Insecure much.....?

For the most part the tattoo community as I see it is a pretty tight knit community, you go to the conventions and everyone is really cool cause I guess you are all part of the same sub culture, all trying to put out the best product as learning and getting inspired by other talented artists.

However there is an awful lot of unwarranted shit talk that goes around as well. Personally I try and stay away from shit talking other shops or artists because really all you're doing is shitting on the craft which is negative for tattooing in general. Now certainly giving your friend advice like, u should go to a reputable shop, u shouldn't get tattooed by unlicensed artists, these are things that hold true, however when u have artists talking shit about other artists I think it's plain counter productive, are u doing it because you are worried you may lose your clientele to them, are you jealous they are better than you in some way artistically? Trashing another artist does nothing to better your own craft so why do it? My best advice to someone getting  tattooed is don't let just the price make your decision, while it can b taken into consideration your about to get something that lasts forever and usually a cheap tattoo isn't a great tattoo, however some places r priced much higher than even I could afford so I understand in this economy why price matters. What matters more though is THE WORK! Look at portfolios, not just from one artist, look at many of them, different artists have different strengths and you want the best artist that's gonna bring your tattoo to life. I like to think I'm an artist that focuses on doing all styles, I think tattooists should do this so they can tackle whatever challenge comes into the studio, but some artists only  focus on certain styles which could be a problem depending on what u want. So basically leave the shit talk at home, it just makes you look like an inconsiderate dick, let your work do the shit talking, if you do good work people will get tattooed, if you don't do good work, rather than talk shit, practice. Luckily tattooing is a craft u can't master in a lifetime so there is always room for improvement