Does My Tattoo Look Bad?

[Caine]

Ok so maybe I'm just a little self-conscience about this. But I got this tattoo back in January and I get a lot of compliments on it. But lately for some reason when I look at it sometimes I wonder if it's like a tattoo you see on someone else and your like 'that looks really bad, I wouldn't go to that artist.' I don't know what it is. To me it kind of looks blotchy, like it's just there, especially in the sun light.. Maybe it's because my skin is so pale. What do you guys think? Do I need to get it touched up or something?

[KatieSellergren]

Don't obsess about it. It's on your hand. Looks fine.

[David Flores]

Looks fine to me, now its time to fill up the rest of your arms.

[Gregor]

yeah hand tattoos and empty arms dont look right ... but the tattoo is cool

[Stitch626]

I agree, it looks great....but I've never seen a hand tattoo with out the persons full arm being covered..

[Jake]

You want honesty? That's nothing I'd want on my hand.

[Jake]

A little clarification to my previously blunt post-

the execution of the tattoo is more than acceptable. there's clean linework and shading. the style is what I have issues with. the blue tribal wave background stuff takes away from the tattoo in my opinion. I second the other LSTers opinions though that if you put a bunch of other tattoos around it you won't even notice anymore.

Also considering it's on your hand it will probably age much faster than a place like your thigh. Constant exposure to sun/cuts/chemicals/etc.

[Ursula]

Wellllll. Since you said to be honest I will. Like the other I agree it looks stupid to have hand tattoos and not have the rest of your arms and actually the rest of your body done. It makes me wonder why you chose to get your hand tattooed before doing the rest. As far as the actual tattoo, it's by far not the worst I've seen. It's not something I would ever get and I wouldn't go to the artists. The reason is not the quality of the actual tattooing, it's the drawing. I'm not into new school or whatever people would call that style. Just isn't my thing.

Having said all that, if you like the drawing then there's no problem at all as it's your tattoo. If I was you I'd wait until I you have a lot more tattoos on your arm and then see how you feel about it. I have a couple tattoos that are actually really fucking awful, like I mean horrible. It used to bother me soooo much, I wouldn't wear short sleeves because I was so embarrassed by them. Then I started getting good tattoos and lots of them and now the bad ones aren't so embarrassing. It all just kind of blends in. A good friend of mine who is also a great tattooer once told me that he likes it when someone has a couple bad ones in there with the good ones because it shows that you love tattoos and wanted them before you knew about 'cool rockstar hipster shit' like a lot of the kids today who are just getting tattooed because it's the cool trendy thing to do.

[Valerie Vargas]

completely agree with Jake. i find when someone hasnt many tattoos generally or none around the 'offending' tattoo, they tend to focus on it more than is necessary, if you get some more tattoos on that arm, eventually you wont really be able to pick on individual designs. it being on your hand, you probably notice it a lot more than you may have imagined and now your mind is working overtime. if it still pleases you, dont worry, just carry on getting more work.

if you were to ask for my opinion i would maybe try sticking to a more classic style of tattooing so that it stands the test of time, you obviously like skulls so thats a good start, maybe look at some of the work in the LST galleries and see whats going on.

[slayer9019]

While not a fan of the style it looks OK to me. Get some more around it, just looks weird by itself. So yes everything everyone else said.

[Hrubarb]

A good friend of mine who is also a great tattooer once told me that he likes it when someone has a couple bad ones in there with the good ones because it shows that you love tattoos and wanted them before you knew about 'cool rockstar hipster shit' like a lot of the kids today who are just getting tattooed because it's the cool trendy thing to do.

I like this. It's like, just because you fill your house with shit from DWR doesn't mean you know about design. Or People who spend half their paycheck at trendy restaurants and call themselves "foodies"

[briankelly]

no matter what you do, and no matter the quality of work, that tattoo is always going to be backwards. it sucks to make beginner tattoo mistakes on your hand.

[Jennifer Stell]

Wellllll. Since you said to be honest I will. Like the other I agree it looks stupid to have hand tattoos and not have the rest of your arms and actually the rest of your body done. It makes me wonder why you chose to get your hand tattooed before doing the rest. As far as the actual tattoo, it's by far not the worst I've seen. It's not something I would ever get and I wouldn't go to the artists. The reason is not the quality of the actual tattooing, it's the drawing. I'm not into new school or whatever people would call that style. Just isn't my thing.

Having said all that, if you like the drawing then there's no problem at all as it's your tattoo. If I was you I'd wait until I you have a lot more tattoos on your arm and then see how you feel about it. I have a couple tattoos that are actually really fucking awful, like I mean horrible. It used to bother me soooo much, I wouldn't wear short sleeves because I was so embarrassed by them. Then I started getting good tattoos and lots of them and now the bad ones aren't so embarrassing. It all just kind of blends in. A good friend of mine who is also a great tattooer once told me that he likes it when someone has a couple bad ones in there with the good ones because it shows that you love tattoos and wanted them before you knew about 'cool rockstar hipster shit' like a lot of the kids today who are just getting tattooed because it's the cool trendy thing to do.

Richard said this to me once, or twice... He heard it from Hardy First... I have tattoos I hate... It's one of those... You can live with it, it'll teach you one way or another...

[Ursula]

yeah it was andres who said it to me.. even after he said it, it still took me a while to accept that and understand it and get over some of my more shitty tattoos. Laser is still an option i think about a lot though, at least for some of it.

[hawk]

"Buyers Remorse" is allot different with tattoos than tires......Choose wisely

[dooktruck]

yeah fuck thread hi jack

my youngest brother is 19 just got one tattoo a pretty shitty one but could be worse. but was about to get another on some prime real estate half of his arm by some scratcher who worked out of his house as a "hobby" "second job". he was gonna put an octopus on his arm backwards. after arguing with my bro after 30 minutes when i told him it was going to be backwards he finally listened to reason and canceled the appt. we took him to a shop in town and showed him some other guys work and now he has an appt. to get something from a good artist. jesus arguing with him was making me feel sick coz i thought he was gonna get that shitty tattoo. thank god he changed his mind. he said he was glad he listened to us...now he is super stoked. /hijack

[irezumi]

I agree, it looks great....but I've never seen a hand tattoo with out the persons full arm being covered..

Actually I've seen this all too often.

I am on the exact same page as about 99% of everybody here when we say hand before sleeve is NAGL. I didn't do that, and tell any client the same.

However.... That having been said, I do need to point out that up until a certain point (maybe 25-30 yrs ago? you know, the 'great old time era') a hand tattoo before a sleeve was not uncommon. If anything, a sleeve was what was uncommon. Just for quick example, look at the Marlboro ad Clay posted in the Old Tattoo Photo thread(yeah he has a jacket on but there are a few other Marlboro ads where you can see the rest of the arm). As well as half the pics i've seen of sailors getting tattooed. Tattoo on a hand was much more common that a sleeve.

Yes, this is 50 - 60 years later; But as we can all see, almost half the people in our craft seem to think it's still 1940 haha.

Not trying to completely derail this thread. Just an observation.

[gougetheeyes]

"Having said that..."

[Raskolnikov]

Actually I've seen this all too often.

However.... That having been said, I do need to point out that up until a certain point (maybe 25-30 yrs ago? you know, the 'great old time era') a hand tattoo before a sleeve was not uncommon. If anything, a sleeve was what was uncommon. Just for quick example, look at the Marlboro ad Clay posted in the Old Tattoo Photo thread(yeah he has a jacket on but there are a few other Marlboro ads where you can see the rest of the arm). As well as half the pics i've seen of sailors getting tattooed. Tattoo on a hand was much more common that a sleeve.

Yes, this is 50 - 60 years later; But as we can all see, almost half the people in our craft seem to think it's still 1940 haha.

Yes, most of my family are Irish fishermen and they often had/have tattoos on the tops of their hands, and then maybe only one or two on their arms. I guess I grew thinking that was entirely normal. Seems like traditional tattooing comes with its own very modern ideas.

[Ursula]

I think the difference is old sailors and the like did things like the famous 'hold fast' knuckles as a good luck talisman to help then with their job. Now people tend to get hand tattoos without having other tattoos so they can try and look tough without actually going through the pain and money of tattooing the rest of your body first.

[David Flores]

My arms pieced together but full (like impossible to fit another tattoo on them even though i want to) and for me that is the best look. I would also agree that having one tattoo on the hand on bare arms is kind of a weird look especially if the tattoo is colorful new skool piece like the one that started this thread. Even if you are not going to cover your arms at least get something big on your forearm. A grizzled sailor with a couple random military tattoos sporadically on his arm is what I would have envisioned as a tattooed person as a kid. Certainly not the kid with stretched out ears and skinny jeans and one neck tattoo with some noodly script lettering in a banner selling t shirts as Zumiez.

[Shannon Shirley]

I have some pretty bad ones I will never mess with ,because of association. one of them is by the late Eric Hogan. he was by no means a great friend , more like someone I knew, But I will always remember him, His mother would probably appreciate this. During these times that seem sometimes like a "cool" race, we need to remember the whys and hows people have always gotten tattooed. As a tattooer/ist we ,especially street shops, face it everyday. those silly reasons mean something to those not in the know. your Moms love, your children's love, you went somewhere, you freed yourself, don't forget. They aren't just cool. Last evening I put stick figures holding balloons on a woman's foot, I tried to put them on with all the professionalism that i could. If those don't meet anyone's ideas about what good art is or what a cool tattoo is,it doesn't matter. she talked about how she went to a different shop and they were rude about it. I did a good job, she was happy, I got to eat dinner doing something I want to do,not something i have to do, Im not cleaning toilets ,Im not a Walmart greeter. not that good hard work isn't respectful , Its that I'm lucky and hopeful today. And yes I will try and give them the best stick figures they need. I do love me some "regular people".

[David Flores]

Yeah Shannon I would have to agree with your point I would say some of the best clients at the shop get some of the worst tattoos, but are pretty fun to talk to and good customers nonetheless. Do I wonder how many arm bands one person needs and do I hope some people run out relatives to put in banners but for whatever reason it's nice that people come into a shop because they are treated good whatever their idea is and yeah paying the bills is nice.

I was tattooed in a shop earlier this week and asked them about what kind of stuff they do and walk in traffic in their neighborhood and the owner played the whole we only do custom work we don't get people wanting names and we pretty much pick what we do cause we are booked out weeks in advance and we only do one to 2 customers a day. Funny no one else was in there getting tattooed. I have to say the guy that did my tattoo was a nice guy and did a good job but I don't get that whole mindset.

[Shannon Shirley]

the first shop i was ever tattooed in was Realistic, Bill Salmon did it and he was real friendly. this was in 84'. At the time this as far as I know was the only appointment only shop in America. I believe Ed started that ,you know the whole japanese connection. But I feel like a lot of people are using this to legitimize themselves nowadays . Everyone is free to run their lives however they feel necessary, aint that cool. But i don't think I'm ready to be so exclusive. I'm happy to see that so many might think my ideas are valid, it helps. I hid from tattooing for a long time.But Im back, I aint gonna be rich, but maybe I'll be happy.

[jinxproof1996]

we do body suits and names with juice dripping cherries and everything in between. cool skull or shitty tribal, bottom line is, it pays the rent and i don't dig ditches.