I was wondering if I could get some advice. I have a full arm sleeve of a koi fish on my forearm that goes up into a cherry blossom tree that has a branch that goes partially on my collarbone with a panda sitting by the tree. Wednesday was my third sitting, to sum it up, color was added to my tattoo in colors I didn’t like and parts were colored that were not supposed to be and I’m unhappy with the way the bamboo looks. The tattoo artist forgot what I had said and kinda went with his own vision of colors. I am partially to blame for that because I should have repeated myself before he even started. Well I froze when I noticed what he’d done and never said much. I was more focused on pain management, for some reason coloring the tree and flowers I damn near passed out from the pain, not sure why it hurt this time around. Last two times for outline and shading never hurt at all, I almost fell asleep.
I’ll post a picture and explain what it was -supposed- to be colored like- DAY 4 :
DAY1- Close up:
The tree was supposed to stay just shaded, the bamboo was supposed to be darker green and realistic looking, the flowers were supposed to be red and the panda was supposed to have some white. Koi fish was to be colored and then the rest light color shading and black shading.
Anyway, I froze and never said anything other than I didn’t like the yellow on the bark or flowers.He did stop using yellow near the middle, but not on the flowers. I feel stupid and embarrassed for not saying something more then and there, but I couldn’t. I like my artist, hes a nice guy and he does good work, but I couldn’t believe what he did. I left devastated.
Here comes where I need advice, how can I talk to him about it without offending him? I -do- want to continue to work with him if I can, so I know offending him will probably be the end of that. I just want him to fix the bamboo and change the color on the flowers and tree. I’m okay with the bark being colored, whatever, past is the past, I just want it darker and an actual brown.
My step sister and dad both with a ton of tatts said he should fix it for no additional charge (which I really don’t want to pay more again to re-do what I just paid to get done and pay for something that was colored and not supposed to be), if he doesn’t, then they say to see someone else, which I really don’t want to. I’ve seen my tattoo artist three times now and paid $700 so far and with looking at the rate things are progressing I’ll need at least 3 more sittings. The color on flowers and part of the tree (he had to stop coloring the tree it was hurting too bad), panda and bamboo are what he added on wednesday and took 2.5hrs. Is it fair to request he fix it without me paying another $220? Lastly, can the bamboo even be salvaged? Everyone thinks it looks like pot leaves 🙁
Thanks for any help.
ETA- Here’s a picture of my tree before the coloring and panda (sorry crappy cell picture):
Just tell him straight up. What you’re asking for is essentially a re-work though, not a touch-up and thus, I see no reason why he should do it for free unless you push the point that he didn’t do what you asked – at which point you’re likely to burn a bridge. Decision time.
FWIW, I think you should leave the tree bark alone.
I agree. The tree looks good. By any chance were the people you asked high at the time? Any logical person looking at it will automatically assume its bamboo. More to the point that the panda isn’t very large and the bamboo is even smaller. Did you plan on adding any more bamboo? Maybe he can add more the way you’d like them to look. If you don’t love it tell him. If he’s a decent person hell try to make it right for you. Repeat business is big in the tattoo industry. That being said I think what’s done so far looks pretty good. But there’s a lot of room to grow. Are you planning on sleeving it or what?
Thanks everyone. So what should I do? This tattoo artists portfolio was good, I just don’t get what happened between the shading to the coloring.
I don’t mind the size of the panda compared to the tree, the problem is the flowers throw it off. But that doesn’t bother me as much. At the time the tattoo artist said he didn’t want to ‘make new tree’ out of the bamboo, which is why he didn’t make them taller. I personally would want more bamboo, taller bamboo around and behind the panda. And I am getting more flowers added, especially by my collarbone, looks naked. I never did plan on doing a full on solid sleeve. I wanted to keep it somewhat simple, maybe add a moon and some shaded clouds or something behind the tree, but who knows. Right now I just want to get whats there fixed and done, wait for it to heal and go from there.
Sure, here’s the link : http://www.eveningshadetattoo.ca/ed.asp
im sorry but his work is mediocre at best. you can tell by his color work that its not very good.
yeah im sorry to hear that and the best of luck to you. for your next piece maybe we can recommend artists in your area?
Sure that would be nice. Theres so many tattoo artists here now that it makes my head spin. My sister wants me to go see this guy if it doesn’t work out :http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.413554271994806.113919.412919772058256&type=3 What do you think of his work?
Your artist’s portfolio is mostly printed from the Internet so that would be the first warning sign for me. Heads up for next time 🙂 and I like the tree, but you should definitely let him know you’re not happy that he didn’t follow your instructions. To be honest, I’d go to someone else to finish it.
Cut your losses and walk away from this guy. You don’t need to go back to him unless it’s to go kick him in the nuts..
The second guy you posted is better butt not great. You need to start looking for someone that does kick ass work to try to save that. If you go to another mediocre artist you’ll get a fucked up mess.
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