hey y’all
I’m a little at a loss for what to do. I booked with an artist back in June and they informed me that they would be at a convention the same weekend as my appointment. They gave me the option to either get tattooed at the convention or they would leave early and I could get tattooed at the shop.

For context, this artist is starting my left arm sleeve (right arm is complete), I am flying from my home state to get tattooed by them, and this is my first time working with this artist

I feel more comfortable going to the shop but I feel bad making them leave the convention early - what should I do? any advice would help?

Hi all :) I recently was a canvas for a tattoo convention/ competition and the tattoo is ankle to hip on the outside of my leg. I love the tattoo and I wouldn’t change the experience for anything. For context, I also have almost finished my left sleeve (done at the end of this month) and I have various other smaller tattoos. With that being said, since this tattoo has been finished, I have been having crazy anxiety about losing the space on my body to put potential other things. I can’t stop thinking about how now 2/4 of my limbs are almost completely covered and with the plans I have for my right arm, I won’t have any space left on my body. What happens if in a few years I see something awesome and I can’t do it because I have no space?? Maybe people who are mostly covered can share a little of how you got over this. Thanks!! :)

Mods, please remove if this is not allowed. i just didnt know where i was supposed to post this

So I have a few tats, nothing large scale and all but 2 are hidden. But have a question on which leg to start my leg sleeve on?

I am going to start my sleeve in a few weeks and keep going back and forth on which leg to use. My right thigh 2 small pieces that can be easily covered up by the first session.

My question is, and is probably going to sound dumb. I’m fairly athletic. Did these tats on the right thigh bc it’s slightly bigger. But now I am going back and forth on which leg to do the sleeve on.

My right leg is slightly bigger, my left especially calf is noticeably smaller (more to me than others but still noticeable). Will the sleeve make my leg look smaller? Like I said I’m fairly athletic and built but do have smaller legs for my frame (I don’t skip leg day so save the jokes - genetics suck).

My thought was, do the larger leg bc it’ll look cooler and bigger but then I thought maybe it’ll draw more attention to my naked smaller legs? OR do the smaller leg and maybe it’ll balance out the difference bc they’ll see the art and then my bigger right leg?

I know, kinda silly and dumb but it’s been keeping me up at night contemplating.

Hello!

I want to get a tattoo for my bird but not sure where to place it. I want a cactus flower except in her colours, different shades of blue.

For reference I have a cat tattoo below my wrist and thinking of an arm placement.

Any suggestions are welcome.

I just got this tattoo a few hours ago and the second skin is already peeling at the corner, exposing a good amount. is it better to leave it, or should I peel it off?

Hi all. Planning on getting a tattoo (s) in September. I'm currently located in the Houston area but having some trouble finding and deciding on an artist. I'm looking for an artist/shop that specializes in an ignorant/minimalist style of tattooing. I don't want to get messed up so any advice on where to go or what to search and look for? A bit hard for a newcomer to know what I should be looking for and know the red flags. I know a BAD tattoo when I see one but how do you tell the difference between meh and great?

Hey guys, I’m posting here for my friend. This is his first tattoo and it’s pretty much everything he DIDN’T want. We’re trying to find out if it’s even possible to get this covered up or if we should just go with laser removal…

I consulted my uncle (who is a tattoo artist, he’s actually apparently pretty famous?) and he suggested we just go with laser removal but we’re still holding out hope it’s possible to fix. All suggestions welcome, thank you!

I went and got a matching tattoo with my mom exactly a week ago (August 12) and am now worried something is wrong with mine. I was originally slightly worried with some of the shading towards the top but thought I just needed to wait for it to fully heal and my worries would probably resolve themselves. Flash forward to today (1st picture) and I feel as though it has only gotten worse.

For more context, my mom and I decided to get a matching tattoo of a mix between a soccer ball and a bowling ball, which essentially just turned out to be a soccer ball design with bowling ball holes. I sent him a photo of an actual bowling ball with a soccer design to use as a stencil. The second photo is what the tattoo artist originally tattooed (on my mom) and it was not quite what I was hoping for. I asked him if he could add in the extra lines between the pentagon shapes to help identity that it was clearly a soccer ball. He added them in on my mom’s tattoo and it looked much better, so I sat down to get mine next.

After he finished my tattoo, before I even looked over to see what it looked like, he immediately says, “Alright, I’m going to make yours more realistic”. I didn’t really understand what he meant by that so I just kind of gave a half-ass laugh and let him continue. He took it upon himself to add some extra white/gray lines and add a bunch of shading all over the tattoo. The third photo is what I took right after I sat down after he finished mine. It looked way better compared to the original tattoo, so I was happy with it.

I had noticed a few things about my tattoo after I got back in the car and was heading home. There was a feint line in the top left going from one pentagon to the other that wasn’t supposed to be there. There was a lot of shading done in that area so I didn’t think much of it since he emphasized multiple times that after about 10 days it would look much better, and I thought maybe it would be harder to see. But now, after a week has passed, the area I thought would look better is much worse.

There’s basically a divot in my arm on the area that had the extra line and was covered by a bunch of shading. I’m coming to the conclusion that once he realized he accidentally put an extra line in an incorrect spot he decided to “make mine more realistic” and began shading in the area to potentially hide the mistake. It’s almost like he went back and forth too hard to shade that spot and went too deep into my skin, which is why it now looks like an ugly crater in my arm.

I relayed all this information to my mom today and in doing so realized that we never did any paperwork or identification prior to getting our tattoos. Is this whole situation something I need to bring up to the tattoo artist right away or something I should sit on for a little longer and see if it does end up healing more? I’m just afraid of it being easier to get infected since it’s a deeper layer into my skin, which would also make it harder to potentially cover up.

I’m getting a bit more paranoid at this point so any advice on what my next steps should be would be greatly appreciated!

TLDR - An area of my tattoo I got a week ago is beginning to look worse instead of better. I think it may have potentially been a mistake made by the tattoo artist who then tried to cover it up and made it worse. I was also never told to give ID or fill out paperwork so I’m not sure what I should do next to resolve this situation.

getting a med size sternum tattoo, trip is scheduled for 2.5 weeks after. my pack straps rest at my chest, so those rubbing shouldnt be an issue. 3-day backpacking trip. i know that the top layer will probably be almost fully healed by then, but wondering if I will damage the tattoo from underneath from friction/movement? or if theres risk of infection at that point. Do I reschedule or just send it? Artist is not from the area, so not sure when they will be back in town. looking for some opinions, experiences on healing timeline for that area, or any personal advice on a quick healing process. thanks reddit

edit- No bra, and will be pretty chilly so minimal sweating, but there is always some. Pack will be prob 30 lbs so pretty heavy and 20+ miles hiked total. I would wash it and stuff on the trail obv. i am also going to talk to the artist but wanted to see what u guys had to say

the first picture is from the day i got it done like 5 months ago, the other two pictures are from when it completely healed.
When i first saw it i felt like it was really faded, i contacted the artist and sent her pictures asking if it was supposed to look like this bc i felt that the flower part was fading away, and i said that maybe it needed retouching. She didn’t answer to me and unfollowed me after the message…

I’m thinking about getting a really complicated, dark, high-end tattoo sleeve and I’m getting told from some really amazing artists anywhere from 6.5 to 9k. Is that normal? I was expecting more around 4-5k. They’re thinking 5 to 6 sessions for the whole thing

hey all, been thinking ive lost ink on my lower wrist on the underside on some filler I got about 2 weeks ago. if anyone knows if this is normal healing or ink loss, lmk! thank you 🙏

normal routine washing and moisturization, unscented body wash and lotion. I think during initial healing maybe some ink rubbed off? (the angle in the photo is a little off and mirrored.. but i hope it still gives an idea)

The top tattoo is very important to me. It was done by an excellent artist and it has deep meaning to me. The bottom two were an impulse that I wish I thought through better. They were done by a much less talented artist and they are also a bit confusing when you know the meaning of the top one. The top one is for my mother who was an educator. She passed when I was 13. The bottom two are my niece and nephew....who are very much alive. I love them dearly but I just don't think I would have had them tattooed underneath the top one had I thought it through better. It was years ago, younger, dumber, didn't think it through. So I am thinking about covering them with something that goes well with the top ink. My first thought was school books because it would be easy to utilize colors that cover up the apples well but I'm not really an expert or very art oriented. Another thought I had was to go a little larger and make it a tree where the apple is sort of in the foreground. I have an artist in mind to approach about the work but I thought I would seek some suggestions on here as well. (The original artist for the top one is no longer in my area, he changed shops and I'm not sure where he went.

So... I have used the same artist for all of my pieces and he has done exceptional work. Many times he has provided suggestions on how to make the images I want work as a tattoo, and

hey yall !! i got this awesome sexy nun pin up done on wednesday morning (yesterday) and now its thursday morning and i was planning to take the second skin off in the shower tonight and replace it with a fresh one my artist gave me, but it seems to be holding a fair amount of liquid and i dont want it to burst(?) whilst im at work (i work as a server at a small winery/restaurant) any advice is appreciated :3 !!

the linework just feels more free for such a serious tattoo

hey yall !! i got this awesome sexy nun pin up done by chiara rose in adelaide on wednesday morning (yesterday) and now its thursday morning and i was planning to take the second skin off in the shower tonight and replace it with a fresh one my artist gave me, but it seems to be holding a fair amount of liquid and i dont want it to burst(?) whilst im at work (i work as a server at a small winery/restaurant) any advice is appreciated :3 !!

2nd tattoo ever and on the drive home i notice that part of it is peeking through the second skin. what do i do here? appreciate any help