What Happens During a Consultation
For a lot of people, the consultation is the most uncertain part of the tattoo process.
You know what a tattoo session involves. You know about healing and aftercare. But the consultation - the conversation before any of that - can feel undefined. What are you supposed to bring? What will be decided? What happens if the artist has different ideas from yours?
This is worth demystifying. Because a consultation done well is where the best work actually begins - and knowing what to expect makes the conversation significantly more productive.
What It Is and What It Isn't
A consultation is a design conversation. It's where concept becomes direction - where the idea you've been carrying around gets examined, questioned, shaped, and refined into something that can actually be executed well on skin.
It isn't a sales pitch. It isn't a commitment. And it isn't an audition where you have to convince the artist your idea is worth doing.
It's a conversation between two people trying to figure out whether they can make something great together - and what that would look like.
You don't need to arrive with everything figured out. Some clients bring a highly developed concept. Others arrive with a rough idea, a handful of references, and a feeling they're trying to capture. Both are completely normal. Part of the consultation is working out what's clear, what's still evolving, and how those things become a tattoo.
If I don't think I'm the right artist for your project, I'll say so. If the concept has elements that need rethinking, we'll talk through why and what the alternatives are. The goal is an honest assessment of what's possible and what the path to it looks like - not a confirmed booking at any cost.
Before You Arrive
For most projects, I'll ask you to send reference material before we meet.
This isn't a formality. It means I arrive at the consultation having already thought about what you've sent - what the lighting is doing, where the contrast sits, what the placement implications are, what will and won't translate to skin. By the time we sit down together, I already have a view. The conversation can start further along.
Send whatever you have: subject references, style references, mood references, notes about placement and size, any specific requirements or non-negotiables. A brief paragraph of context alongside the images is often more useful than the images alone. The more I understand about why you want what you want, the better placed I am to help you get it.
What We'll Cover
Consultations vary depending on the complexity of the project, but most of the same ground gets covered regardless.
Your concept. What you want, why you want it, what it needs to feel like. This is where the brief gets established - not just the subject matter, but the mood, the emotional quality, what the piece is actually trying to do.
References. We'll go through what you've brought together - what's working, what isn't, what the reference is telling us and what it isn't. If your references point in different directions, we'll identify what the common thread is. If they're strong and consistent, we'll talk about how to use them.
Placement. Where the tattoo will live on your body, how the design will interact with that location, whether the placement serves the concept or creates constraints. If you have a placement in mind, we'll examine it. If you're open to input, I'll share what I think works best and why.
Scale. What size the piece needs to be to achieve the result you're after. This conversation is sometimes straightforward and sometimes involves explaining why the scale you had in mind won't serve the concept - and what would.
Timeline and investment. How many sessions the project will require, the healing time between them, and what the total investment looks like. You'll leave with a clear understanding of the commitment involved - in time, in sessions, and in cost.
What Gets Decided - and What Doesn't
By the end of a consultation, the direction is established. Not the final design - that comes later - but the framework everything else builds on. Subject, style, placement, scale, approximate timeline and cost.
The actual design work begins after the consultation, once you've decided to proceed and a deposit has been paid. I don't produce designs speculatively - the design is commissioned work, created specifically for your body and your brief, and it begins once the project is confirmed.
A few days to a week before your first session, we'll meet again for a design review. This is where you see the design for the first time, we test the placement on your body, and any final adjustments are made before the session. This second conversation is as important as the first - it's where the abstract becomes concrete.
If the Artist Pushes Back
This is worth addressing directly, because it catches some people off guard.
If I think your placement will cause problems, I'll say so. If your reference photo won't translate to skin in the way you're imagining, I'll explain why. If the scale you have in mind isn't going to serve the concept, we'll talk about what would.
This isn't resistance to your vision. It's the consultation doing what it's supposed to do - applying experience and judgment to the brief before it becomes permanent.
The goal isn't to change what you want. It's to make sure what you want has the best possible chance of succeeding. Sometimes that means the original plan proceeds exactly as conceived. Sometimes it means a small adjustment that makes a significant difference. Occasionally it means a more substantial rethink.
In every case, the reasoning will be explained. If you disagree, say so - that conversation is part of the process. The best outcomes come from genuine collaboration, not from one person deferring entirely to the other.
What to Bring
Reference images - subject, style, and mood if you have them. Ideas about placement and size. Any specific requirements or elements that are non-negotiable. Questions about process, timeline, and pricing.
And a willingness to explore possibilities. Not because your ideas aren't valid - they are. But because the best results almost always come from a brief that gets refined through conversation rather than one that arrives fully formed and unchanged.
The consultation is where the work actually starts. Everything after it is execution.
Ready to start the conversation?
A consultation is where the work begins. Bring your ideas, your references, and your questions.
