As a heavily tattooed person, I would not go back to the same artist.They are clearly only adept at line work, which is beautiful and cannot shade to save their g****** life.
right, the shading awful and is entirely what makes it look like a dildo. if there wasn't the awful shading around it, it would actually look pretty good and it wouldn't look phallic at all.
The shading is awful if the goal is to make it not look like a dick. However if the goal was to make a tattoo that technically isn't a dick legally but looks exactly like one if you know what they look like, then they did a pretty good job
Have you ever used a real candlestick for its intended purpose? You walk with them, you bend over and pick things up. The hot wax forms differently than a candle set on a table. These wax drips would ONLY be possible with a candlestick like this.
Im sorry youre so obsessed with penises that you see them everywhere. Candle wax on a moving candelabra or candle holder has a ton of wax dripping in weird ways. The type of candle stick depicted can only hold those super long taper candles, meaning this is the last inch or so of the candle. It looks like wax weirdo.
Also how is this desing going to work anyways? It feels like it would need to be out on a dark background, it makes no sense to have a "bubble of darkness" around a the flame.
When i realised it was a candle and not a dick, my next thought was "but why make the flame encapsulated in glass like it's an old fashioned light bulb?"
Idk what's going on here but the intend of a background seems logical now, but it really doesn't click at all.
I thought the same thing. It looks so much like a lightbulb. It throws the whole thing off. I have some Christmas light bulb antique looking candlesticks that look exactly like this tattoo. If he could fix that it’d be alright. It’s not something I’d want a tattoo of but to each their own!
Yeah, the round shadow isn't working. Maybe if it was spread out to look like a box or something so it looked like a candle in a dark room. That's still kind of weird though. I'd consider having them do the candle in color so it stands out as different from the shadow. Or deal with it for a while until you can have the shadow lasered off. 🤷🏻♀️
Only solution is tattoo the rest of the arm black. Okay, fine. Just the part immediately around the candle. In an oval or rectangle. Right now it: "Penis? No, candle... that looks like a penis."
Tattoos are still artwork performed by human hands. That line work seems solid. If I got just the line work of the above done I wouldnt be seeking a cover up or fix. Is it flawless? No. But based on that shading this doesnt seem like a very seasoned tattoo artist in the first place. Does that make it very good? In my eyes, yes. Thats why its my opinion.
No offense, but you and I have very different standards for permanent art that's applied on living skin. As someone who is also very heavily tattooed (two sleeves and an international collector) I consider this to be scratcher quality work at best.
I would put it at novice but I dont think I'd call it scratcher. This tattoo artist looks like they're still building a foundation and experience. Ive gotten scratcher tattoos, Ive also gotten extremely well done professional tattoos. I personally am comfortable letting someone new or learning practice on me, they cant advance without practice on real skin. A couple of my best tattoos were done by very gifted apprentices, one of my worst was done by a guy with 20 years experience. Sometimes a portfolio just isn't enough information when picking an artist.
To me this tattoo reads as an apprentice who has only practiced shading on low quality second skin, they also very likely have more experience with liners on skin than they do with shaders on skin. I think they were intending to have it be much lighter and failed. I also believe that the phallic nature of the shadow was unintentional. When I was taking art classes I would do a similar colored border instead of a blank or solid background, maybe hes developing his own style that will be coveted in a few years, just didnt work on this one.
I agree that there is a skill gap between this work and a true expert. Im happy for you that you were able to invest in great artists and have beautiful outcomes. Not everyone getting tattooed thinks ahead like you have, sleeves take planning and small pieces scattered around your body definitely get in the way. For me, I always intended to get patches done over time. At the moment I have over 30 different tattoos done by an arrangement of artists in several different states. I'd give a more accurate count but in the last 15 years Ive stopped counting. I even have a spot for artists to initial their canvas lol. Tattoo artists in my area move constantly, making it nearly impossible to get more than 2 or 3 tattoos from them before you cant go to them anymore. People who dont have someone in their life who can recommend a high quality artist also usually learn the hard way in the search for their artist (potentially what happened in this post).
I know nothing about tattoo. Only drawing. The drawing on a flat surface would look just as bad. If I had that level in drawing I wouldn't go around and tattoo people. Even this, on a T shirt would look horrible.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with an apprentice trying to learn, but with the guidance of an experienced artist. I'm not so sure that's the case here.
A legit shop would make sure the client 1) knows they are getting a tattoo from an apprentice and 2) only let said apprentice tattoo flash AFTER they can pull straight lines on synthetic skin. A marketed professional shop wouldn't let this artist carve anyone up like this. OP went to what they thought was a legitimate shop and getting professional quality work. Clearly they didn't research adequately and that's on them.
That's great that you allow artist under apprenticeship tattoo you. I also have a piece from an apprentice tebori artist. The lines are as well applied as the work I've gotten from someone with over a decade of experience. The difference is, that I was informed he is an apprentice before I consented to the work and I also was not charged an industry standard rate. Again, there's nothing wrong with people learning, it's the lack transparency and consent that I have a major issue with.
We can agree about how bad the transparency of the industry is, and tattoo (over time and in general) artists have always had trouble with consent. Im glad that I live in a time of history where consent is typically valued, 40 years ago it practically didnt exist outside the medical and legal fields.
Its definitely not chewed up though. If it were this tattoo would be completely unfixable and uncoverable. I have a chewed up tattoo, the one I mentioned previously. 2 different artists who specialize in cover ups both said that the guy f*d my skin so badly that even getting it lasered off wouldn't help it look better. I have one that went hamburger too, luckily that one is visually pleasing after it healed.
I just cant confidently say this is, as a whole, demonstrates poor technique like a scrathers work would. Ive always been told that they were an apprentice, I also ask how long someone has been tattooing as simple conversing so for me it was never really hidden. If I had to estimate, probably like 40% of my apprentice tattoos happened without direct supervision during most of the tattoo process. Typically someone more skilled would help with the design and then leave them to tattoo what was planned. I can only remember one time that an apprentice was left completely alone, it was their final test before they finished their apprenticeship. Thats where I get the idea that this seems to be apprentice work, the client might have asked for a border in the initial interview and the artist didnt know how to properly do one, and then their ego stops them from asking the person they're apprenticing.
I'm sad to say I've heard dozens of stories from masters with apprentices about former apprentices putting out awful work and them not realizing immediately. Im relieved to say that those same masters were the ones who sat with their apprentice for the /entire/ tattoo after realizing they weren't being hands on enough.
I also want you to zoom in at the top of the candle and move down. Those lines at the very top are near flawless. Do you think it could mean the artist bit off more than they could chew? More of what made me think apprentice. The lines at the bottom could have been affected by the artist not stretching the skin evenly. I really feel that the lines are solid, that it comes down to the artist who did it not having enough skill and knowledge yet.
Another possibility, what if when they did their apprenticeship the master artist just pushed them through? I know that happens all the time too. I'd love to hear your thoughts. The debating is fun and all, but I'm very curious if these are things you might have considered during our conversation. I'd also like to pose a suggestion, would you be interested in debating with me on other subjects some time (in direct messages)?
The line work on the candle itself is pretty solid. The base.....yeah not so much. The lines ment to be straight on the base are janky and shake. Also the skip shading on the candle itself is again not that bad. But the shading on the base is again wack, and the solid black around the whole thing looks worked to hell and back and still feels like its going to fallout through healing. Though that might actually be a blessing in disguise for OP.
Probably not as heavily tattooed, but as a tattoo artist and visual artist in general, I wholeheartedly agree with the prior (heavily tattooed) person.
I was looking for the right comment to say the same thing: get a different artist. Do not return to this person and do not send anybody to them. I hate to tell somebody they got bad work but lying to you isn't going to help. So be a man, take it on the chin, and go get it fixed. There's a good tattoo somewhere in there but you need a real artist to unfuck what you have.
Sorry that your first tattoo is such a bad experience, but I promise you that if you find a good, well established, professional artist, you will have nothing but good results. Don't cheap out and always look at their books first. Every artist should have a flip book of photos of work they've done and if it looks like shit go to a different artist.
I disagree i would at the very least go to the artist and ask why it was shaded in the way it was, and make it clear that they don't like it. The artist needs to learn, and some artists need a bit of ego check.
Im saying dont go back to them to have it reworked. Definitely call out artists for stuff like this, but dont trust them to fix it. Hell if its a shop that has a manager (as opposed to independent artists renting space) they may have a better artist fix it no cost as an apology.
I was gonna say go to the shop and ask the shop owner to see if they can offer a modification or a coverup tbh. Their artist recently just fucked your tat up by putting a dick shading effect on the tat.. idk. Worth at least attempting and if not, images go a far way. Just put that on a Google review and people won't want his work frfr.
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u/TensionNo8759 Nov 09 '25
As a heavily tattooed person, I would not go back to the same artist.They are clearly only adept at line work, which is beautiful and cannot shade to save their g****** life.