The balance of getting good and bad tattoos

I wanted to speak about the balance that occurs in tattoos. I noticed some new guys wanted to start tattooing and everybody was very sarcastic and critical. Especially when those guys came up here promoting their new shop (inkmasterz or some shit). Well....I wanted to offer my point of view on bad tattoos. Just like most of yall, Im deep enough into tattoos to research and seek out certain artists. There is a lot to understand about tattooing, and unfortunately most people never understand it. I constantly tell my friends to shell out the extra $$$ and go get a good tattoo, but they keep going to get shit work done, more and more. Now at first I was mad at the artist, but then it dawned on me, they deserve what they get. I live in a small town about 60 minutes south of any good tattoo shops. When I want work, I have to travel....so why shouldnt they?? What Im getting at, is yall bash bad tattoo shops, because probably like myself, yall have had some bad work done. But my question is, did you fully understand the hierarchy of tattooing?? Because if you did, Im sure you wouldnt have gotten bad work. When people get bad tattoos, THEY DESERVE THEM. Yes there are rare cases in which they do not, but most people walk into the shop and make up their mind they want to be inked....simple as that!!!! You see....there is a hierarchy to everything. So yall shouldnt be SO critical over tattoos. Take for example hip hop music. I really dig hip hop music, and the hip hop music I listen to, is some of the best literature ever known to man. Filled with similes, parables, metaphors, and great poetical wit. However, I catch flak from all angles because the media has bad guys misrepresenting the image and therefore kids go out and buy 50 cent and Lil Jon. I cant help that tho..... I have given tons of these cds, filled with some of the best musical messages ever comprised, to these kids.....and at the end of the day, they still wanna listen to they're music. In other words....you can lead a horse to water but you cant make him drink, you can lead a man to knowledge but you cant make him think. You can tell a man about good tattoos, but if he seeks out the local fix it up job.....LET EM HAVE IT. If he gets into tattoos enough, he'll research and maybe get it fixed. But if he doesnt....Forget it. In the same sense, what about those people who "just want a tattoo" and they happen to live within minutes of Hope Gallery. So they set up an appointment and get some REALLY killer work done by whom they believe is their local artist, and dont ever recognize the true ability of those guys. This is a shame also......for those of us who have to rive 13+ hours to get the same work done....BUT.....once again, its a balance! Balance folks.......Balance.

Certianly it is the publics job to do their homework, and your 100% correct, everyone gets the tattoo they deserve. Tattoo artists still have the responsibility to make sure they never put a bad tattoo on anyone, its just bad karma. Ask the successful artists who are self taught about all the mistakes they made and if they would it again the same way... The solution to the problem of bad tattoos lies in two places, but its the same solution: education. Artists need to be educated enough to not apply tattoos until they are good and ready to put quality tattoos on the public, and the public needs to be educated about tattoos to insure they get a good one.

Some more relevent (ha!) thoughts... You can make analogies to other arts because there are many simularities, but the permenence of tattooing really puts it in a category all of its own. Tattoos will play a permenent role in the clients life. The wearer will be carrying that tattoo to their death-bed unlerss they lose a limb/suffer great trauma or something. The artist's work will carry on a very long time and become part of who the client's very being is. That is a responsibility that should be not undertaken lightly. You screw up a song you can always play it again, not quite so easy with tattooing. While the client does accept ALL responsibility for the quality of their tattoo, tattoo artists do also bear the responsibility of only producing high quality work on the public. Your friends very well may listen to bad rock and roll and theres nothing inherently wrong with the bad bands playing their hearts out. The rock and roll band will get better (maybe) but in the end, your friend very well may smarten up, open his horizons, and find the world of MUSIC. Its a fun easy transition. Its much more difficult making up for your past ignorance and crazy taste changes with tattoos. more thoughts about this... In theory, a tattoo artist needs to ALWAYS get it PERFECT the FIRST time. Now, we all know that this is nearly impossible, but thats what real tattoo artists strive for. If your tattoo artist isnt hell bent on delivering the best tattoo they ever did on you then you should probably find another tattoo artist. The public will seperate the lazies/hacks from the artists, and hopefully we will educate the public more and more a little better everyday so that someday life will be tougher for hacks, and a bit easier for truely dedicated tattoo artists. Lastly, most tattoo artists really dont like hacks because hacks dont respect the publics skin. There's little room for error in tattooing, and people who blatently forgive or justify their ignorance are basically ruining good skin and dis-respecting the public and tattooing. Its not about competition because good artists get paid more for coverups, its truely about respecting the publics skin... There are only so many good canvases out there for tattoo artists, and it really hurts everyone when scratchers hack them up...