Beautiful shop and gallery. Jose Perez Jr work is amazing! Can't wait to see all the other tattoos that he does. Great Black and Grey artist. read more

Got a half sleeve by Jose Perez Jr. It's badly scarred up on the claws and has scarring throughout several areas of the piece. Very unacceptable for how much Jose charges. I ended up having another "famous" artist finish the sleeve whos work came out great and at half the price (and time). The worst is that Jose gave me some BS about the scarring being heavy ink saturation that would go away, if you mess up just be a man and admit it. Jose is good at design/drawing but doesn't know how to correctly do the application of a tattoo, he is also way too slow almost felt like a money grab. read more

I had an appointment for one of their artists. Made this appointment a month and a half ago during a Skype consultation, along with a $200 deposit (the deposit was made one month prior to the consultation to book just a consultation). I showed up for my appointment today only to find out the artist hasnt worked there in 2 weeks. No one called to tell me in advance. They still have my deposit and are dodging my calls and emails. read more

I reached out to Tony Kelly of Dark Water Studio with a one-of-a-kind idea. I wanted to incorporate my Sphynx cat into a roman numeral clock. This clock holds a very special meaning to me and only me. As you can see by the photos, he really brought this piece to life! In order to get the best angle of my kitty, Tony actually had me bring my "Janusz" into the studio to capture that perfect picture! He was quite the celebrity! Everyone at this studio is so friendly and welcoming, and besides that...they give you snacks! read more

Dark Water Studio - Art Galleries Near Me - Willow Springs, Illinois

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My husband and I asked for custom tattoos of handprints and footprints. David Kline took us on for the day after we called. We miscarried at 16 weeks and had hand prints and foot prints done. David took such care and time to do a beautiful rendering of the tiny prints for us. Everything was very clean, he was friendly, and very reasonable for a custom tattoo. read more

Dark Water Studio - Art Galleries Near Me - Willow Springs, Illinois

I would avoid jose Perez. Jose Perez is a mediocre tattoo artist at best. He thinks he is some sort of celebrity and his work is far from it. He will make your appointment in the middle of the night then always show up an hour late. He will take a dozen breaks at the bar next door during you session. Jose then will string out the job into three appointments when other artists will finish in one. Jose Perez is not the celebrity artist that he pretends to be. You will end up with something you are not happy with and pay three times at much. He is well aware that most artists won't touch someone else's unfinished work so he will want three expensive appointments to finish something that should have been finished in one. It forces you to see it through with him because you know you may not get someone to finish it. This is your body and it's permanent so do your research! Everyone in the industry knows these things about jose. Unfortunately I didn't ask questions until after and found out the hard way. I've had several tattoos before jose and knew something was wrong but decided to ride out the experience. That was a mistake. The image that jose created for himself is total B.S. the whole "fake it until you make it "concept is unacceptable in the tattoo industry. read more

Amazing hidden gem of a tattoo studio! Wonderful staff and comfortable, unique environment. I got a memorial tattoo in memory of my dad from Manny. He was extremely professional and I have nothing but great things to say about his personality and talent as an artist. He specializes in portraits, as does the rest of the shop. Manny was very creative with his ideas and is guaranteed to give you a beautiful and unique art piece. This is not your average tattoo shop which makes this place totally worth checking out! read more

This place was recomended to me by a friend. I may have paid a little more than some places, but this is a very clean, comfortable, professional, high quality place. Mike Evers is a great artist who did an amazingly detailed Celtic cross on my upper arm. I came to him with some ideas of what I wanted and left the rest to his artistic discretion. I loved his first draft so we went with it. This was my first tattoo. Mike was really informative about the process. If I decide to get another tattoo, I will definitely go back to Mike. read more

Dark Water is a beautiful shop off the beaten path. Top notch work coming out of here, no doubt. Shop was very clean - people are friendly. Came for a guest spot on the 4th, for a piece from Stefano Alcantara - definitely will make the trip to revisit for Jose and company, soon. read more

I was referred to Manny. He has amazing work and I was very interested scheduling a consultation for my sister. She is a law student who has a very tight schedule. On her behalf, I called the shop to get more information. I spoke with Joel who assured me if I emailed him directly he would physically had over the information. I was really excited and anxious to get some kind of response. After the email was sent I called to insure the email was received. I waited a few days, nothing. A week later I call to follow up and was told "someone" would get back to me shortly. That "someone" was going through the emails. A few days after my last call, I received a two sentence response stating Manny was booked until JULY of this year. Why did it take a almost two weeks for a response?. The customer service for this establishment is, awful. I thought the email would be "physically" handed to Manny. To then be told "someone" has to sort through the emails. I understand that a artist can be booked far out. However, if better information had been provided during my initial inquiry, such as it will take up to two weeks for an email response and had I not been given the run around. I would not be writing this bad review and the studio would have had potentially more clientele. A Business such as this should value referrals and recommendations. The actual Artist is not at fault but rather of the employees of Dark Water Studio. Every client should matter to any business. This is not the service I would have expected. read more

It took me many years to perfect my design. I had difficulty finding the right artist to put what I had envisioned in my head onto my arm. Tony Kelly created such a wonderful piece of artwork that I never thought would turn out the way it did. I never thought that putting an ocean wave in an eagle was possible but he made it happen. He took my idea and made it better than I had hoped. The place also has excellent customer service. Jocelyn helped out so much through the whole experience. When I wanted to submit a design and an appointment consultation I was called within the next day. Going through the healing process was even better. I had my questions answered within an hour of sending an email of my concerns. This place is amazing. It is comfortable, well kept, and has amazing artwork all over the place. I recommend getting work done from this studio, especially Tony Kelly. I hope I can work with him again in the future. read more