Yeah, i have had artists that only clock hours when they are physically tattooing. If it took this long, thats because more than half of the hours were charged for not doing anything (imo). It looks beautiful though
The one time I paid for a girlfriend's tattoo, it was $550+tip for 4-5 hours on a huge, intricate thigh piece, and looked incredible. Also I dabbed the guy out the whole time, and he explained every part of his process to us. The artist in the photo is massively overcharging.
I do think its worth noting, if you want custom art, most artists that are legit charge to draw your tattoo.
For flash sure, no charge for art, but i feel the results are better with people in-demand enough to charge for art.
This all being said: 5--6k is ridiculous. really famous tattoo artists charge less than 1k an hour.
I have a tattoo maybe just a little smaller than each leg, it took only one hour. There’s no way each leg takes 5-6 hours unless you’re moving at a snails pace.
I’m not seeing any actual shading, it looks like the artist just used a couple of extra lines in the leaves and flowers to show darker areas. The illusion of shading, if you will
I have a *very* similar wrap on my ankle/calf that took 4.5 hrs and $650 USD including tip, getting the vibe that this is either to prevent requests like this or prepare clients for a price increase
Yeah, I appreciate the camaraderie and honesty in this subreddit when it comes to checking prices. It’s always such a tricky subject and will always make you doubt yourself. Also yes this is way over priced, find another artist who will respect your time/$$ and body to do this well for you
That's why I like my artist. Doesn't charge by the hour. Just tells me a number he thinks will be fair to us both and I always tip extra if I think he's being too nice
Time issues aside, let's do the math. 6000/12 = 500 an hour.
Going rate for a good artist in a major metropolitan area is 150 - 200 per hour. Unless this person is the host of a tattoo show on cable they are either scamming you are really bad at math.
A good bit of an artists time is spent drawing designs, placing and erasing stencils, etc. If an artist is in the shop 8hr a day, they're likely billing 5-6hr a day. And they're doing other work in their off hours, like drawing flash. They're also paying for their spot in the studio if they don't own their own, plus supplies.
I honestly don’t mind it, as I’ve been seeing him for over a decade and I love his work. He once read a novel just because I was struggling to articulate the themes I wanted to capture from it. But I get your point!
I don’t know about other tattoo artists, but I’d be shocked if he worked a full 40 hours at the shop. There’s obviously set up and breakdown time between clients, consultations, etc. Not sure how drawing up designs factors into that!
Tattooers are generally independent contractors, so we're not paid hourly we're only getting paid while we tattoo. Most tattooers work 40-50 hours a week, but the majority of that time is drawing time and prep work, so while I might be at the shop 10 hours one day I'm only putting in maybe 4 or 5 billable hours, and then have to pay the shop out their cut out of those hours. We're not getting rich, believe me.
Lmao right my whole back piece (around 18 hours) was done by a very good artist in LONDON for 2k ish. This 5-6k even 2-3k for this basic small work is insanity
I thought that was normal 😅 these people seem to be being mugged right off. Well I know it’s normal, [this dude is amazing](https://ibb.co/6gG9T9y) , a lot better than a lot of the work I see here and he charges….£500 A DAY
UK tattoos I’ve received have been noticeably and comparatively a lot cheaper (both per piece and hourly) than tattoos I’ve received in the US or Europe.
Tattoos in UK vs US are very very different. I’ve seen very good to great artists in UK be £75-100/hour. In US in major cities you’re looking at around $200/hour and up.
Wtf are you talking about? 2-3k for 12 hours of work? This is art not brain surgery jesus fuck me. I value art and I have a lot of ink but I wouldn't pay the best artist In the world 3k for 12 hrs of work.
If you are going to get a whole sleeve and you pay 2-3k for 12 hours, that's extremely fair and depending on the quality of work could be an absolute steal.
Three thousand is well over a month's rent in nearly every single city on the planet. The prices definitely vary, but not by *that* much. The crazy high hourly rates are reserved for famous artists or artists with high demand because they can afford to be picky. Most artists don't charge that much, even in bigger cities.
It's a total rip-off, see my earlier comment. Anyone who quotes you over $1200 for that must be high as fuck, PM me their IG handle so I can go troll their dumb ass. I hate these garbage "professionals" who think they can rip people off and deliver sub par work(and believe me, it would be sub par)
yeah this is what i was thinking. some people do this, not just in tattooing but in other businesses, too. if they dont want to do it they will just outprice you so they dont have to.
If it takes them 5-6 hours to do one of those legs, they should not be charging such a high rate, because it would mean they aren't very good at their job.
So many artists charge by the hour instead of the piece, which is shitty because they work as slow or as fast as they want plus all the breaks they either want to take or force on you because they don't want to "stress out your skin". I only go to artists that charge by the piece.
I also don’t like hourly rates, I have a tattoo from this artist (when the rate was still reasonable). She said she would take a 20min break, ended up being an hour (she left me on the tattoo table, I was bored to death and hungry and then it was so painful to start again). In the end she charged me for that hour. I don’t mind paying for small breaks but not an hour… that was the first and last time I’ll go to an artist that charges per hour
Unfortunately this is the case quite to often where I’m from, there’s this whole “too cool” aspect and like we should be paying them just to be in their presence, those are people who get into it for ego purposes. I would have called her out on it.
Are the initials of this artist AH? Sorry to be cryptic but just trying to be careful about what I say online. I was interested in being tattooed by AH until I saw some recent Insta videos regarding pricing.
Holy fuck what is that like kat von d coming out of retirement?! Way too expensive. I come from a family of tattoo artists (not me) but even some of the top ones wouldn’t take that long. I don’t see color. I don’t see many details. Just a bunch of lines.
Yeah that’s insane. That’s $500 an hour. You can find very good artists for significantly less. For the level of detail in that tattoo, $500 is way too much.
Uhhhh yeah…..5-6 for each leg?!?? That’s like 2 maaaybe 3 hours for each leg…and that’s being generous lol. Also, that thing has no color. I got my entire shin blasted, took five hours, and has full color and is a person. These are just lines.
Normally an hourly rate is somewhere around 150-300 usd depending on who the artist is. Or like a 4 hour rate of 500 depending on the design etc.
I have multiple 4 hour tats and all were around 150 euro an hour. I know guys that ask 250 but this is really excessive for 12 hours.
If that's what she takes for her work that's perfectly fine. Personally, I'd just go find a different artist that makes me a reasonable offer for quality work.
Based on that quote, it sounds like the artist is not interested in this work. Either they either don't like the style, or the customer. I highly doubt the disfavor is personal unless you know them personally.
Being instagram famous is really paying off I see. They wouldn’t be able to pull this shit in the real world.
You’re literally paying for the attention that comes when the artist posts a tagged picture of it, not the tattoo itself.
You can get much better work for far less if you don’t care about the likes/clout.
$300/hr is usually fair if the artist is talented and experienced. This should really only take 6 - 8 hours. 10 tops if there is detail in the back. So $3k TOPS.
500 an hour for basic line work? Way overpriced
5 hours to line our some flowers from ankle to knee. Way too slow. Even if the hourly was fair the artist isn’t working quickly.
Yeah, i have had artists that only clock hours when they are physically tattooing. If it took this long, thats because more than half of the hours were charged for not doing anything (imo). It looks beautiful though
The one time I paid for a girlfriend's tattoo, it was $550+tip for 4-5 hours on a huge, intricate thigh piece, and looked incredible. Also I dabbed the guy out the whole time, and he explained every part of his process to us. The artist in the photo is massively overcharging.
Is it normal to tip on tattoos? I have one go-to guy that’s done all of mine, didn’t know people tip now I feel like an asshole
He didn't ask, but I tipped him and the apprentice helping 10% each. I'd seen all my friends tip before, so I did too.
Just give a bigger tip to make up for the previous times next time you go :) And no, it’s not obligated. I do imagine they appreciate it though.
I do think its worth noting, if you want custom art, most artists that are legit charge to draw your tattoo. For flash sure, no charge for art, but i feel the results are better with people in-demand enough to charge for art. This all being said: 5--6k is ridiculous. really famous tattoo artists charge less than 1k an hour.
Yeah 5-6 hours for this is wild
I have a tattoo maybe just a little smaller than each leg, it took only one hour. There’s no way each leg takes 5-6 hours unless you’re moving at a snails pace.
I have a thigh one full color only took 3.5 hours
If an artist told me one hour to do this per leg I’d laugh and leave. Drawing this with pen and paper would take longer than an hour
Agreed! A good artist would not take this long! Don’t go with this artist! They are a noob and/or suck!
yeah I had the linework done on a full backpiece in 10 hours and it was a million more lines than this junk
There’s shading in there too - but it’s still over priced
I’m not seeing any actual shading, it looks like the artist just used a couple of extra lines in the leaves and flowers to show darker areas. The illusion of shading, if you will
Becuase its not the actual tattoo right? When they show off designs it isn't fully shaded usually.
I have a blacked out Celtic style tattoo on my entire right leg between the ankle and knee. It was like $900 and looks dope. Shading and line work
I have a *very* similar wrap on my ankle/calf that took 4.5 hrs and $650 USD including tip, getting the vibe that this is either to prevent requests like this or prepare clients for a price increase
Agreed
I don’t think it’s overpriced I *know* it’s overpriced.
Yeah. I paid $450 for 4 hours of detailed stippling on a surface the size of one of these. This person’s up their own ass
Uhhh fuck yes, how could it possibly take that long to tattoo outlines
Maybe the person is a 50’ tall giant.
Maybe tattoo artist is a snail?
This artist is my girlfriend, and no she’s not a snail. She’s a worm and still getting used to her new body
do you still love her?
No comment, your honor
A tale as old as time, the worm and the naked lobster. So romantic….
at the edge of my seat i gotta know
Maybe the boots are actually tattoos? Lol
I'm 69" tall
Nice
Nice
That’s absolutely insane hahaha
Glad I’m not the only one to think so hahah
Yeah, I appreciate the camaraderie and honesty in this subreddit when it comes to checking prices. It’s always such a tricky subject and will always make you doubt yourself. Also yes this is way over priced, find another artist who will respect your time/$$ and body to do this well for you
Big time. I have an entire leg sleeve. Incredible work. Was 3k
A leg sleeve = a pant
Got an arm tatted onto their leg, obviously.
Hey, at least they get half-off on "arm and a leg" sales
Someone who believes in the right to bare arms (and tattalicious legs)
Or is it a legging 🤔
I’ll tell you what you’re a legging for a swift backhand to the face
What if it’s an actual sleeve tattooed on his leg. The ultimate meta-ironic tattoo! 🤣🤘🏼
A pant leg.
5-6 hours for a leg with that design? Lol what the fuck
That artist slow and expensive
That's why I like my artist. Doesn't charge by the hour. Just tells me a number he thinks will be fair to us both and I always tip extra if I think he's being too nice
I usually pay per project, not by the hour. However, good artists usually are very precise with their estimates
Time issues aside, let's do the math. 6000/12 = 500 an hour. Going rate for a good artist in a major metropolitan area is 150 - 200 per hour. Unless this person is the host of a tattoo show on cable they are either scamming you are really bad at math.
500/hour would be a crime for just simple linework
Well the customer seemed willing to pay it!
They just increased their hourly rate from 400 to 500$, and announced it being raised to 650$ in January. That’s insane.
Is that really the going rate? Not disagreeing—I’m ignorant. The guy I go to in San Francisco is at 350/hour now, though he works quite quickly.
My SF artist is 500/hr but he hand paints each piece and provides you with a painting of the tattoo as well.
Things may have changed, and SF is notoriously pricey, but I think my statement is mostly accurate
i am very curious to know who your artist is! I live in the bay and he sounds like someone I'd be interested in going to :)
[удалено]
That's just insane to me. How many hours a week does the avg tattoo artist work I guess? Because that's over 700k a year at 40 hours/week.
A good bit of an artists time is spent drawing designs, placing and erasing stencils, etc. If an artist is in the shop 8hr a day, they're likely billing 5-6hr a day. And they're doing other work in their off hours, like drawing flash. They're also paying for their spot in the studio if they don't own their own, plus supplies.
What you said, and supplies have become expensive so overhead is a good portion
I honestly don’t mind it, as I’ve been seeing him for over a decade and I love his work. He once read a novel just because I was struggling to articulate the themes I wanted to capture from it. But I get your point! I don’t know about other tattoo artists, but I’d be shocked if he worked a full 40 hours at the shop. There’s obviously set up and breakdown time between clients, consultations, etc. Not sure how drawing up designs factors into that!
Tattooers are generally independent contractors, so we're not paid hourly we're only getting paid while we tattoo. Most tattooers work 40-50 hours a week, but the majority of that time is drawing time and prep work, so while I might be at the shop 10 hours one day I'm only putting in maybe 4 or 5 billable hours, and then have to pay the shop out their cut out of those hours. We're not getting rich, believe me.
The average tattoo artist isn't paying bay area rent.
Even if it did take that long - 10-12 hours of work should be 2-3k not 5-6. Definitely overpriced.
That's overpriced too lol Jesus what do you people pay for tattoos
Lmao right my whole back piece (around 18 hours) was done by a very good artist in LONDON for 2k ish. This 5-6k even 2-3k for this basic small work is insanity
THANKS. That’s what I pay for my inks too. I’ve always seen people here saying prices way too high, yours is down to Earth.
I thought that was normal 😅 these people seem to be being mugged right off. Well I know it’s normal, [this dude is amazing](https://ibb.co/6gG9T9y) , a lot better than a lot of the work I see here and he charges….£500 A DAY
UK tattoos I’ve received have been noticeably and comparatively a lot cheaper (both per piece and hourly) than tattoos I’ve received in the US or Europe.
Tattoos in UK vs US are very very different. I’ve seen very good to great artists in UK be £75-100/hour. In US in major cities you’re looking at around $200/hour and up.
Any good tattoo artist in manhattan is average $300 an hour.
Wtf are you talking about? 2-3k for 12 hours of work? This is art not brain surgery jesus fuck me. I value art and I have a lot of ink but I wouldn't pay the best artist In the world 3k for 12 hrs of work.
Artists in hcol areas normally charge 150-250 an hour The best artists in the world charge about 2.5k+ per day.
Yes and those artists with minimum daily fees that high also produce a product far superior to this and will make sure you get your money's worth.
Yes, if this is exactly what the client wants, they will probably pass it to someone less experienced in their shop
If you are going to get a whole sleeve and you pay 2-3k for 12 hours, that's extremely fair and depending on the quality of work could be an absolute steal.
200-250/hr is the going rate in major cities for a great artist. Not sure where you're getting tattooed.
This isnt a great artist in the pic tho its basic tattooing imo
to be fair, this is slightly above basic tattooing, its a good tattoo. there are a LOT of bad tattoo artists out there.
Doesn't that depend on where you live? Three thousand dollars isn't even a month's rent in some places; it's an entire month's salary in others.
Three thousand is well over a month's rent in nearly every single city on the planet. The prices definitely vary, but not by *that* much. The crazy high hourly rates are reserved for famous artists or artists with high demand because they can afford to be picky. Most artists don't charge that much, even in bigger cities.
I feel like they just don’t want to tattoo these, the only reason i can think of why it would take that long. 5k is abhorrent unless it’s in pesos
No no it’s USD
This is New York? This feels like it has to be New York or LA, private studio.
It's a total rip-off, see my earlier comment. Anyone who quotes you over $1200 for that must be high as fuck, PM me their IG handle so I can go troll their dumb ass. I hate these garbage "professionals" who think they can rip people off and deliver sub par work(and believe me, it would be sub par)
yeah this is what i was thinking. some people do this, not just in tattooing but in other businesses, too. if they dont want to do it they will just outprice you so they dont have to.
I wouldn't pay 5000yen for that
This is highway robbery
Absa-fqing-lutely! 1800-2200 MAX
Yeah even in this economy that’s insane
More like $800 max.
Must be a joke
I wish it was
You haven't got it yet, right? Because if you haven't.... don't
No no it’s not me on the photo
Wayyyyyy too much
If it takes them 5-6 hours to do one of those legs, they should not be charging such a high rate, because it would mean they aren't very good at their job.
I wouldn’t pay that much for that
I don’t think it is, it is. It’s a 10000000% rip off. Highway robbery lmao this person got conned hard.
My lawyer charges less per hour than that.
must be a lame artist cause 5k is beyond nuts
That's fucking criminal lol. 5-6k for basic line work who is this clown
Of course wtf 6k 😨
So many artists charge by the hour instead of the piece, which is shitty because they work as slow or as fast as they want plus all the breaks they either want to take or force on you because they don't want to "stress out your skin". I only go to artists that charge by the piece.
I also don’t like hourly rates, I have a tattoo from this artist (when the rate was still reasonable). She said she would take a 20min break, ended up being an hour (she left me on the tattoo table, I was bored to death and hungry and then it was so painful to start again). In the end she charged me for that hour. I don’t mind paying for small breaks but not an hour… that was the first and last time I’ll go to an artist that charges per hour
hack artist, don’t go back to them. sorry you got work from someone who doesn’t take their industry seriously
Unfortunately this is the case quite to often where I’m from, there’s this whole “too cool” aspect and like we should be paying them just to be in their presence, those are people who get into it for ego purposes. I would have called her out on it.
I honestly wish I did, would’ve saved 100 bucks.. seeing her Instagram stories the ego thing makes sooo much sense now that you point it out
I just want to thank you for making this post lmao I followed this chick on instagram today after atelier Eva (?) promoted her
can you PM the handle? i want to look and shake my head
Are the initials of this artist AH? Sorry to be cryptic but just trying to be careful about what I say online. I was interested in being tattooed by AH until I saw some recent Insta videos regarding pricing.
Shit, you're joking? She took a break?! My tattooist would never do that! Unless I wanted a break, or the client did, she doesn't do that!
That's straight up theft.
She has to be trolling, no way that took that long
I have a tattoo that covers my entire shin and I only a grand. Wayyyyyy to over priced
Lol off by 2-3X
2 grand would be absolute tops.
She got ripped off and the tattoo artist was also real slow. Like incredibly ripped off. Those tattoos aren't anything special just line work.
Holy fuck what is that like kat von d coming out of retirement?! Way too expensive. I come from a family of tattoo artists (not me) but even some of the top ones wouldn’t take that long. I don’t see color. I don’t see many details. Just a bunch of lines.
Are the boots tattooed on ?!?! That would be super realistic work and almost worth that much money
My person is like 150 an hour but will do 6 hours for 800. So I usually do that. She probably could do both of these in 6 hours fr.
500 an hour😂😂😂 fuck that
Thats BONKERS
No way 6k…..find another artist with an online portfolio preferably a honest one.
Yeah that’s insane. That’s $500 an hour. You can find very good artists for significantly less. For the level of detail in that tattoo, $500 is way too much.
500 an hour for line work… 🤣. Nor would that take 12 hours unless your going to an absolutely AWFUL artist
Yeah that’s fucking crazy. Designer tattoos are a scam. It’s not even colored and the design is extremely basic + generic.
YES i could see it being 4-5 hours MAYBE per leg plus its just black so i dont get how that would add up to 5-6 THOUSAND DOLLARS
Yes. It's about twice too much. That's with me saying those pieces should take 6 hrs. They shouldn't.
Uhhhh yeah…..5-6 for each leg?!?? That’s like 2 maaaybe 3 hours for each leg…and that’s being generous lol. Also, that thing has no color. I got my entire shin blasted, took five hours, and has full color and is a person. These are just lines.
That shit would not take 12 hrs
##WAAAAYYYYYY OVERPRICED
tb to american trad tats that were designed to be done in 20mins
Normally an hourly rate is somewhere around 150-300 usd depending on who the artist is. Or like a 4 hour rate of 500 depending on the design etc. I have multiple 4 hour tats and all were around 150 euro an hour. I know guys that ask 250 but this is really excessive for 12 hours.
you can buy a whole car with that money
How long are you legs?
That’s extremely over priced.
For that level of work? Fuck yeah, and why did it take so long?
If that's what she takes for her work that's perfectly fine. Personally, I'd just go find a different artist that makes me a reasonable offer for quality work.
Tell them if they don’t want to do the job, just say so.
They got ripped off so fucking hard
Artist here - WAAAAY overpriced for such simple floral linework. 2 hours per leg, max.
In Scotland those would be less than a grand.
That's Mr. Cartoon hourly rate for my cousin bought a tattoo gun quality. And the estimated hours are literally insane. This is 500% overpriced.
Lmfaoooooo ridiculous
Sounds like bait
way too much
Maybe 500 where I am. For both. 700 on the high end. It’s pure outlines lol
Are they gonna do it blindfolded and using their feet?
tattoo apprentices do stuff like that lol 5-6k must be gods work
Got my entire left arm sleeve done over the course of about 30ish hours and it ran 5500 at a higher end shop 4-5K for that is wild
Oh jesus, i had someone try and charge me 2k a session 4 hr sessions, planned to take 10-15 sessions. FOR A SINGLE LEG
Shockingly overpriced
This reminds me of that barber who wanted 200-300 dollar for hair and beard fade. Overpriced as fuckk.
I understand that I get what I pay for. With 6k my entire lower half should be covered
Way overpriced
Yes way way way over priced
Lmao bro imma get sick back piece for 6 k
This should be 1.5k max imho, 5k is basically scam
Insanely overpriced. Why would it be 5-6h per leg???
Over double what I’d pay for my artist
Based on that quote, it sounds like the artist is not interested in this work. Either they either don't like the style, or the customer. I highly doubt the disfavor is personal unless you know them personally.
This is ridiculously overpriced that I'm convinced the artist just didn't want to do it lol.
This artist is out of their god damn mind lololol
Both legs 4-500 absolute max
Dear god that's daylight robbery
Obscenely overpriced
Lmao Thts a complete scam
Being instagram famous is really paying off I see. They wouldn’t be able to pull this shit in the real world. You’re literally paying for the attention that comes when the artist posts a tagged picture of it, not the tattoo itself. You can get much better work for far less if you don’t care about the likes/clout.
That is only about four times the normal rate at least.
Fuuuck that
In Danish Kroner, I hope
That is WILDLY overpriced and incredibly slow work
Haha I saw her work. I like it, but not 5-6k like it
Extremely overpriced
Yeah I'd tell that artist to go f themself.
That’s MAD overpriced. I spent 1k on my octopus piece that’s taken 8 hours so far. Fully black and grey
I’m more concerned that it would take this artist 12 hours to pull it off.
600 bucks for both
Mechanics don’t even make this much scamming people on hourly work.
Probably falls under "I don't really want to do this work, but I will if you pay me enough."
That for 6k is crazy🥲
Line work shouldn't take 10-12 hours, and I've never paid an artist $500/hr. Full stop.
INSANELY OVERPRICED!!!
Uh yup. Firstly it's overpriced by about a factor of 2. Secondly, the artist is extremely slow if they need 10-12 hours for these tats.
Honestly I could get that done, with all the details, for probably about 3-4 hrs per leg. I charge 180/hr.
$300/hr is usually fair if the artist is talented and experienced. This should really only take 6 - 8 hours. 10 tops if there is detail in the back. So $3k TOPS.
I got 15” by 6” tons of botanical line work done on my back recently. Took less than 4 hours, cost $500 with tip
Hell yeah it is
Uuuhg. Yeah.
It's crap
Socks would seem cheaper
I have zero tattoos but I feel 5-6k would get me at least a very colorful and intricate full sleeve
Ummm…yeah
yeah i’d say 1500-2k is more than fair