alice

I agree that there's a pretty significant difference, but for some people just the idea of needles can trigger a panic attack. a woman recently fainted at the shop where i work, not because she was getting tattooed, but because she was watching her friend get tattooed. she's lucky she didn't get a concussion falling and hitting her head on the floor! phobias are irrational, so even if it doesn't make sense to us, it could be terrifying to someone else.

it's pretty hard to see what's going on. i don't see any reason to fret about it right now, you're barely a week into the healing process. the worst thing that will happen is that you might lose some of the color when the scabs come off (i can really only see a little bit of scabbing anyway, but the picture is really small.) and if that happens you can get it touched up. if and when you do get it touched up, i'd talk to your artist about adding some black shading for contrast, because it makes colors look brighter against the black. good luck!

just wanted to let you know that the mandala thing you posted as being by someone named "kristy walker" is a tattoo by guy le. i have a personal preference for floral work over the ditch and anything that ends up being sort of diamond-shaped.

it really seems like you're over-thinking it a little bit. 4 months in, it's become a part of your body, and everyone's body has minor visible flaws. tattoo ink doesn't float on the surface of your skin, it's between layers, which means any color you see is viewed through a tinted window of your own skin tone. the pictures look fine to me! i agree with everyone else, you seem unhappy with it regardless, so go ahead and get it touched up! no reason not to.

I had a couple of terrible home tattoos I did on myself in middle school (I know :( haha) and my mom saw them once when I was wearing a bathing suit as a teenager. She asked about them and I lied and said they were henna. She saw them again a few months later and said "I thought you said those were henna!" And I laughed and said, "oh I lied!" And then she rolled her eyes at me. When I started getting legit tattoos it was basically just more eye rolling, but I am the youngest of 4 kids so my older siblings already had tattoos. I am sorry so many of you have parents that were so upset!! I feel pretty lucky my folks are so low key about it. - - - Updated - - - Btw I'm pretty sure my inlaws think I am a huge weirdo but at least my husband has tattoos as well.

When I was working service industry jobs, I would frequently be stopped by customers who wanted me to stand still (while holding hot food en route to a table!) so they could inspect my tattoos, people would grab me and try to touch my tattoos constantly. Almost always older men, but sometimes women! My husband is heavily tattooed and other than the occasional "sick ink, bro!" he has never been accosted the way that i have. The worst thing about something like that happening at work is that you are trapped and you have to be nice, even if people are being totally inappropriate. I used to complain that if i were a stripper, at least i'd have a bouncer who'd boot the jerks trying to grab me. working in service jobs in a more affluent neighborhood also brought to my attention the fact that a lot of square, office-type dudes definitely have a sense of exoticism about tattoos, like "ooh you look just like a suicide girl!" like i'm supposed to be this available babe who loves taking her clothes off because i have a lot of highly visible tattoos. nope, sorry bro. i'm a married mom, just like your wife. calm down.

i've been an artist my whole life, but when i started tattooing i started thinking of my tracing paper sketches as disposable, and using red and blue pencils to sketch really changed the way i draw. it really does help to not stress about a drawing and to just go through a few sheets of paper as you work out certain details. i think a healthy mix of tracing for practice and using reference is really helpful. "you're only as good as your reference library" haha

thanks a lot you guys! i have a long way to go. :)

Oh duh!! Haha my tumblr is Alice Carrier and my website is www.alicecarrier.com

hi tron!!

Hi! My name is Alice Carrier. I have been tattooing in Portland for just under a year. I'm looking forward to checking out the forum! I work at Anatomy Tattoo. Thanks a lot! Sorry my intro is so awkward, I can't think of anything exciting to say. I like tattoos! My life is basically all tattoos, husband, kid, dog, in roughly that order. Thanks again!