First, I agree with what everyone else has said. This is why people get pros to do their work and not kitchen magicians. Second, I agree with what has been said, that you put the work out there for comments, so don’t get uptight at the comment.
Now with that said, a pro artist would have tried to talk you into getting the script larger so this wouldn’t happen. The fact that you did not go to a pro…whether you like the piece or not, has brought you to this point…asking pros how to fix it. I looked at the piece on your link and honestly, its not too bad, but that doesn’t excuse the poor design. Its the artist’s job to build a piece…or modify one that someone brings to them to make it tattooable, and then to do a good job in doingt it. Your artist did neither. He did not insure the piece was tattooable. He left it with script so small that in ten years you won’t be able to discern any of those number signs, they will all just be black blobs. He did not do a good job because he left them so small that they won’t hold up.
Whether the fault is yours or his is immaterial. You now have a tattoo that needs to be fixed. Here is a solution that may or may not work. Have an artist (Using a quality brand of white and not some bullshit ink) separate the black with white. You’ll have to do the same thing with every single sign whether they need it or not. It will separate the number sign so you will be able to see what it is. Here is the problem: White is the first color your body disperses. Which means it sometimes does not hold up over time. The better the quality of ink, the longer it will last. Some people don’t disperse white…in other words in some people white lasts forever. I don’t know why, but I recently had a customer come into my studio to have a tattoo recolored. The tattoo was 20 years old had lost most every color except white. this isn’t the first time I’ve seen that occur. But the norm is that white generally doesn’t last.
A “flesh” toned ink won’t work. Black will over ride it.
Obviously though you have little regard for professional artists, so my advice may be worthless to you. I’m sure your kitchen magicial can figure something out.
Here’s my second bit of advice. Quit going to kitchen magicians to get your work done and pay for a good artist to do them from now on. We gave sweat and blood to learn and earn our art and you and so many others would rather pay some scratcher…who takes offense at being called a scratcher since “that only refers to dirty artists”…a quarter of our rates to get second rate work, then expect us to tell you how to go back to your scratcher to get his junk fixed.
Thank you very much. That’s exactly what I was looking for!
I apologize if I offended anyone. I was unaware that this guy was a ‘kitchen magician’ as you call it. I went to him to get a simple background done about 6 months ago, and it turned out excellent…so I then went back to him for something else, which was a little bit more intricate….and again, it turned out very nicely. So I figured he knew his shit….and I got this third piece done from him…and overall I’m still happy with it, despite the mistakes in the # signs.
I also liked a lot of this guy’s previous work from his portfolios…..so I didn’t just pick some random guy without making an informed decision.
But anyway, now I see where you pros are coming from. I didn’t realize this, but I do now….I do appreciate the answer that I was looking for though. It is fixable!
I 100% hear ya on everything you have said except this. Money is not an issue when it comes to getting a tattoo. I would much rather pay triple the price for an excellent piece.
Like I said, according to this guy’s portfolio and previous 2 pieces of work on me, I assumed he was a good artist.
I have friends that get tattooed by ‘kitchen scratchers’ (their buddies that get tattoo guns and think they are tattoo artists), and that makes absolutely no sense to me.
So again, I hear what you are saying, but I do look for the real deal no matter what the cost is. I guess this guy is not the real deal…..but his work can be fixed, and now I know that. I also learned that he is not as pro as I originally had thought thanks to your explanation.
By the way, these are the last 2 pieces that I got done by him:
http://www.thetattooforum.com/well-got-bug-and-love-t15506.html
The first one, he did all the stuff around the guitar playing skeleton. The second one, he just did the tribal. Both great pieces IMO though.
It’s funny, until now I never even heard of this ‘kitchen magician’ or ‘scratcher’ tattoo stuff. I knew to not let my unlicensed buddies that bought a gun off ebay tattoo me….that’s common sense. But I always assumed that a guy in a legitimate tattoo shop that has a nice portfolio, has art school degrees hanging on the wall, and has proven experience knows what he is doing.
I can see how these scratchers can seriously f*** up pros’ buisnesses. That is not something I ever thought about before….probably because I’m not a tattoo artist, and therefore I wouldn’t think about those things. It makes sense though, and it would piss me off too.
So anyway, assuming a guy is working in a tattoo shop….with a nice portfolio of work…with art school degrees hanging on the walls, and a tattoo license, how do you tell if he is the real deal or not?
I always just judged him/her on their portfolio.
I can see how these scratchers can seriously f*** up pros’ buisnesses. That is not something I ever thought about before….probably because I’m not a tattoo artist, and therefore I wouldn’t think about those things. It makes sense though, and it would piss me off too.
So anyway, assuming a guy is working in a tattoo shop….with a nice portfolio of work…with art school degrees hanging on the walls, and a tattoo license, how do you tell if he is the real deal or not?
I always just judged him/her on their portfolio.
Irishman, I wish there was a simple answer to your question. Working out of a house does not automatically label you a scratcher, though 90% of them are. Some of my friends…not locally…have built studios in their homes. The studios are professional quality, they handle their business professionally, they charge professional prices, and do a professional job. One of my friends on this very forum has done just that, and had his home studio inspected by his local health department. He exceeded their standards and now carries a license. He is undoubtably a pro.
Likewise not all artists who tattoo out of a studio are pros, though again, about 90% of them are. Near my location is a studio. I won’t mention the name. The owners are drug addicts and they regularly have beer keg parties there. I have made a good amount of money fixing and reworking work that has come out of their studio, and several of my customers come in here telling me stories about how dirty and nasty that studio is and how they will never go back.
But if you pull up this studio’s website and MySpace Page you will see portfolios that depict awesome top end work. They have been featured in tattoo magazines, and they brag about that, claiming to “Dominate the Industry”. so…what gives?
There is another Studio nearby in Ft. Worth, that is named for its owner who is a relative celebrity in the tattooing industry. He charges outrageous prrices, works by appointment only and his work is less than impressive.
Here’s a cold fact in the tattooing field. Portfolios are made up of pictures of tattoos that have been finished all of 5 minutes. they are bright, bold, fresh, and look better than they ever will again. In six months the colors will have dulled, and any problems will be more than apparant.
So back to your question: How do you tell? I don’t have an art degree hanging on my wall. Does an art degree make you a tattooist? Honestly, the whole art degree thing is a relatively new developement in tattooing. They don’t teach tattooing in college. I’m sure an art degree helps. It goes hand in hand that the better artist you are the better tattooists you can be, but an art degree does not make you a tattooist.
You might be able to paint the Mona Lisa, but not be able to tattoo a straight line. Now TATTOO the Mona Lisa and I’ll be impressed. You say he has a great portfolio, well maybe he does, I don’t know, I aint seen it.
Here’s the deal, this whole thing started with me anyway, because I got the impression this guy tattoos out of his house. If he tattoos in a shop then I have no place to comment at all, but I still stand by what I said, he should have told you it was too small and redesigned it to work.
If he is in a shop, then do your research. Check out his portfolio, and look at finished work over six months old. Talk to peoplke he’s tattooed, ask him if you can watch him work. Check other studios and compare their work, and portfolios. Find an artist that focuses on the type of work you want done. Its not out of line for you to ask for thier autoclave reports to see if they pass spore testing, its not out of line for you to ask for a tour of the studio and look for cleanliness.
artists know that not every design is tattooable, normally they will tell you if it isnt a good design unless they just want your money …. i turned down 2 pieces today because they would look total shite as tattoos…. at the end of the day it might be their idea and they think its an awesome design, but i refuse to put my name to them 😉
ps… cheers steve “total respect to ya bro”
Man, if there was a tan color that could sharpen or fix a problem like yours then I bet laser removal wouldn’t be so popular…
All inks, for the most part, are somewhat transparent, except for black. Thus, even if an artist was to put a tannish ink over the # sign to try and sharpen it up, that ink would fade, quickly, and you would end up with the not so sharp # all over again, have wasted your time, and possibly your money.
It looks to me that the #’s are just too small to be able to stay sharp after being tattooed. I might be wrong, and they might sharpen up A LITTLE BIT when you’re all healed, but I’m pretty sure that if you want the #’s fixed, you’re going to have to cover them up with something else.
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