Custom tattoos can be a significant financial commitment (or investment 😉) and there are a lot of elements behind the scenes that aren’t always made readily available to clients when it comes to unravelling most studios’ pricing. For transparency I have made a rough breakdown below of what each appointment generally includes and how that reflects in the cost or quote. This does vary depending on studio/artist but most of us have a similar breakdown.

Your appointment includes much more than just the time spent tattooing:

• A custom design created specifically for you
• Time spent planning and refining your idea
• Years of experience, training, and artistic development
• Premium inks, needles, and equipment/machines
• Single-use sterile supplies and strict hygiene standards
• Studio rent (usually 20-50% of the total price depending on studio), and overheads
• The time spent preparing and finalising your design, setting up, cleaning down
• A clean, safe, and professional studio environment
• Ongoing advice and support throughout the healing process as needed

A lot of the work happens behind the scenes, and every part of it is focused on giving you the best possible experience and a tattoo that will stand the test of time.

Things that are taken into consideration when quoting your piece:

• Sizing
• Placement
• Detail and complexity (this is one that is often overlooked when talking about microrealism – the smaller size of a microrealistic piece surprisingly can often take longer than if that piece was a bit larger, due to the details being so small that they need to be done with a smaller needle, which is incredibly time consuming).
• Rough timeframe expected for completion

I hope this helps to break down some of the costs within the pricing of most studios/artists. Tattoos are a financial commitment and I cannot express enough how much I really appreciate every client that books in!