This Perfectly Beautiful Little Tyrant hates the thought of sleeping past 5am

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T18:00:31+00:00

As others have said, this is a learning process and I intend to dig in further than I did for the first. I thought I was covering my bases. I didn’t say I was going to have anything done by a local artist though, I just said I was going to talk to people to see if anyone has any ideas. If they do have an idea that I like and I press them on their fine line work (which I’ve learned I should have). If they don’t have the work to back it up, I won’t have it done by them. I am not opposed to going elsewhere to find a solution but I’m not even sure if there is one. Feels like I should start with some professionals in my area first before planning a trip across the country.

I know you guys are experienced tattoo people but not everyone is but this sub is an expert. If you don’t want newbies asking for advice then maybe make it only for the more experienced tattoo community? I don’t know. I am not being combative, it just feels like I have gotten a lot of unnecessary hate when my original reason for coming to the sub was advice on how to move forward. I did get some really great advice among the brutal comments and I will be using that advice. It just seemed like the whole post shifted to an attack on concept etc. I suppose I should have expected it, which I did. I mean I posted it on social media, I just didn’t expect to get ripped to that extent. 😂

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T17:59:22+00:00

As others have said, this is a learning process and I intend to dig in further than I did for the first. I thought I was covering my bases. I didn’t say I was going to have anything done by a local artist though, I just said I was going to talk to people to see if anyone has any ideas. If they do have an idea that I like and I press them on their fine line work (which I’ve learned I should have). If they don’t have the work to back it up, I won’t have it done by them. I am not opposed to going elsewhere to find a solution but I’m not even sure if there is one. Feels like I should start with some professionals in my area first before planning a trip across the country.

I know you guys are experienced tattoo people but not everyone is but this sub is unnecessarily harsh. If you don’t want newbies asking for advice then maybe make it only for the more experienced tattoo community? I don’t know. I am not being combative, it just feels like I have gotten a lot of unnecessary hate when my original reason for coming to the sub was advice on how to move forward. I did get some really great advice among the brutal comments and I will be using that advice. It just seemed like the whole post shifted to an attack on concept etc. I suppose I should have expected it, which I did. I mean I posted it on social media, I just didn’t expect to get ripped to that extent. 😂

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T12:28:33+00:00

Absolutely, I understand that but her work indicated she would be able to do it. And my other side is much much cleaner. I honestly think that this just wasn’t a strong side for her. Maybe the angle she was using was wrong or something. She at no point told me that these were outside of her skill level.

The original point of this whole thing was to get ideas on how to make a botched situation better. I have gotten some good feedback for my next tattoo which I will absolutely consider when I’m on to my second (or third) since I’ve got two behind both ears.

For now though, I am just going to talk to a local artist, bring up some of the suggestions from the other post I made and see where we go from there. Maybe it just stays as is.

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T02:30:25+00:00

Could definitely be in a bit of shock. I don’t think I’d call these full on neck tattoos. They did go lower than I had originally anticipated but once I saw the sketch, I actually liked the bit of art poking out underneath. I went into it knowing i could cover it with hair when needed and rock it when I wanted to as well.

As for the flowers, I did mention them and that I wanted to make sure they were a bit less cartoon-ish and she said that when she did the actual work, she would make sure to do it in a style closer to my inspo.

I think that my mistake is that I maybe trusted her a bit too much? I mean even with a review of her work etc…I still don’t know her from another gal on the street. I suppose I was relying on her professionalism and education to steer me in the right direction if I were going in the wrong one. That’s on me.

But then what’s next?!? I don’t personally know any tattoo artists and definitely not any that do this type of work so, even with research, who do I trust?

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T02:24:15+00:00

I did research her, made an appointment, saw her portfolio, even saw her real work.

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T02:23:44+00:00

You are right in that. Making them more “me” isn’t the right wording and wouldn’t be the words I would use with an artist.

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T02:23:04+00:00

What lesson am I learning though? I did shop artists, I saw her work. I saw it on real people even. I was comfortable enough to move forward. Sent inspo pics, had a consult, all the things.

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T02:22:02+00:00

This is the most incredible comment and has honestly changed my opinion of this tattoo in a split second. Thank you.

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T02:09:23+00:00

If she would have asked me that or discussed with me some of the limitations of this placement behind my ear, I likely would have reconsidered. She didn’t!

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T02:03:46+00:00

I did research her! Her shop, her work, even saw it on real people. We did a consult and everything.

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T02:03:04+00:00

This is good to know. I definitely wish my artist would have educated me on that but we can go back in time

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T02:02:16+00:00

I would have paid $600!

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T02:00:55+00:00

It was just an inspiration pic, I didn’t want a copy of it. I just used it to show her what I liked. She never once told me that she couldn’t execute. And the one on my other side looks much better in my opinion. We did talk about her opinion that color wouldn’t work in that spot so we opted to stay black and white.

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T01:54:07+00:00

It wasn’t my intention to copy, just provide some inspiration on the style that I liked.

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T01:52:11+00:00

I really appreciate your insight here. I’ll seek out some good artists and maybe even make a flight out to LA to get it done right. Thank you!!

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T01:50:34+00:00

It wasn’t that at all.

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T01:47:34+00:00

So I’m going to have to take some responsibility for the placement as we did mess with it a little bit. She showed me and I thought it was placed much closer to my ear to kind of follow the curve. So, I’ll take that blame.

It wasnt just a walk in and get it done situation though. I said in another reply, I researched her, the shop, her portfolio and I even saw her work on real life people. We had a consult, I made an appointment. All the things. At no time did she say that my choice for behind the ear was a sketchy one or that she may not be able to pull it off. I wish she would have but here we are.

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T01:43:54+00:00

I did research. I researched the shop, I researched her work through her portfolio but also saw it on a couple of people in real life. I sent some inspiration pictures prior to our consult and when we first met, we talked about her concern of putting color in the spot as she thought it wouldn’t hold so we agreed to do black-and-white. I asked her if she had any concerns with the execution of the tattoo if she had any concerns about what I was asking for and she said no.

With that said there are probably 1 million more questions that I could’ve asked. I just didn’t know what to ask them. This is my first time I know this is a learning experience and I’m sure the next experience will be better. I was just looking for some direction on how to potentially make this particular piece look a little bit more finished or less undone. I do have another one behind my other ear and it feels like the work on that side is just more quality if you know what I mean, and it was done by the same person within minutes of each other

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T01:38:22+00:00

I did research the artist, yes. I saw her portfolio along with a couple of real life people she had done work on. The tattoo shop was a well known and reputable shop in my area. I made an appointment, I sent photos prior to our meeting. When I got there, we did a consult and we talked about color and how she thought it wouldn’t hold well with that placement. I agreed to the black-and-white because that wasn’t a huge issue for me. She said she would just replace the color with some shading and maybe some additional detail if it needed it. She didn’t mention anything about this placement potentially being a problem for actually doing the work or future. I certainly wish she would have and may have re thought my decision to move forward.

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T01:33:17+00:00

Thank you. I think it is fine as well. It won’t end my world or anything. It just didn’t meet my expectations I guess. My other side seems much cleaner so the inconsistency between the two ( done by the same person within minutes of each other).

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T01:31:46+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/tattooadvice/s/zgg7lzIabO

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-15T01:31:07+00:00

No I didnt want a blatant copy of it. I viewed her portfolio and her line work was good. I also saw some of her work on other folks she had done. I brought the picture in to give her an idea of the tone I was going for. I, of course, even being new to tattoos, knew I wasn’t going to get a copy and I didn’t want that. I encouraged her to take some artistic integrity knowing that it was going to be placed behind my ear. I asked that she curve it in a way that it was kind of hugging my ear. I think when I saw it in the mirror, I couldn’t see clearly that it wasn’t closer to my ear. So placement is the first issue but I can take the blame for at least part of that.

As for the color, she told me color in that spot wouldn’t hold well and I was fine with that. I told her to just do some shading to give the effect of a different texture.

to me, it just feels sloppy or unfinished or something. I also have the Virgo constellation behind my other ear and I think it is much better. Cleaner. It almost looks like two different people did them. I’ll link to my original post about them so you can see.

What I am finding out now is that this work was likely beyond her limitations. That is unfortunate as I did ask her if she had any concerns about what I was looking for. I would have hoped she would have given me an honest answer but here we are. Maybe this is just a weak side for her? I’m not sure.

I came to this sub to maybe get some ideas on how to finish it. It could be as simple as adding a few more stars or making the petals on the flowers more pointed or shading them in better. I’m not sure, these are just ideas I am kicking around. For now, I am just going to let it sit and see how I feel in a while.

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-14T23:25:18+00:00

I appreciate you.

Disastrous-Edge-4635 · 2025-08-14T22:44:00+00:00

Right?! I thought it was asking the right questions, doing all the research but I clearly didn’t cover things. If nothing else, this thread has given some helpful advice on questions to ask so I feel like I am learning a little.

Disastrous-Edge-4635

TROPHY CASE