Advice for someone getting their first tattoo

What’s goin’ on everyone, I hope you’re all doing well. I just had a few questions I was hoping to get some advice on.

I’m planning on getting my first tattoo soon, the first part of what I’m hoping to eventually turn into a sleeve. I’m Puerto Rican so I’m planning on centering the theme of the tattoo, and the eventual sleeve around cultural icons, art, symbols etc. My questions are as follows

1. What should I take into consideration when picking an artist?

2. What’s the proper way to take care of a tattoo as it’s healing? Like how often I should clean it, what products should I use, things like that?

3. What are red flags that I should be on the lookout for when it comes to tattoo artists, and the tattoo itself (scrolling through here, I’ve seen way too many people have an obvious infection and go “is this normal?” I’d really like to avoid that 😭).

Thank you in advance for whatever advice you guys might have for me. I greatest appreciate it.