Lucas ZattiRealism tattoos

My studio is in Temple Bar, right in the heart of Dublin, an easy walk from anywhere in the city centre. Once your date is booked I send you the exact address along with everything else you need for the day.

Not every one, and I would rather be honest about that than take a booking I cannot do justice to. Black and grey realism is where my work is at its strongest, so that is what I say yes to. If your idea sits outside it, I will tell you straight away and point you towards an artist who is right for it. Either way, you will not be left without an answer.

Yes, as long as the project is workable. How dark the old piece is, how large it is and how the skin has healed all decide what is realistically possible. Send me clear photos and a short video of it in natural light and I will tell you honestly what can be done with it. If it turns out to be a complex cover-up that needs a different approach, I will point you towards an artist who specialises in that.

Completely. Say you send me a reference, and months later someone else walks in with the same one. Those two tattoos will not look alike, because I draw each piece around the person wearing it. So do not worry: you will walk out with something nobody else in the world has, drawn for you and for the way it sits on your body.

A full day session runs around six hours on average, and I keep it there on purpose. Past a certain point both of us start to tire, and I am not willing to put a single millimetre of your tattoo down under fatigue. Six hours is where I can work at full focus from the first line to the last, and where you can sit comfortably enough to actually enjoy the day. If your piece needs more than that, we split it across sessions and come back to it with fresh energy.

It depends on the size of the piece and how complex the sessions are, but as a guide most sessions run between €500 and €600. Larger work is usually split across more than one session, and I will tell you upfront how many I expect it to take, so you know what you are committing to before anything is booked.

With a deposit. It is the only thing that holds a date in the calendar, and it is non-refundable, because the moment it lands I start working on your design. That time is set aside for you, and the deposit is what covers it. It also comes off the final price of the tattoo, so it is not an extra cost, just the first part of it.

Usually yes. Once the deposit is in I start drawing, and I share the progress with you as it takes shape. What I will say is that the design is only fully finished on the day itself. We spend the first hour of your appointment sitting down together, talking the idea through, going over your references in person and measuring the area so the stencil fits your body perfectly. That last hour of adjustment is what makes the difference.

Of course. The work does not end when the machine goes quiet. You leave with a written care guide, and I stay close through the healing, checking in and answering anything that comes up. A tattoo is only as good as the way it heals, so that part matters to me as much as the session itself.