The Best Tattoos Start With the Artist—Not the Client: A Tattoo Consultation Guide
- Joshua Chatwin
- Mar 26
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 27
I’m just going to rip the damned bandaid off:
If you walk into a tattoo shop with a fully designed tattoo pulled straight off Pinterest, or worse, ChatGPT, you’re already putting a ceiling on how good that tattoo could be.
That doesn’t mean references are bad. They’re not. We actually want to see what you’re into—styles, subject matter, stuff that caught your eye. That’s all useful and good.
But there’s a difference between bringing an idea and bringing a blueprint.
And the people who understand that difference? They almost always end up with better tattoos. As the old saying goes, “Everyone gets the tattoo they deserve.”
An Idea vs. A Blueprint
Left to Right: Client reference (AI generated), Design by Joshua Chatwin, Section of healed tattoo in progress by Joshua Chatwin
Here’s the real split:
One person comes in and says,“I want this exact tattoo.” They mafia-slide us a single image scraped from the dredges of the Google Machine that we’ve seen a hundred times already and demand a note–for–note rendition.
Another person comes in and says,“I like this style, this subject, and I’m thinking it goes here—what would you do with it?” Even better, they have multiple reference points––tattoos they like, tee shirt designs, stickers, paintings, drawings, fuckin’ poems, song lyrics, all kinds of shit is valid and reasonable.
Those are not the same conversation.
The first one puts the artist in a box (and "nobody puts baby in a corner").
The second one opens the door and shines a light like Genesis.
Tattooing isn’t about copying images—it’s about building something that works on your body, not on a phone screen. Flat images don’t account for:
• Muscle structure
• Movement
• How the tattoo wraps or flows
• How it’s going to look in 5, 10, 20 years
When you hand an artist a locked-in design, you’re basically saying:“Don’t solve the problem—just trace the answer.” It’s like slapping an iPad in a kid’s face to watch some Morgan Freeman narrated forrest documentary and telling them to ignore the trees on the other side of the window pane.
And let me tell you, that’s not where good tattoos (or kids) come from.
Tattooing Isn’t Printing—It’s Translation
Left to Right – All Tattoos by Erik Tulgetske: Snake/Skull with good body flow/fit, Rose Stencil Application, Stencil with good fit on body
We aren’t human copy machines. Hell, even when we do flash off the wall we can’t help but inject some of that razzmatazz.
Your tattoo appointment is not like uploading a file and hitting “go.”
Every tattoo has to be translated from an idea into something that works in skin. And skin is a living, shifting surface—not a flat sheet of paper. We are basically future-telling, mind-reading wizards making art within the confines of a minor medical procedure on a substrate that is going constantly change until death.
As such, these are the things we are thinking about while you rattle off ideas like Hail Mary's after a wild Saturday night (whether you realize it or not):
• Line weight (so it doesn’t blur together over time)
• Contrast (so it stays readable from a distance)
• Negative space (so it can breathe and age well)
• Placement (so it actually fits your anatomy)
That super detailed, fine-line design that looks insane on your phone?
It might look great for a year… and then it’ll slowly turn into a soft gray blur of a turd nugget. That’s not bad luck or bad application—that’s physics (thanks a lot, science).
Pigment spreads, shifts and fades. And your young skin will one day be wrinkly and sun-liver-spotted. So when we suggests changes—bigger, bolder, simpler, more open—we aren't “changing your idea.” We are trying to make sure your tattoo still looks good a decade from now. Better yet, we want you looking cool when you're 6 feet under and shaking hands with your maker (or the devil). Too many “tattooers” these days tattoo for the picture (usually digitally manipulated) and instagram likes; the great race to the fucking bottom.
Why Artists Do Their Best Work When They Have Freedom
Tattooing is still an art form. Always has been, and always will be despite all the Amazon tattoo machine wielding youtube educated "artists" out there.
And like any art form, the best work comes out when the artist actually has room to create. We all draw and paint. We all have our style ranges we explore and push. We love this shit, it's our life and livelihood.
When we are locked into copying a reference:
• There’s no problem-solving
• No composition decisions
• No real ownership of the piece. It becomes technical masturbation.
And yeah, it'll come out clean—but it’s rarely exceptional.
Now flip that. Give an artist:
• A subject
• A style direction
• A placement…and let us build something for you?
That’s where things level up.
The flow improves. The composition makes sense. The details are intentional. Because now we're actually invested in the piece—not just executing something that’s been created before.
When you hire us you’re not hiring a machine. You’re hiring a mind, a hand, an artistic eye, and years of experience.
Trust Is the Multiplier
This is the part people struggle with the most: Control vs. trust.
We get it—this is permanent. You want it right.
But here’s the reality:
The clients who get the best tattoos are the ones who trust the process. Not blindly. Not recklessly, but enough to let us do what we're good at. It's like hitting the Daily Double on the lottery.
Because when there’s trust:
• We can adjust sizing so it ages better
• We can tweak placement so it flows correctly
• We can simplify or enhance details where needed
When there’s no trust:
• Everything gets second-guessed
• Every suggestion feels like a debate
• The design gets forced instead of built
And the end result?
Usually just… okay. Not bad. But not what it could’ve been. Micromanaging will kill a design faster than you can say "tat."
What a Good Collaboration Actually Looks Like
If you’re wondering how to approach this tattoo consultation thing the right way, here’s a simple framework.
Bring in or upload to our fancy–pantsy request form if that's your jam:
• A few reference images (not just one)
• A general idea of subject matter
• A sense of style you like
• Placement on your body
Say things like:
• “I trust your style”
• “I want it to fit my body naturally”
• “I’m open to your input”
And then actually fucking be open to:
• Changes in size
• Adjustments in detail
• Suggestions you didn’t think of
From there, we take all of that and build something original. Not copied. Not recycled. Built for you.
That’s how you end up with a tattoo that:
• Feels intentional
• Fits your body
• Doesn’t look like 500 other tattoos online
Why This Matters More Than Ever
The world is in a damned weird spot right now, and so is tattooing. There’s more access than ever to tattoos—Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, client generated AI images, youtube, etc; You can find and generate thousands of tattoos in seconds.
The downside?
A lot of it starts to look the same. Same designs. Same layouts. Same ideas, just slightly tweaked. And that’s where tattooing starts to lose what made it special in the first place.
At Fox & Sparrow Tattoo, we’re not interested in being a copy shop. We care about:
• Original work
• Strong design
• Tattoos that actually last
• Tattoos that will make your friends jealous
That means we’re going to push for what’s better—not just what’s easy.
Tattoo Consultation Bottom Line
Left: Tattoo by Berlin Rhine Right: Tattoo by Ethan Jester
Your idea matters. That’s where it starts. But it’s not the finished product, even if you’ve spent 2,000 hours hunchbacked over a screen searching and thinking until steam was piping from your listen–holes.
The artist is what turns that idea into something worth wearing for the rest of your life.
So if you want a better tattoo, don’t bring us something finished.
Bring us something real—a direction, a concept, a feeling.
And let us do what we do, because the best tattoos aren’t found, they’re made.
Joshua Chatwin, tattooing since 2010, owns Fox & Sparrow Tattoo with his wife and fellow tattooer, Samantha Chatwin. They live in and love the Muncie Indiana area with their daughter, Olivia, and two Papillon dogs, Honey Bear & Maple Wolf. Give him a good book, a good cigar, and about 30 in the sauna and he's happier than a pig in shit.
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