Tattoo fix

When Karen Ortiz heard TONY was granting wishes, she wrote to us begging, “Get the best tattoo artist in NYC to fix the tragic image of Mickey Mouse’s head that resides on my lower back!” We obliged and used our considerable pull to score Karen an appointment with Chris O’Donnell (chrisodonnelltattoo.com), 33, who works out of the expansive, well-lit Brooklyn Adorned shop.

O’Donnell is booked solid for months ahead of time and doesn’t usually take on new clients—most of the people he works with have bigger pieces that demand more long-term commitment. Tattoo devotees come to him for his color work and Eastern-oriented motifs, perfect in this case, since Karen wanted to replace Disney’s main mouse with a beautiful lotus flower. Taking only a quick glance, the friendly neighborhood tattooer asserts that faded images like Karen’s are generally easy to fix. As he expertly traced out the design on Karen’s back and prepared to do his thing, Adorned owner Lori Leven cruised by to survey the scene. Leven opened her Manhattan parlor 12 years ago, back when getting tattoos in the city was still illegal, a ruling that stemmed from a Hepatitis-B scare in the ’60s.

Tattooing is legal now, but that doesn’t mean that every artist is a professional. Still, there is an upside to shoddy ink. “Cover-ups are a good way to get people interested in your work because as an artist you get a lot of leeway,” O’Donnell explains. “Since people hate whatever they have on them, they don’t really care what you do, so long as you’re a better artist.”

A mere two hours after the initial consult, Karen’s ecstatic response to reaction proved his point. Karen gushes, “I’m so happy! The guy who [originally] did it was as old as Father Time. I really thought I’d be looking at that thing until I was 80!”

Save yourself from bad ink

Karen was lucky that O’Donnell was there to save her, but not everyone can be so fortunate. He imparted some common-sense tips to help make sure you don’t end up with something that you’ll regret.

Research online
The Internet is not only a huge repository for porno, but also for some great body art. O’Donnell says, “Most of the best tattooers going know each other, and link to each other’s websites.” Some of Chris’s favorites include Eddy Deutsche (eddydeutsche.com) and Tim Lehi blackhearttattoosf.com).

Don’t micromanage
Once you decide on an artist you like, let them do their job. “If you try to guide the hand of the artist because you’re afraid of getting a bad tattoo, you’ll just be hindering the process,” says O’Donnell.

Don’t be a cliché
You’re going to have this image on your skin for a long time, so be creative. O’Donnell advises, “Stay away from the latest album-cover art, celebrity tattoos or anything that you might pick to impress other people. The tattoo you wear for the rest of your life should be selected for you and nobody else.”

See previous New York wish