“ I’m booked in with my artist but I think I want to change the design - what should I do? ”
You may have booked a tattoo but closer to the appointment realise you’ve changed your mind about parts of the design, or even the entire idea! It happens, but there’s a way to go about it that ensures you’re being respectful to your artist and their time. So, here’s everything you need to know!
Be as decisive as possible
If you have a long wait after booking your appointment, it’s natural to think of changes you want to make to your initial request. Changing elements a couple times is completely understandable, but if you start changing what you’ve asked for every 2 days this may be indicative of you needing to think about whether the tattoo is actually right for you.
Tattoos are permanent and whatever design you end up going with is going to be on you for a long time. If a design is important to you, make sure it’s one that you’re going to love or appreciate 5, 10, even 20 years down the line. This helps to avoid ‘tattoo regret’.
TIP: Save a design you like as a wallpaper on your phone so you can get accustomed to seeing it every day because that will be your reality with a tattoo.
Give notice where you can
If there’s any changes you want for your design in the lead up to your appointment, let your artist know as soon as you’ve decided you want those changes. Sometimes you don’t think of changes until the day and that’s not a problem, but if you’ve been thinking about a change for weeks, it’s best to let your artist know prior to arriving on the day. This ensures they have ample time to include the changes in the design and means they haven’t spent time drawing something that you don’t want.
This doesn’t include small changes you want to make after seeing the design and discussing it with your artist - your tattoo should be a collaboration between you and your artist so don’t feel hesitant to speak up about tweaks during the consultation process at the start of your appointment.
Think about placement
For some placements, designs will be drawn to fit your body specifically. For example: sleeves, sternums and thigh pieces. This means that if you need to change the placement the design may need to be reconfigured to fit the new area. Certain elements - like circular designs or faces - will warp on some parts of the body due to the muscle or skin in the area moving as you go about your daily life. This is something your artist will also be thinking about with your placement, so letting them know if the placement changes drastically is a good idea so they can take it into account.
Try not to add too many elements
If you’ve got your idea and you keep emailing your artist to add a new element, this will quickly get confusing. With tattoos sometimes less is more - having too many elements battling it out will make the design look jumbled and unclear.
Your artist will also have you booked for a certain amount of time and will have quoted you accordingly. Adding elements or extra tattoos onto your booking isn’t always possible if your artist sees multiple clients a day and may require you to book a new appointment in order to have time for everything or may increase the cost of your tattoo from your original quote.
Your tattoo isn't the only one they're designing
While your artist will put time and effort into your design to make it special and unique to you - they will have other clients they also need to design for. If you’re constantly chopping and changing what you want this takes away time from other clients and makes it harder for your artist to get the work-life balance they need. If every client was changing their mind every day your artist would never stop drawing!
