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None of my business but I agree with SStu. As it stands it's a nice tribute to the girls and their unchanging birth year. Let them color it in and it will likely become a less good tribute to one moment of their lives- when they are young. If your goal is to add color and also have your daughter's participate maybe have them choose the colors but then let a professional artist decide how to apply them? Again- do what you want- it's your family and your arm- but as long as you asked for advice from internet strangers my advice is to come up with different plan. For what it's worth I like the tattoo as it is currently.

Nothing against honoring your children here, but I've seen some pretty horrible tattoos where the artist was asked to reproduce little kid's work. Either way you're going to end up explaining the result for a long, long time . . .

I am curious to see how a good tattoo looks after 10, 20 years. You can see some online, but most of the time, they were terrible tattoos new anyway. I'd like to have an idea how my sleeve would look in 20 years before I get it.. I have tattoos, but a sleeve is a bigger deal

LOL who cares ?!?!? it's going to look like a nicely settled 20 yo tattoo. maybe you shouldn't be getting tattoos if that is a serious concern of yours. here is one of my 24 yo tattoos (never touched up)

@Hogrider This is where we disagree. You are way more tattooed than me but I still have 150+ hours of needle time, so I feel like my perspective is at least educated. I think there is a time and place for numbing creams. If tattoos always hurt you and you can't stand it, then maybe tattoos aren't for you. If you always rely on something to kill the pain, that's not what I am saying is a use case, IMO. However, in situations where someone has traveled to get a tattoo in a multi-hour session, and the pain becomes unbearable, then why not? What if the artist suggests it? Some tattoos just hurt more than others, too. If the artist is okay with it, numbing allows him to do his work, and the client is obviously in extreme pain, why not?

You can come up with another way to honor your kids. Have them provide input on your next tattoo idea or something . . .

@Hogrider He is using DMX in OFF LABEL doses. Does not sound like a thing a regular tattoo artist would know about. It is not in conjunction with a doctor. He is experimenting with dosage amounts - he does not mention any instructions the DMX comes with. You could get yourself hooked onto painkillers this way. His tattooist DID NOT KNOW and would have declined if she knew. This is what is irresponsible/dangerous. I hope you can see how this is very different to buying a household, bottled cream over the counter, complete with instructions which many other ppl have used over the years AND tattoo artist knows.

I think it's dangerous to mess with drugs like this unsolicited, unguided. Especially with your tattoo artist NOT knowing? You don't know what you don't from a medical point of view. It is foolish to open oneself to unknown and unforeseen risks experimenting with drugs like this, and all to avoid tattoo pain. I hope this post does not encourage other ppl to experiment with drugs like this all just for avoiding. However we are adults so we can do what we want! But to answer, I don't look to avoid pain. Tattoos hurt for me and I just sit till I can. Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with using numbing creams but this seems to be another level. I am sorry my post is not supportive. I am just more concerned more than anything.

at least it's not super dark, but without lasering first it's never going to look "dainty".

I guess this is what I get for being totally uneducated. Thank you for your response

"It's just lines." Drawing accurate, consistent lines isn't easy. And you had it done on thin, delicate skin prone to blow-outs. And in a very visible spot. And you had concerns about the artist before you started. No way that could go wrong. I would look for the best artist you can find to see what they can do about that. Look at this as a very valuable lesson - don't cheap out on artists. And take your time. I've seen many people rush out to fix something they didn't like and wound up making it worse.

As mentioned, tattoos heal differently, inks are different, application is different. Think about all the various shades of black! If you want brown tattoos, go for it but they will most likely all be different (but still brown). Go for it!

Lil' Keith drawing of an angel in honor of KeithHaring by my pal Erik at Odyssey Tattoo. Love him. He's a bit bloody, but he'll look the business when he's healed. He's quite small. Another of my many tiny Keith Haring fillers. 🙂

I started my 3/4 Kirin recently.

Had the tiger finished up on Friday night, 3 hours worth.

well, squid pants getting the layers...finished my Five Deadly Venoms themed thigh tattoo collage ! My homie Rich Harding (Champion Tattoo Edmonton, AB) whipped in some some smoke-grey shading behind the 2nd layer black widow spider and centipede he did last month.. The spider webbing is layered on top of my 9 year old p-knee tattoos. really tied everything together and am very happy with the results. it is healing great. ...and then I had the very exciting, rare and unique opportunity to tattoo myself for the first time. I did the top square inch of red background behind the 5 year old yin-yang auspicious spider. Rich said, you've got all these tattoos budd, you need to fill in at least a small part of your bodysuit on your own. Quitting my day job...SORRY BOOKS CLOSED UNTIL 2022 haha