Can anyone reccommend a good tattoo artist in the Sacramento/Davis/Vacaville/Fairfield, CA area?

I would drive to Oakland and get tattooed at Temple Tattoo, a well-known shop with amazing artists, often in magazines. Someone great who used to work at Temple has opened his own shop in SF, called Black Heart Tattoo. These guy have been around for ever. You wont encounter any of this tattoo-culture reality-show business.

http://www.templeoakland.com/
http://www.blackhearttattoosf.com/

Yeah, if you don’t mind driving I would recomend zebras, in Berkeley. They’re the best from what I’ve heard.

I have a friend that works there, no offense but I would definitely skip it. As a good rule of thumb, tattoo shops in touristy areas with lots of foot traffic, like Telegraph Ave, tend to suck and charge way too much. It’s also a head shop, if that says anything.
It is, however, the best in the area for piercing.

What kind of tattoo are you looking to get. The style really is specific to an artist. One artist may be really good at realistic b&w but be terrible at pin ups, etc.

Its important to know exactly what you’re going for, then target someone who specializes in that area.

Very true. They tend to specialize.

I’m getting the top left portion of this picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Golden_Poppy_(NGM_XXXI_p502b).jpg/300px-Golden_Poppy_(NGM_XXXI_p502b).jpg

The one open poppy from the side and two of the leaf parts.

I think that looks like something that any good tattoo artist could handle and would be into doing. Some of the specialties lie in categories like fine-line black and grey, portraiture, or traditional. If I could make a no-fail recommendation I would say to Scott Silvia (the owner of Black Heart, listed above). His work is utterly amazing and you don’t have to take my word for it. I’m sure numerous examples abound on the internet for you to view. He is also very friendly, non pretentious, and professional. There is nothing worse than an asshole tattoo artist that shows up 2 hours late, or flakes that takes cigarette brakes every 10 minutes and chats with friends on the phone all day.

I’ve had friends who got tattoos of flowers and they ended up looking pretty bad. They look like a picture of a flower instead of an actual flower. I know that a tattoo is really a picture but I’ve seen some amazing tattoos of them that look real. That’s what I’m looking for. Also, I’ve heard that the golden orange color is hard to duplicate. True?

I’m definitely going to check out Scott Silvia. Thanks peedub!!

Not for that guy. Don’t listen to negative feedback, unless it’s perhaps from someone that really knows their stuff. I have a tattoo on my palm entirely of white ink. Not only do many tattoo artists hate doing white (and think that it can’t really be done) but the palm is very hard to tattoo. Scott also does cover-up of anything. That is a rarity because many artists; a. just aren’t good enough to successfully cover many tattoos and b. are too afraid to go over someone’s work. If you do go see him, tell him a friend of ‘Chummy’ sent you.

hahaha. alright i will for sure. whos chummy?

He’s my friend and used to work with Scott. He is actually really good too. The shop is works at is called Tattoo 13 and is owned by the same guy who owns Temple. I didn’t mention this place because it’s not quite as famous but all the artists there are really great. I’m Paul, by the way.

well in case you haven’t guessed… Allie. and thanks for all the info Paul.

No prob. Send me a comment if you have any questions.

So can we see how it came out?

Fat Cat Tattoos on Fair Oaks Blvd in Carmichael in Sacramento. They are AWSOME!

@PupnTaco I ended up getting a completely different tattoo. I absolutely love it. It’s a Dia de los Muertos skull and it’s on my right ribcage. Here it is. That was right after it was completed.