INKDIVIDUAL CONSULTATION – LEARN TO SEE YOUR TATTOO LIKE A PROFESSIONAL

When I first came at Žvaki’s, I had no idea what I actually wanted.

I Googled many tattoo artists who work in Zagreb where I live, but also in the rest of Croatia. Some of them showcased great work, some were a sort of legends in their own town, but what won me ower was Žvaki’s philosophy “Think What You Ink”, unique work and VIP appointments.

I had three completely unconnected tattoos next to each other, moderately done (Žvaki would say I’m being too kind 😊 ) and the only thing I knew was that I wanna get rid of them and get one, professionally done tattoo, just mine, which I will love forever. And I wanted it right now.

Because of the way Žvaki works, I knew he’ll be completely focused on me during our 8 hours of VIP appointment, without interruptions of God-knows-who, and that I’ll get design perfect for me even though I really had no idea what the perfect design should look like.

First, we had a coffee and started talking about everything, and about tattoos, of course. And that’s when it began.

So, what do you find as most important concerning tattoos?

He gave me a list with few characteristics and asked me to sort them from most to the least important. Amongst others, on the list were price, design, beauty, uniqueness…

I knew Žvaki doesn’t work with everyone, so I wisely put the price at the bottom and epithets such as “uniqueness” at the top. I was sure I nailed the first test and showed I’m serious about this.

I was wrong.

Žvaki then patiently explained each of the things of the list using real-life examples everyone can relate (such as male-female relationships 😊 ) and pointed out what is in fact most important, what we need to pay attention to, and what we can ignore on our way to a “tattoo for forever“.

We all come to a tattoo studio full of ideas and armed with knowledge from the Internet, unaware of how coplex tattooing really is. Purpose of this mini test and INKDIVIDUAL consultations is to teach us to see our tattoos like a professional.

We all want authentic design, but for that, we need a certain space on our body. Sometimes much bigger than we planned.

To fulfill it’s potential, our design has to be perfectly positioned. Sometimes the perfect place is not where we imagined it to be.

And that’s how it goes with every aspect of a tattoo. INKDIVIDUAL consultation helps us to get to our final goal – tattoo which we want, but in a rights way, so it can really last a lifetime.

I had not yet absorbed all that Žvaki said, and he already hit me with another challenge. We’ll do a cover-up first but I have no saying in it. He decides everything.

What do you mean you decide everything?

At thins point, I kind of had a panic attack.

Shaved metalhead is gonna choose a tattoo for me who grew up listening to Britney Spears? I could already imagine a tattoo of a skull all over my back.

But, I told myself – You asked for it, you got it. Either you trust him, or you go home.

There was a good reason I wanted to work with Žvaki, so there was no way I was gonna back up.

And trust I put in him completely paid off. Trough a conversation we started getting to know each other, what is important for each of us, when it’s ok for me to make the decisions and when it’s time to be quiet and let him do his thing.

That’s exactly how we did the cover-up. I listed things I like, and Žvaki eliminated motives we couldn’t use. Finally, we agreed on something that I liked and was good enough for the cover-up.

INKDIVIDUAL consultations prepare you for situations like this one. As much as I love my dog, his portrait won’t do me any good – it won’t cover up old tattoos and it won’t look good. You gotta be open-minded and ready to search further.

We agreed on cover-up pretty fast, in fact, so we moved on to brainstorming about the rest of my tattoo. My vision was something old Hollywood style, 40′ and 50s, a good looking guy like Humphrey Bogart leaning on a Rolls Royce while a chick a la Jessica Rabbit is coming his way, sign “Hollywood” in the background…

No.

Smoky jazz bar?

No.

Reflectors, sunset?

No.

There were many more “no”, but each accompanied with INKDIVIDUAL explanation why it’s not a good choice: characters won’t be realistic, there’s not enough space for that, it will turn into a blur during years, won’t look good on that part of the body…and always accompanied with Žvaki’s counter-offer.

During our three VIP appointments, Žvaki ransacked the whole Internet with me looking for inspiration, showed me on tablet how my tattoo will look like on my back (precious for us who are not visual types), he came up with details which I would never think of, introduced me to techniques and styles I never heard of…

Eight hours at Žvaki’s is eight hours of brainstorming, challenging each other and discussing, and the best part is you get to create your own tattoo.

My tattoo is not a copy from the Internet. It was created by throwing around with ideas, by some wriggly course of our thoughts and conversations, merging motives and playing with styles.

At the same time, my tattoo is not what I had in mind when I first came to Žvaki’s studio. It’s a completely different design and size, but it has the essence of my initial idea and is upgraded with details which guarantee it’s gonna be beautiful, high-quality and will fit my body but also my personality.

In fact, Žvaki simply tailored all my wishes and ideas in a way that they respect INKDIVIDUAL lessons so the final result would be high-quality.

Now that I think of it, I have no idea how we created my tattoo. There was a lot of coffee, cigarettes, and talking, suggesting, putting an idea over the idea.

Every time I go to see Žvaki, I get up at 5 am, travel 600 kilometers, get stabbed with needle for eight hours and get back home completely tired. After many hours we spent together, we only did cover-up maybe half of tattoo. That’s a lot of hours of work, and I still don’t have a tattoo I wanted “right now“.

But still, I somehow forget all the pain and tiredness, and look forward to going to Osijek, to all the discussions and can’t wait to see what we’re gonna come up with. When I enter Žvaki’s studio, I have no idea with what I’m gonna leave. I’m no longer in a hurry because I enjoy the opportunity to create my own tattoo for which I’m sure I won’t need a cover-up 😊

And those are in fact, INKDIVIDUAL consultations – they question everything you think you know about tattooing and take you to an amazing journey of creating your own tattoo. You stop caring about reaching the goal because you’re having a fucking great ride getting there.