See what I mean? Doing a google search for snake tattoos I got a lot more crappy ones than decent ones. Take your time finding a great artist. I wanted a devil and an angel on the front of my shoulders, so I found an artist I wanted to do it on inkednation and had to wait for 3 months to get it, but it turned out great. I recently met a guy at a bar who had the same tattoos (in theory) and when we showed each other he got pissed. He said he didn't like the work his mediocre artist did, but after seeing mine and realizing what he could have had, he said he wanted to sand his off.

Crappy artists:
http://tattoo.about.com/library/graphics/cobrasnake.jpg
http://www.jericsmith.com/images/shoulderbefore.jpg
http://z.about.com/w/experts/Tattoos...ake-tattoo.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/102/2...8a383d6d63.jpg

Good artists:
http://www.zhippo.com/AdrianDominicH...e-tattoo-g.jpg
http://www.zhippo.com/MikeDevriesTat...ery/snake2.jpg