Everything You Need to Know Before Your First Tattoo | Dos and Don'ts

sit down and shut up trust me don't move I have belts on my back sometimes she comes listen I got nervous before uh my

tattoo

on my hand I thought that was going to change

everything

and uh I went to fix my hand I remember talking to my friend I said: Dude, I'm a little nervous. He asks what I was like. I don't

know

. I mean, what if I don't like the design? and he said, Have you ever seen her do anything that you have done? I didn't like her and I thought I didn't, so thank you Kelly Dodie.

Yes, I think sometimes people make mistakes with the size. Sometimes people want to start really small just because they want to see how it feels and then some people say this is what I want. I want to go big, let's do it, I don't think if you're going to go small, that's fine, but always choose an area that's suitable for that size

tattoo

, so don't stick to, you

know

, something that's two inches and medium length. half of

your

bicep and then you can't do anything around it except other small tattoos, so think ahead. I always like the inside of the forearm.

I think it's a great area to start

your

first

tattoo. It hurts towards the wrist, but you know it's a little bit of pain and then it's over if it's something you want to have for the rest of your life. Good place to start. You can see it if you want. Sometimes it helps to see the artist doing the tattoo because then you realize it's you. I know it's not that bad, it just looks like I'm being drawn, um and if you don't want to look, that's okay too, sometimes that helps people, but it's a good place, it's not too sensitive, I'm okay with that for a start. just because when I start the sleeves I like to start at the bottom of the arm so that any image I add can be stacked behind instead of if I start here I can't put this image so like if a head were in the front that's no longer possible , whereas if I finish a head here I can continue stacking the arm.

I don't like it if you tattoo your hands before you have a full sleeve or your neck before you have a full one. sleeves because at

first

it looks a little strange because you'll be drawn to that area and then this will look so empty traditionally those are the final areas that you know you

need

to fill in the rest of your body and then you're You're allowed to partially do your hands and the neck because they used to be professional killers, so many times you can't get a job if you have very visible tattoos on your neck and hands, but lately it has become a trend to get tattoos on your fingers, even. although they don't hold up they are usually for people who are heavily tattooed who know they are going to fall off and don't really care, there are many times where even for me I did my arms first and then added my hand and then limited space so So when a client comes to me and says let's make this a sleeve, I like to see if there's something that fits well in the hand and then have a little bit of room that goes up a little bit like it's part of the head. of something curves up or if it has antlers, anything that curves up a little bit on the arm, then you're not limited later on, you can keep adding more to that, but I want to make sure that that client is caught to make sure that We're expanding that if it's just one hand, yeah, I don't know, I mean, like she traditionally said, you want to cover

everything

before you get into it, but that's good, if they come with the intention of this being a full sleeve and I'll do it right away, you know, later, that's our exception, yeah, that's consistent, you know that's fair, that's good.

I like my clients to expect the worst just because when they're in the no, it's not the worst, worst like me. saying you expect it to be more painful than I expect it to be for you, eat a big breakfast or lunch or whatever at a good time after the appointment, even though yeah, no, don't come, yeah, you know, maybe like an hour before and then bring something with a lot of sugar and electrolytes, the sugar and liquids will enter your bloodstream faster than food, so bring soda or Gatorade, something like that, and you can drink it during the tattoo and that will help you not to faint. but also if you feel like you're going to get sick, tell your tattoo artist because we know how to handle it, we'll put you to bed and make sure you don't pass out, the first thing most people try to do.

What you have to do is get up and walk to the bathroom or something. You don't want to get up. Yes, don't give up, please tell us it's not embarrassing. We've seen it hundreds of times, even if it's just a mental thing. do something before a tattoo, that tends to help, for me, I have this weird ritual where, like she said, with sugar, I love to have a kit kat and a red bull before every tattoo I get, I don't know because. you don't want the caffeine, it's not, don't drink too much caffeine before a tattoo, no, it's that bad, first of all, don't go in shaking your blood, do it, so don't do that, but like I said If you find a ritual that It worked for you once, do it every time because even if it's a mental thing that helps you sit longer, you usually blow it up in your head and make it much worse than it is, and many of the This time we'll especially start with the newbies.

I'll draw a little line so you can see how it feels and I don't think so. I don't think there's anyone I've ever been around that's ever said, wow! horrible, uh, but most of my clients always think that I made it much worse in my head than it really is. I feel so much better now knowing that you know how it feels and then they can sit through the entire tattoo if you've done it. imagining this tattoo that you have known on your ribs for a long time and that is where you are in love do it there who cares about the pain because soon it will be over you know you just have to live with it for that day but the tattoo will be there forever.

I'm just saying the pain of that day. The best advice I can give. I actually got my first tattoo with a friend, which was very random because we went to a shop we were in Canada. just on one trip we were seniors in high school and we said, okay, let's go to Canada and we want to get tattoos, so I actually raised all the money for this tattoo by asking the kids in the lunchroom. Hey, anyone want to contribute? I think I made $70 in two days, which is pretty cool, but then Christmas happened, so I thought, yeah, let's go to Canada, we've got money, so we went for a little break, and to the tattoo artist, I said: "Hey, me." I want to do this on my ribs, but I'm a little nervous, what does it feel like?

He just looks at me. To be honest, it's like a deep cat scratch and I thought it sounds terrible. He said, "You know you want to do it." I want to do it and I look at my friend Will and he's like, dude, he's going to be on you forever because he was debating on my shoulder and I was like, Should I switch to my shoulder or something? He says: What if you start with you? shoulder and you say I could have stuck this in my ribs, I said friend, you're so right, so I stuck in my ribs and that was if you've already researched an artist and you like their work, maybe you'll find a lot of images that um it's specific things that they did that you liked because it helps us understand your head better, so I mean, like you know, we're saying that, uh, we change things, we're both generally a client for everything. day, that means I reserve the day for you, so if there are things that are worrying or worrying you, we will work on them at that time, yes, tell us everything by email, but that doesn't mean that in person we can't like working with you or any concerns or fears that cannot be resolved.

Don't worry about offending the artist either, unless you outright say I absolutely hate that this is trash, please don't say we have feelings. but if you say, oh you know what, I don't like this little leaf here, can we turn it over or take it out? It's okay when you arrive, any artist who is respectable if you want to change something minor about the design he has. there's no problem changing it that's how I work with my clients I know you do the same thing you're there to work with the artist if you decide to change your whole concept that's a completely different story where you'll have to reschedule an appointment or something but You should go to an appointment yourself so that you are not influenced by other people who may not even be interested in the same style of tattoo that you are looking for so that their opinion is not the right one.

It doesn't matter who cares if you like it or not, and that time is supposed to be for you and the artist to communicate about this work that you guys are creating, so yeah, don't bring a bunch of friends, it's okay if You want, you know, maybe a friend just to hold your hand, but don't let their opinion weigh into your decision about what you get tattooed.