Custom Tattoos in Nashville: What the Process Actually Looks Like at a World-Class Studio
Getting a custom tattoo in Nashville? Here’s what the process looks like at Skin Design Tattoos—from your first consultation to a finished piece you’ll keep forever.
Most people think they know what getting a custom tattoo involves.
They’ll describe their idea to an artist, the artist will sketch something up, and then it gets tattooed. Simple enough.
In reality, that description fits a walk-in tattoo transaction, not a custom tattoo. The difference between the two isn’t just semantics. It’s the difference between a piece built around your body, your vision, and your future plans for additional work, and a piece that was convenient to execute in the time available that day.
Nashville’s tattoo market has grown up. Clients here are more discerning than they were five years ago, and the concept of custom tattooing — genuinely made-to-order work, designed for a specific person, executed by an artist who specializes in the relevant style — has become the standard expectation for anyone serious about their collection.
This article explains what custom tattooing actually involves at Skin Design Tattoos Nashville: the process from first contact through healed result, what makes it different from what most shops offer, and why that difference matters for the piece you’ll carry for the rest of your life.
John Wick realism tattoo sleeve by Skin Design Tattoos’ resident artist in Nashville. Check out his work and text ‘JAKE’ to book a free consultation on a custom design of your own.
Key Takeaways
✓ Custom tattooing is not a walk-in transaction — it’s a process that begins with a consultation and ends with a healed result the artist stands behind |
✓ The consultation is the most important step: this is where design, placement, sizing, and artist matching all happen before any commitment is made |
✓ Custom means designed for your body specifically — not a reference image transferred to skin, not a stock design with your name on it |
✓ Artist specialization matters for custom work — the right artist for your concept is not necessarily the most available artist |
✓ Skin Design Tattoos Nashville is located in Downtown Nashville with a team built for serious custom work |
✓ Jake Ingersoll (20 years experience), Dan Bostic (20 years experience), and apprentice Storm Lynn form the core Nashville custom roster |
✓ Consultations at Skin Design Tattoos Nashville are free — no commitment required to start the process |
✓ Financing is available through Affirm and Klarna for larger custom pieces |
✓ Custom tattoo pricing in Nashville reflects the design work, session length, and artist expertise — not just the time a machine runs |
What 'Custom Tattoo' Actually Means, and What It Doesn't
The word ‘custom’ gets used loosely in the tattoo industry. Before walking into any Nashville studio claiming to do custom work, it’s worth understanding what the term should mean.
What a Custom Tattoo Is
A custom tattoo is a piece designed from the ground up for a specific client. That means:
- The design is created specifically for you — not adapted from a reference image, not pulled from a flash sheet, not a design the artist has executed in slightly different form for the last ten clients
- Placement is considered as part of the design — how the piece will work with your body’s contours, how it will read from the natural viewing angle, and how it will relate to any existing or planned future work
- Sizing is determined by the design requirements — how large the piece needs to be to hold the level of detail you want over time, not how large you think you want it before that conversation happens
- The artist’s specialty is matched to your concept — a custom realism portrait requires a realism artist; a custom illustrative sleeve requires someone whose portfolio demonstrates that specific compositional fluency
Custom tattooing is inherently collaborative. Your role is to bring the concept, the references, and the context. The artist’s role is to translate all of that into a design that will actually work on skin, which is not the same as what works in a reference photo, a digital illustration, or your imagination.
What a Custom Tattoo Is Not
A custom tattoo is not:
- A walk-in piece designed and executed in the same visit (though short, simple custom pieces can sometimes work this way with the right artist and preparation)
- A reference image printed as-is onto skin — adapting reference into a tattoo design is design work, not custom tattooing in the meaningful sense
- Any design an artist offers to do on request — a shop that will tattoo anything anyone asks for is not doing custom work; it’s doing on-demand work, which is a different thing
The distinction matters because it shapes what you should expect from the process, how you should evaluate whether a shop can deliver it, and how you should prepare before your first conversation with an artist.
Why Nashville Is the Right Place to Invest in Custom Work
Nashville’s identity is built around craft. The city’s music culture has always valued the difference between someone playing covers and someone writing their own material — and that same sensibility has carried over into how Nashville clients think about tattooing.
The influx of creative professionals moving to Nashville over the last decade has produced a client base that researches artists carefully, follows specific portfolios over months before booking, and thinks about their tattoos as long-term collections rather than individual impulse decisions.
That’s exactly the environment that rewards genuine custom work and penalizes studios that use the word without the process to back it up. Nashville clients will find the difference. They’re looking at healed work. They’re reading reviews across platforms. They’re asking about the consultation before they ask about the price.
Skin Design Tattoos Nashville was built for this market. The studio’s roster is assembled specifically for clients who want custom work executed at a world-class level — and the process reflects that from the first contact through the finished piece.
Jake, our resident Nashville tattoo artist, at the 2025 Golden State Tattoo Expo
The Custom Tattoo Process at Skin Design Tattoos Nashville
Here’s exactly what getting a custom tattoo at Skin Design Tattoos Nashville looks like — step by step.
Step 1: First Contact and Artist Matching
The process starts before you ever sit down with an artist. When you reach out — by text at 702-297-6079 or through the consultation page — the studio’s team works to understand what you’re looking for and match you with the right artist before your consultation.
Artist matching matters more than most clients initially realize. The artist who’s best for a black and grey illustrative composition inspired by anime and pop culture is not necessarily the artist who’s best for a photorealistic color portrait or a bold traditional piece. The specialty match is the first decision that affects your outcome.
At Skin Design Tattoos Nashville, the current custom roster includes:
- Jake Ingersoll — 20 years tattooing professionally, specializing in black and grey and color illustrative realism with a focus on movies, anime, comics, and video games. Nashville’s featured custom artist.
- Dan Bostic — Also tattooing since 2005, with a versatile range covering color realism, traditional, black and grey, and large-scale custom compositions. Currently one of the most schedulable senior artists at the studio.
- Storm Lynn — Apprentice under Jake Ingersoll, specializing in fine line, botanical, and illustrative work. More accessible pricing for clients whose vision fits her developing specialty range.
- Robert Pho — Studio founder with 35+ years of experience, available for select Nashville sessions for serious large-scale custom projects.
Each artist brings a different set of strengths. The right starting point is letting the studio know what you’re envisioning before assuming which artist you want to work with; the match may be different from what you’d guess.
Text ‘DAN’ to 702-297-6079 to inquire about availability.
Step 2: The Consultation
The consultation is where custom tattooing actually begins. This is not a formality, a sales call, or a deposit collection appointment. It’s the working session where your concept becomes a viable tattoo design.
During the consultation, you and your artist will cover:
- Your concept and references — what you’re envisioning, what references you’ve gathered, what you like about them and what you want done differently
- Placement — where on your body the piece will go, how it will work with the natural contours of that area, and how it relates to any existing work or future plans
- Sizing — how large the piece needs to be to hold the level of detail you want as it heals and ages over years. This is often the most surprising part of the consultation for clients who’ve been picturing their piece smaller than it needs to be
- Session planning — how many sessions the piece will realistically require, how long each session will run, and how to structure them for quality outcomes
- Style confirmation — making sure the approach to the piece matches both your vision and the artist’s genuine specialization
Consultations at Skin Design Tattoos Nashville are free. There’s no commitment required to start this conversation; it exists to give both you and the artist the information you need to decide whether to move forward together.
Book your free consultation at skindesigntattoos.com/tattoo-consultation/ or text 702-297-6079
Step 3: Design Development
- Adapting reference material rather than copying it — what works in a photograph doesn’t always translate directly to a tattoo, and the artist’s job is to make the necessary adjustments while preserving what drew you to the reference in the first place
- Designing for the specific placement — a piece designed for a thigh is a different composition than the same concept designed for a forearm or a back panel
- Planning for longevity — how the design will look not just when it’s fresh, but as it settles over weeks and ages over years
You’ll have the opportunity to review the design before anything is finalized. For significant pieces, revision rounds are part of the process — your artist wants you walking into the session with full confidence in what’s going on your body.
Text ‘STORM’ to 702-297-6079 or book via inkquiries.com/storm
Step 4: Preparing for Your Session
Before your tattoo session, your artist or the studio’s team will brief you on how to prepare. For larger custom pieces, preparation directly affects the quality of the session and the healing outcome.
Standard preparation for a custom tattoo session at Skin Design Tattoos Nashville:
- Arrive well-rested — fatigue lowers your pain tolerance and makes long sessions harder
- Eat a full meal 1-2 hours before your session — tattooing depletes blood sugar, and a solid meal before you sit helps you sustain through longer work
- Stay well-hydrated in the days before — well-hydrated skin takes ink more evenly and heals more predictably
- Avoid alcohol for at least 24 hours before — alcohol thins the blood and affects how ink settles
- Wear or bring clothing that gives easy access to the placement area — your artist needs to work without fighting your clothes
- Bring snacks and a drink for longer sessions — especially for pieces running three hours or more (yes, we carry snacks!)
Topical anesthesia is available at Skin Design Tattoos Nashville for clients who want to minimize discomfort. If this is something you’d like to explore, ask during your consultation so it can be factored into your session plan.
Step 5: The Session
Your custom tattoo session at Skin Design Tattoos Nashville happens in a professional, sterile studio environment in Downtown Nashville. Before the machine starts, your artist will apply the stencil and walk you through the placement, making any minor adjustments needed to ensure the piece sits exactly right on your body before anything permanent happens.
For custom pieces, the session proceeds methodically. Your artist is focused on quality at every stage of the execution — lining, shading, detail work — not on finishing as quickly as possible.
Longer sessions include natural breaks. If you’re sitting for three hours or more, communicate with your artist about how you’re feeling. Breaks don’t compromise the work, trying to push through when you’re genuinely struggling does.
Step 6: Aftercare and the Healing Process
Before you leave, your artist will walk you through specific aftercare instructions for your piece. Follow these — not generic tattoo aftercare advice from the internet, which may conflict with what’s right for your specific work.
The healing timeline for a custom tattoo has two phases:
- Surface healing: 4-6 weeks. During this period, the skin is regenerating over the ink. Expect some peeling, potential light scabbing in areas of heavy shading or lining, and shifting in how the piece looks as the skin settles.
- Deep healing: Up to 3-4 months. The ink continues to settle into the deeper skin layers during this period. Fine details may appear to soften slightly before they sharpen again. The piece will look its best — and most accurately represent the finished work — after this phase is complete.
Nashville’s climate is manageable for healing, but sun protection matters year-round once the piece is healed. UV exposure is the primary long-term threat to tattoo quality — SPF 50+ on any exposed tattoo, especially in summer, is not optional if you want the work to hold its quality over years.
Skin Design Tattoos Nashville handles touch-up work for healed pieces where needed — contact the studio after your piece is fully healed if you have concerns about any areas.
What Custom Tattooing Costs in Nashville: A Realistic Breakdown
Custom tattoo pricing in Nashville reflects multiple factors, and understanding them helps you budget accurately rather than being surprised after a consultation.
What You're Actually Paying For
When you pay for a custom tattoo at a quality Nashville studio, the price covers:
- Design time — creating a piece from scratch takes time outside the session itself, especially for complex compositions
- Artist expertise — an artist who has spent 20 years developing a specific style commands a rate that reflects that investment
- Session time — the rate per hour or per session for the actual tattooing
- Studio overhead — sterile supplies, professional equipment, the facility itself
- The long-term relationship — quality studios stand behind their work and handle touch-ups as needed
The lowest price you find in Nashville is not the best value for custom work. A custom piece executed poorly costs significantly more to correct — or live with — than a quality piece costs to do right the first time.
Realistic Price Ranges for Custom Tattoos in Nashville
- Shop minimum (small, simple pieces): $100-$150
- Small-medium custom work (3-5 inches, moderate detail): $300-$700
- Medium-large custom work (half sleeve panels, thigh pieces, large compositions): $700-$2,000+ depending on complexity and session count
- Full sleeves and major back pieces: $3,000-$8,000+ depending on detail level, style, and artist seniority — typically across multiple sessions
Financing Options
Skin Design Tattoos offers flexible financing through Affirm and Klarna, with plans up to 24 months and options starting at 0% APR. For significant custom projects, financing makes the scope you actually want achievable without compromising on the artist or the approach.
Details at skindesigntattoos.com/financing/
How to Evaluate Any Nashville Studio Claiming to Do Custom Work
Not every studio that uses the word ‘custom’ has the process to back it up. Here’s a practical framework for evaluating any Nashville tattoo studio before you commit.
Ask to See Healed Work
Fresh tattoo photos always look better than healed results. Any studio serious about custom work has healed portfolio photos readily available. If they can only show you fresh work, that’s a meaningful gap.
Confirm the Consultation Is a Real Design Conversation
A consultation that takes five minutes and ends with a deposit request is not a custom consultation. A real custom consultation involves actual discussion of your concept, the artist’s approach to it, placement considerations, and sizing. It should take meaningful time and leave you with genuine clarity about what you’re getting before you commit.
Verify Artist Specialization
Custom work in a specific style requires an artist who actually specializes in that style. Ask directly: what styles do you focus on, and what percentage of your work is in the style you’re asking about?
A portfolio that shows consistent work in one or two styles is a stronger signal than a portfolio that covers ten styles with inconsistent quality across all of them.
Check How the Studio Responds to Reviews
Google and Yelp reviews across time tell you more about a studio than their curated portfolio. Pay particular attention to how the studio responds to any negative feedback — professional studios address concerns constructively and specifically. Defensive or dismissive responses to criticism are a meaningful red flag regardless of overall rating.
Common Questions About Custom Tattoos in Nashville
What is a custom tattoo and how is it different from a regular tattoo?
A custom tattoo is designed from the ground up for a specific client — the composition, placement, and sizing are all developed for your body and your vision specifically.
This is different from a walk-in tattoo (chosen from existing flash designs or reference images and executed in the same visit) or an adapted reference (where an artist copies or lightly modifies something you bring in).
Custom tattooing involves a consultation, a design development phase, and a session — not a single transaction. At Skin Design Tattoos Nashville, all significant work is custom by default.
How do I start the process of getting a custom tattoo at Skin Design Tattoos Nashville?
Text 702-297-6079 or visit skindesigntattoos.com/tattoo-consultation/ to start a free consultation. You’ll be connected with the right artist for your vision — if you already know which artist you want to work with, text their name (JAKE, DAN, or STORM) to 702-297-6079 to be connected directly.
How long does the custom tattoo process take from first contact to finished piece?
It varies significantly by piece complexity. A smaller custom piece might move from consultation to finished session in 1-2 weeks. A large-scale custom composition — a thigh piece, a sleeve panel, a back section — may involve a consultation, a design development period of 1-3 weeks, and then one or multiple sessions depending on scope.
Plan for the process to take as long as it needs to rather than rushing any phase of it. The quality of the final piece is directly affected by the care taken at every prior stage.
Do I need to know exactly what I want before reaching out?
No. You need to have a general direction — a style preference, a subject matter idea, a placement in mind, a reference or two — but you don’t need a fully resolved design concept. The consultation exists to develop that resolution with your artist.
Clients who come in with specific references and a clear sense of what draws them to those references consistently get better results than clients who arrive with nothing, but ‘fully figured out’ is not a prerequisite for starting.
What if I want a custom tattoo in a style I'm not sure about?
Bring your references to the consultation and let the artist advise on which style approach will serve your concept best.
Style choices affect how the piece will look as it heals and ages — a black and grey realism approach and an illustrative approach to the same subject matter will produce very different long-term results, and your artist is in the best position to explain why one or the other might be right for your vision.
Can I get a custom tattoo as a walk-in at Skin Design Tattoos Nashville?n Design Tattoos Nashville?
Walk-ins are welcome depending on artist availability. For complex or significant custom pieces, a consultation and advance booking are strongly recommended — the design process takes time that can’t be compressed into a walk-in visit without affecting the outcome.
For smaller, simpler custom pieces, walk-in availability is possible for some artists on some days. Text 702-297-6079 to check current availability.
How much does a custom tattoo cost in Nashville?
Pricing depends on design complexity, size, session length, and artist experience. Expect a shop minimum of $100-$150 for small pieces. Medium custom work typically runs $300-$700. Large-scale pieces are priced per session from $700+, with sleeves and major back pieces running $3,000-$8,000+ across multiple sessions depending on detail and the artist.
Skin Design Tattoos Nashville offers financing through Affirm and Klarna, up-to 0% APR.
What artists at Skin Design Tattoos Nashville specialize in custom work?
Jake Ingersoll (20 years experience) specializes in black and grey and color illustrative realism with a focus on pop culture, movies, anime, and comics. Dan Bostic (also 20 years) brings a versatile range covering color realism, traditional, and large-scale custom compositions.
Storm Lynn, apprentice under Jake Ingersoll, specializes in fine line, botanical, and illustrative work at a more accessible price point. Robert Pho — SDT founder with 35+ years — is available for select Nashville sessions for serious large-scale projects. A full breakdown of the Nashville roster is available at skindesigntattoos.com/locations/nashville-tattoo/
Does the consultation guarantee a booking?
No — the consultation is a no-commitment conversation. You’re not required to book or leave a deposit as a result of a consultation. The purpose is to give you and the artist enough shared understanding to make an informed decision about moving forward together.
If the match is right, the booking follows naturally. If it isn’t, no money has changed hands.
Ready to Start Your Custom Tattoo in Nashville?
Custom tattooing isn’t a product; it’s a process. And the quality of what you walk away with is determined by how seriously that process is taken at every stage: the consultation, the design, the session, and the aftercare.
Skin Design Tattoos Nashville has the artists, the process, and the standards to deliver custom work that holds up, not just in the first weeks after your session, but for years.
The first step is a conversation. It won’t cost you anything, and it’ll tell you everything you need to know about whether we’re the right fit for the piece you’re planning.
Text 702-297-6079 to get started — or visit skindesigntattoos.com/tattoo-consultation/ to book your free consultation online.
Want to know more about the Nashville artists before your consultation? Visit skindesigntattoos.com/locations/nashville-tattoo/
Skin Design Tattoos Nashville | Downtown Nashville, TN | Open 7 days a week
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Also in: Las Vegas NV · SoHo NY · Brooklyn NY · Honolulu HI · Orange County CA · Caesars Palace NV
About the Author
Robert Pho has been tattooing since 1989 and is the founder of Skin Design Tattoo, with 7 national locations across Las Vegas, New York, Honolulu, Orange County, Nashville, and Caesars Palace. Featured in the LA Times, FOX 5, Skin Magazine, and Rebel Ink.
Medical Disclaimer: The skin preparation, nutrition, and aftercare guidance referenced in Skin Design Tattoos articles is general informational content only and does not constitute medical advice. If you have any health concerns, please consult your physician before your tattoo appointment.
