Tattoo Art Forums » Legal & Political Issues

**too many shops bad talking other shops** Posted: 3/30/2011 6:21:46 AM

ok i noticed there was no posts here so i decided to start me one...im new here i do work in a shop asylum ink tattoos i longview texas just took 20 minutes to try to upload photos so i gave up till tommorow

on subject around gere there is a LOT of trash talking between shops ive tried going out and meeting other fellow artists and face to face they act nice but after that its dog eat dog...wtf for?i work in a town about 75,000 people small and like 5 or 6 shops plenty of people wanting tattoos to keep us all busy so im just wondering how many other cities its like this in??

im relocating to seattle in a year and really hope its a more tight knit group i see a very good reason for politics in the industry but ours seems to be broken here..ricky baily is the only one involved nationally around here but the dude turns his nose up at every shop that isnt his

another problem we have is people coming into money 20 grand or so an opening up a tattoo shop that lasts 6 months and while i dot talk down on artists these dudes just fuck people up and turn off potential clients from ever wanting tattoos!!!wtf!!

**Re: too many shops bad talking other shops** Posted: 3/30/2011 8:54:06 AM

Sorry man, but I've worked in shops in 3 different states, and I have many tattoo artist friends nation wide who all complain about the same thing. I just opened a shop near your other one in Spearfish, SD and I constantly hear crap about other shops, including yours. It's just ridiculous how the bashing goes. I would love to see more comeradery among artists.

**Re: too many shops bad talking other shops** Posted: 4/23/2011 6:11:43 PM

I live in a very rural area. There's maybe 4 shops within 50 miles and there is still trash talking. I think it's everywhere. Our main problem is so many kids getting kits online and really screwing up the people in town. I hate to say but most of our residents would rather pay $20 or a six pack rather than get something decent.

**Re: too many shops bad talking other shops** Posted: 5/5/2011 10:36:15 AM

It's the same the world over, and not just shops, but even within the scratcher community too. A while back, I allowed a friend to work on me as practice (pigskin and practice skin can only teach so much, before it's a case of working on the real thing). During the period of our artistic collaboration, this friend was lucky enough to get accepted at a studio a couple of towns over, which enabled him to begin the registration process, and he is now a fully registered tattoo artist. The studio closed, so he went back to working at home, and with plans to completing a traditional Japanese bodysuit on me. Another friend then also started to learn, so I allowed him to do a little work on me for the experience. The first friend went absolutely crazy that I would allow myself to be tattooed by "a dirty, untrained scratcher" and refused to work on me again. Now, the fact is that the piece of work which led to this outburst was better than the first friend's work, is obviously what caused that jealousy, and he seemed to have forgotten the fact that not only had he started off working on friends and family at home, but due to the closure of the studio, he was once more working out of his home, not a studio... *shrug* I haven't got time for the BS and hypocrisy of people like that...

**Re: too many shops bad talking other shops** Posted: 4/13/2012 9:16:52 PM

well, i understand what your saying, and it really is in everyones best interest to work together, and that includes shop to shop etiquette. Alot of these ideals have taken a bad turn as in the last ten years we have seen alot of shops open, and artist allowed to open shops, that are inexperienced and have no respect for the people that have gone before them. For instance, I walked into a shop 2 cities over from me, and asked about their work, (no portfolios), and the owner of the shop explained that he was still developing his portfolio as he had just passed his apprenticeship. Hmm... i asked where he had apprenticed, and he told me his apprenticeship was online. WTF. so i made small talk for a few minutes, asked about other shops in the area, and was informed that they were all crackheads. I took an exit, and wonder what possible positive impact people like that can have on our industry. I dont talk crap about other shops, and will never reveal the name of the shop this happened at, but i will say, its not suprizing to me to hear that shops are talkin crap about each other. Look at the caliber of people we are dealing with these days. Our industry is suffering from a huge influx of new shops opening operated by inexperienced people, who have absolutely no respect for anyone except the next dollar, and dont place value in the industry in any other respect than monetary. sad thing

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too many shops bad talking other shops

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