Muscle moves, skin folds, and a design that looked square on paper reads crooked on a shoulder. How we plan around that before a needle comes out.
Placement is the part of the job clients think about least and artists think about most. A design does not sit on a body, it wraps around one that bends in specific places.
Paper is flat, stable and the same in every direction. Skin stretches along some lines and folds along others, and it does both differently at the ribs than at the forearm.
So the first thing we do is watch you move. Arm up, arm down, shoulder rolled forward.
Inner elbow, back of the knee, armpit and the front of the hip all deform heavily. Fine detail placed there closes up inside a year.
Outer forearm, outer thigh, calf and the flat of the back are the most forgiving surfaces on the body, and they age best.
If you want something small and intricate, these are where we will steer you.
We photograph the placement in three positions and draw over the photograph, not over a blank page. That is what makes the second drawing fit.
It also shows you what the piece will do when you are standing rather than lying on the bed.
Most designs come in wanting to be smaller than they should be. Line work needs room to stay readable once skin has settled around it.
If we ask for another two inches, it is not upselling. It is the piece still working in ten years.
Almost nobody stops at one. We leave deliberate space around a first piece so a second can join it without looking crowded or fighting for the same line.
Consults run forty minutes and cost nothing. Come with references, a rough placement, and a budget range. You leave with a date, an artist, and a price band.
