Excuse me while I take the time to shed some light on things here. Excuse me because this post, truthful as it is, will likely piss some people off. We’re going to take pains to avoid naming names here, but these people can probably figure out who they are and some of them are not going to like what I am about to say. The question is : How much more would it cost to get tattooed by the best artist (in any given style) than by the worst artist working in a tattoo shop in Middle Tennessee?

The answer? Not enough to make getting a shitty tattoo worth it.

Let’s examine. As best I can tell it, the average tattoo artist in Middle Tennessee charges around $100-$120 per hour of tattoo time. What’s tattoo time? The actual amount of time spent getting tattooed, not including drawing time or what we call egg-timer tattooing, which doesn’t deduct breaks from the cost. The best tattooers in Middle Tennessee all charge about $160-$200 per hour. So on the extreme end of things you could expect to pay up to double your money for the very best tattoo work in Middle Tennessee.

But wait, you say? Something doesn’t add up? You’ve paid too much for a tattoo that wasn’t very good?

Well, no shit Sherlock, you’ve been had.

The problem isn’t in the pricing, it never has been. Most people don’t care how much a tattoo costs AS LONG AS IT’S WORTH IT.

The real question is, what’s ‘worth it?’ and how do you know the artist can do the job?

One of the big problems with tattooing near a tourist destination like Nashville or say, close to a military base, is the predatory nature rife within the tattoo industry. There are far too many so-called ‘artists’ charging waaay too much for work that could be done, and done better, for significantly less money.

So, lesson #1: Stay away from tourist traps. If it is part of a chain, or there’s a bunch of them scattered around the country all bearing the same name, you’re going to pay too much for the quality. Getting tattooed close to military bases is also similarly likely to get you ripped off. Even if the tattoo quality is pretty good, getting tattooed right off base will likely cost you significantly more than it could have at an equivalent quality level. The reason for this is one of high real estate prices/rents and a reliance on one-and-done business so the given shop never has to worry about developing a reputation for overcharging of sub-par work. Why do you think there’s so many shops across the street from military bases all the time? Guaranteed paychecks.

Lesson #2. Some people just charge more to make more. That’s right, some artists have learned to prey on people who don’t know any better by charging more than they should for their ability level. I’ve had arguments with artists about ‘how can it be possible that someone is charging too much as long as people are willing to pay it?’ The answer is this: You’re charging too much if you’re charging significantly more than the other artists in the area at the same ability level. Some artists have adopted doing this in order to make a clientele believe they’re actually better than they are. That, ladies and gentlemen is what we call a positive feedback loop and it is actually a very negative thing to have happen. Read that again: Some tattoo artists charge more than their competition in order to make people think they’re better, without actually being able to back it up. It’s a nightmare. How do you combat that sort of thing? RESEARCH, that’s right kids, do your research.

Here’s the best experiment you can to tell if an artist is worth it. Simple side-by-side comparisons of similar tattoos (style and subject matter) will do the trick. If you can look at each artists work next to another’s and consistently pick one over the other, that’s the artist you want. Additionally (and this one is my favorite), go and ask that artist who they would get the tattoo you want from, then ask them who’s better between them and that person and ask them to tell you why. Then go talk to that artist and ask them the same question. While most folks won’t go to this extent, it really is good advice, and worth doing if that tattoo is going to be on your body forever (which it is, so get to work!) A good artist is a confident one, not afraid to complement other’s work and most of us are familiar with the styles and abilities of the other good artists in the area, so they’ll know who they’d get tattooed by if they had to. A good artist will also have enough technical knowledge to explain why their work is better when compared to another’s. Here’s the kicker, a good artist will also be successful enough to tell you where to go if someone else might do a better job, rather that hoarding clients like there’s some kind of shortage of people who want good tattoos.

Lesson #3. You have no idea what you’re doing. I’ve seen it a thousand times, people getting tattooed by someone who’s not any good for fear that the really good artist will charge them more than they can afford. They’re often so paranoid of this kind of ‘rejection’ that they don’t even bother to ask! Sound crazy? Nope, happens all the time. I can’t count how many times someone has come here fearing what price they would be quoted only to hear ‘that’s all’ followed by nightmare stories that they’d heard Will was charging $2000 or $2500 per day! The fact is, Will has never charged anyone more than $1200 for a single days work and probably never will (barring inflation… but that’s another blog)!

We’re going to follow this post up as part of a series about how not to pay too much for a tattoo. Stay logged in to lighthousetattoo.net for more!