Free tattoo artist invoice generator
Bill sessions or full pieces with the deposit credited, design time visible, and touch-up and reschedule policy written where the client will actually read it.
Build your tattoo artist invoice
Prefilled with a multi-session sleeve. Replace the sessions, deposit and design time, then download.
| Description | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|
What is a tattoo artist invoice?
A tattoo invoice exists mostly to make three things unambiguous: what the deposit covered, how the remaining sessions will be priced, and what happens if the client reschedules. Everything else on it is bookkeeping.
Artists price either by the hour, by the session or by the piece. Hourly suits ongoing work and cover-ups; flat piece pricing suits well-defined designs and protects the fast artist from being punished for skill. Whichever you use, state it, and if you switch mid-project — hourly for the outline, flat for the fill — say that too.
Design time is work. Hours spent drawing, referencing and revising before the machine is switched on are billable in most studios, either as a stated drawing fee or as part of the deposit. Making it visible on the invoice also makes it possible to charge for the third round of changes without an awkward conversation.
What to include
Everything below is already in the generator above — this is what each part is for.
Client and piece
Client name, the piece, placement and approximate size in inches.
Session structure
Number of sessions, hours per session and the dates, or the flat price for the whole piece.
Design and consultation time
Drawing hours or the flat design fee, and any revision rounds beyond the included ones.
Deposit applied
The deposit taken to book, what it secured, and where it is credited.
Touch-up terms
What is included free, in what window, and what counts as a new session.
Studio details
Studio name, artist, licence or registration number and aftercare reference.
Three steps to a finished PDF
Enter the client and the piece
Placement, size and whether the work is hourly, per session or a flat piece price.
Bill sessions, design time and credit the deposit
Sessions with dates and hours, drawing time, then the deposit as a negative line.
Download and send
Download the PDF with aftercare and touch-up terms in the notes, and send it after the sitting.
Deposits, session pricing and protecting your calendar
Deposits are for the chair, not the ink
A deposit holds a block of time you cannot resell at short notice. Make it non-refundable, state how much notice moves it without loss — 48 or 72 hours is typical — and say plainly that a no-show forfeits it. Then credit it on the final invoice against the last session so the client sees it was never a fee, only their own money held.
Choose hourly or flat, and explain the choice
- Hourly suits large ongoing work, cover-ups and anything with unknowable scope.
- Flat piece pricing suits defined designs and rewards speed rather than penalising it.
- Day rates work for full sittings and travel or guest-spot work.
Write the touch-up policy before it is needed
Most artists include one free touch-up within a set window — often three to six months — excluding hands, feet, fingers and anywhere the client failed the aftercare. Put the window, the exclusions and the aftercare conditions on the invoice. It converts a difficult conversation into a reference to a document the client already has.
Guest spots and booth rent are business, so invoice them
Travelling artists paying a studio percentage or a flat daily rate, and studios charging booth rent, should both work from invoices rather than cash and memory. State the dates, the split or rate, what the studio supplied, and who is handling the client payments. It is also the cleanest way to keep an independent contractor relationship looking like one.
Three mistakes that delay payment
Deposit not shown as a credit
If it never appears on the final invoice, the client remembers it as a fee they lost. Credit it visibly.
No written reschedule policy
Empty chair time is unrecoverable. Publish the notice window and hold to it.
Design time given away
Drawing hours are hours. A stated design fee makes the fourth revision request a pricing question, not a favour.