Start here
Thinking about your first tattoo?
No pressure, no jargon. A calm path through the questions worth answering before you sit in the chair.
- 01Getting startedHow to Choose Your First Tattoo: The Honest Friend AnswerChoosing your first tattoo is less about picking a winner and more about naming the trade-offs honestly. Here is the friend answer to the question we hear most: which one would you choose?
- 02Tattoo stylesTattoo Styles Guide: Every Main Style and How Each One AgesA guide to every main tattoo style: what each family is for, which specialist to look for, and the part most guides skip: how each one actually looks in ten or twenty years.
- 03PlacementTattoo Placement Guide: Why Placement Is the First DecisionTattoo placement decides how a design looks, how it ages, and how it moves with you. A design does not live on paper. It lives on a moving body, and the body has opinions about where art is allowed to sit.
- 04Choosing an artistHow to Choose a Tattoo Artist: Portfolio Tips and Red Flags to WatchChoosing a tattoo artist matters more than the design itself. Here is how to read a portfolio, what a good consultation feels like, and the red flags worth taking seriously before you book.
- 05PainDoes it hurt? An honest answerYes, a little, and that is fine. An honest look at what tattoo pain is actually like, without the drama or the bravado.
- 06Getting startedYour First Tattoo Session: What to Expect, Start to FinishNerves before a first tattoo are normal. Knowing how your first tattoo session actually goes, from stencil to aftercare, takes most of the mystery out of the day.
- 07What it costsHow Much Does a Tattoo Cost? The Full PictureHow much a tattoo costs depends on a handful of understandable factors. Here is how artists price, what drives the number, what deposits really are, and how tipping changes completely depending on where you stand.
- 08Aftercare & healingTattoo aftercare, week by weekA new tattoo is a wound with art inside it. Here is what each stage of healing looks like, week by week, and how to protect your piece from day one to the months that follow.
Not ready to book yet?
Talk it through first.
Two online options with Monica, for when you have questions or an idea that isn't clear yet. Neither is a tattoo appointment.
Free · 15 min · online video
Free intro call
Questions about size, placement, time or cost? Or it's your first tattoo and you just want to talk to someone before you decide anything. No preparation, no commitment.
€169 · 75 min · online
Tattoo Direction Session
For a tattoo that should mean something. Together you work out what it is really about, then define style, size, placement and the long-term trade-offs. You get a personal document and a one-page brief you can take to any artist, not only Monica.
Credited if you book a tattoo with Monica within 12 months. A creative design process, not therapy.
Both are booked on Dark Autumn Studio's site. Times show in your own time zone. 18+.