Why are tattoos so expensive? Insight from a tattoo artist
People forget that tattooing is the main source of income for tattoo artists. Most of the drawing for tattoos is done behind the scenes, which means we don’t get paid for it. A simple tattoo design usually takes a few hours to draw minimum. Bigger pieces like sleeves take many hours (I’ve drawn many sleeves that have taken 5 to 8 hrs to draw and redraw). These are hours spent on your design that we don’t get paid for. So as tattooers, we need to find a way to compensate financially for the free time we spend designing, which is why we a) charge a deposit and b) charge a higher rate per hour. The deposit pays us a bit for all of the free time we spend on designs. It also makes sure that you show up for your appointment so that we don’t waste our time drawing something that you end up bailing on.
As an average rule, we also charge a higher rate to cover costs of tattoo supplies and to pay for the space we tattoo in. As you can imagine we go through TONs of supplies every month because everything is single use, so it adds up fast. We also pay for quality disinfectants and most of us have taken at least 1 course in blood borne pathogen safety/ prevention to make sure we provide the safest and cleanest tattoo environments possible. When we keep ourselves held to this high standard it does cost money so we need to charge for that accordingly.
Why do tattoo artists want such a big deposit?
We charge big deposits for a few reasons. Like mentioned above we charge a deposit to get paid a bit for drawing time. But the biggest reason we charge large deposits is to make sure you show up!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people no show on me when I haven’t asked for a deposit, and I definitely learned my lesson! Deposits give people a reason to show up because you’re not going to walk away from money you put down, and it is non refundable so it forces you to make sure you want to get the tattoo and are serious about it. If you no show your appointment your tattoo artist completely loses their income that day, which sucks! So a deposit ensures they have some sort of income if you decide to be a jerk face.
But if you give an artist ample notice (days or weeks) most of them will be open to rescheduling with you as long as you communicate with them and it’s a good reason (being hungover is not a reason to reschedule and you deserve to lose your deposit if that’s the case). Artists that are booked up a year or more in advance will probably be more strict... so make sure you ask beforehand what cancellation and rescheduling policies are. I’m just here to give you general guidelines 🙂
Hopefully this has given you some insight into the pricing of tattoos, again it’s how we make our living and it’s a luxury item (not a necessity) so it is priced accordingly. There is too much behind the scenes effort that goes into the craft that we need to charge for it. This is a business like anything else and we as tattooers need to be able to provide for ourselves and our families and why not be able to do that by doing something you love? Isn’t that the dream everyone strives for?
Thanks for reading!
Dana