Why are bad tattoos so popular?

[HaydenRose]

holy shit fuzi is terrible. i can't believe people get tattoos from fuzi. even his art is pretty bad. its like if misaki kawai decided to start tattooing. her art is awesome but i wouldn't want it on my skin. her art is naive looking and good where as fuzi is just bad.

Misaki Kawai

Misaki Kawai

That just reinforces the fact that there's a difference between what is good art and what is a good tattoo. I think a lot of people think tattooing=art in some respects it does, but design and execution wise it doesn't.

[Johannes]

Gism fuck yes!

[GrayCatLove]

Same reason people make poor nutritional choices.

Same reason people dress like shit for their body type.

Same reason people make any number of bad decisions every day.

If only bad decisions stopped at terrible tattoos...

[Gregor]

Some people look cool as fuck with bad tattoos - not talking about giant penis-koi , but you know what I mean

[MrBruce]

The general public......and the tattoo community are two separate concepts.

I don't try and push people around with what they should and shouldn't get, I'm not a social worker...... But I do try to present them with options when I can.

I still give em the haircut they ask for....... I just try and comb it real nice for em.

[HaydenRose]

I don't try and push people around with what they should and shouldn't get, I'm not a social worker......

Eep! I hope my job isn't pushing people around :(

[MrBruce]

Eep! I hope my job isn't pushing people around :(

Well... I might push a little.... Lol

[polliwog]

I feel like this has covered why obviously bad tattoos are popular, but maybe not so much why well-meaning people end up with just-okay tattoos. To my mind, crafting an outstanding tattoo involves many variables that just aren't applicable to many other types of visual art. It's even more confusing when you add in the variable of personal taste. I work in a bookstore and need to be well-versed in children's picture books so that I can make recommendations, so I see a pretty wide variety of illustration styles that I love, almost none if which would work as a tattoo - you can look at many picture-book tattoos as unfortunate proof of this. There's wonky line weight galore, and colors sometimes migrate, but, if the composition is solid, the looseness adds to the charm of the illustrations. I find myself disliking anything that's too bright, clean and/or cartoonish. Likewise, classic flash, when executed cleanly, looks fantastic on the human body but frankly wouldn't excite me too much outside of that context. Not to mention that you can't, for instance, pick up your local paper (if you're in a metropolitan area with a reputable paper, which is increasingly rare) and read at-minimum competent tattoo art criticism. I think it's at least partly a matter of retraining your eyes and learning how to look, which is something that might elude even a fairly careful person.

- - - Updated - - -

Having said that, if you get more than one iffy tattoo, it's your fault.

[TattooedMumma]

I m also going to blame pinterest. as addicted as I am to that fuckin site. there are so many shitty tattoos being repinned over and over. one sheila I knew went on a tattoo spree- getting about 7 really common pinterest tattoos in a very short time frame. think infinity symbol, peterpan and wendy and the crew flying out behind her ear, a small elephant family and sdome other dumb ones. nothing altered. just "here I found this on pinterest, put it on me" type thing.

I like pinterest and whatever- but I can see how its having a negative flow with tattoos too. im too tired to bother trying to make sense so I hope somebody out there is able to understand my drivel....

[Shaun1105]

I m also going to blame pinterest. as addicted as I am to that fuckin site. there are so many shitty tattoos being repinned over and over. one sheila I knew went on a tattoo spree- getting about 7 really common pinterest tattoos in a very short time frame. think infinity symbol, peterpan and wendy and the crew flying out behind her ear, a small elephant family and sdome other dumb ones. nothing altered. just "here I found this on pinterest, put it on me" type thing.

I like pinterest and whatever- but I can see how its having a negative flow with tattoos too. im too tired to bother trying to make sense so I hope somebody out there is able to understand my drivel....

It can hardly be all pinterest, as bad tattoos existed long, long before it. But I agree that pinterest helps them spread at an incredible rate. And I know pinterest isn't really 'for guys', or whatever - but I'm just trying to do my part to stop/slow the madness with this board. Good tattoos only - artists always credited.

[HettyKet]

@Shaun1105 every drop helps I suppose! Have followed you. I have some boards on there too born from my obsession with the tattooed circus girls, a wee bit of tattoo history there too. TBH I was getting bogged down in bookmarks, that site makes it easier to keep an overview - Frankie Pie on Pinterest. Not everyone's cup of tea but certainly mine.

[Gregor]

Its very fashionable to be tattooed , people just want coverage (how many dudes are going about with a full sleeve of b&g clouds and stars) , they dont care about quality. Fair play to them. Some people are happy with instant coffee , others prefer a freshly roasted cup of excellence . Its not really that big a deal.

[spookysproul]

I m also going to blame pinterest. as addicted as I am to that fuckin site. there are so many shitty tattoos being repinned over and over. one sheila I knew went on a tattoo spree- getting about 7 really common pinterest tattoos in a very short time frame. think infinity symbol, peterpan and wendy and the crew flying out behind her ear, a small elephant family and sdome other dumb ones. nothing altered. just "here I found this on pinterest, put it on me" type thing.

I like pinterest and whatever- but I can see how its having a negative flow with tattoos too. im too tired to bother trying to make sense so I hope somebody out there is able to understand my drivel....

It can hardly be all pinterest, as bad tattoos existed long, long before it. But I agree that pinterest helps them spread at an incredible rate. And I know pinterest isn't really 'for guys', or whatever - but I'm just trying to do my part to stop/slow the madness with this board. Good tattoos only - artists always credited.

I would like to expand on this and say it's "social media" in general. Millions of people who have never set foot inside a tattoo shop, have only seen their cousin's "ink" that his friend did for him in his living room, and don't actually see the artwork beyond the social capitol of the tattoo suddenly have all of this emphasis on how cool they would be if they got any tattoo, regardless of content or quality.

So you end up with people like my coworker, who has an entire sleeve (shoulder to knuckles) of the space needle and skulls that appear to have been done with a shader exclusively, and very poorly as well. I believe he got it done at a shop in the mall (of all places) and it looks very much like the quality of tattoo you'd get from a shop in the mall (of all places). However, he's very happy with it. From what I've gathered his only tattoos are that arm, his other hand, his other forearm, and his neck. Usually when someone is peacocking that heavily they're not all that concerned with the overall quality of any of it.

[Gregor]

So much energy spent talking about shit tattoos which could be spent talking about good ones.

[polliwog]

I read this entire thread - it's really helpful to people like me who are new to getting tattooed. So some good's coming out of it, even though it's a downer.

[Colored Guy]

I would like to expand on this and say it's "social media" in general. Millions of people who have never set foot inside a tattoo shop, have only seen their cousin's "ink" that his friend did for him in his living room, and don't actually see the artwork beyond the social capitol of the tattoo suddenly have all of this emphasis on how cool they would be if they got any tattoo, regardless of content or quality.

So you end up with people like my coworker, who has an entire sleeve (shoulder to knuckles) of the space needle and skulls that appear to have been done with a shader exclusively, and very poorly as well. I believe he got it done at a shop in the mall (of all places) and it looks very much like the quality of tattoo you'd get from a shop in the mall (of all places). However, he's very happy with it. From what I've gathered his only tattoos are that arm, his other hand, his other forearm, and his neck. Usually when someone is peacocking that heavily they're not all that concerned with the overall quality of any of it.

This about covers how I see it. My nephew who is all of 22 is loaded with shit work worthy of this thread. His brother has nice work on him, so does his dad (my brother), my son, me. So I'd hope he knows good work on sight. Part of it is they get 1/2 in the bag and wind up in someone's kitchen who has the equipment and the requisite lack of talent.

Rob

[SeeSea]

[Mick Weder]

On another note. I have an old, old brother who is covered in home poke tattoos, mostly applied with a single needle between two match sticks wrapped in cotton.

By anyone's "standard" they're shit, but he's sported most of these since he was 15, and I gotta say they've stood the test of time...he punched them in!

I couldn't ever see him with anything else. They're him, they all tell a very particular story, he earned every single one...and you know? He today is just as proud of those tattoos as anyone of us who have had anyone of our custom shop pieces done.

When I sit with him after all these years, even some of those tattoos bring back for us a very particular incident, a time in our lives to reflect. Isn't that what tattooing is all about?

I think sometimes we forget the basic nature, that primal instinct towards why we mark our skin sometimes.

And maybe I can place this part in the "what have I learned from becoming tattooed" thread...and that's not to be so judgemental on the aesthetics alone. Everyone has a story.

There's lots of reasons to "why".

"Booze, Blues & Tattoos"

[SeeSea]

Cool story @Mick Weder - thanks for sharing. I'd say this qualifies pretty heavily as something you learned.

[CultExciter]

I still want a hand poked Slayer tattoo, so, you know....sometimes you gotta.

[Swifty]

Ultimately who cares, it's not your body. We'll be wearing that shit for the rest of our lives, who are you to say what other people should get tattooed? Everybody's got opinions and tastes, just because you like something doesn't mean everybody else does also. If they like what they got and they're happy with it, isn't that what's important?

I mean unless you're decked out in the best, perfectly executed ink done by the master of all tattooing on the entire planet, aren't you in a way, wearing shitty tattoos as well in comparison to what those perfect tattoos would be? Does that make them any less awesome to you? Didn't think so.

[misterJ]

If I told you not to buy a certain car because it is a lemon even when I'm not driving a Bugatti is still help and sound advice when heeded

[Jonybravo13]

What you may find bad others may fine amazing

[SeeSea]

I mean unless you're decked out in the best, perfectly executed ink done by the master of all tattooing on the entire planet, aren't you in a way, wearing shitty tattoos as well in comparison to what those perfect tattoos would be? Does that make them any less awesome to you? Didn't think so.

Is there truly such a thing as a universally accepted perfectly executed tattoo by a best artist, etc.?

No.

And no, we're not "in a a way" wearing shitting tattoos using this comparison that has odd criteria.

What does "perfectly executed" mean to you? To others?

Who is the master of all tattooing? To you? To others?

@Mick Weder mused above about shitty tattoos on his brother that had great meaning. Are they shitty? To you? To others?

/end list of rhetorical questions

Argh.

/end postingB4coffee

[Swifty]

Is there truly such a thing as a universally accepted perfectly executed tattoo by a best artist, etc.?

No.

And no, we're not "in a a way" wearing shitting tattoos using this comparison that has odd criteria.

What does "perfectly executed" mean to you? To others?

Who is the master of all tattooing? To you? To others?

@Mick Weder mused above about shitty tattoos on his brother that had great meaning. Are they shitty? To you? To others?

/end list of rhetorical questions

Argh.

/end postingB4coffee

That's pretty much my point though, it's all based on opinions and perspective. A shitty tattoo to you might be a great tattoo to the wearer and on the opposite end, a tattoo you might consider to be perfect, some other person might think is terrible. It really doesn't matter and I don't really get why people fuss over other people's taste in tattoos.

I get when people get pissed off at shops/artists who crank out horrible stuff non-stop every day, that's totally justified, the quality sucks... but to knock people for their taste in tattoos is pretty stupid and self centered. I'm not a fan of american traditional but I wouldn't sit there and talk shit about some dude's eagle/panther/dagger/skull/othergeneric7thyearolddrawing, I know a lot of people love that shit and it's been around for a very long time.

Respect other people's choices & tastes.