no battle starter here, just my mind wondering again (dangerous thing it is)
is price the most important consideration when you go to get a tattoo?
consider the fact that the tattoo is pretty much permenant, should that be the first consideration?
If you can get Bob Tyrrell for $100 a hour, Brandon Bond for $200, Russ Abbott for $170, Josh Woods for $1000 a full day……..would you book these world class famous artists?
would you accept heavily discounted tattoos or free work that is lesser quality?
I have never asked how much a tattoo artist charges per hour. I usually just ask in our conversations ” so what do you think this will run so I can bring enough cash?” Except once with Cory I said” if you have an opening while your up here I’ll take it. But I’m kind of tapped and only have a couple of hundred” And he jabbed in some great ink for that.
Im with buttwheat on this one, I dont ask hourly rate, I have seen it sometimes in the artists website.
I go visiit them, talk about my idea, if they are interested I show them some references, then I ask about availability and finally I ask straight out about how much you think I need?
They give me a number, I plop down a huge deposit (for thise who dont know most southern US shops allows the artist to grab a large portion of the deposit right away, so you just put some grene in his pocket up front, good feeling apparently, they sure seem to like it)
Then I bring an amount to cover the remainder of the jobs cost and a nice tip, good tips get you the best work, best bookings, best treatment, show the love
I dont worry about what a piece is gonna cost. if the guy says $2000 so what, I will wear it 30 years! Thats 60 bucks a year………sounds good to me.I want quality, not quantity, not free stuff, no discounts on crap ink, sorry my body and my ink isnt about money
Well you already know my answer, but I’ll throw in my 2 cents anyway. In 99.9% of all cases, price isn’t a concern, but there are exceptions. For example, I wouldn’t pay Paul Booth $400/hr. That rate is ridiculous for any artist imho, but more importantly to me is that his work simply isn’t unique enough to warrant it. You could get any number of artists who could bang out just as nice a piece for half that. I’m not really a “collector” in the sense that I don’t care whose name is attached to the work; I just want a great tattoo. Anyway, I don’t even ask about price until after I’ve booked a slot, at which point I ask for an estimate so I know how much cash to bring.
your right, if I want Paul Booth I would go talk to him, chances are it might not be $400 an hour if I get him real fired up on an idea.
and names dont matter, I wont get a tattoo because of an artists name and some of the artists I have created threads about, like Les Collier, they are up and coming and I would surely go to them becaase it is apparent their work is going to be world class.
people have called me collector…………that was never a name I asked for, I was just a dude getting tattooed alot by some names those people were impressed by……….now some of the guys who tattooed me were not that big a name, like Bryan Reynolds, then Bryan left Brandon Bonds All or Nothing and went to Paul Booths Last Rites. I started going to Vince Villalvazo as soon as Brandon Bond hired him, no one knew him, but now he has hit a dozen magazines, won a bunch of trophys of the day at conventions and has his own shop, I just chose well, most or all of the guys who have tattooed me have gotten bigger and bigger………..nothing to do with me, good talent gets found out
if you cant hire a big name, hire a guy who is on his way to being one, as I did in many cases
once you know what good work looks like, you can find gems like Les Collier or Vince Villavalzo and others, there are some guys out there rocking it out
Keep watching for my name. I’ll get there. Might take a while, but everyone needs goals, right?
I have gotten a few freebies from the other guys at the shop (who are solid tattoo artists) but I generally do some research and money is no object when it comes to tattoos. I’d rather pay for what I want than get something iffy for free.
Doh I did write out a really long reply only to press the wrong button on the keyboard and WHOOSH all my writing gone LOL!!
So heres my 2 cents, defiantly quality and I am more than willing to wait on a waiting list for however long it takes if it means I am getting the work that I really want.
I do ask about hourly rates and estimated time to complete work, but this is only to ensure that I save up enough money to pay for it all ^_^
Oh and I definatly won’t go to a place just because its cheap or take a freebie if the work is not to my liking as at the end of the day its going to be on me for life, and I don’t want to be ashamed of the work that I have on me!
Price is a concern to a small extent. By that, I mean that I won’t commit myself to something like a full back piece when I know I can’t afford it. My main concern was finding an artist that worked in the style I was looking for, produced solid work, liked the idea, and was willing to work with my limited schedule.
I would get work from someone with a “name” if I liked their style and they were available at a time and place I could get to. (And within what I considered a reasonable price range.) I would NOT go to the “name” if I didn’t like their style. I also wouldn’t go to anyone whose creative process didn’t work for me. I also wouldn’t work with anyone that didn’t seem excited about the idea.
Kevin, looking at your tatts, all of which kick ass, I would book the artist that did your Sweeney Todd if he also does semi-realistic fantasy work. I’d possibly consider the artist that did the elephant as well. The rest are not a style that I personally would want tattooed on ME. Great work for sure, but not a style I’m looking for.
Most of the “named artists” I know are from the shows. (Yes, I know, I should get out more). Corey Miller, Hannah Aitchison, and Tim Hendricks can tattoo me any day of the week. I’d probably work with Chris Garver if he were interested in working in my style. Ami on the other hand can keep his shit to himself, he’s arrogant and doesn’t add anything to the ideas that walk in (in my opinion) and I don’t think I could put up with Kat’s incessant self-centered chatter so she’d only be a possibility if she agreed to a ball gag and a portrait without a filigree frame. LOL Then again, I’m not into portraits, so scratch that.
I would get work from someone with a “name” if I liked their style and they were available at a time and place I could get to. (And within what I considered a reasonable price range.) I would NOT go to the “name” if I didn’t like their style. I also wouldn’t go to anyone whose creative process didn’t work for me. I also wouldn’t work with anyone that didn’t seem excited about the idea.
Kevin, looking at your tatts, all of which kick ass, I would book the artist that did your Sweeney Todd if he also does semi-realistic fantasy work. I’d possibly consider the artist that did the elephant as well. The rest are not a style that I personally would want tattooed on ME. Great work for sure, but not a style I’m looking for.
Most of the “named artists” I know are from the shows. (Yes, I know, I should get out more). Corey Miller, Hannah Aitchison, and Tim Hendricks can tattoo me any day of the week. I’d probably work with Chris Garver if he were interested in working in my style. Ami on the other hand can keep his shit to himself, he’s arrogant and doesn’t add anything to the ideas that walk in (in my opinion) and I don’t think I could put up with Kat’s incessant self-centered chatter so she’d only be a possibility if she agreed to a ball gag and a portrait without a filigree frame. LOL Then again, I’m not into portraits, so scratch that.
to give the old man a boost the guy who did sweeney todd is Dave Attonito, owner of Atlanta’s Good Clean Fun………he has been featured in Skin Art and many others, he is a convention regular, a NY graphic artist who quit the white tower fancy job to ink freaks, I like that (oh yeah, the tattoo is WAY better than pics,its on my thick chest and I just dont seem to be able to get a good picture of it, Ive got 10 bad ones though)
The elephant was J Ranno……he tatted me when he worked for Brandon Bond at All or Nothing but he now works at the world famous Read Street Tattoo in Baltimore
yeah I get all different styles, I get what I want, that seems to drive some people crazy, but like you Im gonna get what I am interested in, Im not trying to create some perfect collage of ink……………it is hard for me to believe some people are getting a tattoo package, usually on a pretty model just for the purpose of modeling in this industry………with the model herself have no input or attachment to the work itself, buts it happening
Ive seen the TV artists work in person, so far not impressed with anyhone but Garver and Corey Miller (Corey did real well at convention in Augusta Goergia)
I think price is always an issue (I mean, I have to pay for food and gas and depts and a house and whatnot) but quality is above anything else.
Right now there is only one truly competent (in the kind of style I like) artist in Iceland and he charges $150 an hour. To a foreigner that isn’t much, but for an Icelander the value (or effort needed to create that money) is more like $300.
So it takes quite a bit of time to save up for anything worthwhile from him.
That being said, I’d never get the kind of ink I’d get from him, from anybody else here, so I’ll wait longer and save more and get it done at $300 an hour rather than go to someone cheaper and not get what I want.
P.S: It’s a good time to visit Iceland for you foreigners.. your money is worth 2x more than it’s supposed to be… kinda like going to Canada, eh? :p
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