tatdatass

Those that copy due to laziness of not wanting to draw up or freehand a design. Are pretty silly as it takes much longer to copy something exact then it does an original you make up and fix mistakes as you go. Ive had my work stolen many times in the past so understand the frustration. There is even a shop that excusivly used my work in all thier advertising to get known and I actually lost in court. (Can explain but will be a long read) There are those Artists who give credit and praise to the original creator and admit copying. (I actually have some respect for these Artists, or tribute Artists as some might call) There are also customers who come in with a spacific picture of what they want from another Artist that might be in another country or to busy. Its not always easy to turn them away when you need the money. Again it is how respectfully you do the job and give tribute. Even making personal changes to make it your own is concidered OK. Same rules and ethics apply in any Art form, If there is a popular clothing item everyone copies it, A style of music, or a building design. American idol wouldnt of had much success if all the Artists had to use thier own original work. Tribute bands wouldnt exist. Its a fine line and there are proper eithics to do it right and respectfully. (Im being a bit hipcritical since copying is a pet peve of mine but Ive learned to except and understand it)

Some good advice and thank you. The worse part for me was spending a few hours drawing up sketches and he didnt even mention them. Suddenly he want some other tattoo we never discussed fixed. I ended up telling the guy to get lost after calling the tattoo Artist that did that piece he wanted fixed. The Artist does nice clean work but this guy moved around a lot, and didnt do any of the proper after care, went swimming for hours the next day so scabbed up and lost patches of the tattoo. I believe the Artist from looking at the thing. Hes getting bad mouthed when I can clearly see he is a serious and deidicated artist. Glad I didnt take the job not and I will definatly not forget all this good advice either. thanks all

A customer wanted me to come up with a bunch of designs for a sleve he wants me to do. I took the time to sketch up about 7 different desing ideas based on what he wanted. Free of charge by the way because he is a friend of a friend. lol Anyways I send him all the designs via email and text. I follow up with a "Did you get my designs?" He replies "Yes I got your designs can you fix and clean up the wizard tattoos on my other Arm first.. I told him that I would do my own designs on his other Arm in which I took the time to design. I will also change anything in my deisgns you dont like. However I will not fix up another Artists work. Its insulting to that Artist and insulting to me. I am willing to do a cover up of my work over that tattoo if you can not find that Artist to fix it. But I wont touch up his tattoo as my own. No response back though he has been bad mouthing me as being the disrespectfull asshole. Maybe Im missing something here as I already felt disrespected after doing all those sketches and not even getting a thank you. I am fairly new to tattoos and am learning that dealing with customers is the hardest and worst part of the job. Yet it can be the rewarding part of the job with the right customers.

The latest tattoo I did on an Asian guy that had quite the out look on life. He studies Noam Chonsky and was a Marvel comic book nut. Its fun getting to know people during a tattoo though many dont talk much so its a nice change to get to know how others live thier lives.

Very impressed with your weight loss! I myself am struggling with it and need to do something soon. I like funny and cute tattoos that have meaning. My snoopy watch tattoo is of snoopy hugging the little bird and there are no hands on the watch. There was a time when I was working 18 hours a day 7 days a week. I was obsessed with it. Then I realized I wasnt spending any time with my kids. The watch for me means its time for my kids. I havnt had a real watch since and my kids have also greatly benifited from my life change. If you like a cute and sort of funny tattoo. How about a fit and hip sexy elefant in sunglasses. maybe lifting weights or doing a sport you like. Or maybe with two hot cheatas on his side. Hopefully I have sparked some ideas. Good luck and congrats

The full side view would limit detail compared to the front on horses the bigger the head ofthe horse the more detail can be put into the tattoo. When adding flames I like the one with the black smoke behind it. Black smoke behind and even bits in between flames makes them much more realisitic if that is the look you want. Im also not 100% sure I like the horses flaming tail as that can end up looking like a fart on fire even though it is obvious what it is. The full flame main is not bad either but may look better with some black main showing through or make it look like the main is on fire rather then fire being the main. All personal preference. I also dont like to copy pictures exact and would rather do my own version of those ideas which your Artist may rather do as well.

I tivo the show myself and find it pretty entertaining. Ive been aproached a few times over the years with offers to do reality shows. Actually got as far as post production a couple times. Amazing how many shows get cut just before production or even during production. I feel most sorry for the writers as they work for free until after the show is aired and they are selling commercial spots. It usually takes them a year or two before getting to the post production part. then there is a huge chance it will get cut for what ever reason. Interesting thing I didnt realize before actually being involved with reality TV shows is that 90% of them are Scripted.. I knew a big chunk of them were scripted but really didnt realize how many details are carefully planned out. Just meaningless information though it might help someone out some day if they ever find themselves on a show like this. Knowing what I know I have to wonder how much of the timed tattoos on this show is actually real and true. Anyways I now find myself chewing on a toothpick during tattoos lol

Very touchy subject I have actually been to court for. It use to really bother me when others would not only copy my work. But they would use my actual work for their advertising. Its even trickier with tattoo work as many assume it is all fair game. These are reasons/excuses I have heard. Isnt tattoo flash all about copying other Artists work? (My answer: Yes but I purchased that flash and have permission to use) Anything on the net is fair game! I suppose if you water mark the work then it is an implied copyright of sorts.However some judges will even laugh that out of court. There was a case with Andy Warhol copying a Campbell's soup label. A famous court hearing that apparently changed everything for artists after that. Like when a cover band plays your song. "Its considered a tribute or Artists rendition" Andy Warhol won that case even though his painting was an exact copy of the Soup can. It was considered a tribute/ Artist interpretation. Even under copyright laws it had enough differences to not infringe. Andys Painting was on canvas and not a can, his painting was done with oils and not ink, his was hand painted, his was larger. Thus enough differences that it did not infringe on any copyrights. A copied tattoo may look exact however a good attorney could find the 7 differences. may be 7 lines that are slightly different sized. maybe a different needle or ink brand was used, maybe it was a different size person, with different skin type. "NOT worth fighting as they will find differences". Something even more disgusting is that if the person copying your work posts to a time stamp website or uses in advertising before you. Its considered thier work. "Ive actually been sued for using my own work in my advertising" So be sure to get proof you are the first by posting your work on a site that keeps track of the date posted. There are free copyright sites just for this, also water marks are free as well. Or I believe photobucket, Youtube and other big sites automatically keep track of the dates you post a picture of your work. Sorry to babble so much but I thought maybe this could save an Artist from the hell Ive have to go through.. One last thought is that tattoo customers will many times bring a photo of a tattoo they want. In these cases I do understand how tempting it can be to copy. Especially if your rent is due and the customer wont let you change it. What I tell customers is that I dont copy other Artists work out of respect. But I can design something similar with my Artistic style. (Still copying the premis is unethical in many ways but one can not copyright premis " The concept" ) Thats why when someone created the first feather to bird tattoo a million others had their versions of it. Or the lace face dead women tattoos. Most dont give credit to the originator nor do we usually even know who the first was.) Its all a fine line and letting it eat us up is a waste of time. I try and take it as a compliment and move on

Not quite sure how to post pics here. I was able to post in gallery. Have some learning to do it looks like lol

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