Fake Portfolios?

Recently I have had several people come in that needed fix-ups or cover-ups. At first I just figured they hadn't checked out the persons portfolio or were just in need of thier ink fix and got what they could. But now I've had people that have been around, and got work from the same guy, and they said his pics were great but their end result is nothing like the work in the pics. I don't want to go around dragging someones name in the mud, what do yall think?

Skittlez...Good to hearv from ya...where ya been? About this person...I've seen it happen more than once but really what can ya do?...ya gotta make damn sure you are right before ya accuse him/her ...and even then...unless its YOUR work they have pics of it remains a sticky problem.. I guess our best defense is to continue to put out the best work possible...I can't really think of what else to do!....TAz

Hey, I've been so swamped, (not a bad thing). I'm the only artist here, so I have a heavy work load. I haven't been to this persons shop, but I feel bad for these people stuck payin' to get good work and ending up w/ crap don't you think if you can't show people your real work you in the wrong bis.

Hey, I've been so swamped, (not a bad thing). I'm the only artist here, so I have a heavy work load. I haven't been to this persons shop, but I feel bad for these people stuck payin' to get good work and ending up w/ crap don't you think if you can't show people your real work you in the wrong bis.

Hell yeah there are guys out there with fake portfolios. Before i started working out here the shop put a rule in place that all the artists work be kept in the back unless customers asked to see it. On a few occasions portfolios had been stolen and now we have to keep them on a short leash. Just the other day i swear i caught this guy trying to take pictures of some of my stuff in my sketchbook with his camera phone. I wasnt sure so i didnt want to accuse him. Those damn phones are a whole different story... But i dont think its uncommon. If the customer doesnt know any better it doesnt take much to convince them that thats what you're capable of. Hell, a good con artist would even be able to feed 'em a good line or a story behind a few of the tattoos in 'his' book. If someone can get their hands on a good artist's portfolio, you damn well better believe that they could sell that shit off to some innocent and unsuspecting victim.

A good reason to switch to a digital portfolio system!..They would have to steal the computer!...TAz

that's the main reason i don't have an online portfolio. i went in to another local shop to check out a chair they had for sale, so i decided to look at thier portfolios and BAM there was my ol' girls bunny that i had drawn up custom. and i kept looking and saw 2 more photos of tats i did and posted on our shop website. so i ripped those pics out of this dudes book and told the shop owner to point this dude out to me. he denided it for about 2 minutes. then confess. carl told him to pack his shit and go.

Hey ink that sucks man! But there are ways to protect yourself from that problem......and I was talking about a dedicated computer IN SHOP not online or even better all my artists have burned their portfolios to a dvd then we play them on a rotating basis on the bigscreen in the shop...if someone wants to see a certain artists work we just pop their disc in and voila!! there it is!!ya just gotta keep an eye on the discs!! Works well for us However I did catch a dude trying to swipe a flash book a week ago!! I was not happy he was a lot MORE unhappy when he left...TAz