I think of collaboration piece as the ménage à trois of tattooing. Who approaches who? Do you talk it out with your tattoo artist first to find out who he or she is into? Which tattoo artist takes control? Who does what? Who goes first? What if someone wants to try something different?
In all seriousness, it does seem like a complicated process. I’d love to get a collaboration tattoo, but I honestly don’t know how to approach it. I have a feeling a number of collectors and tattoo artists feel the same as I do, and sometimes it’s just easier to just have one amazing artist do the piece. I’m sure when you have a number of artists working together in the same shop (such as All or Nothing,) the process can come together pretty easily. That seems like the story for the piece below.
Pictured: Raven
Tattooed by: Collaboration between Vince Villalvazo and Short from All or Nothing in Atlanta, GA