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| - I recently finished my sixth session at 3 Lions Tattoo at the Riviera and I recommend them highly to anyone who wants to commit to something as personal as a tattoo.
The shop is casual and friendly, and the people working there have a lot of character (both in the sense of personality, and integrity). These men and women are sincere in their passion for their art, and were great about breaking me into the culture.
Something that surprised me about the shop (and in retrospect, I shouldn't have been surprised at all), was that they didn't hesitate to strongly express their opinions on designs and layout, while always reminding me that what I wanted, and how I wanted it, was the only final factor in the end.
Since my first time walking in to the shop, I've had one standalone tattoo of my own layout of a couple of classic felix the cat images. Doug refers to them as my "Felix the Cats". After that, I did a completely custom quarter sleeve which corkscrews around my left forearm based on images from Locke and Key. This complex tattoo was designed by Doug. He started with sketches, laid it out in Photoshop and colored it, and after a couple of design iterations, it's on my arm, and it's gorgeous.
Based on my successes, I'm going to revisit my right forearm and complete a half sleeve, and integrate my "Felix the Cats" tattoo with a custom design featuring pop iconography of the 1940's / WW2 era.
If you've always wanted to get a tattoo, but haven't taken that last step, here's the guidance that got me into the chair:
1. The tattoo is for you, not for other people.
2. Tattoos aren't permanent, because you aren't permanent either. How long are you going to wait before you do what YOU want to do?
Get up and do what makes you happy. Today. Right now. And if a tattoo is part of that, I recommend 3 Lions at the Riviera, wholeheartedly.
Good luck!
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