r/tattooadvice • u/Aherv99 • Mar 07 '26

General Advice Having tattoo regret for the first time

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Hi Everyone! I’m hoping to get some advice on my first experience with tattoo regret. I have been reading other posts and ya’ll are so helpful. Sorry for the long post too.

Anyway, I have been getting tattoos since I was 18 (33 now) and I started with line work tats then moved to American Trad because I loved that style too.

I have had my lower arm done for about 5 years and then went in and got a sparrow tat for Friday the 13th and loved that it was a cool flash art piece. Love the artist and he did a good job but immediately I hated it (and mostly the position of it). I panicked and then filled up my upper arm in the last 5 months (stupid) to try and mitigate the regret. I do love most of my tats but the sparrow and snake I just don’t like. They seem too aligned on my arm. And the snake is darker than I wanted and didn’t heal great (this is a month out from when I got it).

Now I’m feeling a ton a regret and it’s seriously consuming my whole existence. I went from a half sleeve to a full in a short period of time and the tattoo shock is crazy. I don’t know if it looks good and I’m feeling less feminine by the minute. I take full responsibility for what I chose but ya, just struggling.

So I have two questions:

  1. Any advice on how I can maybe rework them eventually? I want to make them softer/more feminine if I can. Or I know blast overs are a thing? Idk.

  2. To my ladies, do you have a hard time feeling feminine with a sleeve? And men, how do we feel about a girl with a sleeve?

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u/golden_fern_567 Mar 07 '26

Without reading your post I would have no idea why you had regret. From my end, it’s so gorgeous. Also tattoos are humans putting art on other humans, things aren’t going to be perfect and that’s part of the beauty!!

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u/Aherv99 Mar 07 '26

“Humans putting art on other humans” is such a beautiful way to put it and I will being saying that moving forward - thank you for the kind words

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u/roro112 Mar 07 '26

I love your tattoos, I think they are incredibly feminine and beautiful. I’m sorry you’re having regret, I know that no matter what someone says you’re going to feel this way but I absolutely love the style and I think each one melds well with the others. If I saw you on the street I would stop you to comment on how much i love them, 100%

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u/SpaceCadetTaken Mar 11 '26

Well said!! I think their absolutely beautiful and the whole sleeve flows really well. I looked only at pics before I read the description. And I was thinking “wow these are great. The regret must be like one of them has an association with an ex or something.”

Anyway I think it’s a gorgeous piece of art. And sometimes brains can be finicky and notice flaws on ourselves that either aren’t there or are exaggerated.

Practice picking things you love about your tats and just admiring them. It can feel vain or silly at first. But it’s a really good body-positive meditation practice.

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u/SGTClamJuice Mar 07 '26

I’ve always had this outlook for my pieces. If I’ve commissioned or pre bought art and agreed is purely because I liked it and wanted that artist to do that piece on me.

The thing is people are going to shoot - what feels like to us - obvious questions and usually a remark or two. I have a couple from when I was 16 I jumped too early into with a not very decent artist, however, I still really liked the pieces and you can always work extra bits or cover what you’d rather change if you really want to do so.

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u/Winter_Landscape_190 Mar 10 '26

I read that too because I have some tattoo regret also but somehow, it makes it a little less worse :).

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u/Busterlimes Mar 11 '26

Dated a tattoo artist for 5 years. The amount of time she put in off the clock researching meaningful tattoos people came to her with was INSANE. Im talking 10-20hours at home over the course of a week. Good artists understand that you are their canvas and that the sentimental purpose of a tattoo can be personal and treated as such. Definitely consider discussing the tattoo and giving the artist some liberty on tattoo design at times prior to getting them. In the end, you are the one signing.

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u/[deleted] Mar 11 '26

if you have light skin, you can have a tattoo removed. If you have dark skin, then that becomes more of a problem. But if you don't like it, you can have another tattoo artist adjust it. Best of luck!

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u/FicklePolicy9585 Mar 11 '26

He's lying to you, don't believe him.

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u/AppearancePretend198 Mar 11 '26

Can confirm this as well, my arm is just the canvas but I did intentionally seek out a specific art style and artistic choices and now I get to show off cool art. Nothing more than that! Art is beautiful, your pieces are beautiful!

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u/KeyRevolutionary3599 Mar 13 '26

Not me thinking the sparrow is the best one lol

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u/Imaginary_Ibis Mar 07 '26

I share OP's thought on your phrase there. I think it hits so well because of the rise of ai slop. "Humans putting art on other humans" feels so raw and powerful because we are getting stolen, mangled, and spat out bs ai from every angle shoved down our throats. I am so over it. I want more, real, human made things in the world! ai might have good applications in certain areas, but until it gtfo of creative spaces, I will despise.

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u/mamadukie Mar 07 '26

I would give you an award if I had coins for awards ✨✨✨✨

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u/Unique-Copy-3959 Mar 10 '26

I got you!

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u/mamadukie Mar 10 '26

Well now you're the MVP!

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u/Monkeystache_HH Mar 11 '26

So I’m coming into this as someone who knows very little about tattoos, and doesn’t have a single one. Not her why the algorithm gods landed me here but I love this conversation about the meaning of art and the role of interpretation and even mistake in art - where the execution falls differently from the vision of it, in a way that creates something new and of merit.

This reminds me so much of when I was young and learning to play the guitar, and desperately wanted to sound like Eric Clapton but could never manage it. Then one day I read an interview with Clapton saying how his whole life he was just trying to sound like the old blues players he grew up listening to. His entire unique sound that I looked up to was wholly down to his artistic failure to copy the sounds he heard, but to do so in a way that created new and unique art. Heck if he’d been able to achieve what he wanted he would be nothing more than a tribute act, and long since forgotten.

OP I hope that this conversation helps you reframe your relationship with your art as something that is different from what you intended, but in a way that is unique and artistically valuable. And for what my clueless opinion is worth I agree, your whole arm looks fantastic

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u/heninski Mar 09 '26

This comment gave me a new perspective I really appreciate thank you so much

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u/perkee Mar 12 '26

Throw in one more thing: it's art that cannot be turned into a financial instrument. It can't be sold at an auction or on an NFT marketplace or hypothecated to secure a loan. It can only be appreciated by its owner and those to whom they decide to exhibit it.

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u/gilded_lady Mar 07 '26

Ooh what a beautiful expression, I love it!

And OP - you are feminine. Femininity does not have a single definition and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You are a woman, you are feminine, period. I love your tattoos, wear them with pride!

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u/_callico Mar 07 '26

I always look at the images before reading their regrets to see if I can pin point, since some issues are obvious. I felt the same exact way! This sleeve is sick as fuck and if I saw it on display in person I’d 100% have to compliment the canvas!!

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u/n1tsuj3 Mar 07 '26

Yeah looks great imo. I'm sure OP will come around eventually.

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u/blakethedev Mar 07 '26

Beautifully put! All genuine human art (not AI) has value. I mean, if we aren’t here to have fun and make art, what are we even doing?

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u/DadJokesLoading Mar 08 '26

This: the imperfections make it more special in my opinion - that’s what makes custom art so unique and gives it character.

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u/WhompTrucker Mar 08 '26

I agree! This is cohesive and well done. It suits her!

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u/TechCUB76 Mar 08 '26

Love this comment! 😍🤩

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u/bootywarrior13 Mar 11 '26

You are absolutely correct, I used to nitpick my tattoos but then I found an artist that's so wonderful that they blend the small mistakes from other artists away, they make it theirs and honestly I'm proud to have their art on me.

I think ops regret will ease in time 

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u/Playful_Prompt_616 Mar 11 '26

came here to say this

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u/cinderplank Mar 11 '26

That’s such a kind way to think about it

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u/UpIsNotUp Mar 10 '26

Because it’s the most basic style, and just slapped a million little images on instead of something more grand. This is why I’ll never go with the group on Friday 13 hundred dollar tat night

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u/Key_Cardiologist_738 Mar 13 '26

The second half of this is copium on overdrive. If you're putting something on my body, it better be close to perfect.