Tattoo Costs?

Costs are highly variable. Depends on the artist, the complexity, whether you get a friend discount, cash vs credit etc.

 

Also depends on where it's going to be. The tattoo shop here offers coupons in our school coupon book, I would never go to a place that takes coupons

 

A full back piece " from the tops of your shoulders to the crack of your arse" in black only usually starts at about a $1,000 and will take multiple sittings. usual rates are about 120 to 150 per hour.

It also depends on the artist, "does he charge by the hour or by the piece" , how much color, size and placement, and how long you can sit in the chair and take the pain.....

kat von greed is way to overpriced.. i talked to her assistant 2 years ago and it was $500.00
just to get an appointment with her!!!!! not the tattoo, just the appointment. i guess having a t.v. show will do that to you.

There are plenty of other artists just as good if not better than kat.
Do alot of RESEARCH on the style you want , and look for an artist that does that style the way you like it.

"good tattoos aren't cheap and cheap tattoos aren't good"

But you don't have to get bent over to get a good one,
and unless the artist you pick has been drawing on you along time over many, many sessions. "I WOULD STAY AWAY FROM ANY RANDOM DEALS OR DISCOUNTS".....

There are plenty of guys that will draw crappy art on you for $50.00 "JUST RUN AWAY"

It's going to be on you for a long time so take your time choosing. look at it as your own personal art gallery and you'll do fine

 

A better question is "what will it cost to get rid of this damned tattoo?"

They're high fashion now (if you like that creepy sort of thing).

Times change, ten years from now it might just identify you as "one of those weirdos" and you'll do just about anything to get rid of it.

 

I suspect there will be plastic surgeons/dermatologists that will absolutely clean up by removing tattoos in another decade or two.

I see guys that have sleeves or other elaborate visible tattoos and just wonder what they will think after a few years of UV turning the colors into one nasty blue-black mess.

 

A couple of points to the two prior posts:

1) Not all tats are visible. Proper planning can result in a lot of art that can hide in 'normal' clothes
2) The folks who are carrying full sleeves+ aren't the type that really care about fitting into corporate life
3) These aren't your grandfather's tattoos. The new inks are much more resistant to fading and bluing, and most who have them are smarter these days about UV damage on the art.
4) There are already removal parlors, and they're doing a booming business. One should always THINK before you INK.
5) To the OP -- a discount tattoo is usually a bad idea. I know I 'overpaid' for the little that I carry, but the artwork is correct, well-colored, and mostly freehand. A lot of people can follow a stencil with a machine, fewer are true artists. If you see someone and you like the work, ask them who did it and where.

 

The "trick" is to get a tattoo that really means something to you. Don't get a tatt just because you saw some cool person wearing one. Get a tatt that you will appreciate 50 years down the road. Also before you get a tatt ask the see the artists work. Go to many shops and see different work to get an idea for who is good and who isn't. Talk to people with lots of tatts if you can, they usually know who does good work or not.

Here is mine. It needs to be finished and recolored:
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

^What's the symbolism of yours? Pretty cool looking.

 

I'm Irish, and it's an evil Leprechaun tearing out of my skin The color for the torn skin was never finished. He's holding it in his hand. He also has blue eyes like me. This was done mostly freehand using a similar picture for a basis by a friend of mine in Santa Rosa Beach, FL about 10 years ago. His name is "Barney". He had a shop set up in his house, sterile with proper chairs and everything. Not sure what he's up to now but he did great work back then. I watched him tatt my friends till his work got good enough that I felt comfortable getting one myself The black was done first, then I went back for the color. Took a total of about 8hrs I think.

 

Sweet! Thanks for answering.

 

GREAT post mate!!

Spot on there with everything!

I only use one Tattooist that lives 2000 km away from me on the Gold Coast. Everytime I go on holidays, I visit them and get a new Tattoo.

His shop is one of the best I have seen personally. He charges AU $160 p/h. No fixed rates at his shop.

4 hours work cost me AU $640 January this year. Gotta go back and get more Tatts from them.

 

Cool Tat!

Hey, I bet our circle of friends overlapped. I just left that area after 20 years worth and miss it already. Does the Red Bar ring a bell? Or Theo's Pizza in Destin?

 

my wife was the first licensed female artist in MD. and did tattoos for over twenty years. we always told customers "good work ain't cheap and cheap work ain't good" one of the sad facts of life is you get what you pay for. do research. look for a professional convention where you can see lots of great artists at one time, find an artist who's work you admire and go to where they are. we were always appreciative when someone told us they traveled a long way to get her work. find an artist who likes the design or style you want. know what you want and be able to explain exactly what you want, you'll get better results. look for health department licensed studios. don't go to someones' house or a party. if money is an object look at it on a pro rated basis. a $1k tat spread over a lifetime is pennies a day. remember you'll be dead and that tattoo will still be here so get what you want and damn the cost. you wouldn't low ball a doctor removing your appendix. good luck.

 

It really depends on the tattoo'ist...If some of your friends have a tattoo and it looks really good then ask where he got it done, or someone at a bar for that matter.

My sister got her second tattoo on her back done last year (a butterfly between her shoulders, on her lower back she has a rose) and it went a little wrong. That was at a cheap shop. The other one was done in a different country and at the best shop on the island and its really nice. She's lucky its on her back though, and besides that i find it hard to spot whats wrong with it!

I'd really like to be tattoo'd (whole of my back and arms) but at the moment im just waiting until i see what happens with my career. I'm looking at setting up my first company right now, which means i could do whatever i want. But if that doesnt work out and if i do have to work for someone else i do have to look professional, which does mean i cant show any tattoo's.

So basically im waiting until my career path looks stable and i'll go from there!

 

I'll PM u

 

I see you're in AZ, too.
My gf gets hers done at Club Tattoo-150-300/hr

You can check out more local shops at these expos-
Skin Art Expo
Date-TBA
The Arizona Tattoo Expo
May 1-3 2009

 

i'm gonna get one on Dec 18th. will post pics of it, should cost about US 200...

 

Club Tattoo is the place that gives the coupons I was talking about in an earlier post.
I heard from someone in my class that they are not that great, but I do not know anything about it.
It's owned by Chester (Linkin Park person)