How Much Does it Cost?

The price of a tattoo is set according to the tattoo artist’s estimate of the amount and the difficulty of the work he’s expecting. Some tattoo artists have a set tariff, of which they charge by the hour.

The price is affected by several factors:

The size of the tattoo: The bigger the tattoo – the higher the price.

The complexity of the tattoo: The more details the tattoo has – the more difficult it will be, the more work it will need – and the more it will cost.

Coloring style: Fully colored tattoos take longer to make. Therefore, their price will be higher than the same tattoo when in shaded coloring (30-50% extra). If the tattoo consists of line alone – it will be even cheaper. In addition, the amount of colors the tattoo includes will affect the price.

Difficulty of the tattoo: Certain tattoos are harder to do, and so their price will be higher. Examples of these are: precise tattoos such as portraits, tattoos which consist of straight lines or circles, fixtures and cover-ups of old tattoos, tattoos that require of the tattoo-artist thought and planning during the tattoo, and so on…

Part of the body: Certain areas of the body, such as the ear or the neck, are more difficult to work on, and so the tattoo in such part will be more expensive (20-50% extra). Likewise, areas such as the back of the neck or the pelvis which are referred to as stretch-areas, i.e. the skin is more elastic to allow certain movements such as bending forward. Since a tattoo artist needs to stretch the skin in order to tattoo it, and in the stretch-areas the skin stretches more, it’s as if the tattoo artist is working on a larger area of skin. For this reason, you’ll pay more for tattoos in these areas.

It’s important to know that the money you’re paying for the tattoo isn’t for the materials used, as much as it is for the work of the tattoo artist. Of course, if you want a tattoo of a line and a half – you’ll pay the minimal price. After all, the tattoo artist opens a new set for you which includes – a needle, paint, gloves and so on. At the end of the day, a tattoo is a hand made creation – so don’t compromise! If you look for something cheap – you will find it, but the final product will be equivalent. After all, the bad feeling of the “tattoo” you get, will last much longer than the good feeling of the cheap price you paid.

Don’t try to haggle over the price with the tattoo artist – you are not in the market place.  Most tattoo artist will interpret this as disrespect of the high standards they’re offering you, and you definitely don’t wanna start with the tattoo artist on the wrong foot…

Your tattoo is forever. Don’t let its price affect your decision, even if it means that you have to postpone it a bit to heighten the budget.

Just for your information, I usually get the tattoos on me at the world’s champs. Some of them charge 300-400$ an hour, and each tattoo takes a few hours. You can do the math to find how much I pay for every tattoo. And nope, I don’t suffer from excess money. But I just won’t compromise on other artists. Forget the fact that I have to travel abroad especially for them, and that it’s not so easy to get an appointment with them. Forget everything. I got the perfect tattoos. And I’m gonna enjoy them forever!