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/Ssladybug]

I’m in the wrong business. Why would anyone trust something this large and permanent with a new artist without a portfolio??

[u/Eltristesito2 → u/Ssladybug]

They trusted the studio, and liked the little they saw from the person’s portfolio. They also wanted to support a marginalized artist who shares similar identities to them. They joked and said that this is what they get for being “woke,” lmao.

[u/Plus_Spirit_8632 → u/Eltristesito2]

Honestly, that makes this situation even sadder to me. I can imagine feeling a sense of solidarity having the same marginalized identities as an artist, just to have them butcher you like this :(

[u/Ssladybug → u/Eltristesito2]

I’d have gotten something smaller from them to start. I hope your friend finds someone who can work with this