HOW MUCH FOR A TATTOO?

Recently, and rather unexpectedly, a silly little tattoo meme I made, which you can see below, just happened to go viral, first on my own Instagram feed, then even more so via Inked Magazine’s feed (thanks for the share, btw!). We all know how that goes. Enough people like it, the right people share it, next thing you know it’s traveled across the digital globe and anyone who cares enough to pay it any attention gets to take to their keyboards and either love it, hate it, trash it, condemn it, laugh at it, question it, rage at it, and so on. Though I personally don’t understand how something as silly as an internet meme can cause so much division amongst its viewers when one can simply just keep scrolling and completely ignore it. Regardless, this such meme brought out a lot of sentiment towards it both good and bad, ignorant and informed from both tattooers and clients and I saw this as an opportunity to clarify and address the talking points as well as educate those who are interested in understanding the nuances that a meme simply can’t address.

I’d like to first start off by making it known that this meme in no way was intended to disrespect any client or potential client, though I fully understand that perceptions often negate intentions. When you’ve been part of an industry for over a decade it’s easy to forget that anything exists outside of that bubble. It’s easy to become jaded about negative experiences you’ve had over and over again and it becomes even easier to use sarcasm and humor as an effective coping mechanism amongst your peers. This meme was exactly that, a way for tattooers to get a laugh out of every day annoyances. I’d be willing to bet that most of those who were upset also have professions where they rally with co-workers to complain and poke fun at certain customer’s antics that they deal with on the daily. But again, no disrespect was intended. Clients are our life blood, without you we simply do not exist and it is an honor, a privilege and quite humbling to be allowed to mark you for life. I think I can speak for every tattoo artist out there, we absolutely appreciate you more than you’ll ever know and we owe every single one of you the debt of our gratitude. With that said, let’s move on to the meme in question.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but memes will never hurt me!

It seems that most of the people upset by the meme were hyper focused on the first line, “How much for a tattoo?” There was a complete misunderstanding as to what this meant and why it is a problematic way to ask about a tattoo. Many were confused thinking they just simply weren’t allowed to ask for the price of a tattoo. I had thought the following lines in accordance with the attached illustrations of our beloved Pooh Bear elevating his status would have brought clarity within the presented context, but I was apparently wrong. So let’s address what this line meant and why you shouldn’t approach your artist with that question just to clear things up.

A simple analogy written in the comments section of the Inked Mag post said it the best, “It’s like asking ‘How much for a car, or how much for groceries?’” It all depends on what you want. Pricing for a custom tattoo is often not a straight forward answer, there are many variables that come in to play when obtaining a quote. As the artist we need to know a few things before setting a price, and even then it’s often an estimated price and is often quoted within an estimated range. The bare minimum we need to know about your request is the style you are wanting, how big the tattoo will be in numerical measurements, where on your body the tattoo will be placed, and whether it will be black and grey or color. That’s a great starting point for any client wanting to inquire about pricing while getting straight to the point. Otherwise you will likely receive a response from the artist asking those very questions.

To take it even further, you will often consult with your artist prior to booking an appointment to go over the details of your design request to make sure you are both on the same page and to really hone in what the price range will be. It’s common for an artist to tell you something along the lines of “This design in this location will likely take somewhere between this and this many hours and my hourly rate is $this per hour.” Different styles of tattoos take differing lengths of time, size and location are a factor, and artists charge varying hourly rates as well as sometimes half day and/or full day rates. For example, a 5x5 inch traditional rose may take 2 hours, or maybe 3, or maybe 5 hours depending on where it is placed and the experience level of your artist. They may charge $100, $200, $350 etc. per hour or offer a half day or full day rate depending on things like where they are located and their experience level. At the same time, a 5x5 inch hyper photo realism tattoo will take far longer to tattoo and the best realism artists generally charge higher rates. There is no one size fits all homogenized and monolithic method to pricing a tattoo and this is why it is important to provide your artist with as much info as possible when inquiring about a tattoo.

As for the final image and text in the meme, not every artist is looking for this and not every client needs to become this. For those of us who are trying to specialize and hone in our skill set we absolutely love when our clients take the time to research the style of tattoos we do and understand that our rates are often set at what they are because we are in high demand and we offer something unique and valuable, at least to the people who keep us busy. Not every client wants that multi thousand dollar sleeve in the exact signature style that certain artists have to offer and that is completely normal and acceptable, but you’ll still have to find the right artist willing to take on your project.

All in all, I hope this has been an educational read for you and that if you’ve been wanting a tattoo, perhaps your first one, you now have the knowledge and know how to approach your artist in the most effective way. I like to think that memes themselves are not just for entertainment but also educational purposes, though I can see why they may just fall short of that due to their simplistic nature. I’m always open to offering advice and insight to those with questions whether they are looking to get tattooed by me or another artist altogether. For any one seeking info feel free to shoot me an email any time. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope your next tattoo inquiry connects you with your perfect artist.