This is one of the best studios in the tristate area…read more
Where to start?
I have always wanted to get a tattoo. I am an artist and a lover of the arts, so it makes sense, but I never took the jump until I met Sean Duffy at Phenom-A-Bomb. For two years, I researched different artists and looked all over the country, but I never got the inviting vibe that I was looking for from any of those talented folks I bookmarked. And then the strangest thing happened: I ran into an old elemetary school acquiantance at a bar who had a simply gorgeous art piece on his shoulder. It was creative, colorful, had impressive depth and lighting, the shading was highly skilled, and looked like it was designed FOR the actual body part it was on. I had to know who had done it, and was directed to Sean.
After checking out all of his work and thinking on it for a couple weeks, I decided to make the leap. Even after setting up my consultation I still felt anxious about the experience, but any fears I had about the experience or the end product diminished in about 30 seconds of meeting him.
Right off the bat, he was well spoken, personable, and extremely friendly. He loved my idea, and was very excited to work with me. During our first consultation, I showed him the design elements I picked out and he was already spitting out dozens of intriguing ideas and details that really blended everything together. I was still slightly neurotic about the final design because I had trouble visualizing what he end product would look like. That brings me to an important point about working with him and any other creative artist: if you really want to make the best of your time and money, you need to give him or her creative license.
Why? You can go just about anywhere to get your compass star or koi fish (and no disrespect if that's what you want!), but if you want the best looking piece possible, you need to give your artist freedom to do their thing. The drawing process is very organic, and imposing too much control over that process and cramp an artist's style. I'm not telling you to dump your ideas and let people doodle whatever they want into your arm, but you should be prepared to let the tattoo evolve as the process goes on. Some of the ideas you thought would look badass just won't translate over well to the body part.
So what do you do? Do you find someone who will plop whatever you want wherever you want? In my opinion that is not the point of "body art." If the piece does not complement the body and soul of the person wearing it, you just have a symbol embedded on you. Again, fine if that's what you want, but if you're as picky as I am then that's not gonna fly.
That being said, Mr. Duffy has no ego and will not try to push you in a direction that doesn't work with your own philosophy. He will, however, give you honest feedback and suggestions. And if you don't like his design, he will start from scratch for free, and you aren't getting billed for the hours it takes to do that. It's a pretty damned good deal if you ask me.
Onto the actual day of the first sitting, which totalled five hours, I don't think the process could have gone any smoother. The studio is bright, beautiful, and clean. He will show you all of his tools and explain how they work if you're curious, even going into the hygenic process that the studio uses to make sure everything is sterilized and clean. He's got a huge cabinet full of blu rays if you want to chill, but I like to yak so we talked the whole time (with It's always sunny providing occasional laughs).
As for the process itself, if you've had work done before then you probably know what to expect. I can honestly as that through the entire five hours, only a couple moments of actual pain occurred. The rest is pretty reasonable (no worse than sunburn). I only bled from one tricky area that had a lot of detail. One of the biggest skills a tattoo artist needs is a feel for the correct depth of the needle in the skin. Too deep and you hit muscle, too shallow and your ink doesn't fully take. It's a sweet spot, and one you need to reach if you want to keep that color looking bright for years to come. That's something that only experience can teach, and he's been doing this for 15 years now.
The first session was last month, and it's fully healed now, looking as bright and beautiful as it did the day it was done. I get complimented randomly everywhere I go now, and everyone wants to know where it was done.
I can't wait to go back tomorrow and get back on that chair.
I will be uploading photos to this review when the half sleeve is finished in November.
A note on the other artists: Tara, his wife, is extremely talented, but I have not had the pleasure of talking to her for more than a couple minutes. All of the artists there are highly skilled and up to snuff. If you don't end up working with Sean (his waiting list is getting longer than a year), you will be in very good hands as
