A question?? Artists or not??

pajodublin

I was just wondering,
is it, in your opinion, a tattooists job to design tattoos
friends of mine have brought in different designs asking the tattoo artist to design something that has an aspect of each picture. they were told he cant be bothered wasting his time like that and to go somewhere else
this situation happened a couple of times to friends of mine and as ive designed my other tattoos myself this time i was hoping to get the tattooist to do it

So, is it their job to design (obviously for an extra fee)?

Melion

Simple answer, No.

Its their job to put the tattoo on your body, You are supposed to bring your design to them or choose one from the books they have in the studio.

Zapp Brannigan

You'll get some who will just want to draw for hours and help you out with your own designs (a great guy for this was Mac who used to be in Colourworks) and others who just want to do their job which is tattoo people and get paid for it.

DinoBot

pajodublin wrote:

I was just wondering,
is it, in your opinion, a tattooists job to design tattoos
friends of mine have brought in different designs asking the tattoo artist to design something that has an aspect of each picture. they were told he cant be bothered wasting his time like that and to go somewhere else
this situation happened a couple of times to friends of mine and as ive designed my other tattoos myself this time i was hoping to get the tattooist to do it

So, is it their job to design (obviously for an extra fee)?

100% its their job IMO.
Plus Ive never been charged for the artists time taken to draw up an idea.

a5y

pajodublin wrote:

I was just wondering,
is it, in your opinion, a tattooists job to design tattoos
friends of mine have brought in different designs asking the tattoo artist to design something that has an aspect of each picture. they were told he cant be bothered wasting his time like that and to go somewhere else

The tattoo artist may be getting the impression (perhaps a mistaken impression, perhaps not;) that your friend is more trouble than they are worth. Think about it. They are going to be wearing an image for the rest of their life, but don't seem especially concerned with exactly what that image is. They instead expect someone else to be coming up with it for them.

If I was a tattoo artist I think I'd be hearing alarm bells ringing if a client had that sort of attitude. Better to refuse to have anything to do with them that risk have them getting inked and weeks later deciding they hate it and start wrecking a reputation.

On the other hand I doubt a tattoo artist could charge the same rate per hour coming up with concepts as they could for actually tattooing someone; it may simply be financial reasons they don't do it.

So, is it their job to design (obviously for an extra fee)?

Consider it this way; when someone is going to be wearing a tattoo for the rest of their life is it their responsibility (or is it someone else's) to make sure they know exactly what they on the day they walk into the tattoo parlour?

rannerap

i dont think its part of their job i think that if they do decide to help that its because they believe the person is not a time waster and they genuinely want to help you

Teferi

a5y wrote:

They are going to be wearing an image for the rest of their life, but don't seem especially concerned with exactly what that image is. They instead expect someone else to be coming up with it for them.

But what about people that can't draw? I for one can't and know that I always need someone to draw what I want inked on myself + tbh I'd prefer a tattoo artist to be doing the drawing rather then someone who mightn't know the capabilities/limitations of ink on skin.

DinoBot

Teferi wrote:

But what about people that can't draw? I for one can't and know that I always need someone to draw what I want inked on myself + tbh I'd prefer a tattoo artist to be doing the drawing rather then someone who mightn't know the capabilities/limitations of ink on skin.

Spot on! Im not an artist plus I dont know how tattoo's flow. I rely on the artist to give his wealth of experience in both drawing and tattoo to bring my concept into a good working design.

hot2def

You should bear in mind that tattoo artists don't get paid to draw outside work, just tattoo. So its understandable that one might weigh up drawing time against potential money made tattooing and decide it against it in certain circumstances.

That said, the idea of a tattoo artist who doesn't draw is pretty bizarre, and there is no reason for the artist in question to be short with you about it.

In my biased opinion, John in CR Abbey st is your man if you want something drawn up and tattooed and you should speak to him personally about the design. He spends a daft amount of time drawing. I've seen it.