Recently, our artists at Inkcredible Tattoo attended the Richmond Tattoo, Art and Music Festival, and happily our artists Jarred Tallon and Burke Long took home 3rd place in Best in Show, and believe you me, the competition was extremely strong.
Here’s why I believe if you ever have the chance to do a competition piece at a tattoo convention, take it. Also, please note that this is reserved for a piece that you plan for with your artist ahead of time, not a walk up to be chosen off a flash sheet. First and foremost, your tattoo artist more than likely will want to compete. Sometimes they want to just go for a tattoo of the day award, which is a huge honor in and of itself. But, luckily, it only includes you sitting for a single day, and you’ll compete at the end of the day. If your artist wants to go for best in show, you may end up sitting for two or even three full days. And is that a lot? Absolutely. But competition tattoos are an extreme sport for all intents and purposes. But since your artist wants to compete, that means they are going to create a stunning and visually unique piece of art for you. Not to say that artists don’t try, but when they are aiming to win a contest and show off a piece in front of a group of their peers, they do tend to put a bit more of gusto into your art. Some of the coolest tattoos I’ve ever seen have been competition pieces at tattoo conventions. So if you want a true showstopper of a tattoo, get with an artist who is trying to compete at a convention, and you’ll leave a winner no matter where you place.
Now that you’re fully convinced that getting a show tattoo is the way to go, let me persuade you a little further. Now, this next perk is completely subjective and fully depends on the artist you’re using. However, sometimes the overall cost of your tattoo will be lower if you get a convention piece. Again, this is strongly affected on who your artist is and what the piece is. Here is why your tattoo MAY end up less expensive at a show. Firstly, if your artist is actively seeking a canvas to present an already designed piece, and time is running out, they may offer a discount so that you will accept the piece as is. But again, if your artist has this design ready for a contest, its going to be badass. The second reason this may end of cheaper in the long run is you’re sitting for many many hours in a row. Instead of breaking up your tattoo into several sessions of 4-6 hour each, you’re kind of knocking it out in one swoop. You’ll likely take less breaks, because again, you’re running against a clock, which will allow your artist to blast through your tattoo.
Please be mindful, I seriously only advise those who are extremely used to getting tattooed and have a pretty high pain threshold to try to participate in a tattoo convention contest. I’ve been tattooed for years and I’m not sure if I have what it takes to get a convention contest piece. But if and when I decide to take the plunge, I can rest assured that the piece will be sick as fuck. So if you’re up for the challenge, I cannot recommend it enough! Go get an award winning piece!