First, I rarely write reviews - good or bad. But I think my experience is important to share for folks, since the nature of tattoos is permanent, collaborative and creative as well as personal.
I found my artist via Instagram, and in their posts shared they were open to doing cover-ups and had some dope examples of previous work. We did a consult for about 30-40 minutes and I felt really excited and heard during the conversation. I shared I wanted to cover my friend's name, but that too if we could improve the peony above it that would be great. BUT my hope was that the name would be covered in the first session, and following sessions could be used to add to. I wasn't expecting perfection or it to be completely "brand new" looking - just improved and covered. The artist agreed and we made an appointment for about 3 weeks later.
Appointment day comes. Everybody at the shop was welcoming and chill, I meet with my artist and I'm looking forward to getting the name finally covered up. As this is my first cover up, I trusted my artist with the process. So when they weren't really set up yet it didn't bother me. Eventually we found a spot to set up at and I sat down. Another positive is that she shop seems incredibly clean, and my artist showed me clean equipment and made me feel bodily safe.
The reason for my pause here is that it became clear to me that the artist wasn't remotely prepared. Like, I get it: a cover-up is difficult and requires a lot of creativity and flexibility. But they didn't even know what I wanted. It's like they totally forgot. They couldn't even pull up my reference pictures/email. That was a red flag that I should have spoken up for, but I felt like it was just maybe an off day and their work really spoke for itself.
Instead of a stencil or sketch or any idea ready, they started using sharpie to draw on my skin directly - again, the drawing on is fine, I've had that done on my elbow before and other tougher body parts, but previous artists had shared the design idea with me prior. This artist sketched and wiped it off for about 1.5 - 2 hours. My skin was super irritated and I was losing confidence. This is the point at which I should have 100% had just called it and maybe rescheduled or found another artist. But I didn't...I sat there hopeful and feeling like I should just be more flexible about it.
The artist had drawn on the name, but mostly on the flower above. I asked is the name going to be covered and the artist affirmed. Eventually they started - and again, they are a really nice person and great conversationalist, were respectful of my pain tolerance, and was generally nice to be around. But I get tattooed for the work, not the experience.
And the work is not great. Not the worst, but definitely not we agreed to or reflective of their other work. And I think it about about $400.
Not only did they not have a design ready, but they went off of areas they had drawn on and then didn't even touch the name I'd gone there to cover (which was drawn over, so I assumed would be done). The lines are incredibly thick, the black in the flower is intense and imbalanced and some of the top now crowds by buffalo piece. My whole leg just looks off balance now, and I get comments about how dark it is often. Another artist at different shop even said it had "scarred" and that he assumed an apprentice/inexperienced tattooer had done it.
I've included some reference pictures I sent the artist, the before, and the result from going to Artful Dodger.
I tried to reach out to the artist a few times to schedule another session, even though I wasn't happy with the product but wasn't able to. I also emailed the shop manager and they stood behind the artist's work and were pretty patronizing about "how coverups work" and that you "can't have an exact reference" (which I never asked for). So, not helpful.
Definitely my least favorite tattoo I have (of about 20?). Maybe other artists are better, and the shop is definitely an overall good vibe and clean, but overall I can't recommend it and will go elsewhere in the future. read more