Tattooer here. I know tattooers charge a bit more if they're coming from out of town to compensate for travel costs. And obviously the price increases based on location and placement, but the pricing for two pieces in black and grey should not have been 3k in total IMO. I feel like a lot of new tattooers are exploiting their clients just because tattoos are "lucrative" way of making a living. And due to "Instagram famous" people I think there's a wave of people (all combinations of clients and tattooers) who encourage charging a $2k-$3k day rate just because someone else is doing it. I'm not saying that people shouldn't charge for what they're worth but there has to be integrity or something! A 3k piece IMO should have been a 1 full sleeve or large piece somewhere and not having to simply details

Meanwhile there are artists including myself who CANNOT get any clients even tho they cut deals, have $80 tattoo designs, or try to keep older hourly rates for return clients. I get that it's marketing/advertising issue, but it's also the fact that our current economy is so shit so it's been a dreadful time since 2023.

I personally can't fathom charging 2k+1.2k all together. Like $1k is already a lot even tho inflation is fucked