Things Your Tattoo Artist Secretly Wishes You Knew

A few observations from the other side of the tattoo chair.

After enough years of tattooing, you start noticing certain things.

Not necessarily bad things. Just things you occasionally wish clients knew without having to explain them.

So, in no particular order:

We Don't Remember Every Tattoo We've Ever Done.

We remember the memorable ones.

The tattoo that took 47 hours? Probably.

The one with the completely ordinary little flower from eight years ago? Maybe not.

This isn't because we didn't care. We've simply put thousands of tattoos on thousands of people.

“I Found This on Pinterest” Is Useful Information.

It tells us what you're drawn to.

“Can you make it exactly like this?” is a completely different conversation.

Reference images are great for communicating style, composition, color, subject matter, and overall direction.

They don't automatically become custom designs just because you've sent them to us.

Yes, We Can Tell When You're Trying Not to Move.

You may think you're being incredibly subtle.

You are not.

We can feel the difference between someone making a normal adjustment and someone slowly attempting to relocate their entire body while we're tattooing a straight line.

Please remain approximately where we left you.

Your Tattoo Is Going to Cost What It Costs.

Being lovely does not make the tattoo take less time.

Neither does being funny.

Neither does bringing snacks.

And while we're certainly happy when you're lovely, funny, and well-fed, the machine remains stubbornly committed to charging for the time required to do the work.

The Website Is Probably Trying to Help You.

If you're wondering about the booking process, policies, pricing, services, or what an artist does and doesn't offer, there's a reasonable chance the website already answered your question.

This is not a criticism.

It's actually an invitation.

Please read the website.

Someone spent an unreasonable amount of time writing all of that information specifically so you wouldn't have to email asking for it.

We Actually Want You to Love Your Tattoo.

This one should probably be obvious, but it's worth saying.

A good tattoo artist isn't trying to win an argument with you.

We're trying to make something we're proud to put our name behind—and something you're going to be happy carrying around for the rest of your life.

Those goals generally overlap.

And Yes, We Notice When You Trust Us.

When a client gives us a meaningful idea, communicates what matters to them, and then gives us room to use our experience and creativity, it makes the process incredibly rewarding.

Those are the projects we remember.

Not because the client was perfect.

Because they trusted us enough to let us do what they hired us to do.