Tattoos by Paul Smith

Paul is amazing. did MORE than what I could have expected with my tattoo I got from him last year! STILL looks amazing and haven’t gone back for touch ups! Go see him! You will be very happy! I know I am!!!

I have 5 medium-​large tattoos by Paul. I have sat with him for roughly 18 – 20 hours getting work done.
Paul does great work. He mostly does traditional/​Americana stuff for me. Spectacular color. Clean lines. If you have a vague idea for a piece, I recommend going in and telling him that vague idea. Odds are he’ll be able to build on your idea and draw something amazing. For my last tattoo, I went in and all I told him was that I wanted a «critter» and in what spot and he drew an amazing crustacean-​y critter that I would never have imagined on my own.
The other great thing about Paul is just how fucking nice the guy is. My previous artist had a too cool for school attitude. Paul is really down to earth and has a ton of hilarious stories. When you sit 3 inches from someone for several hours, it’s always best if you like the person and Paul is easy to like. He has tattooed many of my friends and the consensus first response is «look at my new tattoo! I love it!» followed by «man, Paul is so great.»

Paul did my very first tattoo, a sugar skull on my right ankle, and I, plus everyone that’s seen it absolutely loves it! Since it was my first tattoo I was super nervous, but Paul made me feel comfortable right away. Even when I laid down to get started he let me get a feel for what it was going to be like before he proceeded.
I also just told him what size I was looking for and what I wanted and what some of my favorite colors were and he drew up an amazing piece. The colors were perfect and the attention to detail is awesome. The detail is what people usually compliment on, too.
He was very casual during the tattooing and when I was quiet for a while he’d ask to make sure I was still doing ok. After the tattoo he spent about 15 minutes explaining after care for me and even told me what kind of lotion to buy and where to buy it at. He even sent me away with some things to wipe the sweating (if that’s what it’s called) until I could get my own.
I plan to get a second, much larger piece later this year and I know I will definitely be going to Paul!

If it were possible to give a tattoo experience/​artist more than 5 stars then I would do it here. Paul has been tattooing me for two years to the day and he’s done six of my many tattoos. His work is my favorite, by a very wide margin. His style draws mainly from the well of traditional American and Japanese tattoo design but his creativity with shape, color, placement, etc. defies genre. For almost every tattoo that he’s done for me I’ve started with a very loose concept and he has built amazing art from it. Four of the six tattoos that he’s done for me so far have been cover up work over terrible tattoos that i opted to get in my teens/​early twenties and without fail when people see them and i tell them that they are cover ups the reaction is utter disbelief. It’s just jaw droppingly beautiful work. So beautiful in fact that MY MOM is going in to see him tomorrow to get her first ever tattoo. :)
Also, and i really can’t stress this enough, Paul is a total riot to spend a few hours with. The first time i went to him we worked for almost 7 hours straight and had THE BEST TIME. The man is hilarious and smart and friendly and insanely talented. He’s pretty handsome too, if that’s important to you. :)