Tattoo Booking Form vs. Consent Form [+ consent form template]

Plenty of artists use booking forms. Plenty use consent forms. They both involve client info, and they both live in your workflow, but they’re not the same thing. We’ve seen too many artists mash them together or skip one entirely, without realizing they’re solving two totally different problems.

Here’s the short version:

• A booking form helps you screen and schedule clients before you agree to take the project.
• A consent form is a legal document signed right before the appointment that protects you and your shop.

When you treat them like one form, things get messy. You risk booking clients who aren’t ready—or skipping legal steps that could bite you later.

This guide clears up the difference, helps you streamline both steps, and gives you a free, printable tattoo consent form you can start using right away.

Booking Forms: Lock In Serious Clients Before You Commit

The difference between a client inquiry and a confirmed appointment usually comes down to one thing: friction. If your booking experience is not clear or you don’t ask the right questions up front, you may waste your and your clients’ time. 

Booking a tattoo is an agreement to collaborate. A form helps define what that collaboration will be—style, placement, availability, intention. 

With a custom tattoo booking form, you can:

• Get the info you need to say yes or no quickly
• Cut back on DMs, ghosting, and unclear expectations
• Ensure the project fits your style and schedule
• Collect deposits automatically

What to include:

• Tattoo concept or flash selection
• Placement and size
• Style references or inspo images
• Budget
• Availability
• Any relevant medical considerations

Want help building your booking form? Check out Your Tattoo Booking Form: Best Questions to Ask 

How It Fits Into Your Workflow

Here’s how a booking form supports your actual day-to-day.

• A client clicks your booking link (from Instagram, your site, wherever).
• They fill out exactly what you need: design, placement, size, references, budget.
• They submit the form with a deposit—which filters out the flaky inquiries.
• You review the info, decide if it’s a good fit, and confirm the booking—or not.

That’s the baseline. When you’re using Venue, the whole tattoo scheduling process tightens up even more: your calendar updates automatically, deposits are built into the form, and every booking drops into one clean system. You stay in control. Clients stay committed.

Consent Forms: Protect Your Studio and Cover Your Legal Bases

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Consent forms aren’t part of the booking process—they’re signed in person, right before the tattoo happens. Most health departments require them to be dated the day of the appointment, and for good reason: things like health conditions, medications, and even mindset can change between booking and sitting down in the chair.

This is a legal document. It confirms the client understands the risks, discloses relevant health info, and agrees to be tattooed. You keep it on file in case anything ever gets questioned.

Key elements to include

Every artist and studio will have their own version, but a solid tattoo consent form usually covers:

• Full legal name and ID check
• Confirmation the client is 18+ (or whatever’s required where you live)
• Medical disclosure (illnesses, allergies, pregnancy, meds, etc.)
• Acknowledgment of tattoo risks and permanence
• Agreement to follow aftercare instructions
• Optional photo/video release
• Signatures from both the artist and the client, with the date

You can keep it on paper, digital, or both—just make sure it’s signed, stored, and ready if you ever need to refer back to it. 

Why You Should Not Combine Them

We get why it’s tempting to put everything in one form—but don’t.

Think of it like this:

• Booking form = Are we a good fit?
• Consent form = You understand the risks and agree to proceed.

Blending them muddies both. You either end up asking legal questions way too early (which can scare off serious clients), or you bury critical safety and compliance details in a booking form that’s already been skimmed and submitted weeks ago.

It’s bad for your business, and worse if you ever need that consent form to hold up legally.

Free Printable Tattoo Consent Form Template

Need a clean, ready-to-use consent form? We’ve got you.

🎁 What’s inside:

• Client info and contact fields
• Tattoo risk acknowledgment
• Health disclosure checklist
• Consent to tattoo
• Signature fields for client and artist

📄 [Download the Free Consent Form PDF]

Print it, use it, tweak it to match your shop’s rules. It’s yours.

Wrap-Up

Booking forms and consent forms aren’t interchangeable—they serve different purposes, at different points in your workflow. Keep them separate, and your process runs smoother. You stay protected, your clients stay informed, and nothing gets lost in the shuffle.

Venue helps you streamline everything on the front end:

• Build a custom booking form that collects the details you actually need
• Lock in serious clients with deposits at the time of booking
• Let tattoo clients schedule themselves based on your availability
• Keep all your booking info, payments, and client messages in one place

You handle consent forms your way—on paper, digitally, or whatever your shop requires.

Start your free Venue Ink account and get your booking system dialed in. No spreadsheets, no chaos, and it’s free for artists. 

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