Avelino is the shit man and truly one "cool mofo" haha.. After wasting my time at let it bleed i came into his shop and got an appointment right away. Next thing you know im chillin listening to his "jams" getting a dope tattoo done. I came all the way from LA to get some work done in SF and am super happy wit wat he did and definately gona make the trip back to get some more done by this dude. Good Looks Avelino!
Review Source:What a wonderful experience - my first tattoo to symbolize the beginning of a great year. I am so glad I chose to work with Avelino - I spoke to him briefly on the phone this morning regarding a peacock feather design for my left lower leg/ankle and made an appointment for this afternoon. Â The preliminary sketches were beautiful - he has the same aesthetic for peacock feathers that I do - wispy, not too full, not too 'haircut.' Avelino is charming and a great conversationalist; also very detail-oriented, professional, and a perfectionist. I felt at ease in his studio - which is vibrant, eclectic and very, very clean. My tattoo is amazing! Highly recommended! I will definitely return to Spirits In the Flesh for future tattoos.
Review Source:I got my very first tattoo here and have been coming back ever since! My first tattoo was a bat on my lower back (they weren't called tramp stamps back then!) and he was great at putting my nerves at ease. He's super friendly and always remembers me when I run into him in his neighborhood.
I also had a very long poem tattooed on my arm a few years back, more than 10 lines of text... he spent lots of time making sure that all the letters were lined up correctly before finally doing the tattoo and everything turned out perfectly. Also, for this same tattoo a couple of the shops on Haight street would charge 3 times as much and sadly that is not an exaggeration. Quality work for reasonable prices!
Avelino  is awesome!
I had Avelino do some tattoos for me back in the years 2002 to 2004. I wanted some more ink so I went back to Avelino today.
He is a very nice guy and puts you @ ease by chatting as he inks. He is very professional. I had him put two roses on my derriere then he put a sun star symbol on my stomach the link work is still very nice and tight after 6 plus years. Then a Butterfly on my shoulder. Â Which came out very nice.
His inking is very tight. I like the colors he put on the ones I have that have color on them. Today he put a nice Libra Symbol on the inside of my left wrist. He offers free touch ups after 2 weeks. IF he needs to ad something that he missed. I don't see anything he missed. But he is very nice to offer this touch up.
I want another tattoo and Avelino will be the artist to do this for me.
Big HuGZ to you Avelino.
Sara
I needed a cover-up (and i knew it was not going to be easy bcuz it was a MESS) and Avelino made it into a beautiful masterpiece. I am REALLY REALLY impressed with the outcome. I have one more session and then will upload pics so you can see the kind of work this man is capable of. A true artist . I have two other tats and they don't even compare to his work.
Thanks Avelino for hooking me up with this amazing cover-up tatt- a phenomenal job you have done. I love it
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I recently got a tattoo on my foot and I love it. The color and size is perfect. Avelino takes his time to work on ur tattoo and he will make sure the tattoo your getting is really what you want. He is a funny guy because he would make faces like he feels our pain while tattooing u. Anyways I would recommend my friends to go there if they ask me if I know of any good tattoo place.
Review Source:I've recently been blessed with a new tattoo done by Avelino and i have to say I'M PRETTY FREAK'N HAPPY. Â
Avelino, took the time to go over the size, color, placement (btw top of your foot doesn't feel too good) and aftercare, which is an extra plus because tattoos are pretty much forever. Â
During the actual tattooing, we had a very interesting conversation about  life and its ups and downs which help distract me from the buzzin' and the oouch feelin'. Â
if you're thinking about getting tattoo, i would totally recommend Spirits in the Flesh, Avelino is professional and personable and does great work.
He did a great job on my tattoo, and he even does free touch up two weeks later on any parts of the tattoo that didn't take. His work is great. The tattoo he did for me is by far the favorite of my tattoos. The tatto he did was made to look like the USDA stamp on cows, and everyone I've shown has commented that it looks like a real USDA stamp.
Review Source:I have been thinking about a tattoo for a while and asking a family member for a referral he referred me to spirits in the flesh. Â Spirits in the Flesh is owned and operated by a man named Avelino. Â Walking into his shop I got this feeling that this was going to be a good place. Â He has a nice collection of art work on the walls that he has done himself. Â It is all priced and reasonable. Â He answered any and all questions that I had. Â I brought in a piece I wanted to get done which, was a dragon wrapped around a Celtic cross. Â My next appointment he found a better cross for my dragon. Â So we were set and I decided to get the piece done on my right inside forearm. Â After the first sitting he nailed it. Â The after care is no problem. I am digging the finished. Â
Any and all future tattoos I plain to get done by Avelino.
First time tattoo disaster. Â One of the worst experiences in my life.
I went here after seeing previous work and it seemed that I would get great results. Â My design was small geometric and symmetrical and he seemed confident that he could execute the artwork with no problem. Â All the reviews pointed to a tattoo artist that took his time and valued perfection. Â Traits that I was looking for when getting my first tattoo. Â I did not doubt his ability but regretfully, now I wished that I had never stepped foot in his shop. The tattoo that I ended up getting is a far cry from the beautiful delicate original of my Japanese family crest that I painstakingly planned for over 5 years. Â In the final tattoo, the lines are not centered, the outer lines are wobbly and the overall effect is lost and no where near anything resembling traditional Japanese aesthetic. Â I feel that the whole process was rushed and attention to detail was not there at all. Â He offered to touch up the design but sadly, after living with this tattoo for a week, I believe it cannot be rectified and I am now seeking laser removal. Â (wobbly concentric circles just cannot be fixed unless you widen the whole design.) Seeing Avelino's outstanding work, I now realize that his strength is in his own organic flowing designs not symmetrical geometric ones.
I feel he should have been straight forward and forthcoming if he thought that the design that I wanted was not attainable. Â In the end he did not even acknowledge my complaints and take responsibility for less than mediocre work.
This was my first tattoo.
I had been wanting a tattoo for 20 + years and finally found a design I liked. The problem, the photo was the size of a thumbnail, from a magazine and was beat up pretty badly. Avelino free styled the design on my arm without skipping a beat! He really took the time when drawing it up and actually encouraged me to make edits and really wanted me to take the time reviewing the draft before we started. That alone, I was beyond impressed and made a couple edits via Avelino's prompts and I thought I was a perfectionist!
I've been with other people when they've had their tattoos done and have seen other artists 'get short' with my friends, if they needed a break or if they wanted to make a change or something. You won't experience that with Avelino. The excellent reviews from others here regarding Avelino is completely spot on! He's beyond professional, an amazing artist who listens and is extremely intuitive and understands the body.
Since this was my first tattoo, I was also very concerned about the needles and the sterility of getting a tattoo. Avelino opens all the sealed medically sterilized new equipment in front of you and answers any questions you may have and really conducts his work in relaxed but sterile environment.
Then there is Smiley! Avelino creating such a great environment is one thing, then add Smiley to that!? The absolute best! He is the coolest cat I've ever met! If you were nervous about getting a tattoo and if Avelino couldn't put your mind at ease, Smiley could! :)
I'm already thinking of my next tattoo and wouldn't dream of going anywhere else! Thanks Avelino!!! :)
Avelino is by far the best ink artist I've been to.My husband recommended him after he had some work done by him years ago. I knew he had to be good by this recommendation as my husband is the fussiest man on earth when it comes to ink....and one of the first things I noticed when I first met my hubby was his incredible  art work!
I loved the fact that Avelino truly makes you feel like a valued customer, and takes his time. He's a true perfectionist and doesn't rush, not even when you initially go in to go through ideas of what you want to get done.
I wanted to get two new tattoo's that were incredibly sentimental to me.One to mark what would've been the 25th birthday of my deceased baby sister, and the other a lotus signifying a new beginning for more personal reasons.
Because Avelino is a "one man show", it's great to have the whole place to yourself. You can choose to sit back and relax, or chat about whatever you want - I went for the latter and canceled my therapist scheduled for later that week. I could not have been more happy with the results - I was thrilled!! And, being the perfectionist he is, there was not one detail left untouched.
The studio was clean, easy to find and parking is a breeze.
I get complimented everywhere I go on my simple,yet beautiful and sentimental artwork - it's just perfect.I always recommend "Spirits in the Flesh" to people, and I'm hoping I can get back there very soon to get another one done!!
Go to Avelino! You won't be disappointed!! He rocks!!
Avelino has been my friend for years and he's GREAT!! Love him to death!!! Â He did my very, very first tattoo when I was 18 years old and I'm now 34!! He's honest, friendly, sweet, loves people!! The one thing I love about his shop is that it's organized, clean, and I love his beautiful exotic kitty!! I hope everyone can experience his work and to keep going back for more ink, as I will be!! The prices are different on what type of work you get, the size you get, but for the most part hes resonable!!
Review Source:Way back in '96 my best friend and I decided to get piercings and tattoos together in Fort Lauderdale. He went through with it that evening while I only got my third piercing. Piercings will heal (close) if you let them, no harm done, but a tattoo is forever. (yes, there is tattoo correction and removal but it's never the same as virgin skin.) I wanted an image I wouldn't regret later. Unfortunately, twelve years later I would get my inspiration. When my partner recently became ill and died, I knew that I wanted a bit of him permanently affixed to my body--his name, Jorge, would do nicely, sketched on a valentine heart. I knew about Avelino from frequently walking past his place. After checking it out on Yelp I had a consultation with Avelino, telling him my basic requirements. He was very respectful of the circumstances and showed me pictures of similar work he had done. He listened patiently to my comments ['not so large', 'less elaborate', 'not so Catholic' (I'm not Catholic, that's all)] and he mentally constructed an image of what I wanted. When I came back several days later to have the work done, the actual picture far exceeded what I had even hoped for. The shop is rather quiet...only one passerby stopped in during my whole process...which eased my tensions and kept me more relaxed. As part of the aftercare instructions, Avelino told me to come back about ten days later for any touchups to the tattoo. At my followup, after the scabbing and peeling (which was minimal) was done, my tattoo looked as crisp and clear as it had the day it was done. I have gotten nothing but compliments on it, one total stranger stopping me at a dance club for a closer look. I would heartily recommend  Spirits in the Flesh to anyone considering a tattoo. The love and care that Avelino puts into his craft is so obvious.
I used a webcam to take a picture of the tattoo on my back so the photo quality could be better:
<a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fjorgedaryl.110mb.com%2FDarylEng.htm&s=24fdad5a50a7bb4d8ce5a64e5c0eb2a2a3b27d9255a7af2ff61ee326eed3ac73" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://jorgedaryl.110mb.…</a>
If you desire BEAUTIFUL BODY ART, GO SEE AVELINO!!!
***Avelino did my first tattoo 8 years ago - the edges are still immaculately sharp and defined and the black ink has not faded. Â I just got my second tattoo done yesterday and I am very happy.
***The SHOP IS IMPECCABLY CLEAN AND WELL-APPOINTED. Â Avelino has some very interesting art pieces such as pictures, figurines, books. Â Also, since he is a one man show, the studio is very intimate. Â You and Avelino are usually the only ones in the shop which is especially great if you are getting a tattoo done in a more private area.
***EASY PARKING - there is a very safe and cheap garage two blocks away on Bush and Polk. Â I recommended you park here rather than the street.
Avelino has tattooed almost everyone in my family (Save my mom) and everyone is more than pleased with his artwork.
If you are truly interested in getting a tattoo, I suggest you drop by Avelino's shop and speak to him. Â He's a really cool guy!
Avelino's a super cool cat and a talented tattoo artist.
The studio is comfortable and clean. Â The shop mascot, Smiley, Â is a friendly kitty who will try to keep you company while you get inked..
He did a great job on a cover-up tattoo for me.
I have one more session to finish it, every time I see him around the neighborhood, he asks when I'm coming back to finish up.
Avelino inked me up right after I graduated HS 10+ yrs ago. Â He's very open to ideas and seems genuinely interested in what you want. Â He did all three of my tatts over a 2yr period, two of which were Transformers (yes the cartoon, way before the re-release craze). Â They were incredibly detailed - one was a reproduction from a comic book I brought in, the other from the actual toy. Â The third tatt was a Chinese character for "truth." Â Avelino has a buddy who owns a restaurant around the corner who happens to be good with Chinese calligraphy. Â He brushed the character onto paper and in turn Avelino inked it onto my arm. Â He's been doing this for awhile and has great knowledge of the correct brush strokes and its direction.
After 10+ yrs, they all look pretty much the same, maybe some minor fading but that's a given. Â Nothing a touch up won't fix. Â He was also cool enough to let me film one of the sessions and interview him for a film school project that turned out great. Â Thx Ave!
My main-man Avelino. He's one bad "moe-foe".Owner and artist and consultant of this fine studio.
The artwork that are on display are just some of his artwork.
I've been seeing this dude since 2003. He did most of my body art including cover ups. If you plan to do some tattooing then it's a good idea to talk with Avelino first and he can come up with a picture or whatever you have in mind and help you choose what design you like. He's down to earth and very patient of what he does. Avelino's points of  excellence in free hand work. Shading and attention to detail is phenomenal.
He work for himself by himself.
If you want him to offer his service's to you it's best to drop by in person. There are reference materials upon request. Tattooing is a big deal. So be sure what you want. If you are not sure what you want then think about it. Don't expedite your ideas
that you may regret doing.
Avelino is an one man show- an amazing one man show (I heard someone else say that about him) and I'm repeating it because it's true... He is the only man I trust to tattoo me... he's easy to talk to and works with you on your vision to ensure you get EXACTLY what you want... I've known Avelino since I was 20 and granted i just turned 21 it's been 11 years and he's really the ONLY one that I trust with something so permanent... He is an awesome artist...he's honest he'll tell you what won't work, may not be a great idea- so you come first not his register... he saved me from a couple of pieces I would have really regretted... Now if he would just tell me when a cutie will be there so that I can schedule my next and final appointment ;)
Review Source:Avelino did some work for me back in the late 90's. He does fantastic detail work, and is one of the easiest people to deal with as far as tattoo shops go, in that he has a very straightforward and professional manner without being condescending. I would definitely use him again. One minor glitch is that he's pretty tough to get a hold of and the shop keeps odd (inconsistent) Â hours.
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