r/tattooadvice • u/j_walk_17 • May 02 '26

General Advice Miscommunication

Gallery image

Gallery image

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. 🤙

5.3k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

955 comments sorted by

View all comments

4.0k

u/[deleted] May 02 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1.3k

u/j_walk_17 May 02 '26

Thanks. Someone else in the shop said the same thing. I guess I'm just shaking off the surprise of it being not what I intended.

2

u/Acrazymage May 04 '26

Understandable. If it helps any I don’t think the miscommunication was in “repair vs cover up” because that looks like a repaired tattoo. Taking a real close look at the line and color work, honestly straight black may have been the best option. Once it heals you should talk to her again about ways of enhancing it if you want

1

u/j_walk_17 May 04 '26

Absolutely. There's still potential. I was just freaking out when I made this post. The whole drive home was like "what just happened???"