July 27, 2026
7 min
Why Does a Custom Tattoo Cost What It Costs?
"It's expensive," - I hear this sometimes. Usually it means one of a few things. Here's what I'd say in response, honestly
The most common version of this conversation goes like this: a client has had a tattoo done elsewhere for less, or they're looking at the price and comparing it mentally to something else — a holiday, a pair of trainers, a jacket — and the number feels disproportionate.
But a tattoo isn't a product. Nothing is manufactured, marked up, and shipped to you. What you're paying for is a specific combination of things: technical knowledge of the process built over years, artistic skill, the time required to do it properly, and the materials that go into it. None of that is separable. You can't buy the technical skill without the artistic judgment, or the speed without the experience that makes speed possible without cutting corners.
And unlike the trainers or the jacket, it's with you for the rest of your life.
A cheap tattoo is rarely cheap in the long run. What follows is usually one of three things: learning to live with work you're not fully happy with, paying for a cover-up, or going through laser removal. All of which cost more (in money, in time, in sessions) than doing it right the first time.
I've worked with many clients who came to me after getting tattooed elsewhere. Not because the previous artist was a bad person, but because something went wrong — technically, artistically, or both. The signs are usually there in the portfolio if you know what to look for. Price is one of those signs (but not everytime).
I'm not the most expensive artist in Munich. I'm not the cheapest. What I can tell you is that everything that goes into the price is there for a reason.
A custom tattoo means the design is made for you — your body, your idea, your skin. It's not pulled from a flash sheet or copied from a reference. The design process, the consultation, the session itself — all of it takes real time. That time is what you're paying for, alongside everything that makes the result worth having permanently.
If budget is a genuine concern, the right conversation to have is about scope: :what's possible within what you can spend, and how to plan a larger project across multiple sessions over time. That's a real conversation, and I'm happy to have it.
What's harder to work with is the assumption that cheaper means the same thing. It doesn't.
A large tattoo is a commitment — not just to the design, but to the process. A full back piece, a sleeve, a chest project: these take multiple sessions, each running 5–6 hours or longer. How you show up matters. Not just for your comfort, but for the quality of the result. Here's what I tell every client before a big session.
Getting a tattoo is the easy part. What happens after — that's where most people make mistakes. After 19 years of tattooing, I've seen beautiful work ruined by poor aftercare. Not because people didn't care, but because they had the wrong information. Here's everything you need to know.
