madmaxine

Wow your first paragraph - you nailed it. That’s exactly what I’m worried about, that I’m setting everyone involved up for failure. I’m trying to find the balance between finding the right thing and being totally sure and at peace, and having unrealistic expectations. Thanks for the very clear, specific advice!

Gotcha. The stuff this guy has done on my friends, while none of them were for me in my layman's eyes they were well executed. One of these people is my husband, so his work is kind of in my face on a daily basis! I'd obviously just prefer to give a friend my business. If we don't have a meeting of the minds I move on. Plus this is a two-way street, right? I know / trust the guy well enough that he's not going to want to do anything we both feel confident about either, and he'll tell me that, as I hope any professional would. And no, I wouldn't hire AC/DC to do a wedding, but I'd sure as hell go to one.

Thanks, this was constructive. I’m not going to do anything I’m not 100% on for sure, hard stop. Which is why I’ve been sitting on this for several years. My point is I’ve been kind of noodling on it for years and it’s become clear to me nothing is just going to spontaneously come to me on my own. I just do not have that creative vision and I need help with it. I mean, I cannot be the only person out there in this position so I’m trying to get some guidance on how people get that help. For what it’s worth I know myself well enough to know when it’s right I will be like, THERE IT IS. At which point I intend to sit on it some more. If I don’t get that feeling I’m not getting one. Sounds like I just need to take a step back and have these conversations with a variety of artists first and then see where I land? In any event thanks for your feedback. It is helpful to hear from a position of experience.

Thanks for replying! By references do you just mean general pics and stuff? That’s a really good point to give some ideas of what I don’t want, I can easily do that 🤔. That’s exactly how my husband picked out my engagement ring and that worked out great 😂

Hey! Thanks for the response. Totally hear you. I think I poorly represented the guy here - he’s someone who’s extensively worked on at least five people I know, has tons of experience, and is also a friend, so I just trust him and his abilities. And this isn’t to say he can’t hit the mark, like I said I haven’t even sat down with him yet, it might be a breeze for him. You’ve nailed my whole problem - I don’t know WHAT I want, just that I’ve got a good artist lined up! I think it’s more that I don’t trust myself to be articulate enough than a reflection of him! But I think what’s clear is I just need to talk to him first and go from there. Thanks! You just helped me untangle my thoughts a little. Can you tell I have no idea what I’m doing? 😬

Hi! Thanks for the response! Just added a bunch of detail to my original post. If you have thoughts I’m all ears!

Hi all - zero tattoos as of yet but have wanted one for years. Want to make sure I do this 100% right! I wanted to get feedback on finding a designer. I have an artist but I have a very specific subject matter in mind (a particular video game) that’s outside of his normal stuff. Here’s the thing though - I know the subject matter but within that? No idea! I’m confident my guy could do anything specific I ask but asking him to design something with almost zero useful input from me seems like setting him up for failure. And I’m utterly uncreative so I’m useless in this sense. So, how do I find someone who can translate my very high level, unorganized ideas into an actual design? I feel like I might even need someone who is familiar with the game. I def don’t want to insult anyone (like is it rude to ask an artist to do someone else’s design if the designer is ok with it?) and would be sensitive to time and effort (i.e. would pay), IP, etc.. I may be unfairly underestimating my artist so I’m going to sit down with him regardless, but I also don’t want to set him up for failure, or be THAT GUY who is impossible to please, so I’m trying to do this right. Any ideas how to approach this? Is this really an impossible ask? If I am already being THAT GUY and need to check my expectations please tell me! Thanks!