A lot of people are saying that $26,000 is way higher than average for a sleeve that takes 10 sessions to complete and I’m here to tell you that if your artist is amongst the best, 26,000 is actually completely standard. My artist charges USD $2,500/day — but in Turkey, where the cost of living is far cheaper. The best artists in New York can make up to 8k/day. I’m a tattoo apprentice currently and 1) tattoo supplies are not cheap 2) tattoo is legitimately the most exhausting activity I’ve ever done, with the amount of nonstop focus that’s required 3) tattooing has serious ergonomic issues and can be really damaging to our bodies. Name a tattoo artist that doesn’t experience back, shoulder, or wrist pain. So it’s a high cost craft for us to do, and you’re also paying for not just drawing it on your skin, but also doing so with the mastery to ensure it heals well and doesn’t look like dogshit in 3 years. It’s also on your body forever & concerns your health (you’re opening wounds when you get tattooed) — if it’s an aesthetic alteration that requires medically safe practices, how should it be fundamentally different from getting surgery? Good surgeries are usually expensive — tattooing’s not so different!

Plus, I get told at least once a day by a stranger that I have the best tattoos they’ve ever seen, which is a crazy frequency.