for your first one? that’s jumping in at the deep isn’t it? I should have probably taken my own advice but go for your arms first to get you used to the feeling. the chest and ribs aren’t too comfortable trust!!..ribs are worst!

my first was a chestpiece. the only good thing about it is that you dont really know what to expect pain-wise going into it so you have nothing to compare it to.
and if you plan on doing your arms too then they will be a breeze. i say go for it, it worked out well for me.
as for pricing, mine was around 1K but im sure they can range above and below that depending on what you get, coverage, and your artists rate.

price obviously depends on how long your in the chair. I guess if your going to go big (thank you Bixlar that is a sick piece) make sure you get it done right..then maybe you wont want to move on too quick. beware of the addiction.

i don’t really understand this post. I think you mean less shading than mine, but more color? In any case, every artist works at his/her own pace, my artist Terry Ribera has covered a good portion of my body and works extremely fast compared to most. There’s too many factors to give an estimate considering the fact that you don’t have a piece of reference art. If your going to try and cover your chest to make a true “chest plate”, you’ll be looking at atleast 12 hours. But again, depending on what you want, it could take up to 40 or even more.

My sleeves only took about 30something hours to complete each, but i’ve heard of sleeves taking upwards of 70 hours. There’s too many factors for anyone here to give you any more information than you’ve already got. Get a solid idea, find a solid artist, get a solid tattoo.