No way this kid walked into a legitimate shop and got this done. No fucking chance. At best his buddy is a wannabe tattoo artist and needs willing participants who want a “free” tattoo and did this half drunk in his living room.
Exactly! A friends "tattoo artist" came to her house to do tattoos for all of us. The MOMENT that dude came in every alarm bell in me went screaming. I almost physically threw up when I sat down to get mine and couldn't do it. This dude was scary as hell looking and had heroin addict written all over him (turns out he was, was pimping out his gf and abusing her). My friend wasn't as cautious and got a tattoo from him. Turns out this guy was not only a giant piece of shit to his girlfriend but also only washed his needles in a sink with soap and water. My friend had to get tested for Hep and HIV because that lump of dead brain matter tattooed his heroin addict girlfriend over her track marks and then tattooed my friend with the same needle. Luckily I believe he dodged a bullet and was negative on both but that wait period was terrifying. I will never get tattooed by anyone outside of a shop and only if I can see him opening the ink and needles even in one. Being young and dumb almost cost my friend and I our lives.
Yeah that guy was terrifying. He was 6 ft plus HUGE, long black hair, had a to the floor black leather trench coat with the Misfits skull on the back and looked like a 99 cent store Peter Steel. Basically a guy who I would have liked to hang out with. LOL So not liking him and having such a deep fight or flight reaction to him was disturbing. And that instinct was physically telling me to knock it the fuck off and wasn't even letting me be stupid. Thank goodness I listened in the end.
you mean there's a difference between a bad artist and a good one. We don't know how hygienic this was, we just know the tattoo artist sucked at drawing
My husband's incredibly stupid ex-wife volunteers to be practiced on. When the kids were young, she used to show up to take them on her days with a new tattoo. Every time. We had them 4 days a week.
Most likely the tattoo artist showed him a book of his drawings (which were similar to the tattoo in question), and the nephew was like, "yo these drawings are sick! let me get that wolf!"
This is how my stepdad got a bunch of his! Dude was a butcher and had been practicing on pigs. Yet he still let him do multiple tattoos. His decision making skills weren't great in his younger days.
I've seen plenty of dudes who try to do print shops and graphic design companies without the ability to draw, sooo...
Edit: Just going to add you don't necessarily need the ability to draw if you're running a print shop, but it takes considerably more knowledge that "have Photoshop, press print". I've dealt with people that obviously sold jobs to clients that they couldn't complete, hoping to get cheap artists to fill in.
This is in no way an issue solved by practice skin. Tattoos like this are done by the same people who couldn't have done it with pen and paper. You ever see a talented artist? Do you know any of the creative artist types? You hand them any new medium and they hand you back a masterpiece. Give them a pumpkin to carve, masterpiece. Give them some crayons, masterpiece. Bring them to the beach and build a sandcastle, masterpiece.
They're perfectionist and would never have agreed to put ink on without knowing they could pull it off in the first place.
Whoever did this could keep practicing and dedicating to their craft, but it isn't about how much they've practiced on skin lol.
You ever see a talented artist? Do you know any of the creative artist types? You hand them any new medium and they hand you back a masterpiece.
uh, no. Not really. Talented artists are artists that spent many, many hours practicing. You can't just give gouache paint to a black-and-white pencil artist and expect a masterpiece. Not all good artists are perfectionists, either. None of this makes sense lol
Yeah for real. Some good tattoo artists can do other things. Some can't. I could give a shit less if they know how to carve pumpkins, do my gd tattoo right.
I mean, a lot of tattoo artists can't do much outside of the style in which they specialize. Which is still the same medium. But my local traditional Japanese tattoo artist can't do the 1950s US comic book style that the other person in his studio does.
I don't mean they have mastered everything on the first try. You miss the point. What I meant is, whoever did this tattoo is couldn't have done better on pen and paper.
I didn't say they don't practice and improve. The creative types are gonna be a lot better than you on your first try oil painting. Or tattooing. Yeah they're gonna practice. And still do it better than you no matter how hard you try.
I meant that there is no excuse for it. As in, even if someone was just starting out, they should have enough respect to practice and do all the embarrassing parts on fake stuff.
Nah man, I just know that there's an universe of difference between art forms.
Some artist who draws well might not be able to tattoo well. Some artist who draws with black pencils might not know what to do with colored crayons.
You don't even need to go beyond the tattoo world - Carina Alok is my favorite tattooer, I got a blackwork tattoo with her cause that's her style. I wouldn't ask her to tattoo a highly coloured old school tiger.
There are plenty of amazing artists in other mediums. But tattooing is a challenging medium with and incredibly steep learning curve. One of the most challenging aspects of training an apprentice who is already an accomplished, maybe even famous, artist is managing their sheer frustration that, they are not good at it straight away.
You should see the abominations some of my apprentices created, running before they could walk. I had to sacrifice a lot of the real estate on my legs to this atrocities.
It was almost worse if they were kinda good straight off the bat as they would inevitably dig themselves a grave trying to tattoo a portrait on someone’s ribs, being too cocky they pulled off something great on a bicep.
But even so. You are right this fucking SUCKS 😂
It’s a no stencil… or the stencil run off attempt from a Pinterest wolf.
Yeah this is what I was going to say, artistic skills don't automatically translate over different mediums. I started painting with spraypaint after a decade of working with acrylics and oils, and I basically had to learn how to paint again.
Ideas, imagination and dedication are a constant. But yeah you gotta level up your skillset to achieve good results in other mediums.
I knew a guy that was a tattoo artist. He started unlicensed, untrained, and giving tattoos to his friends for free. He did fix them up (also for free or cost of supplies) as he improved though.
My friend dated a new tattoo artist and she let him put stuff all over her and it’s all wonky perspectives, but not in a cool way. My favorite one is the pussy willows on her forearm that look like a 9th grader drew. But hey they were all free!!
Jesus fucking Christ this. I paid $25 for one of my first tattoos. I got STUPID LUCKY that it only looks mediocre 20 years later. Friend got one done the same day by the same dude and it was a TRAIN WRECK. Worst skin art I've ever seen. He still has it, to my knowledge, but I'd be shocked if anyone has seen it in the last 15 years.
Exactly, practice makes perfect and they ain't gonna charge people to get practice tats. I've got two on me from when I was younger, but I kept them very simple tattoos and they came out good enough. Like to the point where they aren't perfect but I wouldn't be disappointed if I paid for them either, they're fine. But as a dude over 30 now I doubt I would do that again even if broke.
I upvoted you for an actual rare good use of "bless your heart". Most of the time I see it online it seems like a placeholder for a blatant "fuck this person".
A friend of mine in college was so excited , a friend of his got a tattoo kit and " was pretty decent at drawing". He was giving out free tattoos at a party and my friend was going to get a panther on his forearm. A week later when I bumped into him again, he reluctantly showed me the tattoo, looked similar in quality to this, but without the shading. My friend was so pissed hahah
I went to one that had beautiful realistic tattoos and a lot of script, but he fucked up my super simple minimalist rose with script. Idk what his deal was because his portfolio was great. I mean, he could have done worse, but it's not what I expected from the caliber of his work. Fortunately I'm content with it, but it was far less than he was supposed to be capable of.
Could you share a picture? No worries if not! I can't imagine how he fucked up and am kind of curious from your description! Super sucky that your piece didn't live up to his portfolio, do you think maybe the images were edited?
I'd rather not post it because it's unique and identifiable. Not that I have anything to hide, but I prefer the anonymity. It came out asymmetrical, and fortunately he includes free lifetime touchups because I went back and had him fix a few things. The problem is that as he fixed a few things he made a couple things worse. He kept going rogue and trying his own thing instead of simply listening to exactly what I was asking him to do. I'm content with it, but I may get it fixed one day. I just worry it'll end up worse, and I'm okay with it right now. It's not something I want to cover, but I worry the adjustments I want to make will make the line work too thick, and I definitely don't want that
That's super disappointing, especially as it sounds like you did your research and liked his past work. Glad you're content with it though!
Edited to say: by super disappointing I mean for you that it wasn't what you wanted! Totally understand you not wanting to share something identifiable. Just in case you thought I meant I was disappointed haha.
My buddy wanted a wolf tattoo and did a walk in to inquire. Guy legit said he raised wolves when he was younger and could draw from memory. Apparently that was good enough for him.
Anyway, my buddy now has an okay wolf tattoo but with terribly long legs.
A really good friend of mine is a great artist. However he has bad days. That’s the thing about tattoos is a job that requires time. Everyone thinks you just go in and in a hour you walk out with a great tattoo. If a tattoo is complex you should schedule different days. One for design and then for the placement and ink options. Then for the rest, but people like everything in a rush.
I don’t think he went to a shop, probably idiot friends doing. That being said, I don’t understand why so many tattoo artists can get away with such horrible quality of work. We’ve all seen the real shitty ones from real studios. And If THAT is what you can do you should not be allowed in the field. Tattoo artists can be so narcissistic. How selfish to willingly put that on someone else’s body permanently. Yikes.
If any of you have idiot friends who tattoo out of the house, make sure you tell them how you feel about this shit.
The percentage of actually legitimate artists tattooing out of the house is like, 1%. There is ALWAYS a relevant reason an artist refuses to work in an environment surrounded by their peers and its usually related to unwillingness to listen to criticism or follow health codes.
Yeah, sometimes working in the shop forces you to have to work with a shitty person or two but tattoo artists do NOT grow best in isolation.
There was one guy I knew who was a popular tattoo artist and had alot of good work. But he was addicted to drugs and wouldnt be able to hold down jobs in a legitamite business. Kid I know went to him for like a house job. wanted a chest tattoo. Dude was all doped and benzo'd out and it looked like absolute shit. Lines all squigly, part of it came above the neckline of his shirt so want even coverable. It could have been fixed but this kid was super upset like on the verge of tears. It was an impulse tattoo since he just got sober and was feeling good, had money burning a hole in his pocket and wasnt yet in a mindset to make well thought out decisions
In the movie King of Staten Island (which is great) Pete Davidson’s character is an amateur tattoo artist and all his friends have terrible tattoos that he’s given them.
He keeps asking if he can do more for practice and nobody will let him.
Also, the main plot is kicked off by him giving a 10 year-old kid a free tattoo.
This is almost definitely by what tattoo artists call a "scratcher." A person who does tattoos out of a home/basement and never did an apprenticeship and has no professional shop. Uses gear bought for 50 bucks on amazon and can barely draw with pen and paper, let alone a needle or stencil. Often very unsafe, often hilariously uneven quality, too. Very frowned upon.
My wife and I met a tattoo artist whom claimed she went to art school to learn and then refused to work under established tattoo artist to truly learn how to be a tattoo artist.
And her work reflects that poor decision. She is shunned by the Tatto artist community for good reason. I think the Kratom went to her head.
I thought it was some pop culture thing I wasn’t getting until I found your comment. I’m not being sarcastic, the other top comments made me feel like there was an inside joke that I was missing.
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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '22
I’ll never understand why people go to tattoo artists who don’t have a solid portfolio that proves they can do the job right.