Tattoo Artists: How do They get Paid?

I know that tattoo artists charge an hourly rate or by piece. But, do they have any based salary? minimum salary at least? I'm just thinking what if they just have 3 tattoos (big or small pieces) in a week? They'll starve!... I know quite a few shops that are really slow these days. I can't figure out how they survive if their work is just based on commision.... Peace.

Good place around here, saw this on another board: http://www.tattooconnect.com/forum/showthread.php?t=823

Be careful over there,your post may get censored if you hurt someones feelings.

Hey ami, cough, thanks for the compliments. I have only heard about a base salary once in the last 10+ years of running around the tattoo biz. For certain many artists slow down in the winter, especially up north. Its a good time to have an extra day or two to catch up on the zillion things theres no time for the other 3 seasons. Lots of collectors come out in winter, a more serious client, so its a mix of better clients, but more cancelations. Many of our clients book a few months in advance, so the winter may mean the difference between being booked 2 months in advance and 2-3 weeks. In our days off we caught up on marketing materials... We've got tons of swag coming in the next few weeks, stickers, t-shirts, postcards, business cards. It would have been nice to have them for the 1st, but alas too busy. Nobody's starving though, like I said the real collectors tend to come out and keep everyone fed and happy.

Gabe - You're saying all (or most) artists get paid by commission period... Interesting. I'm just weighing a 9-5 job vs tattoo artist.

Unless you have a waiting list a mile long and can go anywhere you want with two months of clients and dont really need an owner for anything, then you can probably finagle a rent deal depending on the studios situation. Everyone else works off commission with the exception of Tattoo Nation. Well, there may be a few others, but I havnt heard of or remembered.

there are some shops that do pay a basic rate. i know of one shop for sure that does this in mpls. they are paid hourly and if they dont make enough through tattooing they get that weekly check. but if they make more then they would in tattoos then their hourly pay is they recieve only com.