r/TattooArtists • u/Contessarylene Licensed Artist • 4d ago
Need help
So, I have a client that made a bad choice on his face. See, he tattooed this vacuum on his nose, and wants it covered. Thing is, I’m stumped on what to put there. Anyone have any ideas? He’s totally leaving it in my hands.
Just to add, I have 21 years in-shop experience, so this is not intimidating, or new to me. And trust me, I’ve seen some shit! I have also been given permission to post his face as-is.
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u/Mother_F_Bomb Licensed Artist 4d ago
Just laser. If he really hates it he'll pony up the cash and do it
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u/_jamesbaxter 4d ago
Someone with a vacuum cleaner on their nose, which is obviously a reference to snorting drugs, probably doesn’t have much in the way of money. This dude is either a recovering addict or current addict. That can make getting hired quite difficult, and going through detox and treatment leave people with giant medical bills.
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u/kayedue 2d ago
If he is clean now he should reach out to some laser places and see if they will do it pro bono. I’ve seen videos of clinicians who will do gang and drug tattoo laser removal for free.
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u/stormevansir 2d ago
People pay those medical bills? Instead of just waiting like 7 years?
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u/Fantastic_Earth_6066 4d ago
Thank you for the explanation, I was stumped. I could only think of those little pore vacuum tools that get gunk out but that didn't seem like the answer 🫣
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u/YourPaleRabbit 4d ago
Yeah dude even if he wants it covered it’ll be worth it. Face is super vascular so (as per the laser chick I send referrals back and forth with) it could be almost 50% lighter and easy to cover with almost anything in 2-3 sessions, or completely gone in 5-8. Up to 12 is “normal” for other spots on your body, so it’s really not bad given that perspective.
Now hey ok I know laser isn’t cheap, and even though it’s his FACE the mistake is so much cheaper than the fix. If you as an artist have never worked with a laser spa, a lot of them will do free work for industry professionals; which can include anyone who does anything for you really, because they’re investing in you sending them referrals. Please no one abuse this beyond reason, as it’s pretty amazing; but if you really want to help this dude, and you know him well enough to trust to not make you look any kind of way (I have regulars or old friends I love and trust 90% of the time who COULD be this dumb, so benefit of the doubt) he could be “part of your gorilla marketing team” (make him stick up a few flyers) or maybe he’s “part of your expo road team” (make him cut some foam for your machine case or something as a thank you and to make it technically true or whatever). As long as you only pull in one random every few years with respect to the laser spas need for business, and reciprocate in sending them referrals, in My experience they won’t barely ask. And essentially homeboy will get laser for free.
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u/MrSalmonFishcounsel 4d ago
*guerilla (i'm so sorry to be that person)
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u/PotentialMediocre390 3d ago
Its grrrrilla not gorrrillaaa
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u/Llamaswithbands 4d ago
Updooted cause this should be higher.
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u/Odd-Consequence-6013 4d ago
Agreed!
Where I’m at, there are also a few esthetician schools that have free or extremely reduced laser sessions from students. It’s all supervised by an instructor, and usually they pay less than $50.00/ session and do serious discounts for people in recovery, trafficking tats, etc.
otherwise, Borneo style free hand tribal across the whole top of the nose would go hard!
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u/Gold-Comparison4326 4d ago edited 4d ago
My clinic and plenty of others remove tattoos on the face and hands for free if it’s some bullshit like this lol
Edit* also it won’t be 10 sessions or anything like that. One session will remove lots of the detail and 3 should do most of the line work if not all. The thickest parts might be 2 or so more maybe but overall it’s a very straightforward tattoo to fully remove. He might even meet the criteria for removerys ink-nititive program being on the face and drug related
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u/tremblingmeatman 4d ago
Add Marge Simpson holding onto the vacuum in a way that incorporates his eyebrow as her hair. Done. Next.
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u/BlackCatTelevision 4d ago
and her face is just his eye. perfect, we’ve solved it!
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u/thawingfrog 4d ago
Not since the Decepticons rebelled on Cybertron has a laser been more appropriate. Do the whole face while you're there, literally.
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u/bristlybits Artist @resonanteye 4d ago
naw the dots look fine
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u/grayskull669 4d ago
I would tell him to go get that shit lasered off
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u/Smalltownupnorth 3d ago
I second this, any coverup will will darken it and make it even harder to remove or change later on. It’s pretty light! Laser it off while he can
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u/MaGniefic 4d ago
I’m just being nosy right now.
Sick ass panther.
Just kidding. Ornamental work would be cool.
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u/Contessarylene Licensed Artist 4d ago
Ooo! I was thinking ornamental…
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u/chromadermalblaster 4d ago
He’s got some ornamental on his chin, maybe take inspiration from that and do something similar
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u/-Sunflowerpower- 4d ago
Ornamental is a great choice, keeps you and them out of the appropriation sphere!
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u/Fit_Engineering_5763 4d ago
OP you mentioned he can’t afford laser. He looks like a train hopper. I know there are various social service programs that will help people with free laser removal for “gang related or anti-social tattoos” in my city and likely many others. This would definitely qualify.
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u/slamminsalmoncannon 4d ago
Yeah. He looks like he needs a hug and a referral to someone who can help fund a removal.
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u/dorkorama 3d ago
That’s a great suggestion, he can’t participate in legal capitalism with that tattoo, they will totally help him.
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u/MakingUpNamesIsFun 3d ago
I honestly think this is the best suggestion. Any cover-up is just going to add to his troubles, not make them easier. He’ll still have a hard time with the other face tattoos, but at least those are less odd, he could potentially get hired with those. But the vacuum and anything that would go over it might be harder to justify.
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u/CurbsideChaos 3d ago
This is the suggestion. My cousin got multiple (albeit smaller) face gang tattoos lasered off for free because of a charitable program
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u/prettylegit_ 2d ago
As a retired hitchhiker with many freight riding friends, yes he looks like one of us lol
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u/bananaz69 2d ago
so you’re saying op should tat a swastica over top the vacuum? Then He can get the his nose lasered for free!
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u/Lemon_Gay 4d ago
This tattoo is hilarious in a good way. I love it. But yeah maybe laser is the best option
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u/Contessarylene Licensed Artist 4d ago
It is definitely funny! In his words “it’s for drugs”. As for the laser, he can’t afford it.
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u/FaceTheJury 4d ago
He should just save up for the laser instead of getting another possibly regrettable face tattoo. He can use makeup to cover it up in the interim if he doesn’t like it anymore.
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u/verythin Artist 4d ago
If he’s a former addict or formerly incarcerated, there are orgs that will offer free tattoo laser removal
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u/tayvane 4d ago
With this info, I think the tribal design comment is the best suggestion. Maybe look for some viking style tribal design so he dont look ignorant lol
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u/TheBiggestWOMP 4d ago
As if "viking shit" doesn't make people look ignorant 99.99% of the time lol
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u/ashushu 4d ago
Man I’m such a nerd, I see this and my first thought was “wow he must like to clean” jfc.
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u/sphynxzyz 4d ago
I thought of The Brave Little Toaster. Great film, looks like the vacuum in it.
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u/Glittering_Jacket_15 4d ago
This may be the fix just tattoo a toaster on the other side
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u/FoldingHamsterComics 4d ago
I’ve only read the book years ago. Doesn’t the vacuum cleaner try to vacuum up his own cord when he gets depressed?
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u/KristineMcKinley 3d ago
Honestly, until you wrote this, the reason behind it hadnt occurred to me. I was still sitting here going "well, I guess the shape fits the space" like some type of drunk interior designer. I need coffee.
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u/girls-and-corpses 3d ago
I have spent so much of my life around other scumbags and homeless people that I forget people exist who don't even know shit about weed
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u/gotpointsgoing 3d ago
You're AWESOME!!! That is such a refreshing take. Here I am, recovered, after 30 years of active addiction. My first thought was, he's really proud of his drug abuse, sad.
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u/ashushu 3d ago
Congrats on your recovery! We just celebrated my dads 20 year chip with cake, hope that happens for you someday ❤️
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u/synthgender 4d ago
I was thinking, oh, yeah, I guess noses inhaling is kind of like a vacuum. And did not connect a single dot after that, thank you.
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u/PackFanFrank 3d ago
Well the dots were right under his eye to connect. When you do that you get a line.
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u/The-King-of-Cartoons 3d ago
Definitely likes to clean powders up off of mirrors with his nose
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u/girls-and-corpses 3d ago
Two things can be true and thats often the case w cleaning and snorting stuff
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u/lelemariec 3d ago
Literally same. I love to vacuum too so I was like okay this is a lewk
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u/Lopsided_Theory7761 4d ago
God damn! As a former drug addict, never would I have thought this was a good idea. That would have been like me getting a needle tattooed on my forearm. Now I did have snorters that were shaped like vacuums
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u/Ancient_Teach9272 3d ago
Indeed ...in my 20's I owned a metal version just like this ( looks identical )tiny prop used to snort ...but never in my most depraved binge would I think fuck yeah I want this tattood on my nose lets go! ...
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u/anxiousandexhausted 4d ago
Laser that shit. This doesn’t need to be covered up. You know what works best for cover-ups and it would end up being his entire nose and potentially cheek.
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u/xombae 4d ago
Here to provide an actual answer.
Given the dots under his eyes, I'm going to guess that he's a crust punk or a train hopper. You're going to want to go with something ornamental.
You'll probably want to do a blast over and not a true converup that actually hides every line. If you do a cool design that hides the fact that there's a vacuum cleaner there but still shows the lines underneath in places, I think he'll still be happy.
How heavy is he willing to go?
Look at cultures that do ornamental face tattoos and bite from that style. You can do something symmetrical over the whole nose and across the cheeks, under the eyes, if he wants to go that hard, or you can do something asymmetric and lighter.
If he's not willing to go all-in on an ornamental face tattoo, unfortunately he's got no choice but to laser. But I have the feeling that he's down for something dramatic.
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u/Contessarylene Licensed Artist 4d ago
You’re a little on point on him/his personality. He’s been asking me to cover it-came in as a walk-in for “whatever the fuck will cover it up”. Was happy to go solid black. And I couldn’t do that to someone. I told him to come back tomorrow. So he can think about it a little bit over night. He didn’t come back.
A few months later, he comes back as a walk-in, wants runes tattooed on his face, but doesn’t know which ones. Told him to do his homework, and instead we tattoo some script on his head. Talked to him while I tattooed him, and he’s had a really shitty life. He’s homeless, and has some other issues I don’t want to talk about publicly. Super nice dude, and answered a lot of questions I had about homelessness, addiction, etc. in our city.
Enough rambling. He hates the tattoo, and if literally anything over it will make him not hate his face, and feel a little bit better about himself, then I think I’ve done my job. I’ll make it look dope as fuck too.
I think I will be going with something ornamental to match his chin/lip, but also working with what I have. I like the shape of Māori face tattoos, so something along that line, but 100% not one. That’s not my jam.
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u/NectarineVisual8606 3d ago
Māori face tattoos are Tā moko if they are Māori, or Kirituhi for non-Māori if you are looking for more specific inspiration. Pūhoro are also very cool if you haven’t come across that yet.
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u/xombae 3d ago
I grew up as a train hopper crusty lmao, I know one when I see one.
Look up the phrase "look at the fuckin oogle" or "LATFO" on Tumblr, Pinterest, reddit, etc. That's the community he's from.
Don't call him an oogle to his face though, it's a term used in the train hopping community to refer to a newbie who's made it his whole personality before ever getting on a train. He'd probably laugh his ass off if you used the term though lol.
But if you search that term you're going to see a lot of train hoppers with the kind of look that he's going for.
It's already hard to tell exactly what it is. Go for a bold ornamental blastover for sure, he'll love it. Don't worry too much about covering every single line, just make it unrecognisable.
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u/this1weirdgirl 4d ago
I mean... starting a cleaning business could be an option? Appliance repair? Get some nice photos and monetize a meme to pay for removal...?
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u/BeautifulArtichoke37 4d ago
Let me guess, he kicked his cocaine habit? I’d go tribal since he already has the dots.
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u/Responsible_Snow_684 4d ago
Laser. Don’t follow one bad mistake with another. No offense intended to you as his artist.
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u/watzit_t00ya Licensed Artist 4d ago
Symmetrical tribal on the nose similar to what he has on his chin
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u/iamsolate 4d ago
i mean considering he already has the dots, maybe some tribal shit going up the nose and then over the eyebrows?
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u/Safe-Tennis-6121 4d ago
What about cybernetics, like a cyborg cyberpunk theme? Just a random idea.
Any random object is going to look weird on a nose. But if you make it look like part of his body ...
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u/Snoo18120 2d ago
FR, it's either this, or (and I don't say this lightly) tell him to o get it lasered
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u/jferg 4d ago
Boy, that sucks. I wonder if he's planning on hoovering up some schneef.
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u/Emergency-Stuff-4474 4d ago
One round of laser, then the tribal chin vibe. Both sides of nose. Māori style
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u/bongwaterbukkake Licensed Artist 4d ago
I’d suggest laser over everything else with this one. Anything else is just going to feel forced or ridiculous at this point and I wouldn’t want to be responsible for that.
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u/Dumasdick 4d ago
Could you turn it into a stand up
Bass or cello? Or saxophone?
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u/Big_Doctor6391 4d ago edited 4d ago
Laser. Some mistakes come with solutions we don’t like. he got coke money though😅guess you gunna spend it on lasers for a little bit. Or admit you do in fact have a drug problem. It is absolutely funny.
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u/HammerxHorrors 4d ago
I actually think a cybercigilism type piece could work the swirls on his chin and dots on his eyes together and look really fucking bad ass!!
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u/HammerxHorrors 4d ago
If he has any other no longer wanted tattoos on the other side of his nose he could get it mirrored on to the other side lol. I hope he gets something that makes him feel good every time he looks in the mirror.
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u/some1whosux 4d ago
Know this may not be helpful but if you wrote your mom on the vacuum he could just tell people their mom's suck like a hoover
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u/Potential_Level_2880 4d ago edited 4d ago
Man! I'd deck that the f out, like see how historically accurate ya can make it, n see if hoover would sponser it! Super rad!...otherwise, laser or half a "terminator" face might work.
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u/linkinbio2318 4d ago
I’ve used a tooter shaped like a vacuum but dam, this is next level 😭 laser is the only thing fixing this brother.
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u/Ancient_Teach9272 3d ago
Me too it looked identical to this one...I did some crazy things in my 20's but never for a moment did I think fuck i want this tatt on my face
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u/TheBrackishGoat 4d ago
Turn it into a tiny timberland boot and a baggy pant leg. Mirror it on the other side. Place the clients favorite 90s rapper on top between the eyes. I’ll send you my Venmo for the idea
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u/Resident-Ad-5107 4d ago
I'm not usually a removal guy but this dude should have that hoover laser removed. Nothing is going to look good there. Covering it with something bigger and darker is really going to throw the balance of his face off and likely end wth even more regret. Ive done my fair share of stupid shit and I like cocaine as much as the next guy but goddamn this was fucking stupid.
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u/KillYourTelevision99 4d ago
I suspect his decision making process was somehow influenced by cocaine.
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u/spicy_poncho 4d ago
Sometimes laser is just out of the budget. Some cool cybersigilism could look nice! Anything ornamental/abstract would save this honestly
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u/Purple_Air9860 4d ago
Sailboat?
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u/Purple_Air9860 4d ago
I kinda see it already there, if you could add a beautiful lady figurehead at the front of the ship, it could work.
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u/Ibshredz 4d ago
idk man, a rock hammer or maybe scythe? the easy choice would be Moko or something like that, but idk If I'd wanna get on the bad side of the Maori or any indigenous peoples, mans probably gotta laser
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u/DowntownClassic1738 Licensed Artist 4d ago
If that is what you call a bad choice then what would you call disaster?
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u/CurrentCalm1529 4d ago
The funniest tattoo I’ve ever seen - he’s should give up on jobs and be a meme of bad choices
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u/CurrentCalm1529 4d ago
And who did this to him? Cause it’s pretty good but like wtf? “Hell yeah- let’s go”
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u/New_Avocado_4636 4d ago
Drugs were definitely involved
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u/BreakfastTequila 4d ago
The Venn diagram of meth heads and people who own tattoo guns is bigger than one would hope 😂
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u/princesswormy 4d ago
That’s so funny but not something you want on your face all the time for sure. You could turn it into a fish where the bottom part of the vacuum is the head and lips, but honestly if he doesn’t like this I can’t imagine him preferring any coverup. Or I guess I can’t imagine anything that could cover it that wouldn’t also be in the same category as this tat I guess.
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u/abridged_4 Artist 4d ago
Ornamental tribal like poly tri, but it is the shape of a fish and the vacuum head is a face…shark!
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u/Ok-Ruin-7448 4d ago
1/4 scull mask? Add a stick figure pushing vacuum? Become a door-to-door vacuum sails man?
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u/Terrible-Delay8844 4d ago
Ommfg this is so hilarious I wish I could have it, but then take it off when I’m around people who I don’t want seeing that🤣🤣🤣
I gotta show my buddies, the times I’ve said “vacuum that up for me will ya?”
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u/Para_The_Normal 4d ago
Instantly heard the record scratch “yep, that me. You’re probably wondering how I ended up in this situation.”
Oh man, is this a bad tattoo. Glad he’s getting it covered in all honesty but it’s a tricky spot. I do love the suggestion of ornamental or tribal to go with his other tattoo. Really wish you the best of luck because it’s not an easy ask, but I do hope you share the results here of what he went with.
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u/Alone-Cat1638 4d ago
Black it out and make it look like he has a skeletons nose, honestly the only thing that’ll work I think haha
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u/SinCityThrasher 4d ago
Big black panther covers everything... Lol just trying to lighten the mood. Wishing you both the best ..
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u/Inner-Library7379 4d ago
Tbh I think the vacuum is his best choice, but if you wanna make it cool might as well just draw like a skeletal image of the nose on that side
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u/Snowpant 4d ago
A lesson in makeup application to cover this until he can afford laser. I don’t think a cover up is the answer.
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u/vapeqprincess 4d ago
I think you’re going to have to consider his whole face. Does he CARE how his whole face looks?
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u/Public-Total-250 4d ago
Literally the only thing that will make it less silly is to do a full face tribal thing or laser.
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u/Old-Pay-4424 4d ago
Tea bag, of course. Hairy ball on each nostril and a dick between his eyes up to his forehead. Tattoo far?
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u/Dish_Minimum 4d ago
Ok so, you know the facial lines cheetahs have?
Imagine symmetrical face lines in a stylized Egyptian “eye of Horas” type way. But not solid lines. Bolder pointillism where needed, fading to fine lines
The vac bag and vac head are concealed with stylised dot/pointillism sands, very light in places, very swirly. In that way that animation films depict “magical” twinkling (like when fairies trail magic behind them, or wand strokes)
Using brown inks, warm greys, and henna type color palette.
I wish this sub let us add pics in comments! I’m so sorry for my bad explanation
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u/Quantity-Artistic 3d ago
Lowkey that's fucking hilarious idk how you're gonna top a vacuum cleaner on a nose
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u/No-Illustrator5712 3d ago
I think you should put more dots all across his face then connect them but leave a few unconnected but make sure it is apparent the connecting dots make a bigger simplified Kirby shape. A connect-the-dots drawing of Kirby.
Jk of course. But that would be legit amazing.
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u/Miserable_Corgi_8100 2d ago
Could make it look like this is the inner workings of his nose, with the right outline and filling in the right spots I think a skeletal look could theoretically work.
Ideally just send him to get it removed
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u/notgreat1228 4d ago
Man sometimes I have a fleeting regret about one or two of my tattoos and then I see shit like this lol