The price for a singular tattoo is determined by several factors. Here are the factors listed in no particular order;

Size of the tattoo
The main factor among all tattoo shops is that they determine the tattoo prices by size.
This one needs no explanation. The bigger the tattoo, the longer time it is required to do them.

Placement of the tattoo
On some places on the human body, the tattoo artist have to be extra careful on sensitive places such as around the navel and those with little flesh such as the ankle. They will work slower on those areas and for shops that charges by the hour, that could only mean higher prices.

Complexity of the design
Just like the size of the tattoo, the higher the complexity of any design would bring the work time higher. Complex design are those that has a lot of shades and colors.

Design Source
Some people wants to have their own design which means something to them. For these requests, the artists will hear out the customer’s description and they will draw on a piece of paper for them to see. The amount of time required to come up with the design is also taken into account for the final price of the tattoo. For a cheaper option, have a look at the shop’s design catalogue and ask for minor modification. Since they already have the template ready, they will not charge you extra.

Tattoo Artists Portfolio/Recognition
Among the tattoo artists community, some are more recognized more than others. It could be because of their seniority or the people that they have worked with, such as celebrities and athletes who in return give them some good recommendations. Due to their demand and recognition, they will charge higher than the rest. So if you want the best to work on your tattoo, be prepared to pay more.

With that being said, the following are the average tattoo prices that you might encounter in a tattoo shop. However please bear in mind of the factors mentioned above and that the tattoo price list are finalised by the artist himself.

A small tattoo usually placed on the wrist or ankle will cost somewhere around $50 to $200. A medium tattoo that is usually seen on the forearm, leg or upper-back can cost from $200 and up to $500. While large tattoos as those covering the whole back or the full leg can cost from $500 up to $3000.

Last but not least, do not go to a tattoo shop just because they are cheap. Find out from their other customers for some honest feedback. Do an online search too.

Majority of the people who removed their tattoos did so because the tattoo was tied to a person, most probably their name emblazoned across the skin. Now they know that removing a tattoo is more expensive and a hell more painful too. Even worse, scars will take place of the tattoo.

The cost of tattoo removal depends on a lot of factors.

First and foremost, your choice of treatment. Below are the methods currently available for tattoo removal and their estimated price. There is not fixed price because the doctors or surgeons need to have a look at your tattoo first before they can tell you the price.

Excision
This process is where the doctor surgically remove your skin that has the ink and then stitch the remaining skin together. This is perfect for small tattoos and when the stitch is removed a few weeks later, it will look like you never had a tattoo.

If the tattoo is large and impossible to stitch the remaining skin together, surgeons usually will lift skins from other parts of your body to cover the exposed area. The surgeons will usually suggest taking the skin from your thigh as they are seldom seen and will be hardly noticeable.

Estimated price range from US$150 for a small tattoo and up to US$600 for operation that requires skin graft.

Dermabrasion
This process will see the doctor scraping your skin deep enough that the ink is removed too. A hand-held electronic rotary abrasive tool attached with a rotating wire brush or sanding tool containing diamond particles. The process will leave the skin red and sensitive. After a few days however, scabs will form and they will be your new skin.

This process costs around US$300 – US$500 per session. You have to attend a few sessions at least and the bigger your tattoo is, the more session you have to attend.

Laser Treatment
The laser treatment is the most common technique and the best option. The laser will target the colored pigment and blast them into small pieces, small enough for it to dissipate into the body. Different laser heads are used against different colors present in a tattoo.

At least a few sessions is needed and each session is separated 8 weeks apart. Each session costs around US$200 to US$500 per visit, again depending on the size of your tattoos and the colors involved.

People who went through this treatment remarked that it is painful because of the heat it generate, so you can request for local anaesthetic which costs around US$50/shot.

As the facts above are presented, it is clear that having a tattoo removed is both painful to your body and your wallet as well. So the next time you decide to have a tattoo, do think them through and through. Include temporary tattoos into your consideration as well.

To be on the safe side, never tattoo your partner’s name across any part of your skin!

Usually the coolest one are already on the skins of hundreds of other people! Why do you want to be one of the hundreds sharing the same tattoo design?

So what do you do when you want a unique tatto but you have zero skills in drawing or photoshop? Then it is time to try your hand on designing the tattoo yourself using a tattoo designing software.

Here I will list out a few tattoo designing software that I found online. Hopefully it will help you in case you are wondering which one is perfect for you. This is not a “tattoo gallery” type where you browse designs and print your favourite. The software here have the ability to alter the design and make it unique to you!

Caution though, I have never used any of the software listed here so my reviews are based on the users testimonies, video demonstration and snapshots.

* The following are not in any order of preferences or ranking.

Tattoo Director

Site: http://www.tattoodirector.com
Price: US$29.95
Money-back: 30-day

This software is actually a basic image editing program, just like photoshop but you don’t need to be an expert to use it. It has a gallery of hundreds of line drawings which you can retrieve and modify.

You can color it, resize it, add text to it and combine more than 1 image to produce your own mashup of images. Then after you are satisfied with your design, you can then print them out as temporary tattoos or show them to the tattoo artist to have them inked on your skin.

Here’s the description from the site:

Tattoo Director can create: tattoo art, tattoo designs, temporary tattoos, skull tattoos,cross tattoos, text tattoos, lower back tattoos, dragon tattoos, animal tattoos, arm tattoos, Japanese tattoos, flower tattoos, tribal, and many more.

Choose From Hundreds Of Line Art Drawings, Add Tattoo Ink Colors From The Color Palette, Choose The Text From Our Font Library, Change The Text Color, Try It Out With Temporary Before The Real Thing, Add Multiple Tattoo Images To Create a Collage, Print or Save To Disc For Your Tattoo Artist.

You can order it online and the download link will be emailed to you after your payment is through. It is supported on Windows 2000, XP, Vista and the latest Windows 7. There is also a 30-day money back guarantee, so if it doesn’t work out for you, you can always get your money back.

See here a video demonstration:

Problem watching the video? Try to go to the video site here. Visit Tattoo Director here!

CreateATattoo.com

Site: http://www.createatattoo.com
Price: US$19.95 for 1-year access
Money-back : 90-days

One of the popular type of tattoos are tribal art design and this software helps you find your unique design. You just need to browse for the design that you fancy, modify it by resizing, stretching or making it more curvy and then print it out!

From the site description:

Just pick a design/template and modify it with ease using createatattoo V2 online tribal creating software. The same software used by professional tribal tattoo designers but now online with over 1000 + templates/designs to customize. That’s right 1000+ designs/templates that can be tweaked,modified, and printed inside with new designs added daily!!

This is an online or web-based application which means that you don’t have to download any programs and install on your PC. It will run within your browser so it doesn’t matter if you’re on a Mac or Windows but that means will only work when you are online (as oppose to an installed software).

When you subscribe, you are actually paying for a time-limited access to the site. You will be given a username and password to login. Visit createAtattoo.com for some video demonstration and more pictures.

Online Tattoo Maker

Site: http://www.tattoodesign.com
Price: US$39.95 (1 year)/ US$69.95 (Lifetime)
Money-back: 60 Days

This online-based software usage is very much like the Tattoo Director but it is web-based just like CreateATattoo. You can browse their 10,000 tattoo designs in their online gallery with an additional tattoo maker software. So with an arsenal like that you will never run out of ideas in coming out with your own unique design.

When you signup, you will also receive 3 ebooks worth almost US$100 containing quality tattoo design.

Site description: Make your own tattoo right here with our online tattoo creator! With our huge library of tattoo designs and clip art, you can use this tattoo generator to design and print your own tattoos!

Visit their site here which also has a video demonstration.

Not bad for the small creatures huh?

In ancient culture especially among the Aztecs, the hummingbird represents vigor, energy, and propensity for work. Hummingbird talismans were prized as drawing sexual potency, energy, vigor, and skill at arms and warfare to the wearer. Even one of the mysterious Nazca lines in Peru depict the a hummingbird, that is the biggest “drawing” of a hummingbird.

In modern and popular culture, there are no known strong meaning attach to the hummingbird. However based on their physical ability and behaviour, a hummingbird can symbolise someone who is hardworking and yet still enjoy life, based on the colors that is displayed from their feathers.

There are more than 300 bird species within the hummingbird families all with their own colors and thus, tattoos depicting them tend to be colorful, fresh and vibrant.

As hummingbird like to suck the nectars from flowers, usually tattoos design will incorporate flowers with the hummingbird, adding some floral decoration to the already-beautiful hummingbird tattoos.

Here are some hummingbird tattoos design and tattoos pictures if you would like to get one;

Hummingbird designs

Not sure if this is safe or not, follow with caution! You will also need some good tools. There are 3 videos in all.

- sorry, the user has removed the videos -

The artists then apply the tattoo following the outline transferred from the stencil. This is usually done so that the artist gets the design right and most importantly, the person getting the tattoo have already seen the design and agreeing to it, before getting them permanently inked on their skin. Usually when a tattoo artist start their work the person would not be able to see how the design looks like until the artist is finished.

So using a stencil would give the person a peace of mind, as he is already happy with the design in place.

But what about temporary tattoo stencils? Well a temporary tattoo stencils are similar to the stencils explained above but used for temporary tattoos, for which the tattoo artist does not use permanent ink or injecting any kind of ink under the skin.

One of the popular method of applying temporary tattoos is airbrushing. It is easy, non-toxic and have a multitude of designs available. However to help the artist airbrushing the correct design, a stencil is needed.

The stencils here is different from the permanent tattoo stencils, instead of black lines with the ability to be transferred to the skin, the stencils here has large holes or exposed area. This is where the artist will spray their paint, according to the general outline of the design.

Why is it temporary? The bottom part of the stencil is sticky and meant to be stuck to the skin while it is being sprayed on. This is to prevent the stencil from moving around. So as the stencil is being used multiple times, the bottom part will lose its stickiness.

Not to mention that the liquid from the spray action will soften the stencil. An average the stencil can be used between 4-6 times before they are discarded.

An airbrush temporary tattoos can produce stunning colors on design such as the full-colored hummingbird tattoos.

It is expected that temporary tattoos and the demand for stencils will only go higher as many would not want to endure the pain if they go under the tattoo machine. A sure hit are these temporary tattoo for kids, where not many parents would object to.

Praying Hands - Sketched by Albrecht Durer

One of the most recognizable and popular tattoo is the “Praying Hands” or its alternate name “Hands of the Apostle”.

This design is especially popular among those who wanted a religious symbol attached to their bodies and probably show their deep longing for God within their hearts. However many do not know that the original work was done just over 500 years ago.

It still is the most famous painting by German artist Albrecht Durer and true to his words that day, the paint “will remain bright and fresh for five hundred years”. Little did he know that his creation is now on thousands of people’s skin and reprinted in countless media.

The praying hands are actually part of 18 sketches that Albrecht prepared to be painted on an altarpiece, which was commissioned by the mayor of Frankfurt. The finished artwork on the alterpiece was unfortunately destroyed by fire. However a copy of the artwork survived, including his sketches.

In the finished artwork, the hands were drawn complete with the apostle’s body. The apostle was depicted as praying while he witnessed the assumption and coronation of the Virgin Mary.

Full artwork by Albrecht Durer - highlighted is the final location of the praying hands.

Yes it is true, no matter how strange it is, the “praying hands” actually is just a sketch and not meant as a complete artwork. However, the praying hands are more famous than the actual, complete artwork. This is true among the general population though, for classical art lovers should recognise the complete work better.

Albrecht’s creation has gone through the test of time and it even had a fictional story accompanying the work. The story goes that Albrecht’s father couldn’t afford to send both of his sons to study arts, so the brothers tossed a coin to see who can go to the art school while the other work in the mines, supporting their father and brother.

Albrecht won the "lottery" that is the coin toss.

Albrecht won the contest and he went on the study arts while his brother toiled in hard labour. After four years, Albrecht returned and now that he’s a well-known artist and the wealthy regularly commissioned him to paint, he could afford to pay for his brother to study.

However his brother declined and thus couldn’t achieve his dream because his hands had already suffered after years of hard labour. He showed Albrecht his long, skinny fingers and said every bones in his hand have been smashed at least once and now, he can’t even hold a glass without shaking.

It is said that that became the inspiration for Albrecht when he drew the praying hands.

As good as the story goes however it was likely made up because Albrecht was sent to art school by his own father, who recognised his talent from an early age.

Back to the subject of his work, variations of the drawing also emerged, among them is a rosary being added to the hands, another with the fingers intertwined with each other and decorative elements added surrounding the hands such as flowers, cross and messages or names on top of a scroll.

If Albrecht was alive today, he will be really over-whelmed with the acceptance of his creation and not to mention the thousands of tattoo machine that conveyed his design. If his family was still poor as it was back then, for sure he will ask for royalty payment from everyone who used his design!

A combo of images showing the variations of Albrecht's Praying Hands

Who should get this tattoo?
Of course nobody can stop anybody else from getting this tattoo but it is a religious symbol, so if you don’t believe in God then probably it’s not a good idea unless you want your friends to ask you “I thought you don’t believe in God?” everytime they see your tattoo.

If you like the fictional story of brotherly love so much then maybe you can use that as the reason to getting it.

Personally, whenever I see design I take it as a reminder that we should always pray to God.

In truth however, it is up to you.

Well an option that you can consider is running your own airbrush temporary tattoo business.

If the word business scares you, well don’t be. With this business, you can be as serious as a brick or just operate on weekends or special occasions. This is because airbrush temporary tattoo are most popular at a large crowd. Think parties, expos, parades, youth events, amusement park or even demonstration.

The truth is, where the crowd gathers, that’s where you can make money. So that means you are not working everyday and have a fixed hours of 9-5, unless of course you really want to make a lot of money then you’d setup a stall whenever and wherever you find a crowd.

If the local organizer of an event hires you, then you charge them by the hour. If you are setting up a stall by your own and with permission, then you can charge the person having the tattoo personally, based on the design and colors used. Either way you will profit.

Another advantage with this is your target audience ranges from a 5-year old to 80-year old, since this is a fun for the whole family. This is also an option for temporary tattoo for kids.

The tools that you need for this business is first and foremost, the most important tool that is the airbrush. Buy yourself a medium range airbrush from your local art store. Don’t get the cheapest one as the coloring result might be poor, we don’t want our main tool to be our weakest. However don’t get the most expensive one either as they’re mainly for the expert. A mid-range priced airbrush will do for a beginner.

To go with the airbrush, you need a good air compressor. Basically compressors are divided into 2 types, industrial and studio type. The industrial tends to be bigger and is noisier, the studio type is smaller and does not make too much noise. With less-noise, your customer will be less intimidated and not scared to go near to you.

Next you will need to buy some body paint. Depending on your budget, do get at least a good variety of colors. Make sure the paint is alcohol-based and has been approved for use on the skin. You can google for a list of brand names that has been approved by the health ministry.

Last but not least, stencils. You can buy these online and they’re cheap too. There are two types, adhesive and non-adhesive. The adhesive type can be pasted on to the skin and stay there as you paint and change colors, so they’re advisable for beginners.

So that’s all you need in your own armoury of temporary tattoo machine. Even though you have to invest in this business but the profit-margin is high when your business is finally kicking in. So you will recoup your money in no time.

It is no wonder then that kids see them as a fun thing to have. However only irresponsible parents would allow their kids to have actual tattoos. If the kids know just how painful it is to get tattoos, they will not ask for it.

Example of a sticker tattoo for kids

However, there are temporary tattoos for kids available. They are not real tattoos but temporary ones. These tattoos are suitable when going to a themed party or celebrating a season like Halloween.

The difference between these temporary tattoos and the permanent type is that for the latter, the ink is injected under the skin known as the dermis. Unlike the outer layer skin, the dermis does not replenish itself so the ink stays there permanently. This is usually done with a tattoo machine.

Temporary tattoos however are placed on the outer skin layer and thus, not permanent. There are different types of temporary or imitation tattoos available, ranging from ink-based, colored glue and stickers.

They are all temporary and depending on the type, the lasting duration differs from each other. The way they are removed are different too. For example, those ink or glue type requires soap, water or baby oil or any combination between them. These products usually come with instructions on how to remove them, so do make sure that you read them.

Temporary tattoos based on ink or glue requires someone to apply them. So you might have to get them by visiting any shops that offer this service with your kids. However it is also not uncommon to see someone at a children’s expo or a clown at a party to give out these temporary tattoos, for sure they will be surrounded by children. For a party, it is better for the tattoos to be removable just by using water and a piece of cloth unless you want some angry parents calling you.

So obviously temporary tattoos that is made up by stickers are the easiest one to apply. You just have to separate the stickers from the protective layer, place the design onto the skin and hold a wet cloth against it. Hold on for 30 seconds and then remove the sticker, the pictures or design will be transferred to the skin.

To remove them, first saturate the tattoos with rubbing alcohol and baby oil, then rub them away with a cotton ball a few seconds later. You can also use the transparent household tape to lift the design off the skin.

Rubbing alcohol can also be used to remove airbrush temporary tattoo.

Sticker tattoos are also cheap, colourful, available in a variety of sizes and cartoon characters but most of all, they can be ordered online.

Unless you order in bulk, the stickers fit in nicely in an envelope. This makes the shipping cheap or even free and fast delivery.

So when your child are screaming for some temporary tattoos, just get them online. You can even let them choose the design, then all you have to do is click, pay and wait!