In the last few years I almost exclusively worked with customers who requested large pieces. Naturally this kind of work requires a preceding meeting, in order to make proper judgments on the extend of the work we will be doing and of course so I can make an appropriate quote. The bigger the tattoo, 
the more difficult it is for me, however, to estimate the duration of a project.
In many cases a preceding meeting is not possible since a lot of my clientele has to travel to get to me. This is one of the reasons why I had to come up with an approach that not only allows me to get better results but also includes my client in the developmental process of the design. This cuts down on the amount of travel my clients have to do throughout a project and ensures that everybody is happy with the results.
In this part of my site, I will try to help you get a better idea of what to expect in case you are thinking about traveling exceptionally far to get tattooed. Hopefully you will conclude that I, too, will go the extra mile to ensure a tattoo, which is worth traveling for.
On day one I meet up with my client to get acquainted and talk about ideas. We will collect reference material and create a map to collect and sort everything we need for inspiration. This part can be started remotely over the email, of course, but it's much more organic once we actually meet face to face. The next step is to draw a very crude sketch directly on skin. 
It's very quick and without any detail but very important for my process and mostly for measurement reasons. It will help me later, to fit the design perfectly to the body.
After I processed that sketch so I can work on it on the computer, I will start making one or more sketches on the computer to give the client a first impression. Once we made the most important decisions like depth, flow, mood and impact I will start to immerse myself into the real design process for the rest of the day. Once I have results or early the next day we meet up again for a last review of the piece. We can make more adjustments and finally make a line drawing which I can apply to the skin. This is the last step we need to make sure the design follows the anatomy perfectly. If everybody is happy with what they see and all questions are dealt with we can start committing the stencil to skin. Normally this design process takes 1-2 days so we can work on the 3rd day at the very latest. 
The way we split up the following sessions is variable. On big pieces like i.e. full sleeves, the best way to work is to tattoo 2-4 days successively, to cover as much skin as we can. This way we can get a lot of ground covered in a short amount of time, and the client has proper results in order to bridge the time for the second session.
A second session will almost always be necessary and I will not even start a bigger piece without a chance to finish it. The depth and amount of detail in my work is reached by multiple passes. I don’t take shortcuts that would harm the longevity and quality of my work. I am trying to be as honest and upfront about the way I work as possible so we can relax when we need to and worry about problems before they occur! I normally keep my agenda short enough to be able to make plan new projects within 6 months. Oftentimes it can be even earlier than that.
I have a lot of sympathy for all kinds of work and budget related situations and always try to work within the boundaries that I am given by my clients. I too have a few basic conditions though.
I work with an hourly rate of 150€/h. If any project takes much longer than my previous estimation, I will always strive to find a fair solution. I am only available through eMail for all new customers and do not publish a phone number or address on my site for reasons I have further outlined in the "about" section of this site. 
If this exceeds the patience of some, they have the wrong guy anyways.
A relaxed and trustful atmosphere is very important to me and ensured by creating an undisturbed working climate in a studio that is not open to the public. Of course my workflow is subject to ongoing tweaking and tuning to try and make better tattoos and to make life easier for me and my clients. I will try and approach each situation with as much flexibilty as possible. If you are interested and have more questions, please use the contact form and let me know!