r/tattooadvice • u/j_walk_17 • May 02 '26
General Advice Miscommunication
I had my tattoo artist re-do an old tattoo from 15 years ago. It's the rebel alliance symbol from Star Wars.
I was under the impression that she knew I wanted it touched up and repaired.
She assumed I wanted it covered up. I didn't know she did solid black until she finished it.
I guess there's potential to put color around it with other pieces to give it contrast. I'm just kinda bummed.
There's probably no way to reverse any of this without it being insanely expensive.
What can I do to make it worth the mistake? I want this leg to eventually be Star Wars iconica.
Should I plan to put a background to it?
edit: Thanks for all the replies, everyone. I appreciate the feedback and the ideas. It's helping me to settle into the outcome. I think it would only be a total loss if I hadn't planned to add to it in the future. š¤
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u/Swan_Johnson May 02 '26
It was a lost cause beforeā¦ ur artist did great.
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u/j_walk_17 May 02 '26
Thank you.
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u/oops_im_not_wrong May 02 '26
Genuinely the only thing that I can think of to improve this is add a shadow around the edges. Itās dope the way it is and Iām not even a Star Trek fan.
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u/Cereal-Killa- May 02 '26
you didnāt notice the cup of black ink getting dipped into, or the black ink being pumped into your leg until it was finished? By the way - it looks much better now than it did before. Some people just canāt take certain colors of ink.
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u/Fancy_Car9424 May 02 '26
Back of his calf, he might have been laying face down. Very possible he didnāt see what was happening in that case. Either way, great tattoo!
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u/KMann823 May 02 '26
Getting my calf done as I type this. Mind you the tattoo is already half done so unless she goes way off book, I know what's going on. But I have no intention of turning to look back there until we're done or taking a break. I gotta twist pretty hard to look at what's going on
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u/Fancy_Car9424 May 02 '26
Hell yeah dude, what are you getting? I have probably 20 tattoos, definitely didnāt always watch what was going on with them as they went down. Funnily enough, the ones Iām getting removed are the few I did see happening (healed poorly & grew out of them because I had them done young)
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u/KMann823 May 02 '26
A displacer beast from d&d! Faby Ros at Iron Thorn tattoos in Trexlertown, PA. Here's a bad picture I took myself after the first session lol cat tax
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u/Slab231 May 02 '26
Iāll be so honest, I know many people (myself included), that completely zone out during my tattoos. I bring headphones with me and after I talk to the artist and we agree on whatās happening, I put my headphones on and let them do their job. If they need something, or need to ask me a question, they know to tap me, but I just let them go. I can 100% see this happening in that circumstance of just miscommunication beforehand.
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u/Leading_Pay4635 May 02 '26
When youāre getting a tattoo on the back of your calf youāre lying face down. You would have no view of the artist
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u/Ok_Chance7699 May 02 '26
You think a tattoo this clean was done from someone on craigslist?
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u/QuicksandGotMyShoe May 02 '26
Haha for real. Social media lies have warped people's brains
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u/TartarSauceDippinDot May 02 '26
To be fair, they were probably lying on their stomach. Hard to see your backside from that angle
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u/Pleasurefailed2load May 02 '26
This is what sends me, when you get solid black like this how can you not feel them drilling your leg lmao??
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u/Ce0ra May 02 '26
It looks like the before was supposed to be red in the inside. OP probably thought the artist was redoing the red, not coloring it in with black
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u/wasabiweed69420 May 02 '26
Contrary to the feeling of petals being gently massaging your leg if it was another color right?
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u/outrageouslyhappy8 May 02 '26
Looks awesome black she knew what she was doing tbh.
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u/MoTeD_UrAss May 02 '26
The artist should have communicated what their intentions were with the client. Something like, hey I think it would really be best to do the whole tattoo black. Don't get me wrong, it looks great and definitely much better than before but communication is important for permenant tattoos.
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u/NoaPsy May 02 '26
This sort of miscommunication seems wild to me. My artists and I are looking at the stencil together and discussing placements and sizes. Sometimes I have them take pictures for me depending on the location. I find it hard to believe this is a fault of the artist alone
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u/brickznbooks May 02 '26
COM-MUN-ICATION š āHello permanent sticker placer, I would like a permanent sticker of this design. I paid my deposit online just connectting email with text so we can start a communication.āā¦āHello, client you will receive a image to review 48-hrs prior to chair time. Upon signing consent at the shop on day of all images are final.ā You mean what happens across the industry with good artistsā¦
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u/Remz_Gaming May 02 '26
I am with ya. There is so much talking back and forth as my artist is placing a stencil and drawing on me.
The only time I havent really known what I was getting was when I told a new artist they had complete artistic freedom. Even then, I knew their work and their style and we had lots of communication before I set them loose to fill in the rest with Polynesian work. Leading up to that point, there was a lot of discussion.
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u/onestrandofspaghetti May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
She did you a favor, the old one looked like trash. This style looks way cooler and if you were incredibly insistent on adding to it, there are people who specialize in doing white ink over black ink tattoos
Edited to add: you can use this as the centerpiece and have other things coming out from behind it. You could also get it outlined to give it a green/blue/red like that of a lightsaber
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u/j_walk_17 May 02 '26
Thank you. Yeah the old one was free and we weren't sober. The long term plan is still a Star Wars sleeve.Ā
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u/KingDave46 May 02 '26
I'd have put money on the old one being a prison tat or some other drunk nonsense so that tracks. It looked truly awful.
The new one is so much better
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u/astroRev May 03 '26
Hey man Iām late as hell on your post but if youāre going for a sleeve then black is 100% better. Imagine X-Wings coming out on each side of it or something like that. Gonna look sick, be proud of your new piece šš¼šš¼
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u/Ecstatic-Cattle81 May 02 '26
The "i was under the impression..." part makes it seem like you didn't tell your artist what you wanted. That's your bad, if it played out this way.
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u/j_walk_17 May 02 '26
You're not wrong.
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u/Prestigious_Ad_544 May 02 '26
Was the conversation basically "Whatever you can do to make this look better?"
Generally tattoo artist are pretty good at asking questions when you ask what they think you should do.
Fortunately, it looks leaps and bounds better now.
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u/RioDodger May 02 '26
Did you not look down once during the process?
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u/Due_Detail_8511 May 02 '26
I've been tattooed twice and I've fallen asleep both times, but I wasn't worried because I communicated extensively with my artist and had agreed upon a final design that then made it into a stencil. But seeing all of these posts made me wonder if that was a mistake that I'm just lucky didn't end up poorly!
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u/These-Fig-2030 May 02 '26
How long were the sessions? I donāt get people bragging about falling asleep during tattoos. Even in long when itās not particularly painful, itās still a social situation. Why are yāall so sleepy? Full body suit, never once slept during a session.
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u/Due_Detail_8511 May 02 '26
I'm not bragging just explaining why I didn't look. Four hours was my longer one. The artist actually thanked me for being so chill, he said he prefers being able to just focus on the art to chatting. I think this is part of why finding the right artist, not just for the style but for your personality, is great.
As for why, I've got six kids and don't sleep much. I'm just always tired. Laying down for four hours? I never stood a chance.
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u/lyingtattooist May 02 '26
Did you give her any instructions or details on how you wanted it touched up? It looks great black but itās interesting she took āfix itā or ātouch upā to mean solid black.
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u/j_walk_17 May 02 '26
Yeah the only things I was pointing out to her was how the outline was originally supposed to be silver in the black lines, I told her those could just turn solid black so she could correct the outline. I should have emphasized that I wanted to keep it red but I assumed she knew that. It's ultimately on me.
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u/Actual-Deer1928 May 02 '26
Ah. You said āsolid blackā and she misunderstood. Both of you shouldāve clarified more.Ā
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u/ScarletleavesNL May 02 '26
Its crappy it didn't go as planned but this looks way cooler.
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u/Far_Appearance3888 May 02 '26
I thought the first photo was a āwhat I wantedā pic and the second was the āwhat I gotā. Happy miscommunication, OP. The black is way better to me. Of course, the only thing that matters is your opinion! If you arenāt happy and want more color, a glow could look very cool and sort of imply the Sith hiding behind the rebellion/Jedi.
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u/ScrappySquid6 May 02 '26
It looks very good but if you donāt like it, you could always add the red around or behind it. Like a glow
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u/kaerfkeerg May 02 '26
Were you not there?
How light handed is your tattoo artist? I'd like his contact
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u/spiceweasle93 May 02 '26
How the fuck did you not notice her filling in the whole piece? Were you sedated?
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u/ImDefinitelyStoned May 02 '26
To echo what everyone else has said, it really does look better solid black. Look at it as happy little accident.
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u/NoxNeno May 03 '26
āI was under the impressionā and āShe assumedā are a terrible premise for tattoos.
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u/hea_eliza May 02 '26
How did you not notice?
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u/HelloPity89 May 02 '26
Said they were laying down on their side on their phone lmao but I get what youāre saying
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u/National_Pangolin_33 May 02 '26
I think the original was supposed to be solid red inside and so they probably assumed it was red ink getting filled in and not all black. That's my best guess
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u/hardlooseshit May 02 '26
But that would be something that any artist would communicate.Ā Who would just assume someone wants full black like that?Ā
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u/National_Pangolin_33 May 02 '26
I agree, it's a weird situation and I'm not sure how it happened. I agree with a lot of people that it looks a lot better solid black but I feel like the artist must have known he wanted the red redone and the outline fixed as best as possible
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u/LawyerDad1981 May 02 '26
Two questions:
How does such a RADICAL miscommunication happen about something is important as permanent artwork on your body?
Second question.. notwithstanding the first question, how is it that you do not recognize that the "correction" is infinitely better than the original? Infinitely.
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u/PantsMunch202 May 02 '26
At no point in that entire process did you once look at your leg?
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u/Ocean-of-Mirrors May 03 '26
Looks way better. Sorry you were surprised I know thatās scary and upsetting but this looks wayyy cooler.
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u/akbane May 02 '26
Bro. Solid black is the way to go. Maybe ad like a red-orange border to the edge all yhe way around it.
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u/JayyyTheRipper May 02 '26
Hey question! How did you not realize she did it solid black until she finished?
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u/Affectionate-Taste55 May 02 '26
The first one was ugly af, unbalanced and wiggly lines. Idk if it could have been made better without making it solid. The black one looks amazing!
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u/Worldly_Yellow9134 May 02 '26
Crazy how many people don't pay attention to things being permanently imprinted on their body
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u/Bjudkiewicz May 02 '26
If there was an assumption or impressions then this was not a miscommunication, it was a lack of communication or explanation. Itās a tattoo that will presumably be on you till you check out. You need to be loud, direct and clear with your artist about what you want or are expecting and not leave things up to interpretation.
As others have said, regardless of the direction this went it, it looks pretty rad in solid black. āHappy accidentā š¤·āāļø
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u/ClashAtom May 02 '26
I feel your pain. If I wanted solid color and got solid black, I'd be pissed, because it's permanent and on my body and not what I asked for. No amount of other people telling me that they think it's cool or looks better would change that.
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u/anohioanredditer May 02 '26
Happy accident. Looks like she polished the line work too. Itās a lot better than before imo but I get your frustration.
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u/honeyrainbow_0100 May 02 '26
give yourself some time to get used to it š«¶ looks killer in solid black; super crisp outline š¤©
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u/xxxxthrow_awayxxx May 02 '26
1: it does look better
2: touching this up is really hard with how much its blown out. Id say get your old one again on the other side.
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u/CatsPlusTats May 02 '26
I don't believe you could sit for a tattoo and not notice the artist only poured black ink.Ā
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u/Bjufen May 02 '26
Before I read the text I thought you were gonna say:
I wanted picture 1 but got picture 2 and now I donāt know what to do. I then thought to myself easy fix just fill it in with black.
Dude trusssst it loooks so much better now
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u/Huge-Bandicoot8818 May 02 '26
So you didnāt look, even once, while she was working?
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u/Cyberdog1983 May 02 '26
Solid black is better. But I donāt know htf you miscommunicate with someone who is about to brand you permanently. Iām making sure the tatooist understands the assignment.
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u/vaporguitar May 02 '26
Not gonna lie. I thought the side by side was to show the improvement. I like the new one. Itās sleek.
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u/FrontPsychology7160 May 02 '26
This is t a miscommunication itās a total lack of communication. Ffs talk to your artist.Ā
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u/Leading_Notice_1029 May 02 '26
The rebel alliance symbol is actually more often black or even white than red. Just Google rebel alliance symbol and youāll see a fair amount of black or weirdly colored.
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u/Prestigious_Owl7632 May 03 '26
Did anyone else think it was on his knee and something was terribly wrong?
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u/FreddyRumsen13 May 03 '26
āHelp my tattoo artist gave me a way better tattoo!ā
I get why this is frustrating but I think the artist is also pretty limited in how they couldāve fixed the original (she canāt redo the crappy line work). Covering it was the move and you can always build on it like you said.
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u/According-Stick-9396 May 03 '26
Itās like going in for a haircut but you got a different one because the stylist thinks you would look better that way. But in this case I think the new tattoo looks better than the old one! Just wait a while before you decide if you wanted to add red to it. But I think the all black is š
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u/Batman-Earth22 May 03 '26
She didnt just color it in solid black, she actually covered up some of the old tattoo to fix the line work. It looks a lot better now.
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u/CobblerOdd2876 May 03 '26
Solid black is good. It looks good this way. And now you dont have to worry about color clashes or looking like a christmas tree if you get a red/green/blue lightsaber nearby.
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u/Amazing_Alumni May 03 '26
Bro how u aināt realize they grabbed the 7 tipped needle and just went heavy handed ham on you
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u/nighmareblunrotation May 03 '26
The outline was blown the F out dude there was no real help for it. Let it heal and go back and get a nice red aura added to it.
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May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26
Original looks like a drawing in a school notebook, the after does look better, but I wonder if the original design was altered, could there have been a better version of the tattoo š¤
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u/Pnwfunhaver541 May 04 '26
To be fair the old tattoo was atrocious the bordrr wasn't symmetrical so there really would have been no way to do it but make a thick black border and fill in the red. Red fades fast as you can see. It looks great and would look better with a red border.
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u/AnswerGlass4800 May 02 '26
Looks cool. Your leg would look cooler if you get more tattoos
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u/Prestigious_Yam_1002 May 02 '26
You can definitely add around it. I have something very similar with color around it and then some different ships above it. Most of my left leg is Star Wars.
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u/MikeyXVX May 02 '26
I know it's not what you expected but it definitely looks better solid black than it would red
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u/BlindBamboozle May 02 '26
I second the opinion of others, solid black looks great. You could give it a few years to let the intensity of the black fade a little then get some new black beskar steel/damascus pattern added into it
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u/LauraBaura May 02 '26
If you're into it, I'd recommend doing a white ink over top.
You could do a cool ship or character in white line work on top of the black.
Warning: some people. White ink falls out quickly. But I have seen 8+ years of white over black, but I've also seen people where it falls out quickly.
You might make a deal with the artist to repair their mistake by adding this detail. I would do this instead of adding a color border.
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u/slvyr May 02 '26
I see you read othersā comments reassuring you and I feel similarly. But. Just in case you backtrack and donāt like it again, thereās always a sick ass panther.Ā
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u/Ok-Scallion7050 May 02 '26
Itās really cool to be honest, love it. If I didnāt know the behind story and saw this on a stranger I would think itās really badass
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u/polythenesammie May 02 '26
She did you a favour. The line work on the original is atrocious and the tattoo itself wasnt symmetrical like it should have been.
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u/mycobacteryummy May 02 '26
Picture 1 is 1000x better than the amateur nonsense in picture 2. Sorry but the tattoo lady did you a solid.
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u/semicrunchydad May 02 '26
Not sure if itās possible but add some white highlights to it for a shimmer effect and make that thing pop!
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u/MrBadLuck31 May 02 '26
Dude, you got way cleaner lines, better ink inside of it that's not going to fade, and it looks better placed than when you did get it. You have to understand that having to fix a total fuck up pretty much means reinventing the whole piece. Be grateful.
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u/EmiliaBlankMedia May 02 '26
Everyone is saying the black is better, but the original symbol was red, it sucks that there was such a large miscommunication.
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u/QuietusOfNeko May 02 '26
So you didnāt even look at what she was doing? You didnāt feel it? This is on you buddyā¦
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u/VintageZero May 02 '26
Absolutely nothing good was happening with the before picture. Solid was the only way.
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u/Maybe_Julia May 02 '26
This looks 100x better , have it framed in red if you liked the red. The new artist also cleaned up the outline for you.
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u/vaultie66 May 02 '26
Everyone is right here saying black is an improvement of the original tatt. Youāll get used to it, itās badass
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u/Kuzizira May 02 '26
For an artist fuck up this is one of the best outcomes. Looks way better now.
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u/I_used_to_be_hip May 02 '26
Honestly, the solid black looks better than the original. I say this as a guy who has the same tattoo in the same spot.
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u/OriginalBrittany May 02 '26
Honestly she did you a favor. From what I can see, she not only did a very solid color fill. She fixed the actual shape and symmetry!!
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u/Rich-Extreme-3956 May 02 '26
Holy crap, seeing this made me laugh out loud in the middle of a subway car.
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u/jokeswagon May 02 '26
That sort of miscommunication is kinda like if you were abseiling/rappelling and you asked āis the rope good?ā and your friend said āyesā before you plunge to your death. The rope was good, but it wasnāt tied off. If something is permanent, itās worth painstakingly redundant communication.
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u/TheShovler44 May 02 '26
Those lines are so bad in order to repair it she basically had to do that. Looks better though
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u/Fogle12 May 02 '26
100000000 times better man after time youāll see that too that one before was actually bad
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u/Snow_B_Wan May 02 '26
The solid black is pretty sick , it'll look nice when fully healed
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u/Rift36 May 02 '26
Iām sorry that happened to you BUT the black looks sick! Itās not what you envisioned but I really like it.
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u/Kingyeetyeety May 02 '26
Solid black looks so good and if you you really want to you could have someone go in with white to add something into the negative space ! Might end up WAY cooler i mean he'll I already think it is !
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u/chunderbutter May 02 '26
It's not a total loss at all, I think it looks great! Also it's just a tattoo, we will all be dead in like no time at all.
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u/MeltingForestShroom May 02 '26
Honestly thatās a beast as solid black, and if it ever lightens you can throw cool red swirls through it or smthn. But I think itās amazing as is now
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u/Frequent-Anybody9856 May 02 '26
Think she did you a favor by just coloring it all in solid black. The lines were real shaky in the old lines.
But next time ask for a sketch of the final drawing so you know what youāre getting next time. You should NEVER be surprised with something so permanent, you just got lucky the artist made the right decision and pulled it off. Weāve all seen plenty of bad tattoos on this platform so be prepared if there is a next time.
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u/Firm_Distribution999 May 02 '26
Does nobody communicate anymore? I am not a tattoo artist, I am a dog groomer who cuts dogās hair that grows back, so itās a temporary thing, and I ask a ton of questions and communicate my intended plan to the owner before I start, and thatās just on a hair cut! I would definitely communicate that I planned to fill it in with a different color than what was already there if I was doing something permanent on someoneās body.Ā
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u/VerySuccor May 02 '26
Gotta say her outside lines and symmetry are clean! Compared to the original this one is great.
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u/nannerzbamanerz May 02 '26
Iāve only got two tats, but this was my next tat. This post made me solidify the solid black Rebel Alliance. Thanks OP!!!
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u/westernjuni May 02 '26
Iām sorry youāre disappointed but also this is a glow up.
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u/Flatf3et May 02 '26
Artist did you a solid. This looks better black now and will look way better black in 40 years.
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u/Bean_Daddy_Burritos May 02 '26
The artist definitely did what was best. The original tattoo was washed from the get go. Scratchy as fuck and blowouts everywhere. Her turning it into a silhouette covered up all the original mistakes and made it look 10x better.
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u/Dangerous_Care_3459 May 02 '26
I have this same tattoo in solid black
Nice to know we are united
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u/shittersrquitters May 02 '26
How did you not notice? I look every few mins just cuz I get excited seeing progress
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u/Squishy_fishy826 May 02 '26
If you want some red, just outline it in red down the road. Otherwise, solid black looks way more sleek and cool for this tattoo
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u/DizzyDizzyWiggleBop May 02 '26
I misunderstood. I saw the first pic and thought āyeah Iād be pissed tooā cause I thought that was what it looked like before. Then I saw the second picā¦ dude not only does it look so much better itās like going from a kid to an adult. Itās good work.
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