Tattoos are not cheap so who are the most expensive tattoo artists in the world? Below is a list of artists who will charge you an arm and a leg just for the privilege of having a tattoo made by them.
5. Bang Bang ($400 per hour)
Bang Bang is a tattoo artist in New York. His name started to skyrocket as he worked with several big names in the movie, music, and sports industry. As it is mentioned on his official website, Bang Bang has tattooed Rihanna in the tropics, Lebron James in his basement, Cara Delevingne on a roof, Katy Perry in Stockholm’s Abba Museum, and Justin Bieber on a plane at 30,000 feet. But he’s also available to tattoo you.
Bang Bang’s real name is Keith McCurdy. He owns and operates his own tattoo shop, Bang Bang. He charges $400 per hour of his time. With so many celebrity customers, it should come as no surprise that you have to book him around a couple of months in advance.
Bang Bang pretty much does all sorts of tattoos. From shadow-depth graphics to bold colorful ones, you name it, he’ll ink it.
4. Anil Gupta ($450 per hour)
Dirk and Ruckus from Bad Ink once said a tattoo artist who does not have a tattoo is like a mechanic who does not own a car. Anil Gupta may make them stand corrected. This world-renowned tattoo artist had not a single tattoo on his skin.
Only years after his success, he was eventually talked into getting a couple of small tattoos by Guy Atchison and Paul Booth. Unlike other tattoo artists you see on this list, Anil only had several tattoos on his back.
Not a big fan of his own photos, Anil Gupta is known for his realistic portraits. He has also done a lot of tribal-inspired tattoos. He once tattooed Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings. The result was amazing. His skill in patterns and designs are over the moon.
His tattoo studio Inkline Studio is in Manhattan, New York. For a tattoo session with Anil, you will be charged $450 per hour.
3. Ami James ($500 per hour)
Ami James is the face of tattoo reality TV shows, Miami Ink and NY Ink. He co-owns the tattoo parlors which are the sets of the shows itself, Love Hate Tattoos (Miami) and Wooster Street Social Club (New York).
He first got tattooed at the age of fifteen. During that tattooing experience, something came up to him and he has been determined to be a tattoo artist ever since. Then he started his apprenticeship at a shop called Tattoos by Lou.
Besides at those two shops, you can get tattooed by Ami at three other shops. He opened two more Love Hate Social Clubs; one in Asheville, North Carolina, and another one in Notting Hill, London. And he also co-owns Tattoo Charlie’s in Baltimore, Maryland.
For each tattoo session with Ami James, you will be charged $500 per hour.
2. Scott Campbell ($1,000 per hour)
Yes, you read that right. A tattoo session with Scott Campbell costs no less than $1,000 per hour. Good news, though, you will get a massive discount on your visits afterward. Scott charges that staggering amount of money only on your first session. For your second, third, and so on, he charges $200 per hour only.
After several years of learning, he now owns and operates his own tattoo shop, Saved Tattoo, in Brooklyn, New York. Stephanie Tamez joined him in this legendary shop. His list of celebrity clients includes Sting, Robert Downey Jr., Orlando Bloom, Marc Jacobs, and the late Heath Ledger.
Scott specializes in typography and antique ornamentation tattoo. His art skills are beyond these other tattoo artists. You can prove this by checking some of his artwork at Scott Campbell Studio. He has made numerous paintings and some of them have been curated.
Unfortunately, Scott is currently not available for any appointment unless you know the right people. Friends and friends of friends only!
1. Ed Hardy ($1,500 per hour)
Don Ed Hardy is not only the highest-paid tattoo artist but also the richest. His net worth is estimated to be $250 million.
By the age of seventy today, Ed Hardy has retired from tattooing. Before he retired he was charging around $1,500 per one hour of tattoo session. However, that does not mean that Ed has stopped once and for all. He still works on some more personal art and he owns a tattoo parlor called Ed Hardy’s Tattoo City in San Francisco.
Ed takes art seriously even before he was a tattoo artist. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in printmaking from San Francisco Art Institute. Then he studied tattooing in Japan with Japanese tattoo master, Horihide. This affects his style or tattoo designs: a blend of Japanese aesthetics and technique in his American-style work.
If you really want this kind of tattoo, you are still able to get it from Ed Hardy’s son who follows his footstep to be a tattoo artist, Doug Hardy. He is available at Ed Hardy’s Tattoo City as well.
