"Tattoo what you want", misleading or true?

[samanthahay]

I can only answer from the customers point of view. For the majority of mine I have known what I wanted the design to look like for the most part. Brought in references etc... I'll be starting a half sleeve soon and the only thing I told my artist was that I wanted it to be feminine and colorful. I'm going on Sunday to check out the design.

[gougetheeyes]

the only thing I told my artist was that I wanted it to be feminine and colorful. I'm going on Sunday to check out the design.

....what do you envision when you ask for something "feminine?" ( @David Flores)

[slayer9019]

Yesterday when I was getting tattooed I asked my artist what he would want to tattoo, or have always wanted to tattoo. Just looking at what he's done on me already and what sketching hang on his wall, I realized that I have pretty terrible ideas, and he has awesome ideas.

[David Flores]

....what do you envision when you ask for something "feminine?" ( @David Flores)

Here is the little rant which I imagine I was mentioned here in case you were wondering. Keep in mind is a broad statement on a broad topic.

http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/war-stories/34-tattooers-only-most-hated-tattoo-requests-page12.html#post30948

[slayer9019]

I guess what it really comes down to is this....

if you leave it open ended, you must expect that you cannot modify the design all that much after you get it. If you say I want something "tough" and you get a drawing of a skull, guess what, you are getting a skull!

[David Flores]

If someone wants to give over creativity, I tell them to pick it off the wall or show them the stack of original hand painted flash that there just is no room for out in the lobby and tell them to choose from that. That's what you do with stuff you would like to tattoo paint it, right? Otherwise they can come up with an idea and have something drawn for them, which is totally cool too.

[samanthahay]

....what do you envision when you ask for something "feminine?" ( @David Flores)

I guess I envision pinks, purples, delicate (or maybe the word I should use is softer) lines. Flowers, butterflies. Different from the designs I already have. Why?

ETA- sorry I just saw your other comment. I'll go look at the other thread. I've seen the first sketch and it's exactly what I think of when I told him that.

[G.Uristti]

i dont go for the whole "do what you want". they HAVE to tell me the things that they like. otherwise theres gonna be dicks and pussy all over the place

[slayer9019]

i dont go for the whole "do what you want". they HAVE to tell me the things that they like. otherwise theres gonna be dicks and pussy all over the place

like I said, if you ask "do whatever you want", expect that their might be the possibility of getting some crazy shit. I think BunnySwitchblade mentioned that this is why she has a few crazy things tattooed on her.

[Bunny Switchblade]

i dont go for the whole "do what you want". they HAVE to tell me the things that they like. otherwise theres gonna be dicks and pussy all over the place

Which is what I wanted.......ha ha ha!

And might I add......my pussy's are pretty spectacular too.........although my dick is a little wrinkled and missing a leg! :(

We won't even discuss my blown out butt-hole! ;)

[hgiles]

I give my artists a 'vibe' (e.g. benevolent, spriritual) and a 'subject' (e.g. Tibetan skull) -- then I let them do their interpretation. I want my artists to feel challenged, inspired, yet comfortable. It's a tough sort of balancing act, but I think it yields the best possible result. When the artist wants to take a lot of pictures of the tattoo then I feel I got his best.

[radiofreejenn]

With my gypsy I told my artist I wanted a woman like a picture I had brought in and then said I wanted a few certain colors incorporated and pretty much gave him free reign to do whatever other colors or additions he wanted to do. It came out better than I ever could have imagined. With my next I doubt it'll be the same because it's a portrait. Not quite as much artistic license with those.

[aleksksks]

I definitely prefer custom tattoos so what I do is I research and find an artist whose style I like and then I might show them pics of tattoos they've done before and explain what I like about them, then give the artist the freedom to come up with something based on a few very general ideas I've given them.

For me the style of the tattoo is definitely more crucial than the actual design, especially with big tattoos where you simply can't plan every little detail.

[Abellve]

I had a friend tell me he wanted a Japanese sleeve with flowers. I outlined everything but the inner bicep and all of the sudden he gets ideas ideas for what he wants to do in there -- every one of them too big for the space that's left. Usually though, friends and people very familiar with my work are willing to let me run with that much info. One guy wanted a particular severed robot girl head and handed over the entire remaining space of the arm. Bold move and it looks great.

I usually don't Bellve people when they say "free reign" unless I know they're familiar with what I do.

[Abellve]

Never actually answered the two questions...

1.) I prefer to have some seedling of an idea and freedom to interpret it based on the idea that they came to me based on my expertise. If a client has a specific vision or aversion to something, it should be stated before they set it all in motion. I'd rather have someone fairly specific but still trusting in my abilities than someone who says "do your thing" and desn't really mean it.

2.) I think if someone says free reign, then the next input should be to refine the idea or green-light it, not start it over again by taking back the creative reigns.

[CultExciter]

I always have ideas for new work, but I am always open to someone's ideas and interpretations on classic imagery. I love hearing the stories about Hardy just going at it, without a stencil or sharpie sketch. I would like to try that sometime from someone I really dig.

[IanBurkhart]

I'm not artisticly inclined at all. So I try to just give the artist an idea of what I want and if there is any small details I want, I'll tell them ahead of time and the outcome is normally better than anything I pictured in my head.

[Colored Guy]

All of my earlier tattoos were stencils of wall flash. I liked to get exactly what I saw, the only variant being the coloring. I'll still get a stencil online for part of a tattoo if I like the art. The last 2 I got were from art books and modified from there.

My current artist likes when I bring in reference material and we go over it until I get something that works artistically and I like it of course. Then again I've been with the one shop since 2005. I'm making my own line drawing for my next tattoo. I do give her free rein for making the tattoo better.. draw on me with a sharpie... no, not that... wipe it down and try this... yeah, that's it! The lotus in my avatar shot was conjured up on the spot as an accent for my koi. Before I walked in, I knew it needed something to tie it into the rest of what I had. And we came up with it.

CG