Thank you so much guys for answering.

I do plan on letting the tattoo artist have most of the input…. you might have guessed but I’m not an expert on tattoos, but at least I recognise and understand that.
I’m not looking for perfection in my ideas, just to have an understanding of the basics, after all, I’ve regretted many, many haircuts and they’re not permanent. If I’ve done everything to minimise unhappiness with the finished tattoo, then I won’t beat myself up if it doesn’t look quite right in ten years time (“If only I knew THIS then…Darn it, if only there had been a way to, you know, research it”)
So I’m still curious as to the answers to my questions, I would have thought this info would have been easy to find.

The artist I’m considering is the one who has done my partners most recent chestpiece… Nothing epic, but quite reasonable work, but I have time to make sure that whoever I end up with be the right one.

The reason I’m not keen on getting an artist more involved at this stage is due to first off, being turned away by a couple of tattoo artists when I’ve gone in to speak to them before. “Sorry, we don’t have the time to design anything…”

That and having mental health problems, I’d feel so much more comfortable and less likely to have an anxiety attack, if I have a rough idea of the basic principals in advance. 🙂