Portrait tattoo artists

casualmadness · #1 04-08-2008, 08:18 AM

I've seen lots of tattoo threads on here so I figure this is good a place as any to ask my question. Does anyone know of a tattoo artist who does good and realistic portraits? I have some really top notch work done and the guys I've used have done great work but they aren't portrait guys. I've been asking locally but sadly, the artists who have been recomended so far left a lot to be desired. I'm looking for someone who specializes in portraits as I expect quality. I have a portrait of my grandad that I want tatooed on me. It's in black and white and I want want the piece to be black & gray. I would love it if anyone could recomend someone close to the DC metro area...NY, NJ, Philly, VB, Charlotte...all these areas are fine too.

santucci218 · #2 04-08-2008, 08:29 AM

hmm, try to find out who did steve o's tattoo, lol.

2Loud4You · #3 04-08-2008, 08:39 AM

Well not in your area but Phil Colvin of Memorial Tattoo in ATL is a great portrait artist. I wanted a portrait of my brother after he passed away so I looked around. I was very impressed with his portfolio and he did a great job on my piece.
www.MemorialTattooATL.com or you can find them on MySpace. He also has his own MySpace page.

I'd post a pic but I'm at work right now. Maybe later today I can.

i_got_a_mohawk · #4 04-08-2008, 08:42 AM

My tattooist specialises in portrait tattoos (and tribal, not just the modern over done stuff, but styles associated with different trbies etc).

Best thing is to just look around and see peoples work. Portrait tattoo's are a skill in themselves, ive seen many many butchered and bad ones

casualmadness · #5 04-08-2008, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2Loud4You

Well not in your area but Phil Colvin of Memorial Tattoo in ATL is a great portrait artist. I wanted a portrait of my brother after he passed away so I looked around. I was very impressed with his portfolio and he did a great job on my piece.
www.MemorialTattooATL.com or you can find them on MySpace. He also has his own MySpace page.

I'd post a pic but I'm at work right now. Maybe later today I can.

Thanks for the link but I clicked it and there isn't anything on there other than contact info. I don't have a myspace page, so I can't look at his pics/portfolio on there. I guess I could build a dummy page jsut to check it out though. I'm not opposed at all to traveling to Atlanta. I got my first piece at All or Nothing, which is in Atlanta. For the right artist, I will absolutely travel. If you have a link to this guy's portfolio, or can tell me where to look, I would really appreciate it.

casualmadness · #6 04-08-2008, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

Portrait tattoo's are a skill in themselves, ive seen many many butchered and bad ones

I too have seen some bad ones. I've looked pretty thoroughly for artists and honestly, I've not found one in my area who does great portrait work. I've seen (and gotten work( from some incredible artists. But I've not yet found a great portrait artist locally. But travel is not out of the question.

mothmonsterman · #7 04-08-2008, 08:57 AM

Come to Clawson Michigan, go to eternal tattoos ask for Tony.

santucci218 · #8 04-08-2008, 09:00 AM

2Loud4You · #9 04-08-2008, 12:35 PM

I'll have to check my My Space page for his link and the shop's link but here's 2 pieces he did on me. The piece on my right chest is obviously fresh but he had done my brother's portrait 1 year earlier. He even had to rework it by removing a cap and a beer bottle, replacing it with the Joker card (that's the only tattoo my brother had). Sorry about the earlier link, I pulled that off their biz card so I didn't actually know what was on there. Ok it's www.myspace.com/memorialtattoo and www.myspace.com/plainphilthy Phil Colvin owns the shop and stays booked because he is that good. By the way, he did my brother's portrait in about 3 hours including a smoke break. All or Nothing is a great shop as well and one that stays booked up. Last I heard Brandon Bond, the owner, is booked out 6+ months, maybe up to a year. A friend of mine does their website.

**MAJOR METAL** · #10 04-08-2008, 12:49 PM

My man in NY did this for me

JNowiski · #11 04-08-2008, 04:46 PM

we got a guy at tattoo world here that does great portraits, Jason Bullington. one of the few guys in town that actually does portraits. he did a pretty rad king diamond backpiece too...that's just rad. he usually has a 4 or 5 week waiting list i think though.

fenderhutz · #12 04-08-2008, 04:51 PM

You talk to Jason McCarty at "Body Art" in Berryville VA? I got all of my work there and in 9 years nothing has faded and it still looks wonderful.

He and his dad run the shop and Jason is the better of the two in my opinion. They are awesome and booked WAAAAY in advance. Good Luck. Check out Jasons gallery, he has a TON of portraits in there towards the end of the gallery that look phenomenal in my humble opinion.

You want to have Jason do the detail work of a portrait, trust me on this.

Body Art Tattoos
www.bodyarttattoostudio.com

8 Chalmers Ct # A
Berryville, VA 22611
(540) 955-0111

iamlowsound · #13 04-08-2008, 08:51 PM

Garver from Miami Ink. You might think I am joking, but the man is one of the best portrait artists in the world.

lowsound

lbpark · #14 04-08-2008, 09:05 PM

Tom Renshaw. Best there is, imo. Good luck getting an appointment though.

2Loud4You · #15 04-09-2008, 05:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lbpark

Tom Renshaw. Best there is, imo. Good luck getting an appointment though.

+ a million! I saw him work 10 years ago at a tat convention and he was mind bogglingly good back then. He was doing a portrait of someone's dog and it looked more realistic than the pic!

casualmadness · #16 04-09-2008, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenderhutz

You talk to Jason McCarty at "Body Art" in Berryville VA? I got all of my work there and in 9 years nothing has faded and it still looks wonderful.

He and his dad run the shop and Jason is the better of the two in my opinion. They are awesome and booked WAAAAY in advance. Good Luck. Check out Jasons gallery, he has a TON of portraits in there towards the end of the gallery that look phenomenal in my humble opinion.

You want to have Jason do the detail work of a portrait, trust me on this.

Body Art Tattoos
www.bodyarttattoostudio.com

8 Chalmers Ct # A
Berryville, VA 22611
(540) 955-0111

Someone semi-local; awesome. Thanks for that. I clicked the link but there are no portfolios. Do you know if either of them has an online portfolio?

casualmadness · #17 04-09-2008, 06:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lbpark

Tom Renshaw. Best there is, imo. Good luck getting an appointment though.

Wow...I'm almost speechless. I had never heard of him but I searched for and checked out some of his work...that guy is incredible.

fenderhutz · #18 04-09-2008, 08:41 AM

He does have an online portfolio, look on the red dots on the upper right of the page and click on galleries, then there should be a "Click Here" in the paragraph of text.