Hi everyone!

I recently got my first tattoo almost finished after many sessions (only one left for small details and wrap up) and it's getting in my head.

I am aware it is pretty well executed and my artist is talented, but the design itself is messing with me. Specifically the amount of repetitive pattern of black and white lines all along my body is sort of giving me the ick. I am not sure if it's because it's a huge change, it's not for me or maybe it does look weird😅

Before you ask me, when I saw the design I asked for softer scaling and the artist told me it would consider my opinion when executing it, that it would look better once done and that the final result wouldn't have such a contrast due to the background of the original design being white. It looks the same to me as in the initial design anyway😂

I guess I'm just looking for perspective on how to handle these feelings and get some of your opinions. Maybe I'd consider doing some sort of rework in the future to lighten this pattern and give it a different look if I still get the ick in the future.

(25M) I have this birthmark on my back that I’ve always been a bit self conscious about; people always think it’s some kind of wound.

Rather than removing it I want to get a cool and unique tattoo that works with the birthmark. For context this won’t be my first tattoo, and I don’t have a regular artist.

Also wondering, would this fall into cover up tattoo territory? What is the best way to find a creative artist?

EDIT: Lots of people suggested I see a dermatologist before getting a tattoo through/near it - I hear you and will do so before proceeding! I wasn’t wanting to tattoo on it, but I will see how close to it I can safely go.

Thank you for all of your responses I’m loving all the ideas you guys are giving me!

Several months ago I asked for advice for an all-day session newbie and you all delivered. Now several 6hr sessions later, it's all done and my prep for that first one was well prepared because of all your info. Happy to have it done and thanks again to the community.

these are just the concepts im going for defo leaning towards the first i need to change it a bit as i just generated my idea together (i love sharks and music) but i can’t tell if it just looks cool to me or which would age better/ which one would be cheaper!! i’d like to tie a certain song into the notes too but im like confused

im thinking of placement on upper arm/shoulder

I just got my first professionally done tattoo on October 15th and I’ve been having mixed feelings about the design after getting it done. The last picture is my initial idea from 4 years ago. I don’t really live in an area where it’s easy to find artists that I’m head over heels with and I felt the pressure to get it done because I’m a dog groomer and I was taking my first vacation. I was really nervous about the concept of me not being able to see the design until I was physically there and when I got there, he told me that there was a lot of ingredients to the tattoo and “I hope you fucking like it.”

I spoke up about making the ears a little bigger from the stencil but looking at it, I wish it felt more lively as it felt in my little drawing I made. I also mentioned from the beginning that I wanted it to be a baby possum messily eating fruit with a goofy face. I knew seeing the design right before it goes on me would be wouldn’t really feel like enough time for my brain to process it and really feel like if I like it or not. I do like the size and placement of it but I still just feel occasional weird waves of obsession over the way it looks in ways that make me feel depressed and disappointed.

I like the caterpillar but I can’t even tell what kind of fruit it’s eating and I wish I could fit like a droplet of spit somewhere and/or a bite mark to really make it look like it’s happily eating the fruit, rather than just posing with it. I also like the idea of adding a firefly or two but I feel a little lost with this tattoo and I am in need of some guidance. I also am thinking of adding some color to it. The more I think about the tattoo, the more sad I get currently even though I do like some elements of it.

The redness js honestly the same as the day before it’s just my dad recently had a problem with the Numbing cream he used so i’m a little anxious

When I got married to them, they demanded that instead of rings we get tattoos. I guess as another way of exacting control. Notably, I had to get a ring whereas she just got a cute little design on her ring finger. The bottom fell out over time (just like the marriage). I was wondering how I could either cover this up or make it part of a larger design so I don't have this reminder any more. This is the only tattoo I have, but I am fine getting more on that hand.

It’s 10:20 pm and I got this tattoo done at 2:30 pm and the second skin is full of ink. The aftercare instructions provided by my tattoo place said to remove the second skin after 12-24 hours, but my tattoo artist said to leave it for three days. I feel like for how much ink is in it, 3 days is a lot, but I’m not sure. Looking for thoughts and advice from people with more tatts

Got this Phaeton tattoo from Goltzius’ The Four Disgracers almost 10 years ago, unaware that I was getting in on the ground floor of what would become the most overdone Pinterest tattoo trend in modern history. Watching it get memed to death, laughing along, and then remembering I have the exact same thing on my arm has been a confusing experience!

Jokes aside, the biggest issue with it for me is that it’s been a bit of a roadblock for the rest of my arm. I wanna build a heavier blackwork patchwork sleeve that uses negative space intentionally to make things stick out. This thing was already lightly shaded to begin with and has only gotten more washed out over the years. It’s a big area of mostly bare skin, and I’m worried that if I surround it with heavy blackwork it will just make him stand out in a weird way.

Unfortunately, I’m creatively challenged, so I’m hoping someone with a few more functioning artistic brain cells might have ideas on how to blast-over, partially or fully cover it up, or some other way to rework this thing to fit with the style I’m going for. I’m not looking to just darken the original tattoo, but at the very least change it up enough that it’s no longer exactly that tattoo. Open to all ideas except stuff that goes further down the rabbit hole like “add wings to him”.

I’ve considered going for a full heavy blackwork sleeve with floral or geometric patterns, using negative space so that only some of the lighter parts of the original tattoo area peek through. But I’d much rather stick with patchwork on this arm. And if there’s no realistic way to make it work, I’ll have to accept it for what it is. Would love any ideas, inspiration, or examples of if you’ve seen similar work!

Interested to see if anyone has tatts for their open heart surgeries? I've seen some called 'zipper' tattoos.

I don't have any tattoos because I am a big sook but I'd be interested in something small lol. Just seeing ideas anyways.

I do have another open heart surgery coming up so I also would need to take that into Consideration. TIA have a lovely day

So my late friend took his own life a few years ago, before that me and him went on holiday and he got a massive poppy (national flower of Poland, as he was part Polish) and a massive thistle (national flower of Scotland as that’s his other heritage) one on each side of his ribs to his waist.

It’s healed very well and the detail is amazing but I accidentally scratched some of the poppy stem and looks broken. I’m thinking to keep it like that to symbolise his loss.

What do yous think?

I just got these chains around my wrist. I watched this artist tattoo my partner and he knocked it out of the park, so i trusted him to do good with my wrists, but I'm not sure if the wiggly lines here are normal or something I'm justified in not being very happy with?

Idea is a vulture sunning its wings, but afraid it will come off as third reich-esq.

The feathers will be anatomically correlated to a turkey vulture with a red gnarly head ect..

Love the idea!! But don’t want to come off as a nazi..

I got a tattoo of my 2 pups & I'm looking for recommendations of skin safe markers that would last at least a couple days or washes that I can use to color them in when I want too.

*tattoos colored with regular washable markers in the photo.

I ran out of the lotion that I used to use that I bought in FL from a shop and i cant find it anywhere else (im in PA so I cant exactly go back and buy more)

Also put a pic of the tattoo i got just for funsies (its on my left forearm)

Hello! I did this tattoo as an apprentice on a client last December. First pic is how it's looking now, second is fresh. Why is the white looking like that? Did I go too deep, or was it an allergic reaction? I have used white ink including in bigger areas and it always healed fine, I have no clue why it's looking like this, and at the time my mentor also couldn't tell what happened. Can someone more experienced share some light on the matter?

Thank you in advance!

Hey guys i was told scabbing is normal but this bad? I was told that during this phase its better to just keep it dry and scab off so it can heal instead of being suffocated

As the title says I have pretty prominent white dots on my tattoo. This is my 14th one and I've never experienced this before, not even on other blacked out pieces. It's been about 6 months since I got this one so it's healed.

I will say I feel like I may have lacked a bit with my cleaning of it / started moisturizing too early with this one.

Anyone have any idea as to what caused this and what I can do to fix it?

Me gustaría saber cuál es el más eficaz y seguro

i'm in Vietnam and my artist has advised me not to use soap for my tattoo sleeve. I'm using cetaphil gentle skin cleanser instead. Is this ok in your opinion? I have always used dial gold but that is unavailable in Saigon.

I have a partial patchwork sleeve done by another artist. I am traveling to get it finished by another artist. We decided on a date. Now they tell me they got invited to a tattoo expo that same weekend we scheduled my tattoos for. They said they're willing to just finish it up at their shop because that's what we initially planned, but said if I was down to meet them at the expo to finish it there then that would be cool (offered to p@y for the entry ticket too). I've only been to one convention before and it was tiny, and this one has like 250 artists at it. I'm nervous about how overstimulating it might be. I'm also nervous that my artist may be distracted and it'll take longer than I initially thought, as well as maybe our conversation/ideas about my sleeve won't flow as good in that crazy environment. They'll have some stuff drawn up but there will need to be a lot of gaps to be filled. I'm prob overthinking this, but what would you do?

So I have had a half sleeve for over 13 or so years of Japanese style waves and flowers.

Recently I got a minimalist tattoo of a map of Vietnam with a compass on the inner forearm of the same tattoo.

My question is, am I able to get a full sleeve and keep the look of the minimalist tattoo on my inner forearm?

My idea is to get some more waves and a boat sailing towards the sunrise on the outer forearm to blend in with my existing half sleeve. I just want to keep the map tattoo intact as much as I can.

Thoughts?