The etiquette of custom designs

«« Raised tattoo means botched tattoo?    text tattoo ideas »»

Wednesday January 9th, 2008 @ 6:41 PM

Filed under: Tattoos

I want to know if I’m totally out of tune with tattoo etiquette.

I have an idea for a tattoo. It’s slightly vague, but I know how I want it to be shaped and placed. I took this idea to an artist whose work I’d seen on the web and asked him whether he might be able to draw up what I wanted with a view to getting it tattooed on me. He liked the idea and we chatted about it for a few minutes.

However, he refused to draw it up, saying he wouldn’t do so in advance (NB I volunteered to pay whatever expenses were required for drafting it). He said he only worked spontaneously, and that I could make an appointment and he’d draw it directly on me and then tattoo it on me then and there. I expressed concerns about getting the tattoo done when the design had only just been finalised, and he said he preferred to work with people who are ‘more decisive’.

That’s upto him, but I wanted to know if I’m likely to encounter this as a stumbling block when getting my tattoowhen approaching other artists. Surely it isn’t abnormal to want to see the design before I get it done? Am I missing something about how tattooists work, or was it just this one guy?

It isn’t unreasonable to want to see the design beforehand…obviously. However, different artists do work in different ways. It sounds pretty obvious that this isn’t the artists for you. As for what you can expect to find with other artists…it’s going to vary from artists-to-artist.

If you are looking for a fairly large/involved custom piece, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding an artist who is willing to draw the design beforehand…especially if you are willing to compensate them for the time they spend drawing it. For large work, many artists require a drawing deposit. This deposit typically comes off the price of the tattoo when you get it done. If you don’t get the tattoo, they then keep the deposit as payment for the time they spent on your drawing.

However, if you are looking for a fairly small/simple design, I know many artists who would simply wait until the day of your appointment to do the drawing. If the design is simple, any changes you want made can be done easily and quickly, so they simply do the drawing when you arrive.

I don’t know the size/nature of your piece, but I hope this helps a little bit. Good luck in finding an artist.

Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | Leave a comment | Trackback