deeperthanwar

I hadn't heard that Beckham got a new tattoo.  It was seen for the first time in January, when he took off his shirt at a football match. 

It's a picture of Jesus, of all things.  Thoughts?

The upcoming World Cup in South Africa will probably be a great opportunity to see some really nice work from around the world.  Keep an eye out!

Good point, Jerry.  But what do you think is reasonable to charge for a tattoo?
It's been a philosophy of mine (and Beth's) for a long time to make art accessible and affordable.  We don't think it's right to charge a huge amount just because you can, so we don't do it. 

Then again, when I tattoo someone, I put my all into it.  I've usually spent hours working on drawings, preparing things and setting up the studio.  I will often take hours to tattoo a piece onto somebody.  And when I'm done, they will walk away with something that they keep for the rest of their life. 

I was looking at Scott Campbell's website the other day.  No doubt he is a great artist.  But is he really worth the $300 an hour that he charges?  To be honest, I don't think he is.  What frustrates me, is that a lot of people go to him, and pay his huge fees, just because of his name.  Many of them are getting tattoos that most artists could accomplish just as well. 

The other end of the scale, and this is something that I was discussing with Jen the other day, is that you can price yourself too low, and put people off that way.  Many people expect to pay more than bargain basement prices, otherwise they suspect that the service or product you are offering is sub-standard.  Not only that, but in our experiences, it often leads to people assuming that they can take you for a ride.

I don't, by any means, want to price people out of the market, but at the same time, I want people to value the work that I'm doing for them.

Any thoughts on this?  Good/bad experiences?