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    Top Dog Tattoo

    5.0 (2 reviews)
    Closed 11:00 am - 7:00 pm
    Updated 3 weeks ago

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    9 months ago

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    Ask the Community - Top Dog Tattoo

    Grateful Ink Tattoo - Before dumb dumb tattoo idea.

    Grateful Ink Tattoo

    4.3(16 reviews)
    8.7 mi
    $$

    The joys of working in a tattoo shop means that you will get gassed up for having a weird idea to…read moreget tattooed. About 5 years ago I had the funniest idea of getting (Do Not Resuscitate) DNR tattooed on my chest. My friend and shop apprentice said that they would love to do it, so it was. Fast forward to now, a million people want to discuss my tattoo every time I have on a bikini or low cut top on. Everyone has an opinion on why I did that to my body. I am totally over this tattoo. Desperate to get it covered up with a flower I would enjoy seeing everyday, I found Grateful Ink. Went into the studio to get a proper consultation (btw, great idea for any tattoo ideas!) and met Mike the owner. His gregarious personality and portfolio of beautiful brightly colored tattoos sold me. I am absolutely thrilled with this design and the healing was too easy. Please consider this your go to Nevada City tattoo location!

    Michael, the owner, can be a very good tattoo artist, but there are issues with his approach and…read morehis arrogance. Michael gave me a great tattoo the first time (right shoulder). There was some discussion to get him to do what I wanted, but he relented and included a couple of elements I requested. He seemed jazzed to do the tat. He even touched it up nicely at another session. Then, I went back for a second tat, and that's when I got a tattoo that was NOT like the pictures I had shown him. In fact, he indicated that he understood what I wanted, but he ignored my directives, and drew the tat directly my calf, then spent 3 hours on my calf and gave me a tattoo that had several elements I did NOT want, and he left out the elements I *did* want, saying that he would fix those when we did the rest of my lower leg (in the future). Some of that decision came about because his tattooing of my calf hurt like hell, likely because of the tremendous amount of color and the black he used for "contrast". So $600 down the drain and a tat I hate. Micheal loves to do what *he* likes, but not necessarily what the customer wants. So now I have a shitty tattoo on my calf that nobody can identify as a black hole. I get questions like, "What's that supposed to be?" Bummer. Micheal does B&G, but color? Not so much. So because of the first tattoo, I wanted something on my left shoulder and that's where the train left the rails. I paid him $100 for drawing/design time and provided via text messages four or five pics, and every time, he ignored the pic and came up with something entirely different. Part of the problem was there would be a medium cover up of my old tattoo, on the bicep, but I wanted a complete shoulder all the way down to the elbow. He finally came up with another completely different design (a skull and spider) than I had requested and made sure I knew he had worked on it ALL NIGHT. I did not know at the time that he meant, I'M DONE! I requested a small change in the eyes and waited two days, then I asked again, and his tone changed from slightly annoyed to pissed. He sent me the new art which did NOT include the eyes looking up as we'd discussed. So, I took the design and modified it to look like I wanted and sent it back to him. No reply. No reply. I finally had to visit the shop to get an appointment for the left shoulder tat, which was done better as a cover up as he worked on it. At yet another session, I had him add a second spider, but the appt was on a Friday evening and he spent most of my time talking with his friends who kept dropping by during my whole session. Michael had fun, but he did not do the spider with realism, which is what I wanetd. He did not do the webbing the way I wanted and the spider's legs are crooked with a few blowouts. IMHO, he's not worth the trouble or cash to get a black and gray tat. I certrainly wouldn't approach him for a color tat in this world or the next. Unless you want him to do it *his* way. Good luck with that. If this review had been about Veronica, a lady that works at Grateful Ink, it would have been 5 stars. Her work is non-pariel.

    Photos
    Grateful Ink Tattoo - Colors aren't right, this tat is not even close to the image I showed him, he just blew me off and drew directly on my calf.  I hate it.

    Colors aren't right, this tat is not even close to the image I showed him, he just blew me off and drew directly on my calf. I hate it.

    Grateful Ink Tattoo - After photo!!!

    After photo!!!

    Grateful Ink Tattoo - My first tattoo experience was a success thanks greatful ink

    See all

    My first tattoo experience was a success thanks greatful ink

    Top Dog Tattoo - tattoo - Updated May 2026

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