Artists, do you know your boundaries and limitations?

If someone comes to you with an idea for a piece thats not your normal speciality or field, would you take it on anyway? Would you adapt the idea to what you felt you were capable of or would you give it your best shot regardless. Has anyone ever sent someone to a different artist because they felt they could do a better job? Just a question that's been bugging me.

Back already. Another thing thats been on my mind, I suppose all related. How do artists feel about the bread and butter work as opposed to someone coming in with a real original idea? I'm asking this because I'm involved in getting designs for a sleeve drawn up. I went to the artist when I was younger to have some stuff done. It was my first tattoo and he seemed a bit arsey about it, like, "Oh here we go again". It put me off him a bit. 13 years later I'm going back to him because I had other tattoos done since that haven't lasted as well as his work. This time he seems much more enthusiastic about doing the piece. It's based on a few photorealistic images within a japanese sleeve. He's definitely the best artist to take the work anywhere close and I can't wait for September when it gets started.

Many artists will pass on work to other artists they feel are more capable of doing the tattoo justice. Many will do their best. Obviously it depends on the artist! I wouldnt feel insulted if an artist passed on a tattoo I wanted, there's no reason to force an artist into doing a tattoo, indeed you want them to be excited to do the work! I imagine artists feel grateful for bread and butter work, but the fact remains that photorealistic (or any creative tattoo) will motivate and excite the tattoo artist way more than a name/ tribal blah/ kanji/ etc, etc. While a client should expect a tattoo artist to put a simple beginner tattoo the best they can, there's only so much enthusiasm an artist can muster for a tattoo that isn't original or unique. I cant speak as an artist, but as an owner when people leave our studio with simple kanji or tribal tattoos I feel a small tinge of regret somewhere in the back of my brain cause those tattoos are often regretted and it seems like we just helped someone make a mistake. But hey, the client gets what the client wants!

I have no problem passing work on to another artist or referring someone to a different artist if I feel it's not my thing, or even if I'm capable of doing the piece but I know an artist I work with would make the customer happier in the longrun; hell, I've told people about different artists at different shops. It's all about making the client happy.

I would have no problem referring a client to another artist if I thougfht they would do a better job or maybe a job more in line with what the client is looking for!...TAZ

Nice to hear your replies. Good to see there are people with more than the money in mind. I'm not sure it's the same over here. I've been to a couple of places where the artist would rather you adapted to what they are capable of, or where they would take on something they couldn't do justice to.Then again, I guess there are people like that anywhere.

Yeah John there are people like that everywhere and in every profession....in my studio we have three different artists with totally different backgrounds and styles so we can usually make pretty much anything happen...thats not to say that if there were a tattoo we thought could be done better that we wouldn't refer the client elsewhere. As for the bread and butter stuff...we try our best to steer clients into a unique custom piece but hey that just isn't for everyone. So we do them happily and do them with just as much care and skill as the huge backpiece or custom sleeve.While it may be our duty to educate clients about whats available it is NOT our job to dictate what they get tattooed...that is not to say we won't turn down a tattoo if we think its a bad design or of questionable subject matter...we won't do Gang related themes or drug themes...we try not to be censors but there is a line over which we just refuse to cross.....TAz

I have a hunch that awareness and respect of ones technical limits might often reflect the quality of the apprenticeship one received...I mean, that's one of the most important functions of an apprenticeship isn't it? Someone qualified to tell you when you are ready and for what? Betcha, with few exceptions that the better the apprenticeship, the better the self-editing/self-awareness...I know this isn't exactly on topic, but a thought that crossed my mind.

As a noob in the industry, and in the shop i work. i get all the bread and butter stuff, and the other artist gets most of the custom work. i don't complain, but i do put my own twist on the flash peice i'm doing and, do it the best i can. i even talk customers in to changing things up when i can. and if i don't think i can handel a peice and make it look great Yes i'll reccomend someone else. bottom line is that the customer is happy.

You would think it would be a common sense type of thing to pass on a tattoo beyond your realm but..where i work everday i see "artists" whose ambition/greed far outweighs their capabilities.