From your story to walking out

A story, not a picture. What happened, who it was for, why now. If it connects to other tattoos you already have, that matters too — it changes how the new one has to sit.

A rough sentence is a real starting point. You do not need to arrive with a reference, a style, or a finished idea. Most people do not.

A drawing on a screen and a tattoo on skin are not the same object. The body moves, the ink spreads, and the piece has to still read in ten years. That rules some things in and some things out before any style is chosen.

Placement — where it goes decides how large it has to be to hold together, and how it moves with you.

Ageing — in black and grey the range of values is chosen so the piece stays readable on skin as it settles and ages. In traditional work, colour is picked flat and saturated to stay clear over decades, and the design is drawn to read from a distance.

Compression — what can be removed while the meaning stays whole. Less information, not more.

Style comes out of this, rather than being picked first. Black and grey builds form through light and shadow rather than heavy outline. Traditional uses bold outlines, solid colour and a limited palette. Neo-traditional keeps that linework and adds painterly depth. Which one suits your piece is part of the work, and it is a fair answer to say you do not know yet.

The work happens in advance. You see it on the day. Rarely, I send it ahead of time.

That is why I ask for as much as you can give me first, and why I tell you what I am thinking and why before we get there. The decisions get made in the conversation. By the day, the drawing is close to determined.

My expertise is not taste. I construct from constraints, experience, rules and compositional theory. You are not betting on whether you like what I happen to feel like drawing.

Constructed is meant literally. Black and grey often is not drawn at all — it is assembled from reference, and the assembly carries the final design and the rendering with it. Which is also why it will not land on skin one-for-one, and why we go through that before anything starts.

Depending on size, I commit to one direction and we work on that one. It is a starting point, not a final answer — I draw on an iPad, so changes are quick.

Change as much as you want. There is no limit and no charge for it.

I will push back if I think a change hurts the piece, and I will tell you why. Then it is your call. I am open to anything that still gets to the best result — the argument is about the result, not about who is right.

It is rare that someone does not want the final design. If it happens, you paid a deposit and I will find a resolution we are both happy with.

I would rather not tattoo someone who is not confident trusting me. Send me everything you have and let me build the right one.

You are greeted and seated in the waiting area with a consent form to fill in. Coffee or water if you want it.

Once the form is done I come out and sit down with you.

We go through the finalised design together. I walk you through how it will be tattooed, and one part of that matters more than the rest: the drawing is assembled from reference, so it will not translate to skin one-for-one. Shading gets evened out. Levels of detail get blended where the references disagree with each other. Better to know that sitting down than to notice it halfway through.

Changes are welcome here. I draw on an iPad, so a last-minute change is a real option rather than a favour. Say what you are thinking.

Then measurements and last notes. I go back through to print the stencil at the right size and finish the setup, and you come in after me. Quick chat, any questions, stencil on, and you get positioned.

I tattoo with headphones on. Not rudeness — the work takes hours and I want all of it going into your piece rather than into conversation. Say so if you would rather chat and I will take them off.

First break lands somewhere after the first hour or two, depending on the position you are held in, since that decides how long I can hold focus. Breaks are short. Ten minutes at the outside.

Stop me whenever you need to. Break, toilet, breather, no reason required — you do not have to wait for me to offer.

What to bring. Government photo ID, 18 or older. Food — snacks, sugary drinks, a savoury lunch, all welcome, and long sessions go better with them. Your phone or tablet and headphones; there is a stand for them, and a TV if you would rather watch something.

Before you go I take you through aftercare for the piece you have just got. It may not match what you have read elsewhere. Aftercare depends on what was tattooed, and I adjust it accordingly.

Full-day pieces leave with a tube of Inkeeze aftercare cream, on me. The general guide lives on the aftercare page, but what I tell you on the day takes priority over it.