The internet is the tattoo artist’s friend – PART II

“Customers who get tattooed can see their own tattoo online, moments after the ink was put in their skin (all their friends saw their tweets)– and seconds later their friends are commenting on the work (possibly even making an appointment to visit the artist).”

Internet is your Friend
Using the internet as a marketing tool is a really good way to get your name out there as a new tattoo artist. You should ask your studio owner if their shop is listed as a business in the internet search directories. This will drive more traffic to your studio when people search for “Tattoo Studio” usually sites like Google will show the search results to the person doing the search that are close to their physical zip code.
If you are not too keen on how to make your own website you should check out the personal sites like FaceBook, MySpace, DeviantArt, and Flikr. You can create a profile, and upload your artwork. People can comment on the photos and you can often add links to your studio or leave updates about your status. Social Networking is a great tool for the tattoo artist to draw attention to himself or his studio.
If a client sees their tattoo on your website or social site they will more than likely tell their friends and this will also help draw more business to your studio.
It can get confusing with all the sites and links and photos, but it is well worth the minimal effort to keep up your sites that will draw in the new clients.
Newer mobile phones have pretty high mega-pixel cameras and can often record video clips as well. Use your phone to take snap shots of tattoos that you do. They will not be portfolio quality photos – but you can use them for websites and small posts that are purely designed to drive traffic to your studio’s website and foot traffic to your studio.
If you have the time you should check out some books from your local library on web-design basics. At least get a grasp for the way the internet works and SEO (search engine optimization). The internet instantly connects people and shares their ideas. This should be applied to tattoo to help increase your business and expand your client base.

CR Jordan

Cont. - The Internet is Tattoo Artist's Friend Part 1

Cont. - PART 1 – The design Process

So, your potential client walks in the studio and says that they want a tattoo (yea business!). How do you, as a new tattoo artist (or apprentice) go about accomplishing the goal of getting the client to explain what they want – in a way that you can add your own creative touches and come up with something you can both agree will look good on their body? You have to have some sort of reference to draw from – and they have to have some sort of concise description of what they want.

Often you will get those clients who say “just draw it, I trust you” (we love those clients), but even more often you will get the client who has no idea what they want – yet they know exactly what they want (very frustrating). Instead of drafting a bunch of sketches (and possibly striking out), you can jump on the internet and use any number of image search engines. If you go to Google or Yahoo – you can enter a search topic. The best piece of advice I have for this method is to NOT enter the word “tattoo” in the search criteria, try to find a different kind of reference. Try to build your tattoo from non-tattoo related and non-flash related images (most of the time). No one wants a replica of a tattoo as a design (well maybe they do actually), you see where I am going with this? So if your client wants a tiger, we would jump on the search engines and search for “tiger” or “tiger jumping” or whatever they elaborate on during the conversation. You can also try to search for “tiger sketch” or “stylized tiger”. The point I am trying to make here is that you don’t want to search for “tiger tattoo”. There are a ton of resources, not just search engine image databases. Try checking out Stock Photography sites as well. You will get a water mark on the image – but you can easily make a stencil out of them, or use them as a concept to get the ball rolling with a client.

The end result is getting a good design and making sure you and the client are on the same sheet of music. This way of working will ensure an expedient workflow process for the tattoo studio, and you can even have your apprentices do this task (which usually takes 10 – 45 mins per client) before they are serious about the design and layout and drawing.

CR Jordan

The internet is the tattoo artist’s friend – PART I

The good ole’ days of tattoo when the artist whipped out a ball point pen and sketched a design on your bicep then began the tattoo process have not completely left us…yet.


Anyone Can Use The Internet These Days
There is a new generation of tattoo artists out there who are digital age techies. They use their iPhone and Google Image to search for designs for clients. They will post their tattoos online using Flikr or FaceBook instead of taking their photos to the developer to make a hard copy.

The studio might display the tattoos in a digital picture frame on the studio’s counter, or possibly there might be an interactive portfolio or kiosk in the studio for the potential clients. Customers who get tattooed can see their own tattoo online, moments after the ink was put in their skin (all their friends saw their tweets)– and seconds later their friends are commenting on the work (possibly even making an appointment to visit the artist).

CR Jordan