Many artists estimate that more than 70% of their clients, if not more, come from the photo-sharing app.
"Instagram totally changed the tattoo community," said Laura Martinez, a Brooklyn-based artist who took up tattooing after her Instagram followers began requesting that she turn her drawings into tattoo designs. Now, Artists can also use Instagram's advertising tools to target potential clients. Elliott said he takes that approach when he has a piece he's proud of and thinks more people should be seeing it. In one case, one of his tattoos got four times as many views and comments after he ran it as an ad.
Jason Elliott, a tattoo artist in College Station, Texas, uses his Instagram account to market his work to new clients.Many artists simply use their phones to take pictures, but some have invested in more equipment and are taking steps to perfect their technique.," said that he took a photography course to understand lighting and how to take better pictures.
"You risk your mental health keeping up with the 'competition' of the platform," said Karabudak, who goes by "A chief complaint is that Instagram detracts from time spent on actually tattooing, and it makes it possible for tech-savvy artists to outshine those who don't spend time optimizing for the app's algorithms.