Body modification is an excellent method to show individuality, whether it’s a modest sign on the wrist, a quote on the collarbone, or even a back tattoo. You should unquestionably take your budget into account when selecting an option.
Only a tattoo artist understands precisely what you want for the new tattoo and can usually appropriately respond to questions about tattoo pricing. Even then, providing an exact response might not be feasible until your tattoo is fully done.
Although many factors affect the price of a full-back tattoo, the common agreement is that it will cost between $500 and $5,000. In order to arrive at a rough estimate so you can put money aside, you need to conduct extensive research and request a quote from the tattoo artist.
Here are some things to consider when choosing whether a full-back tattoo is good for you and your budget since, whatever way you look at it, it will probably be a sizable investment.
We can also provide an explanation for why certain tattoos cost just a few dollars while others might wind up costing hundreds of dollars.
Cost Of A Tattoo On Average
A simple tattoo like a flower or an anchor often costs between $70 and $300. Expect to spend between $300 and $700 on a medium-sized tattoo, such as a picture of a person or animal. The cost of getting tattooed by a skilled and experienced tattoo artist will probably range from $110 to $180 every hour, and rates will mostly rely on how long it takes to create the tattoo.
Prices for big bespoke pieces typically start at approximately $700 and can go as high as $7000+ for a highly personalized and intricate tattoo. These costs are often allocated for back or full-sleeve tattoos.
Which Variables Can Affect The Price Of Tattoo?
Different tattoo shops and artists charge different prices for their work. Some merely charge for the time you’re getting inked, while others charge for both the time it takes to get the tattoo and the time it takes to create the artwork. Many reputable tattoo studios have a minimum deposit that must be paid when you engage them to create your tattoo; this deposit can then be added to the final cost.
For a full-back tattoo, the several factors that affect the price might include tattoo size, detail, number of hues, hours spent conceptualizing the design (if you’re allowing the tattooist artistic license), and the artist’s judgment.
Regarding size, it goes without saying that a tattoo will be more expensive and need more resources to execute the larger it is. The size of the entire back is another essential factor to take into account; a bodybuilder’s back is more significant than someone with a more diminutive shape.
Your design will be less expensive if it is only an all-black silhouette with limited detailing and is merely a black shadow instead of if the artist has to spend hours meticulously painting every scale on a dragon.
Compared to merely coloring inside the lines, delicate shading and texturing demand more effort and focus. The artist must also switch needles for various line kinds, using a separate needle for the outline and shading, and may even utilize different needles for various line and shading types.
Additionally, different needles are required for various hues. The number of times a tattoo artist must alter a design to accommodate all the features of one area of the tattoo is multiplied by the number of colors utilized in that design.
That uses a lot of resources and equipment, all of which are expensive! Of course, the artist will then charge for the time required to complete the tattoo, which may need many sessions.
Regarding how you should rate your artist, it all depends on how well-known and experienced they are. A brand-new tattoo artist with no expertise and no established customer will be less expensive than the proprietor of a well-known studio with a reputation for stunning designs and clients coming from far-flung places to get inked by him/her/them.
Prices also depend upon the artists’ method of tattooing. Although it’s unlikely that most individuals who desire tattoos would be affected by this, certain tattooists from different cultures throughout the world still use older, more conventional techniques in their work.
These approaches and tools come from cultural traditions that the great majority of active artists today don’t know how to use or incorporate. Therefore, you can expect to spend extra if you want a tattoo done by a tattoo artist who uses classic tattooing techniques.
The simple answer is that it can take anywhere between 15 and 80 hours overall, depending on the size and complexity. When estimating the length of time, all the various cost-related elements may be taken into account, but pain tolerance should also be taken into account.
A person with a greater pain threshold won’t need to ask the tattoo artist to stop as often or seek that many intervals, lengthening the tattoo process.
The degree of detail in your design is among the most crucial aspects that affect other factors. The size of the tattoo “doesn’t really impact the time as much as the actual detailing does.
The degree of detail, as mentioned above, influences everything from the number of needles, colors, shading, etc., all of which have an impact on how long it will take to tattoo anything onto your skin.
The data mentioned in the above table may vary due to the artist’s expertise or experience or the tattoo’s details.
What Are The Different Methods Used To Calculate Tattoo Prices?
When it comes to tattooing, various specialists have varied methods of collecting payment. The two most typical payment methods for a tattoo artist are shown below.
Remember that many tattoo artists like to bill by the hour and that the minimum fee is often for an hour’s worth of work. Because of this, even if you arrive expecting a tattoo to take 10 minutes to finish, you’ll probably still have to pay for an hour’s worth of labor.
The minimum payment exists because artists will continue using fresh new, single-use needles and sterilizing equipment for every tattoo, which costs money. Not to mention that they could have passed up a bigger, more expensive tattoo in favor of your ten-minute one.
Larger, more intricate, and customized tattoos typically need hourly billing since it is typically difficult to estimate the cost of a tattoo until it has been finished or is very near to being finished.
In most cases, when you pay by the hour, you give the artist your money after each studio session. For instance, if your appointment is for a new tattoo that will take four hours to complete, you will be required to pay the tattoo artist four hours’ worth of expenses.
Your tattoo artist could demand the whole cost of the tattoo as a one-time payment if the design is pre-drawn or straightforward.
Even if the tattoo isn’t pre-designed, flash tattoos and smaller custom tattoos are typically easier to forecast in terms of time, so the tattoo artist may merely choose to charge you for the artwork as a whole rather than by the hour.
Special Offers
Occasionally, especially if the tattoo is a larger piece, certain tattoo artists may have deals in place wherein, for example, if you get a full day’s worth of tattooing done, you get a little discount.
Or, if your project took many days to finish, they could even reduce the fee by a few hours to thank them for trusting them with such a significant and costly design.
However, not all studios provide discounts, especially if they are well-known or well-regarded. If your preferred store doesn’t have any sales or discounts, don’t feel bad about it. Deals with financial incentives are the exception, not the rule.
Deposits
While tattoo artists frequently operate differently in this area, most demand at least a small amount of cash in advance unless a walk-in appointment is scheduled.
Deposits are normally requested to confirm your booking and to cover the studio in the event that you do not show up for your session, so they are not out of money. You can risk the deposit if you don’t show up when it was initially scheduled or cancel last minute.
Tattoo deposits often cost the same as the tattoo artist typically charges for an hour or two of work. After the last tattooing session, the deposit amount will be subtracted from the total. Additionally, even though most stores now accept credit cards, you should always bring cash just in case or make sure.
How Many Sessions Are Required For A Back Tattoo?
Once again, it varies and is determined by the same criteria, the most significant of which is pain tolerance. These elements have an impact on the overall length of time, which then, in turn, has an impact on the number of sessions needed.
Depending on the design, you could need more than one tattoo session in the future because each session should last between 3 and 5 hours. You could even become a regular client at that tattoo studio for up to a year to allow for a recovery period in between sessions.
Because of mobility and how much the tattooist can do on you before you become difficult to ink, pain tolerance is a significant consideration in this situation. Your tattoo artist will be able to work more quickly and complete more of the tattoo in one session if you can remain still and tolerate the discomfort with little to no movement at the beginning.
In the end, it is impossible to say with certainty how many sessions a complete back tattoo will require since there are too many influencing elements. Experts’ suggestion would be to talk this over with the tattoo artist and get all these details worked out, and they will provide you with a far more reliable response.
How Much Time Must Pass Between Sessions?
Since the tattoo is an open wound, you must wait between treatments. Before the needle can cause additional damage, it must heal properly. The recommendation is to wait two to three weeks between appointments as a result.
The tattoo will itch, scab, and peel throughout this period. While mending that is taking place underneath the skin’s surface has been noticeable over the past week. Even though you might believe the tattoo has totally recovered, deeper layers of the skin are still mending.
If you conduct another session relatively soon, you put yourself at a much higher risk of infection by essentially establishing a wound on top of a wound. This would have the consequence of increasing the length of total healing time and delaying the completion of the tattoo by adding more healing time on top of the current recovery period.
A smaller tattoo will often heal faster than one with a bigger surface area, among other things. As I’ve said previously, the bigger the tattoo, the more skin will be injured, the more the body will be traumatized, and the more work the immune system will have to do.
Conclusion
When considering whether or not to have a full-back tattoo, what sort of design you want, and which artist to select, there are various factors to consider. In experts’ view, the size, level of intricacy, and overall pain threshold ultimately determine how the experience will turn out.
The most crucial step is to talk through all of these elements with the tattoo artist and develop a game plan for the tattoo based on their recommendations. Reputable tattoo shops will undoubtedly have excellent knowledge and be able to provide you with all the information you need about any tattoo.
Megan started working as a tattoo artist four years ago and joined Psychotats in 2021. She majorly travels to the US to tattoo people at gatherings or tattoo shows. Not restricted to creating boundaries, she loves to make her work visible to the world. As a treasured artist, she has a specialty in creating cartoon drawings and character work. With unique forms, she loves to create cute images that mix with extreme tattoo images.
