I have looked through the answers regarding if you should tip a tattoo artist and some dealing with how much, but I always see inconsistent answers….which is due to everyone and their opinion, so I was hoping to get some kind of solid answers from asking myself.

…..In May I will be sitting down for my 1st session of a 3/4 sleeve; in all there will be four, five hour sessions. The artist is the owner of the shop, well known, does great work, and charges $175/hr. The sleeve is going to cost around $3500. By the way, this is my first tattoo….yeah, starting off big.

Is a tip expected for such an expensive piece? (honestly I would feel weird not giving a tip…I think I’m more concerned about the perception of giving a $100-200 tip opposed to tipping around 15-20%, but I would still like to know if a tip is expected)

Do shop owners get tipped less than their employees?

If you do tip, how much would you tip particularly on this piece?

Whats up guys, wanted to get your opinion on these two artists. I’m looking to get, not so much a portrait of something where I take a picture of someone I know to an artist and getting the exact replica of it. But I’m looking to get a portrait of a realistic womans face blowing smoke out of her mouth. I might want to add a couple more things to it, like sunglasses on her face with the reflection of a city skyline, but I’m not sure yet.

Anyway here are the two artists:

http://www.myspace.com/soltribetattoo/photos/albums/album/976431

http://www.myspace.com/daveallentattoos/photos/albums/tattoos/803394

What do you think of both, and who would you choose?
Thanks