How much will it cost? Should I tip?
It’s time to talk about this topic.
If you’ve come across the videos that were funny at first, but then quickly became worn out after almost every self-respecting tattoo artist copied them, because nowadays it’s not enough for your art to be good, you also need to be able to entertain the audience, so besides being a tattoo artist, you have to be a psychologist, salesperson, editor, director, cameraman, and clown.
That’s why I’m here after all.
But let’s be clear, in these videos it becomes clear that asking how much a tattoo costs is a very subjective question, and without additional information, we as tattoo artists can’t tell you a specific price. In the same way that you can’t answer the question of how much an apartment costs, or a car, or how many children Elon Musk and Blagoy Georgiev have in total.
Nevertheless, I will try to give you some guidelines so that you have a more realistic idea of prices and what to expect when you decide to get a tattoo.
Basic rules
As a basic rule of thumb for prices, it’s important to know that every studio has a minimum, which is the minimum price you can pay for a tattoo, based on the cost of the supplies used to tattoo even just a single dot, as well as the percentage that goes to the tattoo artist, so it’s clear that every tattoo will make a profit even if it’s minimal. It’s also good to consider things like the studio’s location and hygiene level, as these things directly affect the studio’s costs, which are also included in the final price of the tattoo. Probably the most defining factor for the price is the quality of work and the artist’s experience. So if you want to get a tattoo from a quality tattoo artist with experience, who works in a studio in the center with high levels of hygiene and quality, the price will be higher compared to getting a tattoo from a friend who tattoos in their basement and it’s not sure how sober they are and what exactly they’re not sober from. Everything in this world has a price, and often that price is a reflection of the quality of the product or service. Unless the product is those awful huge Balenciaga sneakers that are meant to make you look like Bigfoot if Bigfoot had 2/3 thousand to throw away on total nonsense.
Different methods
It’s good to know that different artists use different pricing methods. Some prefer to charge by the hour, others charge by the area they tattoo, and others, including myself, prefer to set an individual price for each individual tattoo, taking into account a multitude of factors such as size, complexity, body area, execution time, amount of detail, color, etc.
I personally choose to price this way because although it’s convenient, calculating the price based on time means that potentially the faster I get, which is inevitable over time, the less money I will make for my work, which is somehow illogical. And also if I get paid by the hour, it would motivate me to work slower and dawdle more, which I also don’t think is the best option. Also, if I’m talking to the person, which is one of my favorite parts of the whole tattoo ritual and I also think it’s one of the good ways for the client to distract themselves from the pain, then I will inevitably work a little slower. The same is the situation with charging by the amount of area. In the same area of skin, you can make one line or put in a lot of details and colors so that in practice both take up the same total area.
Therefore, with so many different factors, I think the best option for pricing, for both the artist and the client, is when the price is based on the design itself.
So if you’ve decided what you want to get tattooed, you’ve chosen the studio and the artist you want to get tattooed by. It’s best to contact the artist or studio and describe in detail what you imagine, how big it should be, and for which part of the body. It always helps if you have visual references that can more easily guide the artist to what you see in your head, but it’s important to know that most, or at least the more valuable in my opinion, artists would not copy someone else’s tattoo, so keep in mind that your references will be more of a guideline, not something that will be done 1 to 1. And after you discuss all this with the artist or studio, you will be able to get either an exact price or a price range in which the tattoo will definitely fall, as long as there are no grandiose changes to the idea.
In conclusion
Finally, I’ll address another question that many people ask themselves: Should I tip, and how much? The answer is always “Yes,” nobody likes cheapskates.
Just kidding, of course. Tipping is a personal decision for everyone and is not at all mandatory. If you are very satisfied with the work, attitude, hygiene, and the whole experience, and you are willing to leave something extra for the artist as a token of appreciation, rest assured that it will be deeply appreciated, but it is in no way obligatory. Also, if you decide to bring the artist some food or sweets instead of a tip, you can be sure that you will be deeply respected for your decision, as all tattoo artists are usually permanently hungry during the day and have pretty bad eating habits and love sweets. And in general, I consider people who don’t like chocolate to be potential sociopaths or at least people I don’t want to socialize with.
In general, tipping is something you choose for yourself whether to give or not, and you shouldn’t feel obligated to do it, it’s a personal decision and no one will be offended if you don’t find it necessary.
This concludes this article. I would be happy if you wrote to us with new ideas for other articles and things you are interested in discussing in future texts.
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