I’m just wondering how you guys find your artists. Do you have one artist that does all your tats, or are you a bit of a walking catalog for various artists?
The reason I’m asking is that I currently use instagram to find and keep track of artists, but I really don’t like the app all that much. Googling local shops also doesn’t always give me good results.
If you know of any good alternative methods other than wandering around a city and walking into random shops, let me know! :)
Yes, most artist use Instagram as their portfolio, but you might be able to find a link in their bio or in the page of the studio they work in to the their websit where you can also see their work.. if that helps at all
I use Instagram mainly to find tattoo artists. It's kind of annoying because other than that, I don't really want or need an Instagram account. And I've also heard artists express frustration that they have to spend so much time managing social media to attract clients. But currently that is the way it is.
I'm also pretty bold about going up to strangers in semi-social settings like club meetups and the climbing gym and asking about their tattoos. Sometimes you make a friend, and you get artist recs!
Mostly I'm also using Instagram to find Artists that I like, some other Tattoos happend quite spontaneously.
Maybe another way would be to look at webpages from expos / events in your area (like e.g. Kaiserstadt Tattoo Expo) where various artists that are coming to the event are shown?
I see the other comments are mentioning instagram, and I'd like to add that if you see a tattoo in the wild that you like you can ask the person about it, and also ask the person for their artist's instagram and get it that way :)