Frequently Asked Questions
Booking a custom tattoo is a big decision. Here are honest answers to the questions I get most often — about my process, wait times, what to expect, and how I work.
My books are always open. Submit an inquiry through the booking form on the main site — your idea, placement, size, and any reference images. I read every inquiry personally. The waitlist is typically around a year.
I don't close my books. About half my clients are in the middle of ongoing projects — closing my schedule wouldn't work for them or for me. The waitlist for new clients is typically around a year, but schedules shift. Large projects occasionally cancel and things open up unexpectedly. The best move is to email me directly — that's the most reliable way to know where things stand. It's still best to assume there's a wait, but it's always worth asking.
Yes — always. I don't replicate other artists' designs and I don't use AI. Every piece starts as a blank page. I draw each design by hand, specific to the client, the body part, and how it will interact with existing work or future plans. Originality isn't a preference; it's the only way I work.
I work primarily in large-scale custom illustrative tattooing across a wide range: Illustrative Realism, Neo Japanese, Neo Traditional, Biomechanical, Bio-Organic, Art Nouveau, Ornamental, black and grey, and color. The style follows the idea — I don't limit myself or my clients to a single aesthetic.
I work by the hour at $250. Booking requires a $500 retainer, which is applied as credit toward your tattoo. The retainer protects the design process — if a client cancels or significantly changes direction after the design is complete, it covers that work. Beyond that, you're only billed for time on skin. I don't charge for stenciling or anything else that happens outside of actually tattooing you. Sessions are billed at the end of each appointment, and I always round down to the nearest hour in your favor. I accept cash, debit, and credit.
Worth noting: I'm a fast tattoo artist. What takes me a couple of hours would take most artists considerably longer. That's not luck — it's the result of over two decades of doing this at a high level. My rate reflects my time, and my time is efficient. Most clients find the overall cost comparable to or less than slower artists charging less per hour.
Every piece I create is designed with long-term body composition in mind — even if you're only getting one tattoo. I think about flow, negative space, scale relationships, and how the work will age. Whether or not a client ever pursues a full bodysuit, the piece should be able to exist within one. That discipline makes for better individual tattoos too.
Yes — and honestly, cover-ups have become a specialty. I probably do more of them than most tattooers, and it's become a real focus of my work. The best cover-ups aren't really cover-ups — they're transformations. I approach them by designing something strong enough to stand on its own that strategically uses the existing ink. Each situation is evaluated case by case. Not everything is coverable, and I'll tell you honestly if it's not.
I work out of Remington Tattoo, located at 3009 Myrtle Ave, San Diego, CA 92104 — a shop I founded in 2011. I've been based in San Diego my entire career, starting at Tahiti Felix's Master Tattoo, one of the oldest shops in the country.
I work strictly by appointment. My assistant handles my bookings, so the process starts with an email inquiry — not a walk-in. Please don't stop by expecting to get on my schedule without reaching out first. I need to have a conversation before I can give you a proper estimate of how many sessions your project will take and what it will cost. Once we've talked it through, I'll direct you on how to proceed.
Yes. I work in oil painting, illustration, sculpture, and digital media. My work has been shown at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco and La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles. The fine art practice feeds directly into how I approach tattooing — both require the same foundation of drawing, composition, and long-term thinking about how an image lives in space.
For the last decade or so I've kept my focus in San Diego. Earlier in my career I was very active on the convention and guest spot circuit. I also lived part-time in New York City — traveling back and forth monthly — and worked regularly at Dare Devil Tattoo during that time. That was a real chapter of my career, not just a guest spot. These days my schedule is San Diego-based. Any travel or appearances get announced on @terryribera on Instagram.