Custom Tattoos

Custom work costs the same as picking off the wall

Most shops charge a drawing fee, a design deposit, or a higher hourly rate for original work. Absolute does not. Custom pieces are encouraged here at no additional cost, and that is a deliberate position rather than a promotion.

The reasoning is simple. A tattoo drawn for your specific ribcage, at your specific scale, around your specific existing work, will fit better and age better than the same design pulled flat off a sheet and stretched to fit. If the price is identical either way, there is no reason to talk anyone out of the better outcome. If you would still rather choose something ready made, our flash library is one of the largest in the Midwest.

What actually happens between your idea and the needle

The unglamorous middle part is where custom work is won or lost.

The conversation

You describe what you want. The artist asks the questions you did not think about: how big, exactly where, which direction should it face, is it going to be added to later, and what happens to it when your arm bends. Placement decisions get made on your body, not on paper, because a design composed flat can distort badly across a curved surface.

The drawing

The artist draws the piece. This may take a day or several, depending on scale. Larger work often gets drawn, set aside, and revisited before anyone commits.

The stencil and the last chance to change it

The design is transferred to your skin as a stencil, and you look at it in a mirror in the position you will actually be seen in. Say something here if anything is off. Once the first line is in, changes get expensive in ways that have nothing to do with money.

What to bring, and what to leave at home

Reference images help enormously, and the kind matters.

• Useful: several images showing the mood, the pose, the era or the level of detail you like, even if none of them is the thing you want.
• Useful: photographs of tattoos whose style you like, which tell an artist far more than a description of subject matter.
• Less useful: a single screenshot of another artist's finished tattoo with a request to copy it exactly. Reputable artists will not duplicate another artist's custom piece, and the version you have seen was drawn for someone else's body.
• Worth knowing: a heavily filtered image hides the detail an artist needs to see.

Also bring your budget, honestly. Nobody here is offended by a number. It is easier to design a piece that fits your budget than to redesign one that does not.

Matching the idea to the right artist

Every artist at Absolute has a personal style, and we would rather point you at the right person than take the booking. Feel free to ask to see examples.

Eddie runs from realistic portraits to unusual new school. Scott has tattooed since 1984 and works at every scale from a small piece to an elaborate back piece. Mandy works in new school, black and grey, and lettering. Paul tattoos and pierces.