Really, the best way to find a good artist is by word of mouth - look at some of your friend's tattoos, find out why they liked the place they went to. I would also pick up a tattoo mag and see if there are any "well known" tattoo places around. You can also find where musicians go in your area.


There are also shops that really focus on custom work - so if you dont want to go through a book and pick one, I would recommend finding a place like that. They tend to be more artistic and have better listening skills than the average "stencil" tattooist.

btw, ITS GOING TO HURT. It's you're first tattoo, you don't know what to expect - no matter where you get it it's going to hurt. So make sure you communicate with your artist and be stern and strict about what he is going to put on your body FOREVER. Don't compramise unless he really feels that in the end, a minor adjustment is going to wonders for the tattoos detail, color, whatever. (and thats another sign of a GOOD artist.)

The after care is simple - keep it moist but not saturated. The point is to keep it from drying out and scabbing/ruining your color. They will probably put plastic wrap around it, but ive never heard of keeping it on any longer than 2-3 hours. You're skin has to breathe, too! Bacitration for maybe a week, than a nice moisturizing skin lotion with some aloe afterwards until its healed.