How to Find Quality Tattoo Shops

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Shotsie Gorman. I am here as a tattoo artist, a professional tattoo artist, for Expert Village. What we talked about so far, we have these issues. Issue one is the quality of the shop. Like you don’t want a motorcycle apart on the floor, you don’t want dogs in the place. No beer. No parties going on. The studio should really be professionally, should be as clean and presentable and as professional as any other medical facility that you would use. The area in which they do the tattooing should be completely separated from the waiting area or the area in which people wait to get tattooed, the front area of the studio. Tattoo artists shouldn’t be leaving their work area with their gloves on and touching things everywhere. They should de-glove and take off whatever protection they’re wearing before they leave that area. These are the things to look for when you’re in the tattoo studio. Then there should be books which represent photographs of the artist’s work. You should know what kind of work they do. If you choose a design off the wall, as I said earlier, that’s a piece of flash that’s common, you could end up with something looking pretty bad, if the person is not skilled at drawing. You should be able to draw to be a tattoo artist. Its not like you can stick a picture on, trace over it, and turn out a good quality design. It is possible to trace over it, but you could end up with a Picasso when you don’t expect one, with two eyes on the same side of the head, for instance. You have to think about a design, you have to choose carefully, choose something personal."