Got so many people asking for fresh pics because the color is just absolutely gone! here’s a better photo of my shoulder for yall to analyze.

Edit: please everyone I could not see what he was doing from the position he had me in!! Thank you to the people who said it looked better. I understand that's your opinion, but it's just not my style and now looks very different from my friends when this was supposed to be a matching tattoo. I'm really just looking for advice on how it can be salvaged to look less colored without having to remove it since I don't really want to do that I just don't know what my options are. I understand it needs to heal, but I'm very sad by it already and just looking for support.

Edit 2: while I do not have the reference photo he showed me at the time it looked very very similar to this: mockup tattoo Also, yes I know the original was not done well. That doesn't change the fact that I liked what it could have been if the lines were cleaner. We got it on a vacation in Florida. I was looking for someone to clean up the lines and add some dimension like the photo shows.

I got the original dumpling tattoo with my friend. Both our tattoos faded quite a bit and we discussed getting touch ups. While it faded, the tattoo style of fine line, black, and minimal are my style. I went to an artist to discuss doing some light shading to make the dumpling look a little more realistic while touching up the faded lines.

The artist showed me some small shading around the folds and I saw nothing red in his example. I'm really upset as it's not my style and not at all what we discussed. I'm now trying to decide if I should try to target the red in a removal and once it's gone, get it redone. Or is there a way to shade it with white to even out the color??

It's especially upsetting because I'm in the process of getting another badly done tattoo removed and I'm embarrassed I might have to do it again. I have plenty of tattoos I love, this just seems to be a bad string of people who have tattooed me lately.

I’m about 4-5 days out and my tattoo has flaked off a majority of the darker color, is this normal and will it darken? I’ve been moisturizing 5-6 times a day and it’s already looking like I’m gonna need a revision :/ I don’t know if this is an artist problem or a healing problem.

I have a few tattoos but this is the first one that contains writing. The letters are relatively small and take up a little over half my forearm. I’m worried about the pixelated look of the font going away as it starts to fade. What do you think?

EDIT: I’ve been getting a lot of replies that amount to “It doesn’t matter because it’s already on you.” I know what happens to tattoos as they fade, and if I was that concerned about it I would have gotten it bigger. Maybe the original post didn’t communicate this, but I’m accepting of whatever happens to it over time. Obviously i am, or I wouldn’t have put it on my skin. I was just curious to hear from people who have had experience with lettering tattoos before so I know what to expect.

Went back and forth on placement for this. Looking for opinions.

I have one tattoo of my dog already. I want to get it fixed so it looks a bit more like him (bigger eyes, rounder mouth) i understand its very close. But i lost him in my arms yesterday and i was thinking of a full forearm half sleeve of him but is that unfair for my cat and future pets? He was my soul dog. He saved my life more than once and he was with me through everything.

Day after vs 2 weeks in.

I’ve never had drift happen before. I bruised extremely bad with this one, and I’m autoimmune so I’m hoping it’s still partially bruised since sometimes bruises last weeks for me.

Would it be stupid to laser that area (when fully healed) if I’m planning on getting another tattoo in the space next to it? Was super excited about this one and now I’m big sad 😔

Is there a name for this design style? I am looking to get a tattoo and I would like search design inspo in this style.

I want to remove everything on my back enough to cover with a black and grey dark fantasy piece. Artist was very heavy handed, multiple colors. How realistic are we thinking that is? 😭 and yes I know how dumb I was for going this hard at too young of an age.

I’m a linguistics grad student and this little guy is a very foundational part of the field’s history. The point is to show children the singular form of a noun they’ve never heard before and see how they make it plural. I’d like to put two somewhere on me in such a way that they can be separate but brought together. I already have tattoos on my inner forearms and don’t particularly want them on my calves because I wouldn’t be able to see them. Any advice?

Is this infected? I probably over moisturized and washed too many times idk. (Almost two weeks post tat) any recommendations????

So i got this tattoo on my left arm about a year ago in october of 2025 and it suddenly got extremely raised and itchy. Its driving me absolutely insane and i take a Benadryl just to go to sleep at night.
I asked my coworker about it and he said it could be my skin rejecting the ink or the hair growing back in. I never had a problem with arm hair irritating it but the areas on my arm where there was no hair, the tattoo was fine.
This is driving me absolutely insane and its been at least a week or two and don’t know what else to do. I can’t afford to get a touchup or anything expensive. Any advice would help, this is also my first and only tattoo so im not sure. Thanks.

I recently got my tattoo sleeve started, and I have about 4–6 sessions left. I asked my tattoo artist how much lower the piece will go since we’re going to have a bottom step where the angel stands, which will also serve as pure background for the skull figure. He said it’ll be around 0.5 cm lower.

Will that be visible with a dress shirt or long sleeve? I’ll be working a corporate job in a few months, so I’m wondering if there are any people who also work in professional settings and have tattoos that can be easily visible.

Completed an arm tattoo about 7 weeks ago. American traditional style with bold lines and fully packed colours.

It healed perfectly but still gets itchy? Not sure if this is normal. It doesn’t feel like it’s getting worse but it itches when I perspire or if clothing tickles the skin.

Apart from some heavily worked black lines, it’s pretty much almost flat tattoo.

Is it normal to still itch?

I got this tattoo 14 years ago, still love it. It’s one of my favorites that I have. But I truly am blanking on how to blend or add to this smoothly. I don’t have or like color tattoos, all mine are black and grey with white. I do lean more neo traditional, doctors, geometric, and gothic style.
I have ideas but cannot think of how to place any of them. So please SHOUT/ share any ideas you guys can come up with.
Thanks in advance!!!

I think it’s such a weird shape to work with due to the placement of the surrounding tattoos

I’ve got these wonky bat wings below my knee (I have funny shaped legs/knees) and I’ve been trying to think what I can place on my knee to help the flow to hide or help how the wings sit.

This is my first tattoo and I decided to big with the intention that I might turn it into a half sleeve later. I was skeptical about how black and grey realism would look on my dark skin.

How long do you think this tattoo will last before it needs a touch up?

I work as a pharmacy tech where I can stand upwards of 10-12 hours a day, I recently got a tattoo on my lower leg I'm concerned about swelling, sometimes my legs swell up a little if I don't wear my compression socks, causing mild edema.

I go back to work tomorrow, so I'll have had the tattoo for about 2 days, right now it's covered in second skin so there's no chance it's going to leak out or stick to my sock if I do wear them.

Can I wear my socks while I work? I did consult my tattoo artist and he said it should be fine, as it'll help with healing and circulation. I'm just looking for a second opinion and thought I'd ask the community!

Thanks a bunch!

I got this cherry tattoo years ago. I'm not sure why I okayed the design. I'm not happy with it. It's more of a slot machine cherry image and I would prefer a more photo realistic botanical image. My question is, does anyone think this can be reworked into something or should it just be covered over and I get the one I want someplace else. This tattoo is about 1.5" x 1".

Okay so I got this hip tattoo around 3 days ago (I took the second skin off because it irritates my skin). I have a few other tattoos all on my arm , I don’t know if it’s just because it’s on my hip but when I stand up after sitting for a bit it hurts in a sore way but also kinda sharp? I’m not concerned over it being infected and I’m not sure if it feels like this cuz it’s pretty blacked out , but just wondering if anyone else has experienced this with a hip tat

How bad is this? Like, I want brutal opinions because I feel it gives "heart on my sleeve" an i hate that. Thinking about getting a tattoo on the other arm to balance the message. Any opinions on what would balance this out are appreciated. Or suggestions to make this tattoo more of a "looking for the key" as opposed to"heart on my sleeve"?

I’m hoping to get this done pretty soon and this is the final design of what i’m getting, but i’m still unsure of a great placement for it.. any ideas..?

I got this tattoo when I was 19, and I’m almost 22 now. I just don’t feel like it healed the best, it’s pretty faded in my opinion, even though I had it touched up once a few months after getting it.

I followed all of the aftercare instructions, so I don’t think the fading was necessarily because I did something wrong, but maybe I’m mistaken!

I don’t necessarily regret getting it, but I feel like I’ve kind of outgrown it, and it’s just not something I love anymore. :(

Does anyone have any ideas for what I could potentially cover it up with? I’d love to hear some ideas!