This FAQ will cover everything that you need to know in order to get your first tattoo.
1. What is the initial process of getting a Tattoo?
After you have done enough research to decide that you are interested in the art of Tattooing to an extent where you want to get one yourself, the first step will be to find an artist. However, before you even go that far, I’d make sure that you have done research on Tattooing and on some of the most famous published work both nationally and locally. This will give you a better perspective on your future work and the processes involved. Finding a quality artist is not something that can be accomplished by going to the Tattoo shop at the local mall; you need to look up your area’s most acclaimed/published studio, and it would be wise to visit them. Go in, and speak to the assistants. Most artists won’t speak with you before you have scheduled a consultation; they’re often too busy. Because of this, it is often an assistant of the shop who will set you up with an artist. Detail to the assistant what it is you’re looking for, and ask to see portfolios of the artists. Don’t feel ashamed to take six or seven books back to the couch with you; this is a major artistic investment, and you should take your time in choosing who you’re going to put your trust in. Examining portfolios is a crucial step to being tattooed; you don’t want to choose an artist who doesn’t fit the style that you want. For example, if you want vibrant color work with Japanese influences, you wouldn’t want to be placed with an artist whose specialty is Tribal Art. After you’ve decided on an artist, or had the assistant pick one for you based on what you are looking for, (Personally, an assistant placed me with an artist based on my want for sleeve-like Japanese color work) you can go ahead and schedule a consultation. In the odd event that you were able to see an artist the very day you walked in, you can most likely schedule an appointment for the nearest time slot or day that they have open. Most Tattoo Artists are extremely busy and booked up, especially in the more acclaimed and upper scale studios, so don’t expect to be tattooed the following day. With my latest Tattoo, I was able to get in four days after a consultation, but only because the artist had a cancelation for that particular day; had I scheduled regularly, I would have waited nearly a month.
2. What can I expect during my consultation?
The consultation is where you and the artist will discuss everything regarding your tattoo. I advise that you give loose imagery ideas, but let the artist be the one to put it all together into something great and original. As a person being tattooed for the first time, you will have no idea how to put your ideas together into a solid tattoo design; your artist’s job is to take your loose guidelines, and transform them into a piece of art that fits your initial thought. Any thing or feeling that you want to have represented in the piece can easily be placed into your design simply by telling your artist of your ideas. This should be a verbal exchange, as most times when people come in with stuff drawn, it ends up being exactly that; and you don’t want to have something that you drew on the bus on the way there be the main basis of your piece. You are paying a large amount of money to an artist; let him or her make your art the way they know how. These people are professionals, and they know how to design your piece both in a way that you’ll probably never be able to, aesthetically and artistically; it’s important to keep that in mind. After you have agreed on a piece, you will need to put down a deposit in order to schedule your appointment. Some artists charge by hour, while others will give you your quote based on the complexity and work needed for the design. Your deposit will often be on a per hour basis, meaning that each hour required by the artist will require a fee of around fifty dollars. Even most of the flat-rate artists do this after calculating the estimated time your piece will take. For example, a four-hour tattoo will require a deposit of two-hundred dollars or maybe more. This deposit is subtracted from your tattoo fee. After you’ve payed your deposit, you will be given an appointment for the next available date.
Some slight elaboration on pricing: A small, less complex Tattoo, will often take a max of one to two hours to complete. These Tattoos are often in the range of 160 – 200$. Larger pieces, especially the ones that take five hours or more and multiple sessions, can range anywhere from 400$ all the way into the thousands, depending on your artist. There are an insane amount of variables to Tattoo pricing, but hopefully this will give you an idea of what to expect. DO NOT SETTLE FOR CHEAP WORK! If all you have is 200$, get the best Tattoo you possibly can for that budget; don’t go out and find cheap Tattoo shops in Malls that will do your Tattoo for less. The work will be shit, and you’ll most likely want to have the thing either removed, or covered up by a real artist in the future.
3. I’m going to the studio to be tattooed, what should I expect?
Your tattoo artist will have told you his or her idea for your piece during the consultation; during your actual appointment, your artist will finalize the piece with you, and then examine the area of your body to see how it will fit. Here is where you’ll be able to make alterations, such as exterior object placement, and maybe some color suggestions. I advise that you let your artist tattoo what he or she has designed for you unless there is something about the design that you are very much against. Hate to be redundant, but you’re not a tattoo artist; there may be certain objects in a certain pattern for a reason, such as symmetry or general flow. If you’re not a fan of particular color schemes, that’s one thing, but it’s better to have the entire design re-drawn than to move things around that your artist may not want to. Once you’ve finalized the design (Make sure that you love it, not like it) and you’re ready to be tattooed, your artist is going to shave the area of skin being tattooed after applying some sanitizing alcohol. Following this, your artist will take the preview stencil of your tattoo and perform a stencil transfer. A stencil transfer is when a special paper filled with your piece is wet with a special liquid and then imprinted on your skin. Artists use this as a template, and as a vague judge of how the tattoo will look on your body. Some artists use a marker method where they draw most of the design with marker in order to compensate for skin movement after the tattoo has healed; some artists use a combination of both stencil and marker, but most likely, you’ll be going through a stencil transfer.
After your stencil has dried, either your artist will lay you down on a medical table, or have you sit down in a chair, depending on the area of skin being worked on for the piece and the time it is going to take. Your artist will use the thinner of the needles used for tattooing, and will start with only black ink, doing the fine lines and the heavy blacks of your tattoo. This outline process is the part of the tattoo that hurts the most, as the needle is thin and rather sharp. The pain is tolerable, and your artist will periodically check in to make sure that you’re doing ok. If it’s too much for you at any given time and you need to stop, your artist will have no problem taking a short break. Since the top layer of skin is being destroyed during the process, inflammation/swelling and bleeding are things to expect during the tattoo. The bleeding is completely normal, and after each stage of the tattoo, your artist will use a special liquid in combination with some slight ointment to wipe away all the excess ink and blood that has accumulated on your skin; so don’t worry if your tattoo looks like a mess for the first twenty minutes. Once the outline is finished, your artist will wipe away all of the excess ink and blood/plasma that has gathered on the top layer of skin, and continue with the color or black/grey shading. (Which ever you happened to choose)
The pain during the color/black and grey shading is minimal compared to the outline. This is due to the needle being switched to one designed to cover larger portions of skin with more ink; it will still hurt at times when the artist goes over bone and sensitive areas, (Note: Going over sensitive areas during the outline can be painful at times, but it’s nothing crazy) but not nearly as much. I’m not going to do a whole thing on “DOES IT HURT?” because really, it’s a pain that practically everyone is able to tolerate without interrupting the work. Sure, it’s a major discomfort at certain times, (especially during long sessions, TRUST ME) but it’s nothing you’ll be crying from; hell, some people even enjoy it.
4. What can I expect when looking into sleeve tattoos?
A Sleeve Tattoo is a tattoo that covers an entire arm, or a major portion of the upper or lower arm with one major theme of imagery incorporated in the piece. Sleeve tattoos are very expensive, and take multiple sessions. A full arm sleeve could take months (given that your appointments will be spaced out due to the artist’s schedule) to complete. Half-sleeves (I sort of have one) are more manageable in both price and time to complete, but are still quite expensive and require multiple sessions as well. Tattoos that require multiple days work can easily go into the thousands, so if you’re dead-set on a sleeve, make sure that you’re serious about it. The best way to design a sleeve is to see what type of sleeves your artist has done before. Most of a sleeve is taken up with two or three major images (of a specific imagery) spread across a wave/cloud covered background. For example, a typical Japanese Koi Fish sleeve will consist of waves of water and then several Koi swimming either up or down the arm, with patterns and other designs mixed throughout. Work with your artist on what imagery works best, and the sort of backgrounds that will compliment your sleeve. After that, be ready to be tattooed for several hours every other week.
5. I got my Tattoo, how do I take care of it?
Tattoo aftercare is the most important thing that the consumer does in the tattoo process. Many artists have different opinions on the subject of aftercare, so I’m going to be listing a very basic aftercare process. My ultimate advice would be to listen to your artist; they know what method heals their tattoos the best, so follow their advice. After being tattooed, your skin is going to burn, and your skin is going to be quite red and inflamed; you may also experience heavy swelling if you were worked on for long periods of time. Your artist will instruct you to leave the bandage placed on your tattoo on for at least two to three hours. Upon removing the bandage, (this is pretty much agreed upon by everyone) you need to wash your tattoo with an anti-bacterial soap and lukewarm water (mildly, don’t soak the thing) to get rid of all the excess ink/plasma/blood that was sunk underneath the bandage. It will burn quite a bit, and it will be nasty, so be prepared. Once the cleaning is done, pat dry with either a clean towel, or clean paper towels, and then apply whatever your artist has instructed you to apply. The general method is A&D ointment for a few days, then a switch to a lotion after about four or five days. If you are using A&D, use sparse amounts, just enough to cover the tattoo. IF IT LOOKS OVERLY GLOSSY, YOU’RE USING TOO MUCH! The same goes for the lotion once you switch over. Clean your tattoo at least two to three times a day, depending on your artist’s instruction. After each wash, pat dry, never scrub dry, and apply a new coating of A&D. (or again, whatever your artist told you to) Note: The body treats a Tattoo as a 2 to 3 degree burn, and will try its hardest to fight the thing. The constant cleaning and ointment care is to settle the skin, and more importantly, to prevent infection.
6. I followed the aftercare process, but my Tattoo is peeling/scabbing, what’s going on?
When you start caring for your tattoo, all of the cleaning and the ointment application is to prevent scabbing. If a scab forms on your tattoo, it has a chance of being ripped off and taking some ink with it, leaving a nasty blotch on your tattoo that will have to be touched up. If you follow the aftercare properly, you shouldn’t scab, but some people follow the aftercare and scab regardless; don’t worry about it because it is all part of the process. If you do scab, DO NOT PICK AT IT. It will eventually soften back into the skin and not affect your tattoo if you leave it alone. However, peeling is a natural part of tattoo aftercare that everyone experiences. Much like sunburn, the top layer of dead skin sheds itself in order to regenerate. Your tattoo will start to peel after around a week. During this time, it will look like it’s coming apart; don’t worry, it isn’t. The most important thing to do during this time is to keep your tattoo moisturized, and to NOT PICK THE PEELING. Much like the scabs, the peeling has to get to a point where the skin is ready to shed. If it isn’t, and it’s prematurely picked, you could rip ink out of your skin. Peeling will look really weird and freak a lot of people out, but it’s fine. Underneath the dead skin will be your tattoo, as vibrant as it was when it was finished.
When you’re healing your tattoo, it’s important to avoid direct sunlight, (Beaches, tanning of ANY sort) swimming, and bathes for at least a month. After a month, your tattoo will be mostly healed, with little skin needing to regenerate. If you have a ton of color work, you will need to wear sun block during heavy sun pretty much for life. Although a tattoo being damaged by the light of just walking outside every day almost never happens. (During the aftercare, it is important to not scratch or scrub your tattoo with anything, no matter how much it itches)
7. Summation
If you follow all of my long-winded instructions, you’ll have a great piece of Art on your body in no time. The most important thing is to do your research; this isn’t like that time you thought taking up weight lifting would be cool and then quit after a month, leaving hundreds of dollars worth of equipment to collect dust; this is an artistic investment that lasts forever. I hope some of this helps.
I hope this helps the people that requested it. No sarcasm or bullshit please. (Certain words may have been deleted in GB's formatting. If so, just try to piece it together the best you can)
http://www.shotsiesoulsigning.com/tattoo/portfolio.html
(That link has some of the world's most famous Tattoos in it. Hopefully that can give you an idea of the sort of work you can one day have yourself.)
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