I am open to color, I am just unsure how it will looks years from now. I went to the shop today , but the artist wasn’t there. I looked through his portfolio some more and it seems his best work on Koi fish is more black and gray. I am leaning towards mostly a black and gray tattoo with maybe some hints of color in there. They said they charge $150 an hour and I think what I vision in my mind will probably be a 3-4 hour job…so I really want to be confident in what I get.

Thanks for the good advice! I did look at some artists work in their portfolios online and I am really impressed by this one guy’s work. I really would like to go in the shop and see more of his work and maybe talk to him about prices etc. I am thinking about color since it is Koi, but I have a pretty tan complexion since I am italian, and I don’t know if brighter colors would look all that great. I have been thinking about black and grey with some killer shading and maybe a small amount of color. I mentioned in the “intro yourself” of what I wanted, but incase you didn’t read it, basically I want it on my lower outside of my calf. It would have to be a decent size to get in all the detail, probably taking up a majority from my ankle to my knee. What do most talented artists charge by the hour for something this size? I don’t mind paying a lot for it if I can afford it because this will mean a lot to me, but I also don’t want to be over charged.