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This is about trust.... Find your artist. Explain your ideas. Most likely you will not see a drawing before hand but that doesn't mean that you don't have input. You have to trust your artist with your concepts. Be very clear in your consult what you like and don't like. The vast majority of artists want you to be happy and are willing to collaborate but you have to trust them.

Yep, what Dan and Oboogie said. What's in your head in terms of expectations often doesn't match exactly what your tattoo actually looks like. Breathe. Let it sink it. Let the experience sink in.

yes,it's a perfectly normal and common feeling IMO, I have too many tattoos to count,and I still get that every time. relax,enjoy it,plan your next one. that feeling will go away.

Look. You got a tattoo on a body part. When you move that body part, the tattoo won't look straight. That's just how it works. You shouldn't regret it. It's really tiny, and no one will know it is there unless you show them. If you hate it that much, let it heal, then get laser removed. You are worrying far too much about this very, very tiny tattoo. Either enjoy it or start making plans to get it removed. It isn't a big deal. Stop worrying. I promise that you'll be OK. :-)

you'll be doing a whole lot of explaining, even if it's done right . . ..

That's going to be incredibly difficult to pull off both in style and placement. Your arm isn't that big and chances are it could look like a big dark blob after a few years. Dig deep into your head to find out what about the image resonates with you. Try to simplify. I think that you already know that not every piece of art can be translated into a tattoo. :) I'm not an expert on realism but that would take someone like Nikko Hurtado to even get close.

I just got an appointment with Sarah Hurst @ Vivid Tattoo in Knoxville for a celebration tattoo on September 29th. It will be my final day of work, starting the next chapter (retirement)! Sent from my Le Pan TC802A using Tapatalk

It's not going to look like that piece of art. So get that out of your head. That's also a very small space to put that kind of image. You need to rethink placement, rethink the image, and just be careful because you could end up with a truly shitty tattoo. As my friend @Gingerninja said, that is going to be very difficult to pull off. VERY.

Cash and Bourbon in Kentucky, that seems like telling people you like eating and breathing, its obvious.

Scheduled for that day, because it is my last day at work. Once you have been to Sarah a few times she will book you on an email. She has a way to handle out-of-town clients, just email her. She likes cash, bourbon, and cool rocks. Sent from my Le Pan TC802A using Tapatalk

What you are feeling is absolutely normal. :) If you get another tattoo, you now know more about placement and what it means. Enjoy your new tattoo!

I'm getting my forearm done on august the 10th. Booked in may if I recall correct. 7 years since my last tat, and I am itching something fierce! Been thinking about getting a waiting-tattoo to kill the wait, haha..

Um, yeah...find a free clinic pronto. If it's infected then you need to get yourself treated. There is no other answer.

find a free clinic. find a smarter "friend". and it's not a "gun".

Around the 12-hour mark and I'm liking the way my Japanese-American-Japanese backpiece is coming together. I seem to have fallen into a steady-ish rhythm re: the sessions. Beforehand: A bowl of ramen and gyoza beneath Tokyo Station and then the ride to InkRat, Koenji. The studio's kickarse blues tunes to get through the session. (Work has been so hectic recently that I've actually grown to look forward to these sessions and the lack of need to do anything for a solid three hours.) A can of IPA on the train home, undress the wrap, a hot-then-cold shower and air-dry with a glass of Penderyn. Finally some after-care cream and to bed in a shirt stained multi-coloured from past tattoos. Will post an update as the colours come in... tj

@SStu Balance is so elusive. I'm rocking only an outline on my left thigh (hip to knee) until August! Being a WIP is just like life, I suppose. Enjoy your destination wedding. Sounds like fun!

I had finally achieved a measure of balance until I started my side-piece last month. Now I'm left heavy and starting to wonder what to do with the right side . . . We didn't finish the left side Monday like we had hoped, and I've got a destination beach wedding/vacation to attend in early July, so I couldn't schedule my 3rd and last side-piece session until early August. It's close, but poop.

So only women's bodies decline after the age of 35ish? Hmmm. Guess I should stop getting tattooed, worry about what my body looks like, and leave it to the men to get all the sweet tats. Sorry, had to go there.

Thank you. As for the guys saying I posted those shots to get some "cool" points or to get awws from the ladies, sorry to disappoint you, tattoos are not what i'm counting on to be cool. I have been with plenty of girls when I was Inkless and I did not get inked to be more cool. Neither do I prefer quantity over quality in my ink. I did not post those shots because I was trying to picture myself as a model, neither did I try to model the parking lot. A friend of mine which is a photographer wanted to take some shots of people with ink and the parking lot was the location he chose for the shots. When posting my Initiation thread I didn't have any other photos that catches my ink, so I used those, which weirdly enough got some of you offended... The only purpose of this photos was to share my ink with you. In response to try and join a community of ink lovers I received a "warm" welcome of "your tattoos suck" so some might understand my pissed off respond. Bottom line before you go and assume a person's reason for posting something might wanna check it with them first. Gal.