Chicago True Blue Tattoo

Stephen King was amazing and very patient with us. One of our best experiences.
Thank you!

I love this hope, and there is not an artist in there that I wouldn’t let tattoo me. Tony, Steven King, Creamy and soon to be Drex are some of the most talented tattoo artists I know. That are hands down amazing. Tony has done the majority of the work on me, and always charges a fair price. His work on me has been featured in galleries featuring excellent tattoo work as well and three soon to be 4 times in Ink’d magazine on myself.

Just had a large half sleeve done by Jeremy and had an overall great experience, after only being tattooed once before. The place was clean, the artists were friendly/​humble and listened to my thoughts on the piece. Jeremy took the time to dissect a very straightforward coin design and turn it into a piece of art. I highly recommend these guys and will be back.

Stephen King did my tattoo and was a very nice guy. place smelled clean, looked clean, and the artist worked with what I wanted and cared about how it turned out. Creamy, the owner, was a creep and used every stupid baby boomer old dude trick in the book to be a jackass to me. talked to me like an idiot and continuously asked me out on a date. maybe the owner should be more professional, other then that it was good

Chicago true blue is a great shop. My girlfriend and I have gotten a combined six tattoos from Tony. He is friendly and really cares about giving you what you want. His line work and shading are top notch. Tony is also very quick! Check out his work on Instagram! He does great work for a great price. Tony — Afic6 on Instagram!

Just made a recent visit to True Blue tattoo and was very happy with the work that was done on my arm. I recommend if your looking have work done at an affordable and artist driven shop.

I would like to send out a huge shout out to Chicago True Blue Tattoo! While visiting a friend in Chicago I thought it would be the perfect time to get an old tattoo covered. Jeremy at did an EXCELLENT job using his amazing artistic ability to design and complete my side piece that now extends down my upper thigh to cover-​up an old tattoo. I couldn’t have asked for better service! Everyone in the shop was very friendly, professional, accommodating and laid back. My new piece was worth every dime! I’ll definitely be coming back when I’m in the area and in need of more work. Thanks Jeremy!

I am so very, very happy with my decision to go to True Blue. I started out looking for parlors in the area. I called around to five or six different shops in the Wicker Park region, asking about their shop minimums. Of all the shops I called, the gentleman I spoke to at True Blue was the only person who said anything along the lines of, «Why, what were you thinking of having done?» He asked for details and my situation and showed a wonderful professionalism when discussing my work with me as well as pricing and time. The fact that he showed interest where other shops didn’t made me inclined to want to go from the beginning. My friend and I were getting three small pieces between the two of us — her two, me one — and they told me that they would work with me on price because I was getting less done.
I ended up exchanging emails with them and going in for our tattoos on a Sunday afternoon. It was pretty quiet, but all the same, the service and hospitality we received was wonderful. Jeremy (I’m pretty sure there are two Jeremys there, so for reference, the one with the long goatee) did our work, and he did it very well indeed. My friend I both felt very comfortable in his shop. The shop, by the way, is gorgeous — the walls are covered in paintings done by the various tattoo artists who work there, and during the process, Jeremy told us that they were going to have their first art exhibit there in a couple of weeks (August 25, folks, I recommend it) and asked us if we would play that night for them (we’re cellists, and were getting cello tattoos).
All in all, very, very pleased. I recommend this shop highly — the art is great, the people are great, the atmosphere is great (the music they played was awesome, too) and most importantly, we’re delighted with our tattoos. Thanks, guys.

Went in tonight for a tattoo and am so so pleased with the results. Brian did an excellent job on a tattoo I have wanted for a long time. He said he can correct a previous tattoo as well which makes me super happy! Very comfortable atmosphere, incredibly nice guy, and excellent work. I will definitely be returning for all of my tattoos in the future.

I’ve only been tattooed by Brian (came here with the intention of having him touch-​up a tattoo he did awhile back, ended up talking to him about doing some sugar skulls), but the guys here are great.
The guys are really laid back and the shop just has an overall good vibe.
I’ve only been tattooed by Brian, but I’ve seen work from the other guys and honestly, you can’t go wrong with any of them. Brian did three of my tattoos previously, but two of them are flags and one came from a birthday card, so I didn’t want much tweaking done. Well, this time I knew I wanted sugar skulls, but wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted. Initially I didn’t want color, I wanted a profile view of them, one female the other male, not too much going on but not too little. I showed Brian pictures of ones I liked and ones I hated and he came up with two skulls that I love. I wasn’t sure what to expect and when I saw what he came up with I couldn’t stop smiling. As he was setting up I asked him if he thought I should put some color in and he said it wouldn’t look bad, so, I went with it and I’m really happy I did.
I felt bad for Brian because while I can normally sit relatively still, tattooing the foot meant there were movements I couldn’t control. When I had to have him stop so I could re-​position my foot, he had no problem with that. When I had to have him stop because it hurt and I needed a minute, he had no problem with that. When I needed some gum to stop me from clenching my teeth, he gave me some. Brian’s a really nice guy and my tattoos look great! Definitely recommend True Blue.

I went to these guys for my 3^rd tattoo, having went to Deluxe Tattoo for my 2^nd tattoo, and L.J. for my very first tattoo (when I was 17). True Blue Tattoo has got to be the one shop that had the nicest and friendliest bunch of guys around. The atmosphere and vibe that I felt were like I was a buddy of their’s from get go.
The place has a pool table, large and well-​lit lobby/​waiting area for customers and the inking area is a little bit farther back and off to the side, offering some privacy. I had an appointment for a session with them to do a piece on my forearm, wrist to elbow, of some custom work depicting a scene from a movie, John Carpenter’s The Thing. It was the Norris creature and is my favorite part of the movie which is one of my favorite horror films.
Contact with artist throughout the week before I got the tattoo was regular, updated with pics of the tattoo and I was able to give input as to what I wanted exactly as needed. Artist was very patient and accommodating, working on me for around 6 hours, taking very short breaks very few times. The music playing in the shop was great, a good mix of metal and hard rock, and the whole shop just had a very pleasing atmosphere to it.
When local hoods/​gangbangers came in wanting to get some gang tattoos the owner/​manager of True Blue quite clearly told them we don’t do gang tattoos and that they should go to another place for that. I really respected the shop for refusing a paying customer that wanted some bullsh*t gang crap on them. The owner, who was there during my session and was very friendly and cool to talk to, has been in the tattooing business for 15+ years and was very knowledgeable on the craft and art.
The artist gave me my finest tattoo to date, exactly how I wanted it done, and I could not have been more pleased. The shop was extremely clean, organized, and one of the most comfortable experiences I have had in a tattoo shop. During my session, fellow artists at the shop offered to run to the store to get me a beverage, grab some food, etc. My friend who came with me for the whole session was treated just as cool as I was. I can’t recommend this tattoo shop enough. My friend is now going to come back to get some of her work touched up and it was because of the knowledgeable artists and end result of my own extraordinary inking that really stood out in my friend and me deciding to come back again for our next tattoo work.
Parking was easy– got a spot right out in front. It is not metered parking on side of the street that the shop is on. That is a plus. They do walk ins. Also cool. Come check them out.

I have gotten my past three tattoos at True Blue and I highly recommend it. My work was all done by Brian Clutter, who is amazing! One of the pieces he did was water colory looking, and it truly looks like an antique water color painting on my arm. Perfect! My other two were detailed line work and shading, and those look equally amazing! Bonus for how nice and non pretentious the atmosphere and dudes are here. And I swear it is the cleanest tattoo spot I have seen. Bottom line? If you want some excellent work done without the hype and obnoxiousness, go to Brian at True Blue.

Went to True Blue many times this year so I gotta say first I love the free & easy parking. You can expect a clean, friendly shop of talented artists who charge a fair price. I go to Brian Clutter, I’ve seen Jeremy & others do great work too. These are not amateurs when it comes to custom tattoo work. If you can imagine it, they can tattoo it.

Great shop. I was in there a couple weeks ago getting my fifth tattoo done by James. As soon as you walk in the place feels good. There is a pool table in the lobby open for anyone waiting and some padded benches for those who don’t want to. Tattoos can take a while so if your in line its nice to be able to play a couple games with your buddies while your waiting for them to finish up what they are doing.
Creamy, the owner is a real solid dude and a great artist as well. Showbizo is another artist and cool guy. I had a chance to talk to him also. All the artists are good guys, they don’t mind talking or even playin some pool with you as well.
The best part is that you can hang in there without feeling like your in there strictly for business and when your number is up its time to get it done and leave. I’ll be in there soon to finish up the color on my tattoo. This place is a clean well kept shop run by professionals. I definitely recommend it.