Tattoo Dos and Don'ts With Ryan Ashley and Arlo | INKED

so you want to talk about what you do and what you just don't do period because there are some things you do and some things you just don't do well yeah I feel like my videos are usually worse than clients sometimes I'll be in between from a

tattoo

and I get that initial smell like that wave of Bo smell and my first instinct is oh man my client smells my client smells and then after a minute I realized it's me it's probably like that yeah , no I really don't know, man, yeah, your neck sees someone for life eight hours straight.

Have you ever listened to both humans? They are both like excreting oils and I don't know bones or scientific words, so scientific words, pheromones, pheromones, they are not even in bloodborne pathogens, like pheromones in the training list, they are not listed as a fluid or a substance that is exchanged. I think it's very off topic. Have you ever gone to clean a client? You know you're about to put the insole on and you want to make sure their skin is really, really good, so you talk to them, you're having a conversation, you rub their skin really hard and then you look at the paper towel and it's literally like a difference, like a different color. like the whole paper towel is dirty when they show up early and then it's awkward because they're both standing there looking at it together and like their wheels are spinning in slow motion, it's like I just spoke, I'll call this person.

Again, I need to clean this area a second time, but you both recognize it together, like some people have an excessive amount of skin cells or dirt or whatever oils, some people are dirty, so recently I've been inviting these girls to come. to get

tattoo

ed and they are very excited and a lot of times they don't have many hours on the skin and they show up and they are like I'm very nervous, I didn't eat anything today or drink water I'm ready to sit for eight hours and it never turns out well and they keep coming they keep coming They've been sitting for so long without eating anything without drinking anything and it's offered I'm not going Starving these people like some of them, I want to put a bag of food around their heads and make them chew a little all the time you know , but they have been fainting, they have been getting very weak, they feel very dizzy, they feel very strange and then they sit up and their faces turn white and they go down again.

It's been crazy. Actually, I want to talk about this for a second. The other day, my client, who was getting a tattoo for the first time, got her first tattoo done. She called tattoo studio like four days after she got tattooed and she was like guys, I know it's happening, my tattoo is freaking out, all my pores are getting really clogged and you know, we calmly said, okay, let's talk about this. , tell us what you have been. tell us how you've dealt with this and then proceeded to tell us how you used up your entire giant bottle of after Karen in four days used everything in four days who goes through a tube in four days so she completely drowned but the thing is you tell people exactly what to do this is what you do this is what you use and then they come with all these problems and it's because they didn't follow anything you told them no okay it's up to each tattoo artist to specify what way they would like to be contacted, you know what I mean, on my Instagram it says that you know, the email is this, if you go out everywhere to give your email, that is obviously your favorite. communication method I don't even open my dams because every day I have 200 DMS of people saying how much for this, how much for this, without taking into account that we have a personal life separate from work, many dick pics.

Lots of dick pics for your boss, yeah, oh, so many dick pics it's hard to look at, isn't it? I mean, you have to sift and it's really good, so tomorrow everyone will know if you save them as your own price for a tattoo. a very, very coveted conversation between the client and the tattoo artist. It is a conversation that occurs between two people and only two people. It is not a conversation that occurs through a public post on the Internet for everyone to see. It is not a conversation that should be addressed in a group of people.

It's a lot of people to be public knowledge because it varies a lot, it's constantly like I want to go up and down, in reality it usually only happens because it gets closer to the goal of I guess who says yes, why not, it's usually a bit of an art, It is an art, little by little it is becoming so similar to painters, you can relate the tattoo industry more closely to the painting industry, but it is very different because the painters are very high here, in fact, the others are very below, the tattoo is not yet considered.

Fine art is still considered more of a type of service work, but it's not, it's fine art that you are creating especially once you get to a higher level, Cour as if they were unique pieces. that you are spending the time, the effort and the energy, but the argument is not repetitive, it is not something that is replicated, no, we are still fighting for that mentality, so many people do not have that mentality, what is happening? but I'm just saying that it's going up progressively and that's why I think that being a craft, people don't realize the value that these tattoos really have because people, but isn't that why we don't do it?

I don't really post prices like this, it is what it is because it is changing a lot and it is changing more at the top level, is it that correct or not? Well, the reason I'm not comfortable with this is because I don't know what you charge. so I'm not going to give my price and then announce it and then whatever your price is, for some reason it gets compared because people don't understand that every tattoo artist is different, just like every tattoo is different, so if I say my price and you say your price, someone could judge or devalue one of us or the opposite, blah, blah, blah, depending on what we say, who it is.

I sucked at high school what I sucked at, so overall all prices are extremely awkward, but I sucked at school, remember? basic economics and I remember one thing is supply and demand, you know that, and yes, I know, and this is where it's okay, you don't want to do, what is it, what is it, when you like to correlate prices and things like that and guy? Of me, what is it? It's a guy like he's not monopolizing basically when you're talking, you're not supposed to talk to your competitors or whatever sets up prices, that's illegal or whatever, but I mean, you talk about whatever.

You know what people are charging, so yes, you get water, especially the artists. I'm like your bottled Russia, northern Europe, they don't charge that much there. A phenomenal, phenomenal artist, you know, he's absolutely incredible, so you look at his prices and yours are very here and there's our guy, you know, not that high, so yeah, you do, it influences anything, that's why I think it's a slower process of going up and I don't want to be, I don't know and that's where it is. really difficult, okay, it's a look, I guess, I guess you start making or are they luxury items, you know they are not necessary, if you want to be a good tattoo customer, you do your research and choose your artist based on their talent, your portfolio and your work. and you find out that artist charges, you know what I mean, you shouldn't, you shouldn't look for a tattoo artist based on price, the initial consultation is always more or less, predict what the entire tattoo, appointment and process will be like.

It's a lot like if you can read people pretty well. I can read people pretty well. I can tell in the first 10 minutes of meeting someone if we will get along as we understand each other. We will be five very well. amazing or if he's just not my type of person you know and your tattoo artist doesn't have to be your best friend you don't have to connect with every person who tattoos you or with every person who tattoos you if it happens it happens you know it's real You know, I have a serious connection with many of my clients, we click immediately and talk to each other easily, exchanging information is easy, but the problem many times is that you know if you are not clicking with someone who they expect you to see telepathically in their mind and understand exactly what they want to get tattooed because many clients have a perfectly represented painted vision of what they want in their mind and it doesn't change and if it's something else. that what they have created, then it is wrong, well, we are not mind readers, we will never have that ability to see what you see in your mind, so your client has to trust you.

Some customers are obvious looking. your work look at your work choose artists by their work if you like ninety-six percent of him he's probably an artist you'd enjoy almost all of his stuff you know so I've been doing this recently to avoid all this or I've been saying ok instead of having a query it's like sending me three photos that you like for whatever reason I like this photo for the law I like this photo for the BLA this one for the block I'm really whatever and then I say send me three screenshots of your favorite tattoos that I've done well of all my tattoos what are your three favorites but then I also say send me some pictures of things that you don't like for some reason because we all get the idea and take it in, okay, they like this, they like this, they like this.

I think it's important to get to the other side of that balance and find out what they don't like and why you know what I mean, then certain things come up. like oh I don't like this because I really hate the color purple and blah blah blah, but you would never have gotten that information if you hadn't asked about the opposite side of the spectrum, so it closes the box a little bit. in terms of creativity, but it's up to us as tattoo artists to be honest with people about what it's purely more than a location, like if someone asked us for such a big tattoo in the middle of the back or on the shoulder. leaf like a tattoo where you should be like you know, so you know this is prime real estate.

Are you planning to get tattooed in the future? Is this a place that would eventually be compromised? so you know this is a privileged area. If you are starting to get tattooed regularly, you should consider that you know what I mean, the space you are taking up for the size of the tattoo and just take a few more minutes and explain to your client how important it is. It's not taking up valuable, valid real estate for these inhibitors and stuff, because that's a big deal, you know, I mean clients want to get this walk-in tattoo done like that, so these clients come in to get these inhibitors. in such privileged places, not Thinking about the future, you wanted a more elaborate tattoo or a full sleeve, maybe one day this will take place, so I think you know that there is a great responsibility that we must take in providing them with that service and giving them our honesty.

I come back to our experience advice, it gets really complicated because if someone goes above and beyond, I believe in tipping, you know, I mean even as an artist, so when I come to tattoo artists and I go above and beyond, a lot of times I'm tattooing. I'll tattoo four or five more hours to finish the piece and put all the white highlights the way I want if you're willing to sit down and I won't charge you. It's not like you know you're sitting. this extra time like and and at that point it's like they see me do a lot of extra work and it shows, so if I go above and beyond, then you can fit in with me, but other than that, I listen, I would say my price for what I'm waiting for, already you know, I mean, but if it's the same thing with restaurants, like someone goes above and beyond and it's a little bit different because I guess you're a waitress, then you might have a different view.

Well, this is what I've been on a lot of different types of appointments and sometimes you get to an appointment for the day and it's the perfect storm, it's the perfect layout, you feel good, you love your client and everything. of the planets align and you have a really good day at work you love what you do your client is happier than ever none of you could be happier it's a perfect thing so I feel like yeah that's when you tip your tattoo artist If the tattoo artist stays late for you he goes out of his way to order lunch and eat with you, hang out with you like the design is amazing, it's technically amazing, you're both Stokes, you know what I mean, but if I give you one slap and like half the day flash and I don't really care about the artwork and blah blah so whatever it is it's up to this person based on experience so if you leave early it makes sense so here It's where you are. like going to fine art, then tattooing is still not in the realm of fine art, like it's not really considered fine art.

Do you think the tattoo needs to be scrambled? And this is what drives me crazy. People are paying between $100 and $20,000 for a painting like. This because of the name or whatever, understandable, you know us as artists, we can only produce a limited amount of work and then that's it, like we only have a certain amount of time, brain capacity and energy that we can spend, already you know, for a certain period, so yeah. I guess I think tuning has a long way to go once you get to that point. You wouldn't needtip or have people tip you or anything like that at the Ariat right now.

It's like, I think, it's a transition period and I think it's like our clientele considers us more fine arts, I think almost. A lot of that has to do with the clientele, so the clientele is starting to become high-status members of society, which is a very relative statement, but it's becoming more and more and I expect to see it go more and more. in that direction because I mean, obviously, a painter paints something on a canvas, he can paint on it, he can appreciate it, this is permanent, it's much more difficult because it's you and the client, the person who receives a painting and then has to sit there all that time.

There is a lot more experience on both sides and a lot more commitment on both sides that goes along with a lot more education not only about the medium that you are working with, but also about the canvas which for us is the canvas of sins, so the The question is whether you have a chance to get one, one, two tattooed. I feel like the reason tattoo artists get advice is because they are creating something that is one of a kind and special and to give it to someone through a service that won't exactly be provided to anyone else in the world, you are giving them something. which is an individual thing that happens once in a lifetime, you are creating something that has never been done before or since because even if it is the same design, you never try to replicate the tattoos exactly, stitching me, the story will never be the same.