this sucks. I got my first tattoo when I was 18, a lower half sleeve. The tattoo artist wasn’t the most expensive, but not cheap either. He had done tattoos on friends of mine and they looked great. The tattoo was black and white and only took a 6 hour sitting (I use to be able to sit forever). As soon as I got it home and unwrapped it, I hated it. I started the removal process 3 months later. The tattoo faded but it seemed like there was no end in sight and it was getting so expensive and I do love tattoos so I decided to cover it when it got light enough. Now I have a full sleeve done at the best reviewed shop in town by an artist charging 150 an hour after being on an 8 month wait! I love the top of my tattoo so much but I HATE the bottom of it. It’s like he lost interest and just did half ass work on the bottom. He’s a sweet guy and I hate to hurt people’s feelings so I just stopped going. It’s been a long time over a year since I have been in the shop. I’m at a loss. I wear long sleeves 24/7 even in 90 degree weather. I know I will get this tattoo removed (it’s a color sleeve so I highly doubt I could fix it with a cover). I know it will cost me a lot of money and I know how bad tattoo removal hurts. I’m pissed. I love tattoos and this experience has left me with no faith in other people and I probably won’t get another tattoo ever because my experience goes to show that even tattoo artists with all the right credentials and skills can still deliver a poor tattoo. It’s really a bummer. Anybody have the same experience or advice for me? It stresses me out constantly : (
I don’t have any advice to fix your current tattoo, but my advice for the future is to speak up before the artist inks you up. First he/she does the sketch and then the stencil, so you have at least 2 chances to ask for changes before it’s permanently etched in your skin.
It’s also important when choosing an artist to not only find someone who’s good, but also someone whose style fits with the type of tattoo you’re seeking. You wouldn’t go to Shige for a portrait, nor would you go to Bob Tyrell for a traditional Japanese sleeve. Sometimes someone may be a great artist and may even be adept at the type of tattoo you’re seeking, but you simply may not like their style. e.g. Anil Gupta in NYC is highly regarded, but I’m just not a fan of his style.
Anyway, how about some pics?
I just feel like the top and even the backside of the whole thing is like intricate and the bottom is just a bunch of color and the sketch just looked very detailed and even the stencil on my skin even looked like it would be more detailed. I think the color work specifically the green area around the dragon is just like a big patch of nothing going on. I even did like the bottom when it was just line work, then he put the green on and it just doesn’t look like fire and it doesn’t look scary which it was supposed to and it’s like he stopped using line work and just started using color to separate areas. Like the tongue on the dragon isn’t outlined it’s just negative space in the color so that makes it seem less detailed to me then the top does and just inconsistent. I got the top half done first and I loved it and it got a really good reaction from my friends and family and then when the bottom half started to get finished I didn’t love it and I can definitely tell the difference in people’s reactions to it.
Yeah, I can agree with you there. It looks like perhaps the artist is much better at line work than he is with color and shading. The outline looks great, but where he colored it in, not so much. 🙁
Hi
The ink looks good and what you are talking about can be fixed with a skilled artist who can add some more line definition to separate the colour and some fresh highlights. It really is not as bad as you have built up in your mind.
There are always going to be things we can spot about our ink and say that could be better as we are our own worst critics.
As for other people I think the pause is because there is a lot of detail and colour to take in and the brain needs to digest the tattoo in pieces and recombine them to make sense of the image.
This is how it works on any complex piece of art. I love my backpiece but everybody who sees it in flesh will spend upto a minute examining it before they comment as a lot of things to take in.
Stop worrying and relax and then decide on what you want gretaer detail and get an artist to sketch out the section and how to tackle it.
Take care
Matthew
I agree, the piece could be fixed up and made much better………
No doubt you probably have choosen an artist whose specialty and personal tastes are not on this same line. It happens, this is a difficult thing to judge, an artist says they want to do the piece, but arent really into it or his skills are lacking in this area.
Id get it fixed and you will have a nice piece
It’s just frustrating because I thought I did do my research when I picked this artist. He had a really nice profile where he used color really well and specifically he had done a lot of really nice sleeve pieces, and I do really like the upper portion where there isn’t color and even the lion on my elbow that is colored. I feel like there is a lot of trust you have to give to your artist and it’s hard to do when you keep getting let down by people you are expecting to take a lot of pride in what they are doing and give it their best effort the entire way through. I guess it would be worth it to talk to another artist and see what they could do if I could even find someone who would touch it. I guess it’s worth spending a few hundred dollars and hoping it turns out good because it might save me from removal but it’s just scary knowing that I could find someone I think will do a good job and then they make it worse and then I’ve just spent more money time and pain on something I’ll want to remove.
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