Classic 13 Tattoo — Local services in Birmingham

( 1 star rating only bc i love one of the artist ) i’m not one to complain about places but if you go to classic 13 downtown DO NOT i repeat DO NOT get tattooed by ‘ brando ‘ He was a freaking jerk from the gitgo telling me : ‘ oh that wouldn’t look right on you , ‘ oh that’s 2 big ‘ ‘ why are you opposed to making an appointment ‘ like bc i’m here ???!!! why are you asking me / telling me your personal opinion when i didn’t ask for it . he was saying it with such a tone & i couldn’t stand it i asked if he could throw in a few little honeycombs & he said no pretty much like what the actual h3ll . LIKE ITS MY BODY & MY MONEY give me what i want !!??? he was very cocky like .. very & idky bc he was 🥴 but that’s beside the point . i let him draw up the tattoo bc im like alright lets just see how big he’s thinking it should be mind you it’s a BUMBLE BEE 🐝 ( GIVING HIM THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT ) it ended up being 2in by 2in IF THAT & he was going to charge me $250 !! like baaaabbbyyyyy idk where your from but i am not about to pay that for a little ą$$ bee when you aren’t even giving me what i actually wanted in the first place . & before someone says oh well we wouldn’t have had the time that’s cap he could’ve but he didn’t want 2. * sidenote - chip is the artist i love ! he did a huge tattoo within like a hour & i paid him $350 anyway getting back to ole boy brando - tried to rip me off lol i told him nah im good sorry to waste ur time then he started talking more about it & he said yeah im glad your not getting it bc i dont wanna do it anyway . like yeah good 🤣🤷🏼‍♀️ , i just hope he did good for the girl behind me bc he was mad 🙂‍↕️ ( the one on the left is what i wanted the one on the right is literally a spitting image of his sketch & it was about that size too i just don’t get people . like im sorry if you’re having a bad morning or something but there’s no need to be that way with a customer . my money is just as good as anybody else !!!!!! & again chip does amazing work but he wasn’t available @ the time anyway my rant is over now , no brando !!!! HIGHLY UNPROFESSIONAL even told the lady up front i didn’t like how he was speaking to me . he put me down fr . i have many many friends who get tattooed there & i’ve let them all know about this experience & they will most definitely not be seeing him that’s for sure . posting a pic of what i wanted below . again i don’t leave bad reviews but he changed that i was not...

A few months ago, I made a decision I had thought about for a long time - almost 30 years, to be exact. I decided to get a tattoo. I have a larger, more meaningful concept in mind but just to try out my tolerance for pain (and to find the right artist), I decided to start with something small. I decided on a wrist tattoo that also had meaning. I decided on an infinity symbol with the word "Free" designed into it and three flying black birds. Well, I should have spent just as much time finding the right tattoo artist as I did finding the right tattoo. The artist rushed the work (even though it only took him 20 minutes). I hated the uneven lines, and the birds looked like blobs or, as my sweet, sweet sister called them "Finding Nemos." I knew within 3 hours of getting the tattoo that I was either going to have it removed or get it fixed.

I spent the next several days trying to find an artist who could fix my problem, but everyone told me the space was too small, the birds could not be fixed. I almost gave up until I stumbled across Brittany at Classic 13. This girl is a true artist. Not only did she fix my Finding Nemo birds by covering them over with one large bird, but she deftly fixed all the crappy line work and added some of the most detailed birds flying up my arm (by my request) that I've ever seen. She was kind, considerate, compassionate to my issue and nothing but professional. She spent an hour just drawing the birds on paper, cutting them out and then placing them perfectly on my arm. She was almost an hour late to her next appointment but this did not cause her to rush my work a single time. If you're looking for a true artist in Birmingham, with true skill and the heart to match, try Classic 13 downtown and ask for a super awesome, talented girl named Brittany. Customer service is excellent at this studio! Another tattoo artist told me during all of this that it is "not as hard to find a good tattoo artist as it is to find a good tattoo artist who actually cares." I finally understand what he meant because I now have a design that I'm proud of from an artist who actually takes pride in her work and cares about the happiness it brings her customers. Thanks, Brittany...

I was there on a Saturday for a walk-in an hour before opening. Unfortunately, there were already 10 people ahead of me. When the door opened, they decided who would go to which artist. This process was totally unusual and strange for me as a European. When it was my turn, of course, there were no spots left, but Lana then offered to let me come the next day and we could definitely do 2 of the 3 planned tattoos. I had already contacted her beforehand and she had all the images and my ideas. She also knew that I had a long journey. When I came the next day, she showed me a template for the smallest planned tattoo without much ado and she also told me that she hadn't prepared the other tattoos yet and that she needed more time for them. She offered to draw something now and I waited almost 2 hours! until she showed me something that unfortunately didn't suit me at all. So we only did the small tattoo. The plan was a mix of 3 different styles (we had written about it on Instagram beforehand). In the end, it was almost identical to the last suggestion I showed her. I was a bit disappointed because I was hoping she could create something of her own. The tattoo is OK, but the whole process, the way you are treated in the studio and, above all, the listless, taciturn manner was not my thing. I have been to a few tattoo studios before, but I have never felt so uncomfortable! I don't really look at the price, but I have never (luckily) experienced 200.- for a 45 minute tattoo and the design simply printed out from a template! I would absolutely not recommend...