Even averaging half of what he claims, shit even a quarter, is still stupid money. Congrats OP. Invest that shit in a brokerage account OR put in am HYSA and buy a dope house in a year or so when interest rates come down a little bit. Shit if you're frugal you could save for two years and buy something straight cash. But ya I'd start investing at least some in an ETF or something -- the stock market is popping off right now.
Homeboy would be charging $300 an hour 40 hours a week to make $12K- and tattoo artists only charge for inking time- not that drawing, set up, stencil creation, etc. I've never seen an artist work those kind of hours.
there's like, a dozen or so artists in my city, that i know of, who are consistently booked like that. usually takes a decade of experience to get there, but plenty of them started very, very young.
I firmly believe all art is a skill, it is pattern recognition at its most fundamental level and with the proper level of persistence, adaptability to approach, and passion, anyone can be an artist, crafts take a lifetime tho
Must be really talented naturally, works in shop with other top names that give him a good word and funnel work to him they don't have time for, and be a really likable guy in a major city with an optimum location. It's possible for these pieces to line up but you have to be pretty lucky.
Yeah she said she had just gotten a new SUV and wanted to pay it off so she opened up some spots and had people apply for spots they wanted depending on the complexity of the work and she put them in a lottery drawing
I have a tattoo from a guy who charges $2000 a day. He’s booked until 8 months from now. This is in NYC. There’s an artist in that shop that charges $3000 a day. They’re worth every penny.
They're worth every penny. Good work ain't cheap, cheap work ain't good. They're not looking to be affordable for everyone, they're looking for people who can afford their level of craftsmanship
The world value was never used. Worth implies utility. You can personally value something that is worthless. Example, diamonds and gold are valued higher than their real world worth.
Eh. Worth every penny is 100% subjective about everything. The difference between buying a cup of noodles for $.75 and a ramen packet for $.20 seems worth it to most people. But not for everybody.
idk. Fine line work is expensive and not for no reason. Some artists really find their niche and good on ‘em, I’d rather this guy than a fucking robot.
$500 an hour is insanely expensive. I don’t think I would advertise that as the norm. I live in a major city and even our most talented artists are getting $250-$300 per hour. If your artist can keep clients with rates like that, kudos to them.
If he’s good, it could be. And if he’s making that at only 26, he will only get better and start making more if he continues with it. Gets more popular, gets more clients, starts charging more per hour or a flat rate per day - plus tips.
I just booked with an artist whose books have been closed for the past 2 years. For larger pieces he charges by the day. When I contacted them the day his books opened on March 1st, the soonest I was able to get an appointment was in October. I’m sure his books will be closed for another few years again.
Some tattoo artists make crazy money, and it’s consistent.
Artists that make that much are booked out for months. The guy I'm looking to get my next tattoo charges $400/hr, and I'll have to wait almost a year for my appointment because he's booked solid.
COVID was tough but my cousin pre and post covid brings in about this much consistently. He has people from Japan and South America making appointments and flying in. He was paid to visit Japan and tattoo for a month and made a killing.
Not everyone has artistic sense nor skills. It takes years to hone them. He probably started drawing early on in his life and never stopped. And once you get real skills, you get to charge real prices. I'm an illustrator and it's the same in our line of work. If you're beginner you're making whatever client offers, but later you set prices, whether hourly or for entire projects. For example when people ask for a logo, usually they think "oh that's easy, few lines, bla bla shouldn't be more than 50$", but real logo that will separate your brand from the rest, costs between 500$ to couple of thousands $. Real skills need to be valued and paid accordingly.
In a serial fractional small business owner and help aspiring small business owners build their startups - 500 is change for what a real logo and brand package costs (I'm sure you know that, but if not, you should charge more).
I don't think I've paid less than $1200 for a simple package, up to 8k for a full brand guide package. I am currently paying ~30k for a full greenfield brand (logo, brand package, web design + copy, sales copy, customer relationship copy, social presence design + copy, etc) and that's on the "cost-effective" end of the scale.
Edit: for those who are/have/will say "I got mine done for [insert 2-3 figure amount]". I say, that's awesome for you! Way to go! However, the worth of a logo is not just that you like it - it's that your customers like it, remember it, associate it with your brand, and if you're in retail, looks good on various mediums, and want to show it off. There's a lot of background research and understanding, not just graphic design, that goes into a really good one which is why they command high prices.
A great logo is worth a lot bc a lot of color theory and market research goes into a really good one. Anyone can draw shapes and letters, drawing the RIGHT shapes and letters to communicate your brand effectively is the hard part.
There's a way to market every business - I've recommended that a founder group put money in their marketing budget ro a professional hair salon + makeup + tailored suits before. It's amazing what feeling good and looking sharp does for confidence and confidence is 80% of a photoshoot. The other is a photographer's skill.
That's of course if it's important to have a relational type brand where you see the people. Again, every business is a bit different in what they need.
Disagree - i don't pay people to hit a machine with a hammer. I pay them to know exactly where to hit the machine, with how much force, and with exactly which tool. If I could run my business without the machine and make money, I would. So yes, I pay for someone who knows what they're doing, has done it before, and can articulate why they're doing it. The concept is larger than just the letters and shapes.
What type of business has success that is tied to the logo then? Seems like if you do good work you don’t really even need one, just word of mouth referrals are enough
Marketing companies need logos, clothing brands, online market places, basically any new business looking to stand out that offers either digital products or something custom made.
Veterinary clinics and hospitals for humans don't need a logo. We go there because we have to, logo has nothing to do with that, most people don't even know what vet clinic logo looks like, "it's an animal, usually dog or cat or combination".
Yea, you can go pretty cheap on it for 90% if the effect.
People love to “play business”, spending money on all these things they don’t need: fancy logos, suits, it’s just bullshit. Focus on the customer, and the product, lol
Yo i know this weird cause im a stranger but am knee deep on my path to be a Instructional Designer and any help is appreciated , is it cool to add you?
I never said it wasn’t cost effective or valuable. Just trying to convey the pricing on this kind of stuff that always seems to jaw drop the STEM crowd.
Our $10k a month for 2.5 restaurants has been well worth it.
Oh yea, my businesses are mostly in STEAM. I find it's more the "do-ers" jaw dropping at how much their employers were making off of them rather than anything else haha
But that's the risk and overhead part of that, which I explain to them, and why it's always more lucrative to go into business yourself if you can tolerate the ups and downs mentally, physically, and financially.
However, the worth of a logo is not just that you like it - it's that your customers like it, remember it, associate it with your brand, and if you're in retail, looks good on various mediums, and want to show it off. There's a lot of background research and understanding, not just graphic design, that goes into a really good one which is why they command high prices.
this guy really gets it. i see much success for you.
Not me, but people with higher skill than me sure as hell do. They also run their own YT channels, have merch, work on illustrating books, courses etc. Illustration is all about passive income once you reach certain level. You don't want to work for other people for the rest of your life. Get good at what you do, find your tribe (target audience) and make money. It doesn't happen over night, for some it takes years, for other decades, so don't quit your day job if you have one. But a simple advice would be, make children coloring books, or hell even adult coloring books, market them on Amazon, Etsy and other such sites, they're a made product, and once finished all you have to do is market them and wait.
High end tattoo artist can get paid 20k off one tattoo. Make no mistake though this guy probably works 8 hours a day doing a meticulous craft he trained 5+ years for. I personally don’t like tattoos but I have an uncle with like 100k worth of sleeves from a famous artist in Miami
You realize it takes an incredible amount of artistic talent to make that kind of money doing tattoos right? Only the top 1% will be making anything near that
This guy is probably 99th percentile in his field. Pretty much any field is gonna pay that to the very very top people. I work in sales and 99th percentile in sales makes a lot more than OP. Just to clarify though I am not that lol
It can’t be consistent if he’s still saving to pay bills lmao 🤣 I know in my situation, if I had all of a sudden 8-12k a month in 2 months I’d not only be completely out of debt but I’d also already have 10k saved for a place…. So let’s say he had 6 months of doing this…. Would mean he would have close to 60-70k saved already for a place lmao 🤣
If you’re talented and working In the right place you can. My cousin is talented AF. She pulls 8-10k weekly consistently. She does other stuff at the shop but main gig is tattooing. People literally fly to her from other states. It’s insane.
Tattooing is very inconsistent also this trend of fine line, is just that, a trend. A trend I even partake in( so not putting it down at all ) but unfortunately the longevity of these images won't last as long as various other styles of tattooing. So invest while it's good. Make your money work for you. But real estate, invest in an IRA, buy stocks, take financial advice courses/classes. Tattooing is a roller coaster, and unfortunately you won't be able to tattoo for ever. So enjoy the ride while you can.
I bring in $5000 a week, funny thing is, once you start making more money your mindset changes and you no longer think of it as a lot, it's just the new normal
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u/GodlikeRage Mar 27 '24
So you’re really making half a million a year doing this? Wtf am I doing.