The artists · Capitol Hill

Book the artist, not the shop.

Three people work here and they do not share clients, styles or aesthetics. There is no house style to route you into and nobody will offer you an earlier slot with somebody else, because that would be a different tattoo by a different person.

North / Black / All three

Black & grey realism · 11 years

Auden

Photographic detail at large scale: portraits, animals, architecture, anything where the whole point is that it reads as a photograph from four feet away. Works in values rather than lines, which is a different discipline from everything else in this building.

Books in blocks. A half sleeve is three or four full days across several months rather than a series of two-hour visits, because a value transition that crosses a session boundary is visible for twenty years.

Auden’s work →

~6 months

Fine line & botanical · 7 years

Wren

Single-needle work: botanical, illustrative, script, and the small deliberate pieces people describe as looking like a charcoal drawing. Draws from life rather than from reference photographs, which is why the botanicals look like actual plants.

The shortest sessions here and the shortest waitlist. Also the person most likely to tell you that the piece you want at two inches wants to be three.

Wren’s work →

~4 months

Heavy black & hand-poked · 14 years

Iver

Solid black, ornamental, sacred geometry and mountain work, machine or hand-poked. Owns the studio and opened it in 2014 in a print shop that still had the presses in it.

The only person here doing stick-and-poke professionally, which is slower, quieter, and heals differently rather than better. Ask about it at the consult; he will talk about it for an hour.

Iver’s work →

~5 months

How it works Three artists
three books

You inquire with
the artist,
not the studio

3–7 days
for a reply

Nobody will
offer you
somebody else

Why separate books

In most studios the shop takes the inquiry and assigns it. That is efficient, it fills the calendar, and it means the person who ends up drawing on you is frequently chosen by availability rather than by fit.

Here the inquiry goes to a named artist and is answered by that artist, in three to seven days, from their own inbox. If they are not right for the piece they will say so and name who is, here or elsewhere in Seattle, and that is a referral rather than a handoff.

The cost of this is the waitlist. Four to six months is a long time and there is no way to shorten it that does not involve one of these three people doing work they are worse at.

Choosing, if you do not know

Does it need to look like a photograph? Auden. That is a specific technical discipline and nobody else here does it.

Is it small, fine and drawn rather than rendered? Wren.

Is it solid black, ornamental, geometric, or do you want it hand-poked? Iver.

If none of those is obviously it, send the inquiry to whoever’s work you like most and let them redirect you. That happens perhaps twice a month and nobody minds it in either direction.

The one shared thing

The process, the rate and the policy are identical across all three. Two hundred an hour, twelve hundred a day, two hundred deposit, seventy-two hours to move it, free touch-ups in the first year. Nobody negotiates separately.

Asked often.

How do I choose a tattoo artist at North / Black?

By the work rather than by availability. Auden if it needs to read as a photograph, Wren if it is small and drawn, Iver if it is solid black, ornamental or hand-poked. If none is obvious, send the inquiry to whoever’s portfolio you like and let them redirect you.

Can the studio assign me an artist with a shorter wait?

No. Each artist owns their own book and nobody will offer you an earlier slot with somebody else, because that would be a different tattoo by a different person.

How long are the waitlists?

About six months for Auden, four for Wren and five for Iver. There is no way to shorten that which does not involve one of them doing work they are worse at.

Do all three artists charge the same?

Yes. Two hundred an hour, twelve hundred for a day, and a two hundred dollar deposit, identical across all three books. Nobody negotiates separately.

Inquire with a name.

Not the shop. Three to seven days for a reply, written by the person who would do the work.

Send an inquiry How the process runs