and
quite large, light waiting room for customers.
6. Where on my body should I get a tattoo? ----------
Duh--This may seem VERY trivial, since the answer can be "anywhere
you please!" However for the sake of this FAQ, the following is a short
list of areas to get inked:
Head:
Sides of neck (nape):
Back of neck:
Face:
Upper chest:
Breasts (women):
Rib cage:
Stomach/Abdomen:
Genitals:
Thighs:
Calves:
Ankles:
Feet:
Upper arms:
Forearms:
Wrists:
Hands (fingers and palms):
Shoulder blades:
Back:
Buttocks:
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THIS IS THE END OF REC.ARTS.BODYART TATTOO FAQ PART II
--
Lani Teshima-Miller (tes...@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.edu) o | /_/_/ "Sea Hare"
Univ of Hawaii School of Library & Information Studies o|<0_0>--------*
"Whatever the costs of our libraries, the price is cheap \=^-| |____| |
compared to that of an ignorant nation." --Walter Cronkite \_}B \_}B