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r/tattooing • … • u/be_ninja_pancake

$300/hr for a tattoo reasonable?

There’s a Korean artist doing a guest spot in Seattle. I wanted to get one of her flash/pre-drawn designs that are around 3-4 inches, is in color, and got told she charges $300/hr. Is this normal for Korean artists guest spotting in major US cities? I’m just trying to gauge if this is reasonable or not since I got a bit of sticker shock, and this is my first time getting a tattoo from a guest spotting artist from out of the country.

Edit: Ok, this post blew up a lot more than I expected. A couple things of note:

1. I commented who the artist was and what the flash piece was. That all being said, do NOT go out of your way to harass this individual. I truly do love her work, and just wanted a 2nd opinion on if putting an hourly rate on a smaller flash piece was appropriate for a traveling tattoo artist from another country. This artist was very sweet and explained things to me nicely, so again, DO NOT HARASS THIS ARTIST.

2. I understand that this artist has travel expenses, studio fees, and possibly needs to buy a whole new set of tattoo equipment. I am 1000% in agreement that tattoo artists SHOULD and DESERVE to be paid what they’re worth. That all being said, I asked this question in the first place because this was a FLASH PIECE that is 3-4 inches. As much as I love her art, I had to question the practice of charging an hourly rate for something that is not custom and is not covering half my body.

Thank you all so far for providing your insights so far. I really do appreciate the feedback because I only have a few tattoos, two flash pieces, and one semi-flash piece. I paid a flat rate for all of these pieces, and *I* have never seen a tattoo artist charge hourly for a flash piece. But again, I ask because of the surrounding circumstances.

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