Starting my sleeve soon

[Jamie.]

Hello people of the interweb.

I have been planning to have a sleeve done for about the last 4 years and finally have the money and time to get plans together.

I have a few questions for anyone who's been inked recently.

For a local respected artist i'm looking at £70 an hour or 2 hours for £120.
My mate had his sleeve done by this guy and the work is unreal, he didn't seem keen on budging on his hourly rate. Is £120/2h reasonable?

I'm average build and the sleeve will be colour and from my wrists right up to my shoulder/peck area. I reckon there's about 22-28 hours work, does this sound about right?

Also, is it offensive to an artist to ask for plenty of pics of their work?
I have a few tattoos already but nothing on this scale before, any advice would be appreciated too.

[Handsome]

22-28 hours work ?...What are you having done ?...

My right sleeve took five hours ( detailed faces ) my left sleeve took four hours ( detailed Jap ) tbf my Tattooist is quick and I'll happily sit there and let him tattoo me ( hense one sitting for each arm ) mine are shaded though, only a couple of pieces with colour...

All mine came in at around 15 hours work and I have a fair few pieces and they all have detail in them...

It all comes down to the artist in the end but that's a hell of a lot of time...
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[-Savage-]

[oldpink]

£70 - 80 an hour is average for a good artist these days
I have a few friends that are tattoo artists and thats what they charge
asking for pic's is fine they won't get annoyed as your asking them to do a lot of work
paying them a lot and wanting it to be perfect so you'd expect to see some previous work

I've got a lot of work on my back to be finished soon can't wait
will be seeing a couple of tattoo artist friends this weekend its quite intricate but thats a lot of time for a sleeve
i'll be about 12 - 14 hrs to do my full back
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[woll]

If a tattoo artist gets shirty about you seeing their previous work, turn around and don't get it done there. At the end of the day your stuck with it for life so you want to know that the artist is good and that your not going to be stuck with some dodgy tattoo for the rest of your life. They should be more than happy to show you the quality of their work.
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[cheets650]

agree with all above -

£70-80 ph is about right for a good artist and a sleeve 12-16 hours.

[Robby]

A full colour sleeve in 18 hours? You can't be getting much depth in the colour there. My arms took about 50 hours each, 6 or so to do lining and grey then the rest to build up the colours. Each bit of colour is worked up of 3-7 different shades, most of which had to go on in separate sessions to stop them mixing.

The price is about right, mine charges £60 per hour but charged me a lot less, seeing as I was getting a lot done.

Of course, you need to remember that tattooing is tattooing and is never predicatable, so don't be surprised if it takes more/less time than expected and don't expect to only pay for the time you agreed. You're not paying a builder, you don't hold them to the quote.

[Charlie]

Robby's tattoos are pretty pimp. It does the 'job'
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[stinkwheel]

Mate of mine recently went over to Holland and stayed in an apartment supplied by the tatooist.

30 hours over 3 days. 1 sleeve from shoulder to just above wrist in leaf patterns. All fully coloured in. Needs to go back to fill in some detailing at some point.

Looks totally awesome but I didn't dare ask what it cost.
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[Gerrard]