Inking a certified tattoo sleeve on your arm is a huge commitment that requires more planning than a simple body piece. You can’t impulsively choose an image from a binder or the Internet and stick it on your arm—the result will likely look bad. 

Suppose you want a decent-looking design that doesn’t suck or make you rethink your life. In that case, you need to know what you’re getting into by doing ample research about the process, thinking about a theme and style, shopping around for reputable artists, and then sitting down with your artist to finalize the design and pick colors for the piece.

Some considerations you need to think about include:

The Four Kinds of Certified Tattoo Sleeves

• Full: This reaches up to the shoulder.

• Half: This extends from midway up the shoulder to midway along the upper arm

• Hikae: This is a Japanese-style sleeve tattoo that covers part of the pectoral muscle on the chest and extends to the elbow or the mid-forearm.

• Quarter: Covers the area from the top of the shoulder down to halfway along the upper arm.

The Process of Getting a Certified Tattoo Sleeve

The amount of time it takes to get a tattoo sleeve varies. It may take 10 to 15 hours, but some tattoos can take more than 80 hours. Typically, more elaborate designs take more time to finish. For example, a sleeve will often take months or even years to complete since the recipient must wait for the tattoo to heal between sessions.

Now the length per session depends on you and the artist. Usually, each one lasts three to six hours. If you cannot sit still for that long, the artist should be flexible and plan more time to complete the tattoo in several sessions. The longest-recorded period was by Bret Baumgart — the session lasted an incredible 16 hours!

Typically, it takes two weeks between sessions, but the tattoo shop might schedule you for a three-week gap if your body takes time to heal because of your pain tolerance level.

Certified tattoo sleeves hurt because you have to be under the needle for many hours at a time, and you have to return for several sessions over several weeks. If your arm feels numb for a long time after you're finished, don’t worry. That’s normal.

Here’re a Few Helpful Tips

Are you still game for a sleeve tattoo at this point? Great! Here’re a few reminders to help you get the best one:

• Canvas for tattoo artists: Don't design your tattoo. There's no point in creating a design that will change anyway. Instead, pick artists whose style you like and work with them to visualize your ideas. Every artist can draw a shark tattoo, but how it is drawn matters most.

• Finalize placement: If you have low pain tolerance, avoid inking on the armpits, elbows, and inner elbows. Plan around this.

• Pick some symbols: Once you've picked out the style, theme, and message of your tattoo, think about symbols that fit — hearts, roses, or anchors will do.

• Research different sleeve styles: Decide what kind you want, such as tribal tattoos, new school tattoos, traditional tattoos, watercolor tattoos, Japanese tattoos, or even Celtic tattoos.

• Talk to the artist: Find a versatile artist who will work with you in every way. Then, just let them do what they do best: design.

Ink a Certified Tattoo Sleeve on Your Entire Arm

A tattoo sleeve takes great consideration, and with good reason too! It’s not just art on a small region of your body; it will take up your wrist, forearms, shoulder, and maybe even your pec. Remember this article before making the final decision. We want you to have body art you’ll want to look at even as you get older.

Get a certified tattoo from Denver through Certified Tattoo! We provide fantastic service in all areas, whether on our phone line or in person. Ultimately, we design and execute beautiful works of art that you’ll be happy to show the world. Book your session now!