I met with Daniel for the consult. We spoke for about an hour and 15 minutes going over ideas and planning what exactly my tattoo was going to look like. I've asked every artist I've ever worked with if they "had always wanted to go into the tattoo industry." Daniel was the first person to say no. He said that he went into it because he realized the industry was growing and there was a high demand for tattoo artists... red flag number 1. Even though we were not finished, he was a busy guy and had another person come in right at 2. Nonetheless, as he tried to get me out and the next woman in he had me make a $100 deposit on the appointment. However, he didn't set up an appointment time with him that day of the consult. Instead, he told me to text him with dates that would I was available for an appointment. What tattoo parlor has you pay a deposit before scheduling the actual appointment...? That was red flag number 2.
I text him dates that work for me. I didn't hear from him for 6 days. I text him again, and he says he can "fit me in" the next day at 4. I didn't want to get "fit in," so we decided on May 8th at 1:30pm.
So I arrive on Wednesday, May 8th at 1:30pm. A few seconds later Daniel comes up to the front and asks me "are you here for a consult?" Thinking he just forgot who I was, I responded with "no, I'm actually here for an appointment with you." He told us to come on in and have a seat on the couch in the back. I notice he is having a consult with another woman. My boyfriend and I are left to wait on the couch until his consult is over. We sat there for 20 minutes. Throughout those 20 minutes I had developed a pit in my stomach. I've never been to an artist that was as disorganized as him; he didn't schedule me after I gave him a $100 deposit, he double booked my appointment with a consult it seemed like, and he was the most disorganized artist I'd worked with. He then came up to us and asked if I could come back on a different day because he double booked. We rescheduled for the following Wednesday, May 15th at 1:30pm. Red flag number 3.
I arrived to the appointment. We looked at the design one final time and I told him that I wasn't in love with how the flowers looked. I showed him MULTIPE photos of how I wanted the lavender to turn out. He responded with "well that's not exactly my style, I'll make pretty flowers for you." With which I responded, "I would like the flowers done this way." He nodded, but I never really got a clear response from him. Red flag number 4. Honestly at this point I'm not sure why I went through with it. Maybe I was naïve. Anyways he tattoos me, throughout which he stopped to answer the phone THREE TIMES and answered the door ONCE because I guess he's the secretary of the place too. Very unprofessional, in my opinion, for you to take your focus off of a client. I unfortunately can't upload photos to Yelp, but what I told him I wanted the lavender to look like and what I got are very dissimilar (check out my Google Review).
Daniel is a nice guy and a good artist with what he specializes in. But that's just the point. If you ask for something outside of his specialty you may not get exactly what you are looking for. By no means it this a bad tattoo. But honestly I wouldn't say it's a good tattoo, either. The lines aren't even, the lavender barely looks like lavender, and it looks more cartoonish than what I SPECIFICALLY showed him how I wanted it done. I understand pride, and I understand that what I wanted maybe wasn't what you had up your sleeve and wasn't how you normally do things. But don't say you can do a piece if you can't execute it properly. I wish I would have left after the consult and lost my $100 deposit than losing an additional $250. Go to Daniel if you want what he specializes in - water color and abstract work. Otherwise, save yourself the time and the money and go somewhere else. I'll probably get the tattoo removed.
Also I've noticed from past Google and FB reviews that when there is an issue he states that he "doesn't remember them" or "never had a consult with them," probably to avoid responsibility. Which is probably what he will do with this. read more