Thread: How much should you usually tip a tattoo artist?

I want to get my daughter's name tattooed on me (after she's born obviously!) and it's got a design around it that's very colorful and elaborate. It's going to be pretty time consuming and expensive, so I don't want to even remotely stiff the artist working on it. What's usually considered a great tip for this kind of work?

In any service industry from tattoos to hairdressers to the waitress at the IHOP, the standard is 20%.

Tattooers usually have to pay a space rent to the shop owner, they also split the cost of each tattoo with the shop. So if you want the tattooer to get paid, it comes in the form of the gratuity. That is 100% for the artist. Unless of course the artist is the owner. I still tip 20%.

Usually people tip $10 to $20, but for something very intricate I may tip a little more. Although tips are not standard, like you would tip a waitress/waiter. The artist gives you a price, this is what he/she wants for the work being done. My husband has been a professional tattoo artist for 20 years this year and I would say that only about 30% of people tip. I would suggest tipping what you feel is fair.

I'm with RobF on this one (~20%). I would/do tip more for the first sitting of a multi-session piece since the artist has probably spent some off-hours time working on the piece, and a little more at the end .

I tip my artist 20% minimum. The last work we got from him we tipped 30%. He has told us 20 is very generous.