What You Need to Know for a Sleeve Tattoo

You’re a few tattoos into your journey, but you can’t seem to stop thinking about how cool it would be to get a sleeve. You’ve decided to take the plunge. You send an inquiry to your favorite artist and ask them to do a full sleeve. Unlike smaller, one-off tattoos, full sleeves are one of the biggest commitments to ink. They’re often proudly displayed. especially since they're nearly impossible to hide if you don’t wear exclusively long-sleeved shirts. 

Any sleeve tattoo variety involves more than a typical tattoo session. Today, we’re covering what you should consider before undertaking this huge financial and time commitment. If you’re considering a full sleeve, read through what our expert artists would love for you to know beforehand: 

Definitions of a “sleeve”

There is a little variance with the way the terms “quarter,” “half,” and even “full sleeve” are used. Some artists/studios refer to a full sleeve as shoulder to wrist, both sides of the arm, basically complete coverage. Some could use the term “sleeve” to describe the outer panel of an arm from shoulder to wrist. To make things more confusing, some artists use terms like “leg sleeve” or even “back sleeve.” For this reason, it’s always best to describe to your artist exactly what parts of your arm (or other body parts) you’re wanting covered. 

Budgeting for the tattoos

It’s almost a running joke in the tattoo industry–people calling up to a studio and asking “how much is a sleeve?” It’s an entirely valid question and important question, but the reason it’s a bit taboo to ask is that there is no easy answer. It’s kind of the equivalent of asking: “how long is a rope?” Different styles of tattooing can take dramatically different amounts of time, and every artist tattoos at different speeds, so sleeves can take anywhere from 3 to as many as 10–or even 15–sessions! On top of that, every artist has different rates. And furthermore, every sleeve and every client is different! We always do our absolute best to estimate the number of sessions a sleeve is going to take, but generally the estimate we provide is a range of how long sleeves typically take each artist. Most of the time if you have an artist selected we can give you a decent idea.

When estimating the cost of your sleeve, the first thing you should understand is that it’s going to be expensive. Quality work is not cheap, and when you’re getting so much coverage, you’ll drop a good chunk of change. With the range of rates in today’s tattoo industry, you could be looking at anywhere from $5,000 to upwards of $20,000 to get your sleeve completed. When you think about it like that, you can definitely be in for some sticker shock! Try not to get overwhelmed. You won’t be spending all that money at once. Most clients take months, or even years to complete full sleeves. It’s perfectly acceptable to break up the project at your leisure. Furthermore, most artists take caution to make sure you don’t leave with a tattoo that looks unfinished. Essentially, if your sleeve is in progress, it will just look like you have a half sleeve, rather than a full sleeve, if you need to spend some time away from the chair. 

Schedule for the time of a full-sleeve tattoo

Aside from the financial commitment, sleeves are obviously a huge time commitment as well. Full day sessions here at Eden are scheduled from 12-9, which can be a very long and difficult day for the client and the artist. Most artists here at Eden even recommend doing sessions on back to back days so you get a lot of coverage at once! Keeping in mind the financial considerations, work on whatever timeline works for you. If you want to come in back to back days every couple of weeks and smash out a sleeve in a month or two, awesome! If you want to do a session every 3 months, or even more, that’s great too.

That being said, we do recommend following your artists recommendations when possible. For example, if a section of your sleeve is going to be very intricate and time consuming, it might be best to just do back to back days, rather than leaving with a tattoo that doesn’t look finished or is missing a major component. 

Be flexible with your artist

Because sleeves are usually made up of multiple subject matters, it can be hard to think of everything you want in the sleeve, let alone think of how to piece it together! Allow your artist to give input on what subject matters might go together the best, and what would look best for each piece of your arm. Some sleeves are planned from the beginning, and sometimes they’re pieced together one session at a time. Our expert artists will make sure everything is tied together in a cohesive way.

At Eden Body Art Studios, we understand the commitment to art our clients epitomize when getting a full sleeve tattoo. We’d be happy to talk through the process and hear about your vision. Check out our incredible artist lineup, book an appointment, and let’s get started!