How Long Does it Take?

There are faster and slower tattoo artists, each one works at his own rate, and that doesn’t mean that if he’s fast – he is necessarily better. Sometimes a fast tattoo artist will turn out to be sloppy…

Never rush the tattoo artist, and don’t stress him for time. Come with patience, or, even better, clear a whole day. After all, you don’t get a tattoo every day…it is recommended that you contact the tattoo artist in advance, ask him when it’s best for you to come and book with him. If they are very busy and popular – it probably says something about them, no?

The factors that affect the time – are about the same factors that affect the price, and which I mentioned in the article “How much does it cost?”

A small and simple tattoo usually takes anything between a few minutes to an hour, and a big tattoo could take several hours or more. Don’t worry, if you do a big tattoo, the tattoo artist will allow you to take toilet and stretching breaks. Even though a tattoo artist is indeed almighty, he needs these breaks too…

A tattoo that takes more than several hours usually will be split into a number of sessions. A full back piece, for example, could take 20 hours or more, and be split into at least 4 sessions. Between each session, we have to wait 2 to 3 weeks to allow the finished segment to heal, before we can continue working.

To the first session will be added, usually, time for preparations, or drawing. Some tattoos you can’t draw on a paper first and transfer to the skin, and you must draw them directly on the skin (with a pen, relax), to fit them accurately to the shape of the body etc…