LogFAQs > #986153964

Always at least vaguely wanted one, but never pulled the trigger for a few reasons. The main ones being money, being indecisive as to what I would actually want permanently on my body, and a mild fear of needles.

But the older I get the more I wanna just say fuck it and go for it. Im a big movie guy so I was considering getting something from one of my favorites, but was struggling to pick something specific. Then last night me and my girlfriend watched the Shin Godzilla theatrical rerelease and I was just like "Shit, there's my answer." Past couple years I've been marathoning the entire franchise and it's quickly become one of my all time favorites. Not necessarily the most unique tattoo, I know, but it's a character and franchise I do genuinely love and don't see myself ever completely 180ing and hating Godzilla or anything like that down the line.

For those who have gotten tattoos, couple of questions:

I'm still a bit wary of needles/know it can be decently painful depending on pain tolerance and where you get tattooed. Was thinking maybe getting the tattoo on my upper arm; that's considered not too bad of a spot pain-wise right? Also figured with it being my first tattoo I want it to be something I can look at myself without a mirror, but also easy to cover up if I need to. I work restaurants so I'm not worried about being unable to get work cause of it, but still.

Money wise, how much should I plan to put aside? Not sure exactly what size the tattoo will be yet, probably won't be huge but I don't want it to be tiny either. Am I looking at 500ish or should I be ready to drop upwards of a grand? Also how much tip is generally expected, 20% of the tattoo cost or is it higher for tattoos?

I have a lot of friends who have gotten good tattoos and I live in a pretty big city so I'm not too concerned with finding a good artist, but as for the process how does it usually go down? Do I just call them, tell them I want a Godzilla tattoo and maybe some vague ideas I have for it, or is there a more intricate process?

Sorry for the wall of text, definitely overthinking it a bit, but the more I think about it the more I think I wanna just go for it.