Mario Desa and Nick Colella at Chicago Tattooing Company http://chicagotattoo.com/home.html are probably the two most notable traditional artists in Chicago. Haven't had anything done by either, but I've heard nothing but good things about both. Chicago Tattoo also gets a fairly decent number of people doing guest spots when they're in town. I've also heard lots of positives about Family Tattoo http://familytattoochicago.com/home.html . Hope that helps!
patrick cornolo, used to be 1/2 of cherry bomb tattoo, before kim saigh went off to film "la ink" and ended up moving out there. he came highly recommended, but i could never get an appointment, so i can't say for certain. check him out at: http://www.patrickcornolo.com/ i ended up going to deluxe tattoo on irving park, mostly because of jason vaughn. super cool guy, or at least i thought so. love his style, and well worth checking out: http://jasonvaughntattoos.com/home.html
Agreed. Mario Desa is awesome. Chad Koeplinger is doing a guest spot there real soon(like maybe next week?).
It has already been said before, but...you can't go wrong with Mario Desa or Nick Colella at Chicago Tattoo Company June 7th and 8th...Koeplinger will both be doing a guest spot at CTC. July 5th...Koeplinger and Sarah Schor will both be there.
