The process

Nothing here
is left to chance.

From the first message to the healed photo, this is exactly how a piece gets made and what is expected of both of us at each stage.

01
Your enquiry
Reference images, the spot on your body, a rough size, and your timing. Send me a photo of the actual area too, because how a limb is shaped changes what will fit on it.
What helps most: several reference images rather than one, and an honest budget.
02
My honest answer
I tell you whether the idea works as it stands. Sometimes it needs to be bigger, moved to a different spot, or stripped back so it still reads properly in ten years.
If I am not the right artist for what you want, I will say so rather than take the money.
03
Deposit and date
A deposit holds your date and comes off your final session. For anything large we map out the sessions from the start so you know what you are committing to.
The deposit covers the drawing time that happens before you ever sit down.
04
The drawing
Custom artwork, built for your body and your reference, never traced off somebody else's tattoo. You see it before any needle comes out and we adjust it until it is right.
Changes at this stage are free and expected. Changes halfway through a session are not.
05
Stencil and placement
The stencil goes on and gets moved, sometimes several times, until the flow sits correctly with how the muscle and the limb actually move. Nothing starts until you are happy.
Stand up, move around, look in the mirror. This is the last easy moment to change your mind.
06
The sessions
Long sittings with proper breaks, because black and grey shading is best built in one continuous pass rather than picked at across short slots.
Eat beforehand, stay off the drink the night before, and bring something to watch.
07
Healing and touch ups
You leave with a day by day plan and my number. At around three months the piece has settled into how it will live, and anything that healed light gets sorted.
Send me a healed photo. I genuinely like seeing them.