New York City Tattoo Shops

New York City tattoo shops are a dime a dozen. Spend ten minutes walking in Gotham City and you'll stumble across one. Amazingly every one of them is the “Best tattoo shop in NYC” with the “Best tattoo artist”! Just ask them or visit their website and they'll tell you so themselves. But don't be fooled by these self proclaimed virtuosos. Here are a few simple steps you can take to make sure you are dealing with a top notch, experienced, professional tattoo artist.

 

The very first thing you should be looking for is a current tattooing license. It should be clearly displayed and not tucked away in a file cabinet. If you don't see it, ask to see it, they should be more than happy to show it to you. In New York City every tattooist has to have their own tattooing license, a shop license does not cover every tattooist in the shop, it would cover only the person whose name is on the license. This may seem a bit trivial and it obviously has nothing to do with the tattooist's artistic skills; however, obtaining a New York City tattooing license is no joke. All licensed New York City tattooist have to prove proficiency in infection control, utilization of universal precautions as recommended by the federal centers for disease control and prevention and proper methods of waste disposal. You can get a better understanding of what licensed New York City tattooists have to know by visiting the CDC's website and reading through their NIOSH Safety and Health Topics. Do not trust your health to an unlicensed tattooist no matter how inexpensive their work is or how nice their portfolio looks.

 

After you have determined that you are in fact dealing with a legitimate licensed tattoo artist then check out how sanitary the shop and their work station is. Once again they should be happy to give you a tour of the shop, show you the work stations and their autoclave. You should not feel in the least bit uncomfortable in asking and any respectable studio should be very understanding of your concerns. Also ask to see the needles that they use. They should be individually packaged and show the date that they were sterilized. The tabletops, tattooing furniture and floors should be non porous and free from ink and grime. Basically the place should be spotless. Just like with restaurants check their restrooms, if they take the time to make sure their restroom is clean then they probably do at least as good of a job with their work stations. No matter how great the tattooist is or how great of a bargain they give you, if they are not licensed and the studio isn't completely sanitary... forget about it!

 

Once the two previous steps have been taken and you are still interested then look at the artist's portfolio. A skilled professional tattoo artist will have nothing to hide. The photos in their portfolio will be large and clear. The body of their work from the line work to the coloring should be clean and precise. While each piece in the tattooist's portfolio may not be the same stylistically, they should be consistent technically. Check to see what their previous customers have to say about them. Do they have client testimonials in their portfolio? NYARTMAN does and even more than one, check them out!

 

Of course you will save yourself a lot of grief if you simply deal with the one and only world famous, inkslinging superhero NYARTMAN.  If; however, you have some warped and unrefined taste in art and find NYARTMAN's masterful work not your particular cup of tea then follow these simple steps to insure you are at least dealing with a professional. Moreover if, for whatever reason, you don't follow this advice and end up with a tattoo that you're not totally pleased with (and everybody laughs at)... don't worry he does awesome cover-up tattoos, after all NYARTMAN is the Best Tattoo Artist in New York City!!! I mean it, he's the best I tell you!  Learn it!  Gawh!