Hi all,

I stumbled onto this site when I couldn’t find any information online to help me, but I could really use some advice.

The short story: I’m a 24 year old female and I’ll be getting my first tattoo, scheduled in a two days. My decision is not by any means impulsive, but when the artist I’m working with showed me the design he came up with… well, frankly I think there was a major miscommunication. Now I’m anxious about how to proceed.

The long story: I originally found a shop I like and decided to stop in; my knowledge of tattoos comes entirely from binge watching reality shows like Ink Master, so I felt I really needed to educate myself more before taking the leap. The person I spoke to there was a huge help. I had originally come up with my own design, but this person basically explained what problems my design had, price, placement, etc. and I knew I really needed to rethink my approach. I knew the actual content I wanted and the style I wanted, just not the physical design, so I decided I would let the artist design it instead.

I looked at each artist’s portfolio and knew exactly who I wanted, so I emailed him some questions… no answer. I tried to fill out the questions form on the shop’s site, but received an error that the inbox wasn’t set-up properly. This made me a little nervous but I loved everything else about the place so I contacted the email provided on all the site’s pages. Turned out it belonged the shop’s owner (I figured but wasn’t sure), who I hadn’t recognized because the he used a nickname on his portfolio page. I received a very professional email responding to all my questions, plus he was very sympathetic to dealing with a tattoo-virgin and encouraged me to come to the shop and talk to someone in person.

So I did. Let me add, I had originally dismissed choosing the owner because his style was heavily traditional and I knew I wanted a graphic, but realistic style (I’m getting a large bird on the upper half of my arm). I then saw on his Instagram page a new design he did and it was beautiful; the style was just along the lines I wanted. I realized I may be underestimating the amount of styles each artist could do because I judged each based on their specialty displayed in their portfolios. Fast forward to my visit, I was introduced to a third artist; unbelievably nice and extremely attentive. We thoroughly discussed what I wanted and I showed him about 11 references. When he asked me if I had an artist in mind, I mentioned the first artist I considered (whose forté was realism), but mentioned that I had jumped to a few conclusions with the owner’s abilities, so if they knew one of the other artists was particularly good at the style I wanted, I was open to suggestions. He told me that that artist was phenomenal, but if I was willing, he knew what I was describing and had done the style before, even though his personal specialty was in traditional. I was sure he would know better than I was he is and is not able to do. I said okay, we set up a consultation date for the next week and the tattoo appointment for the week after that. I paid a small, non-refundable deposit and he had me email him everything we discussed, the references, and encouraged me to send him any extra ideas or references I find along the way. A few days later I sent even more references (about 7) because I was getting anxious that upon checking out his portfolio, I realized his is was VERY heavily traditional. He thanked me and assured me he felt he understood the style I wanted. I’m a control freak but I felt I needed to let him do his job, he’s the professional.

Consultation time, I was shown a rough sketch that I ultimately really liked. We discussed what changes I hoped to see and I was to be sent a picture of the new design a couple days before the final appointment – he told me we could make changes, get a new design, and any small final changes after that could always be made at the appointment. I found 4 more references that match what we discussed at the consultation, one almost exactly what I wanted, and sent them, to which I received another thanks and that he was very excited about it. I told myself to stop expecting the worst, especially because the style I wanted was so prominent (or so I thought) in all the references he had.
So I received the design…

Okay. I can tell it is good… but it is VERY traditional in style. I can tell he listened to what elements I wanted, but almost all of the actual style elements we discussed are m.i.a. Personally I do not like the look of traditional tattoos. Since we’re doing most of our communicating through email, I made notes on the image and photoshopped the changes I’d like (only pushing around the shape a little), throwing in an apology that I hope altering the image wouldn’t offend him. I like it MUCH more after my changes, but that doesn’t fix the fact I feel like we are on such completely different pages.

If it came down to it, I would refuse to have it have it done while apologizing profusely for taking up his time. After trying to explain my issue with the style, I told him I’m happy to come in tomorrow or even push back the date of the final appointment because I know it’s a lot of work to change it up.

Why I’m posting: I guess I know that no matter how nice or attentive or hard working he is, I have to call it off if I’m not happy with the final design… it’s too expensive and most importantly: permanent. With the appointment so close, I don’t know if I’ll receive advice in time but I still have a rock in stomach over the anxiety. I mean, I’m a tough cookie, but frankly I was so shocked I felt like crying because I just didn’t know what to do next. I guess I’m looking for advice or some reassurance that this is playing out okay. I certainly don’t want to be “one of those” customers… you know, the nightmare ones that are never happy, but I’d like to assume that most professional tattoo artists would understand the situation and that I’m not the first client to feel this way…. but frankly, assuming is what got me into this in the first place.

I hate to sound like a drama queen, but honestly, I’m so anxious I am legitimately scared. Any advice or support… anything, would be appreciated.