Everything You Need to Know About: Sleeve Tattoos

08/06/2016

A tattoo is a big commitment; a whole sleeve tattoo even more so. Often, with the help of the right tattoo artist, these pieces can be less tattoo and more genuine piece of art. It can be a real statement that defines your client and as such is not a piece to be taken lightly.

There are a number of things that you should advise anyone thinking of getting a full sleeve tattoo to consider. It’s a serious, life altering, decision and you should have a few key issues to discuss with your client as you develop tattoo ideas.

A Full Theme

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There is an endless sea of ideas from which your clients can pluck their tattoo sleeve. Whether it is close to their heart, a style they find cool or a lifelong passion in tattoo form, the design can be everything. A mismatch that makes no sense can be the tattoo of their dreams, but it might not look as good as something with a coherent theme. So, it might be dragons or flowers or moon rocks for all anyone else knows, but help your clients plan a theme that you can then design around. They may find it looks better in the long run!

Colour or Not

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Any tattoo you might create has an important question to answer: should it be in colour or black and white? As a large piece a sleeve can be the perfect candidate for a fully coloured tattoo. A lot of popular sleeve designs, such as mermaids or religious scenes, pop fantastically when they are done in colour. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that it won’t look even better in black and white. This is obviously a personal decision for your client to make, but if you think that one or the other works better stylistically then it is best to let your client know this early in the process.

Why Shouldn’t They Get a Full Sleeve Tattoo?

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However, is a full sleeve tattoo a good idea? They can be the most obvious and hard to cover up tattoo that a client can get. On a hot day in the office, rolling up sleeves is the go-to way to cool down, but this puts their ink on full display and is not exactly subtle.

Also, if they are unhappy with the final outcome this isn’t a small tattoo that can be changed in a jiffy at your studio, covered up or removed. A full sleeve is likely going to be the final product that they have to live with for the rest of their life. So it is important to ensure that the client is confident in your skills as a tattooist and that they are fully in love with their design choices. A full sleeve should be a testament to the creativity of the client, not a life-long regret.

Want to give your clients some amazing tattoo sleeves? Then it is important to have the right ink to get their tattoo looking as close to their dream as possible. Get in touch with our friendly team to discover the choices available!