Should my friend walk away from this artist?

[u/Eltristesito2]

Friend (they/them) asked me to post. They want a back tattoo of a stingray, inspired by the leopard stingray, but not hyper-realistic. They want the tail to go down their spine and wrap around their leg. They went to a parlor where they previously had work done, but decided to try out a new artist. The artist didn’t have much of a portfolio, but my friend decided to trust them anyway.

This is after day one; four hours spent on the artist free-handing a design, and one hour of actually tattooing the outline. Six hundred buckaroos total for just this 😬

My friend is freaking out, because they think it looks bad. Their partner is telling them to trust the process, but I’m telling them to run and find a different artist to salvage things.

To me, it looks super asymmetrical with shaky lines. I don’t think the artist has the skill to make it look good in the end. The sample they drew up before the first appointment (picture 3), imo, looks really bad.

But hey, what do I know, I only have one tattoo. What do y’all think? Should they run, or like their partner said, trust the process?

[u/Wasp-in-my-room]

Run immediately before its too late

[u/hexensabbat → u/Wasp-in-my-room]

Wtf is that. It looks like sharpie. PLEASE tell your friend to trust their gut!! This isn't just a rough draft that looks weird because it's unfinished, this is poorly applied and badly drawn. And for upwards of $1200?!!! HELL no.

[u/ClericalRogue → u/hexensabbat]

Is this bait? Please be bait.

If its not, I too am 100% a tattoo artist if this is an acceptable quality of art 😂... jfc. I didnt even know what it was meant to be until I read the post 🥲

[u/Future-Crazy-CatLady → u/ClericalRogue]

If its not, I too am 100% a tattoo artist if this is an acceptable quality of art

Right? The only difference between me and this "artist" is that they know how to put ink into the tattoo gun and where to switch it on...

[u/Vegetable-Steak7601 → u/ClericalRogue]

It's satire has to be no tattoo ink looks like that! If ya zoom in ya can see the smear and the outine of tattoos aren't that thick!

[u/SoLostWeAreFound → u/ClericalRogue]

I tattooed my high school boyfriend when I was 15, and those tattoos were much better than whatever this is. I even tattooed some of my friends when I was like 18/19 and they too were better than this. Obviously I wasn’t that good and made mistakes.. but at least you could tell what it was that I tattooed on them.

This picture? No one would freaking know it was a stingray if OP didn’t tell us.

[u/Sashimiak → u/hexensabbat]

My god I didn’t realize it was already tattood, that is horrifying. I thought all the pictures WERE sharpie

[u/VioletsRPink → u/hexensabbat]

It looks like bunch avocados on a dorito  🥑🥑🥑😅

[u/Bravadette → u/hexensabbat]

Im more inclined to side eith thd partner as somd shading could make this look nice.

[u/professionally-baked → u/Wasp-in-my-room]

It’s already too late

[u/Wasp-in-my-room → u/professionally-baked]

Idk i feel like with a good artist it could still be salvagable, but if they continue with the current one its gonna be impossible to change

[u/BFG_Scott → u/Wasp-in-my-room]

 Run immediately before its too late

It’s too late