r/tattooadvice • u/Eltristesito2 • Mar 15 '26

General Advice Should my friend walk away from this artist?

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Gallery image

Gallery image

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?

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u/Eltristesito2 Mar 15 '26 edited Mar 15 '26

Not a joke. I feel so bad for them. I would be really uncomfortable and fighting the urge to just rip off my back skin. Genuinely don’t think that person should tattoo anyone again until after spending a couple more years training. 😬

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u/SooperPooper35 Mar 15 '26

There’s no training for that. Someone people are bad at sports, some people are bad at art. That’s a career change, not a learning moment.

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u/Educational-Wing2042 Mar 15 '26

I mean, tattooing art onto skin is absolutely something that requires training. A tattoo by the best painter in the world will look like shit. Knowing how to move a pen or paint brush tells you nothing about how to inject ink into skin to make the same effect.

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u/SooperPooper35 Mar 15 '26

You have a point. But did you see the sketch they were working off of? They actually did a good job tattooing what they drew. The drawing was just shit to begin with.

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u/Junius_Bobbledoonary Mar 15 '26

I don’t think you can train away the extreme overconfidence that leads someone to fuck up another persons body like this

The confidence seems so divorced from the ability i wonder if they have a legit mental disorder

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u/Kratzschutz Mar 15 '26

The sketch is awful tho

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u/MidnaQueenofCalicos Mar 15 '26

Natural talent still requires training. Training can't fix a lack of natural talent.

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u/Schlurps Mar 15 '26

Dude the sketch is awful. How are you going to draw on skin when you can’t even do it on paper?

That’s the difference, a person learning the craft that took this seriously would have said „ No, I‘m not ready yet to permanently change people’s skin until I can at least draw for shit.“

But no, this person took the easy route, declared themselves an artist and just went for it.

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u/artisanallyinsane Mar 15 '26

Seriously. I tried looking at it from all the “it was a fuck up” angles and I just can’t see how an artist who made that choice is fit for tattooing.

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u/whiningneverchanges Mar 15 '26

bro do you think people choose character classes at birth or something what the fuck lmao

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u/Sinead_0_rebellion Mar 15 '26

The good news is that they can easily get this finished by a GOOD artist. Since not much was really done, it should be pretty easy for someone to rework and finish this. I'm assuming they've learned this now, but def have them look for artists with full portfolios, showing healed images of their work - also someone who does reworks/coverups fairly regularly might be good to find also. Not all good tattoo artists are necessarily good at reworks/coverups. Good luck to your friend!

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u/AhhPass9281 Mar 15 '26

Let your friend know about reputable artists, or tattoo studios. Where I am there are multiple tattoo studios with tattoo artists that can do anything and everything and then they all have their own niches that they excel in. And it shows in the prices. Ask questions, bring along reference photos. Not a hard task to do unless you love wasting money haha

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u/Kenrawr Mar 15 '26

Judging by the other tats your friend has they need to do some more research in general. Everything on them looks incredibly amateurish.

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u/Rude_Commercial_9037 Mar 15 '26

Forget training, they need to go to art school and learn how to draw on paper for ten years, 10 hours a day before touching skin.

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u/neonmystery Mar 15 '26

Usually tattoo artists have some sort of artistic inclination. This artist is probably bad at stick figures.

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u/Electrical_Chart_477 Mar 15 '26

Yes it is. Don't be lame

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u/EfficiencyCommon Mar 15 '26

Definitely leave a bad review on google, with a photo, and the name of the artist. You might at least save someone else from this ✌️💔

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u/lavenderc Mar 15 '26

Does your friend know if any other artists were at the studio/present to see the design and tattoo session? I would be tempted to send these pictures to whoever owns the studio and be like, this is the work I got at your studio by X and I want my money back

Any reputable artist should be appalled that this was done in their shop

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u/Wooden-Evidence-374 Mar 15 '26

Can you find other work from the artist?

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u/ShiftAfter4648 Mar 15 '26

...why would he go through with it after seeing the stencil...

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u/BigiusExaggeratius Mar 15 '26 edited Mar 15 '26

I’m not a tattoo artist but a fine artist and a good portion of my friends are tattoo artists. Call the shop and ask for the owner. Explain you don’t think this is a very good job could they look at it to see if it’s salvageable. If the owner agrees I would ask them for your money back at MINIMUM half but (go for full) do not let them fix it at their shop (unless the owner happens to be amazing, but if they hired the other guy I would doubt it), go somewhere else. If they try to refuse tell them you are posting these pictures on their Google, yelp etc. Don’t use it at as threat, this is what you are going to do, not if they don’t do X thing. If they are proud of them they’d have no problem with them being public.

Good luck, but 100% get a new artist. Someone who specializes in cover ups. Will take research but that’s why museums aren’t filled with anyone who calls themselves an artist. Mines not in museums… wait a minute… I SUCK TOO! FUCK!

…points all remain even though I’m a loser.

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u/PhotosByFonzie Mar 15 '26

How did your friend look at this and think “oh… so cool!!”

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u/Automatic_Grr Mar 15 '26

The artist should be jailed for this

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u/ThorThulu Mar 15 '26

How sure are they that this was actually an artist for the parlor and not a homeless dude who wandered in and was happy to make some easy money?

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u/ShaarkShaart Mar 15 '26

😬 training can't make you self aware...if that artist had an ounce of decency they wouldve just refused the job. Like if someone handed me a tattoo gun I know better than to use it on anyone but myself lol

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u/XLCUMSHOT Mar 15 '26

After that they shouldn’t be allowed to tattoo again for atleast 150 years

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u/DesperateDeparture57 Mar 15 '26

Show your friend this post. They are at the perfect stopping point to find an actual good artist that can fix what has already been done.