The first drawing answers the idea. The second answers the body it is going on. Both happen before you sit, and neither one costs extra.

Every custom piece here gets drawn twice. Clients often assume the second drawing means the first one failed. It did not. The two drawings answer different questions.
It comes out of the consult, usually within a week of it, and it exists to settle what the piece actually is: the subject, the weight of the black, how much of it is negative space.
This is the drawing you argue with. Changes here are cheap, because nothing has been fitted to you yet.
Once the idea is agreed we take measurements and photographs of the placement, then redraw the whole thing to fit that specific arm, ribcage or spine.
Because a design that is beautiful on paper is flat, and you are not. A composition drawn without the body in it reads crooked the moment the arm hangs by your side.
Drawing twice costs us a few hours and saves you a piece you stop looking at after a year.
You see the second drawing on the morning of the session, printed as a stencil and placed on the skin. Small changes still happen at that point and are expected.
What we do not do is show you the first drawing and call it final.
Placement, size and rotation are all still open when the stencil goes on. Subject is not: if the idea changes on the day, we rebook rather than improvise.
Nobody has ever regretted the extra four weeks.
Nothing beyond the deposit. Drawing time is inside the hourly rate, which is part of why an hour here is not the same as an hour anywhere else.
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.