Choosing a tattoo artist is like choosing a plastic surgeon. You’re out there trying to find the right person to make a permanent change to your physical appearance so you should at least take a look at a few portfolios and talk to the artist. If the artist isn’t interested in you or figuring out what it is that you want then go somewhere else. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a “tattoo artist” these days, but the scratchers and hacks outnumber the good artists who give a shit about what they’re doing by about 100 to 1. So take a little time and find someone who really wants to give you what you were trying to find.
Okay, so fast forward to the part where you found an artist who’s work you want. Here’s where some people make the big fuck-up. You find the artist you want, you get your idea for the piece all ready to go, and then he tells you the price and you get all uptight and start trying to shave down the price by asking questions like “okay, so how much is it if we leave this out or this over here?” or “really, why so much?”
Yeah, for real, it happens all the time. So I’m gonna answer those questions right here and now. First of all, there is no such thing as a standard price. The fact of the matter is that its up to the artist. You came to me with nothing but an idea that you could never have gotten out of your head, and me being awesome at what it is that I do, pulled it from your brain and put it on paper ready to go on your body. So what does that mean? It means that I just did what nobody else could do so I decide how much its worth. Not to mention the fact that I’m about to draw on you with a 1 pound vibrating machine on a canvas that moves, twitches, bleeds, cries, complains, answers its phone even though it said it wouldn’t, fights with its significant others, wants cigarette breaks, needs to use the damn bathroom every 2 fucking seconds and so on and so forth. AND I have to pull this shit off with a 0% margin for error and there are other people waiting.
My question is this; Did you haggle over the price of those designer jeans that you’re only gonna wear for 6 months? Did you haggle over the price of those shoes? What about the designer purse? The jacket? What!? Not even the chain or the earrings? But you’re not gonna have any of that shit for the rest of your life. So why the fuck would you argue about the price of a tattoo that will be on your skin FOREVER????? Only a fucking retarded idiot would be so stupid. Do you hear girls argueing with the guy who’s gonna give them fake tits? NO. Know why? Because a shitty titty job is one of the worst things there ever was, thats why. Do you know what’s just as bad as a shitty titty job? A FUCKED UP TATTOO!!! DUUHH!!!
You pay for that tattoo one time and wear it for the rest of your life, while the money I made on it is spent by the weekend. So who wins? You do, unless you’re a cheap ass, in which case my advice is, don’t get a tattoo until you can afford what you want. I fix so many bad tattoos (its even more expensive to fix a fuck-up than it is to do it right the first time) and every time people say the same thing. “I wish I would have come to you first”.
So get out there, find the right artist and get what you really want and avoid being the person who has to explain that your tattoo isn’t what you wanted because you were trying to get a better price. You want a better price or a better tattoo? People don’t ask what it cost you, they just know if it sucks or not.
