Old Town Ink & Art Gallery — Attraction in Alexandria

Went for a consultation for a cover up tattoo with Jesse. He was great! Very friendly, honest and realistic about my options, costs, time involved etc. He showed me lots of options, went through design theme ideas with me after chatting a bit about what I was looking for. I asked about the process and he was great about giving me knowledge and understanding of what to expect. My tattoo will end up being between 30 to 40 hrs. We booked the multiple sessions over 2 months. He was very fair in his pricing with the complexity of my design. He also is known to not be heavy handed ( thank goodness). So I will keep everyone posted once I have my first session and let you know after final session how it went. Studio itself was cool, laid back, fun tattoo decor everywhere. I excited for my upcoming sessions. FYI, its hard to find the first time coming. Its near Dos Amigos Restaurant, on the backside of that building (park in the garage if you can).

Update: Decided to switch up design last minute. He was very cool about creating a design same day, exactly what asked for. He has a light hand, which was a breeze for the outline. I have 3 more sessions to finish for final results, but so far im very pleased. Music was great, very cozy studio environment. My tattoo placement is bikini area, I felt comfortable...

I have to be honest: be cautious going to this studio. My first session gave me an infection: artist recommended improper, unsafe aftercare. Two other sessions left my skin overworked. It took months and months to heal and I had scarred skin in a few spots.

The artist also repeatedly ignored my directions and requests. I asked for a lot of negative space and gray scale. I wound up with an almost entirely blacked-out arm.

I also had multiple issues with scheduled sessions not being honored.

Lastly, my tattoo looks nothing like I expected it. I paid well over twice as much as I was quoted for the tattoo...and it's not anywhere close to done. The artist was only as good as the reference images I provided, which he traced (even after I asked that the references just be used as references, not an exact copy). Artist did no custom design, and charged an hourly rate while I was in the studio for the "design," which was just a Procreate copy and paste. I found this odd and counter to all of my other inking experiences.

I saved up for years for this tattoo and all I feel when I look at it is disappointment and regret.

I am now looking at a long, expensive removal process and then getting it done by another artist.

I urge caution before going to...

I cannot recommend this place enough. Mila was my tattoo artist. It was such a pleasure to get this piece. It was for a large scar cover-up - a raised/keloid one too. Going in, scar coverups are tricky and different people’s scar tissue heals differently so you never quite know. Mila had me come in prior to do a few test dots on the scar and see how they healed in a week and thankfully they healed wonderfully so we proceeded with the cover-up. I get compliments all the time on the tattoo due to level of detail she put in on it. For context: the tattoo is inspired by the Alex Grey’s art work - two different concepts superimposed. Just look up Alex Grey’s Collective Vision - it’s an incredible attention to detail to draw/paint that, let alone tattoo it permanently on skin (scarred skin at that!).

As for the tattoo place itself, I felt very comfortable there. This did take time as like I said, it required a very high level of detail so comfort was important. I was asked by Mila several times about how I was doing, if I needed a break, or if I felt cold and wanted a heater close to me (it was during the winter).

Again, great place - amazing tattoo artist. Cannot recommend enough to do this experience justice! Definitely...