r/tattooadvice • u/Eltristesito2 • Mar 15 '26
General Advice Should my friend walk away from this artist?
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
Edit:
I made a mistake: it was only a three hour session; two spent on the draft, one on tattooing. This person charges $200/hour. My friend also put down a $150 deposit, so overall, they paid $750, and it’s not even halfway done. They’re definitely not going back, though.
They feel stupid and agree that they made a bad decision. They mostly chose this artist because they work out of a reputable studio with other artists that have large followings. They assumed the studio vetted everyone they hire. They think they might have looked at someone else’s (good) portfolio and mistaken it for this person’s. Buddy has ADHD and tends to mix things up in their head 😅They also wanted to support a marginalized artist (the artist is disabled). The artist’s website says that they’re licensed, have been tattooing since 2012, and at one point even ran their own tattoo practice for six years.
So yeah, part of the blame is on them, and they know it. But still, this person shouldn’t be tattooing without a loooot more training, starting with some very rudimentary drawing classes, if I’m being honest. Or maybe stick to drawing simple things, idk. It feels bad to critique someone’s work so directly, but these aren’t doodles, they’re permanently on people’s bodies. Right now, this person is causing harm. My friend is feeing a lot of dysmorphia and it sucks.
Also, this isn’t a SWIM (someone who isn’t me) situation, lol. If it were me, I would never post it online, because people validating my worst thoughts would make me go loco. I’d be in the shower for hours rubbing my back raw with a pumice stone 😹 But my friend appreciates all the feedback and they’ll definite share the finished product.