If tattoo prices are still pretty vague and confusing, we’ll break it down by how to price a tattoo based on artist experience, hourly rate, whole sessions, and ink color.
Artist Experience
An apprentice or beginner will be typically cheaper than any other artist.
When you decide to pay less and go with an apprentice, you are also accepting the fact that they are less experienced, and might not be able to do every style and design.
Additionally, they might not have as much experience to design custom tattoo, or do a cover up. This isn’t to say you can’t still get a great looking tattoo, but there is more of a risk that it won’t come out like you expected.
An established artist (5 to 10years experience) costs more than a beginner would, for obvious reasons.
They have had years of experience and likely tattooed hundreds of people, so you can feel confident thatyourtattoo will come out great.
They’ll also have plenty of experience with custom tattoos and can work with you to create the perfect design.
A popular artist that is highly sought after will have an entirely different set of prices for tattoos. The more popular they are, the higher their prices will be.
You are paying for their experience, time, and the chance to be tattooed by someone popular or even famous.
Hourly Rate
A tattoo artist’s experience directly affects the hourly rate they charge. All their years of experience earns them the right to charge more.
The minimum charge is always one hour, even if your tattoo only takes 15 minutes.
This accounts for the time it takes the artist to sterilize the equipment and consult with you.
Remember, bigger cities like New York and Los Angeles will probably cost a lot more per hour simply because they are in popular locations.
These are just estimates, and depending on the complexity of your design, the price could go up or down.
Read also: How Long Does it Take to Get a Tattoo?
By the Session
If your tattoo design is a flash, you might not need to pay by the hour.
A tattoo flash is a design that’s displayed in the shop to give customers ideas for a tattoo, and is usually a simple, smaller tattoo.
Most artists will have tattooed those numerous times, so they will just charge you for the whole session at once.
Smaller tattoos also might not take multiple sessions, so the artist might choose to charge you for the whole piece instead of by the hour. In this case, the price is based on whether it’s custom designed, picked from a design book, colored or not, and the placement on your body.
Color Ink vs Black Ink
Colored tattoos usually cost more than tattoos with only black and grey ink.
Colored inks cost more to buy and replace than black, therefore most artists will tack that on to the price of your tattoo. It also takes a lot longer for artists to change and mix colors while tattooing you.
For larger pieces, expect colored ink to hike up the price quite a bit because all that time really adds up.
* One more thing to keep in mind with colored tattoos, some colors tend to fade faster than others. Red, yellow, and green, and other bright colors fade the fastest.
You can help prevent fading by following tattoo aftercare strictly, but sometime in the future you will need a touch up. Keep the cost of touch ups in mind if you’re opting for colored ink.
As you can see, there are so many variables that affect tattoo pricing. If you want to know a specific budget for your tattoo, let’s have a chat over a cup of coffee in our studio here:
