I’ve been tattooing for a while now and I’ve seen it all, people falling asleep, people passing out, and everything in between. But every time I sit in the chair as the client, my stomach still doing backflips and I get those “first tattoo” jitters. I know exactly what the needle feels like, I know the process, and I know I’m going to love the result, yet I still find myself overthinking the pain or the long session ahead. Is this a common thing for pros, or am I just a bit of a wuss when the roles are reversed? [Image Context]: These are my legs so far! Lots of heavy blackwork and botanical details. I love the art, but man, those sessions near the ankles had me questioning everything. Would love to hear from other artists or heavily tattooed people, does the “pre-session anxiety” ever actually go away, or do you just get better at hiding it?
And also, for what it’s worth, since you don’t have tattoos yet, the best way to avoid that ‘how do I tell them’ situation is to spend a ton of time on the stencil phase. I’m always telling my clients to be as picky as they want before the needle touches skin! But yeah, even for me, that fear of the unknown is always there.