Quality of Tattoos in Ireland

drum!

Would be really interested in gauging what people think about the quality of work in shops around the country? Personally, i think it's quite poor. I have only found two artists in the country i would be comfortable going to off the back portfolios i've seen online but other than that (and i've looked at a LOT over the years) i can't see alot of stuff that's really good out there.

Coming from Galway where there are now a lot of shops, i haven't seen a portfolio that's made me confident enough to go into a shop with design ideas with a view to getting work done. Whenever i say this to to other people i know who have gone to these artists, they tend to disagree and ply praise on 2/3 shops around town where any work i've seen has been pretty bad.

When you look at portfolios from shops in most major european countries, the UK, USA and Canada, the quality is outstanding and i can't see anyone that comes close in Ireland. Am i the only one that feels this way?

badradio

I agree. I have a couple of tattoos, one that done in a shop in Galway which is now closed, another in Galway Ink and one in Connect Ink, Dublin. I want more but from what I've experienced I'd be really hesitant to go back to any of them. From my experience and other's experiences, none of these tattoo "artists" ARE artists, they can also stencil pieces sure...but none of them have ever been able to design a piece for me. I think tattooists here are only good at tattooing art which has already been designed, that's why whenever I've gotten tattoos I've copied the art i want myself, resized it myself, and brought it too them as I intend to get tattooed onto me. I think the standard in Ireland is rubbish and that none of them are able to design original pieces.

zero19

Couple of new places opening/opened recently in galway, Galway bay tattoo have done some great work from what i've seen.

I think the talent is here in Ireland it's just outnumbered by average tattoo artists.

hdowney

i agree there are a lot of mediocre tattoos out there. however it is sometimes hard to judge if the tattoo artists are all crap or what.

some people want the ****tyest, crap designs tattooed on their moronic selves. i am not sure how many tattoo artists would turn down the cash. i am sure some would on principle of not having a crap tattoo associated with their name, but lots wouldn't. and then people see said crap tattoo on a person and ask who did it, and assume it was all the tattoo artists fault - not the numpty who demanded the crap.

then there is personal opinion. joe bloggs could have got a tattoo off of an artist and not be personally happy about it for whatever reason, and kevin bloggs could have got one off the same artist. you can bet your bottom dollar you are more likely to hear the artist is crap, cos joe's story will have travelled further than kevin's. is always the way.

the best thing to do is go to a shop. ask to see work. ask around if any of your mates have used an artist. and above all use your head. if you are not 100% confident in the artists ability to produce the masterpiece on you that you want, walk away. the damn things are permanent dontcha know!

drum!

I'm generally talking about quality of work though as opposed to "mediocre tattoos". This about artists, not their customers poor choices. I'm making this judgement off reviewing the portfolios belonging to artists on their official pages and not personal recommendations or rumours. I realise not every kind of tattoo is going to make everyone happy, but at a very basic level,i think the quality of work isn't that good. Shading, lines, colour are generally not a patch on what's going on abroad and especially things like faces and script are atrocious over here.

Uriel.

I have to respectfully disagree. There are some crackingly good artists in Ireland. And in my experience, you don't have to go that far to find them.

I have certainly found some that I would be very comfortable with more "advanced" pieces, including letting the artist pit forward some of their own creativity in a piece.

drum!

I can think of a few myself but i'm trying to keep names of bad/good artists off the thread as to not insult anyone. Have you any of this work you have had done in Ireland online anywhere i could get a look at if you pm'd me a link?

deadramones

You've got AWOL and Galway Bay Tattoo in Galway now so I think that's upped the standard and Ross Nagle is like 40 mins away in Limerick doing great work and that shop also has a lot of international guest artists. I think the talent is here depending on the style you want etc you just have to seek it out.

drum!

deadramones wrote: »

You've got AWOL and Galway Bay Tattoo in Galway now so I think that's upped the standard and Ross Nagle is like 40 mins away in Limerick doing great work and that shop also has a lot of international guest artists. I think the talent is here depending on the style you want etc you just have to seek it out.

I am excited about AWOL and Galway Bay. Waiting for their portfolios to fill up a bit before i head down.

hdowney

i agree. if you seek out the best people for the piece you should be sorted.

i think it is hilarious how some people assume that if you are a tattoo artist you should be fantastic at every kind of tattoo out there! all tattooists have their speciality and that is what they will be best at. at the moment i am looking for someone who is kick ass at skulls in the dublin area (any suggestions!!?!!) and won't just settle for anyone!

Jesica Fletcher

I got a small piece done in one of the more established places in Galway about 3 years ago.. Luckily the lines weren't supposed to be perfect but one side is downright blotchy. I definitely wouldn't get one there again.

On the plus side they were friendly and reasonably priced and the place was very clean!

deadramones

drum! wrote: »

I am excited about AWOL and Galway Bay. Waiting for their portfolios to fill up a bit before i head down.

Steve and Nancy who own Galway Bay have been tattooing for years and up untill they opened the shop were in Custom tattoo off Shop St so their portfolios should be fairly full already and Angus in AWOL has been tattooing for over 10 years between Ireland and Canada so his should be fairly full too.

drum!

Not a lot online though

bodice ripper

I have to disagree, although I am biased.

however, I see a lot of tattoos from the US, and most of them are pure shocking. I would say the overall standard in any given first world country is pretty similar. Of course you will have a slightly higher percentage of internationally sought after artists in cities to which PEOPLE ARE LIKELY TO TRAVEL TO SEE THEM. dublin is NOT that city.

if there are 300 million people in the US, then it would make sense that for every 1 amazing tattoo artist in Ireland there would be 75 in the US. and that would be further skewed by other reasons that would drag an artist away from here (more exposure, better climate, better opportunity to do a wider range of work...).

moonflower

Where is Galway Bay Tattoo?

baldshin

drum! wrote: »

I am excited about AWOL and Galway Bay. Waiting for their portfolios to fill up a bit before i head down.

You can also see Shane from AWOLs portfolio up on facebook if you look up the shop he used to run himself- Mongoose Ink.

drum!

Thought it was Angus in AWOL?

drum!

moonflower wrote: »

Where is Galway Bay Tattoo?

Between Monroes and Kashmir

Will

I was at the killybegs tattoo convention over the weekend. The quality of work turned out there was brilliant. Jaw dropping stuff and all from tattoo artists based in Ireland. It was full of tattoo enthusiasts and people willing to pay good money to get equally good tattoos. To be honest I don't think the average punter wants to put the time in to research a good artist or put the money into it either.

You can even see it here, a lot of threads are just 'hi, I want this, who do I go to?' or 'i want a tattoo, please design one for me'. People don't even wanna put in 'traditional tattoo artist' etc into google and have a nosey themselves, they want others to do it for em.

Raze_them_all

Agree with Will. Personally I think my artist is great for the type of work that I like. Now if I wanted a colourful japanese/videogame/manga type tattoo I'd go elsewhere. Irish people are so lazy when it comes to getting inked....

" hi I'm looking for a good tattooist in leitrim" makes the im looking for a good tattooist question even worse

petebricquette

I'd disagree there, OP. I had a good look around online and asked a few people (here and in real life) and eventually decided on a place. I had been thinking about the style and an incredibly basic design for about two years. I brought the style and a rough outline to a guy, he did up an amazing design from scratch and the shading he did on the day is fantastic.

As a few others have said: the talent is there but it's hard to find, especially in an unregulated industry. Too many sheeite artists dragging down the overall standard.

old hippy

I had a couple of tats done by Bren's Tattoo Parlour (iirc) off O'Connell St years back. Result - average.

Better was the tat I got in Formentera 10 years back by an absolute artist, who knew her stuff. The shop was welcoming, clean and modern. Apologies to Bren but I felt a lot more comfortable there...

drum!

I think the question is becoming confused or lost here.

I'm asking about the general quality of work in this country versus what is available in other countries across the world. There are good artists in Ireland, there is no question there and i have found people that i get work from that i'm happy with but comparatively, there are not many excellent artists around from what i've seen. Our cities and particularly our capital should have at least 2/3 outstanding artists but that doesn't seem to be the case. I guess though that tattooing has only become mainstream recently and we are a small population which has an effect i suppose.

Thanks for the replies so far, some good insights posted already. Hopefully that clarifies the original post.

Interestingly enough though, a few of you have said that there seems to be just more ****e artists around crowding the market. Is this a generally held opinion?

baldshin

drum! wrote: »

Thought it was Angus in AWOL?

Yup he owns the shop and is the head tattooist, but Shane also works there. Angus' own portfolio is on the AWOL facebook I believe.

TerrorFirmer

Funny how Victor Tattoo doesn't seem to get mentioned much in Galway but I think it's definitely one of the better ones. If I'm not mistaken he actually took an award at Killybegs.

blueivu

deadramones wrote: »

Ross Nagle is like 40 mins away in Limerick doing great work and that shop also has a lot of international guest artists.

Ross did my leg piece and it is exceptional and intricate, I know some of the other artists that did some of my other pieces would not have been able to pull off that piece. Though Danny Bullman did my first back 15 years ago now and it's still looking pretty darn good.

drum!

Had a look at the AWOL books today. There's more of Angus' stuff there than online. He has some really impressive work in the book. I reckon i'll be gettin some work done there when i have the cash. Result!

Tanya1988

JMD's piercing & Tattoos in Waterford are very good. I have two tattoo's both from JMD's you can bring in your own design and they will trace it for you. Could not go past them!!!

Raze_them_all

shocking pricing though

Tanya1988

http://www.jmdsbodyart.com/

Will

Smooth