#37817
mike fox
Participant
@mike-fox

i have a few questions regarding the general protocol of the biz…
first, when i came to my tattoo artist i brought a half dozen pieces of source materials: photographs from the internet, photocopies from art books, detailed postcard with logo, etc.
i went over in quite some detail what i was looking for and a week later he had a sketch ready…i really liked his adaptation of what i had talked about, he used a good bit of creativity in coming up with the bird’s shape and energy…however, there are a number of problems that happened during and then after we did the major part of the coloring that has me bothered…
when we were done with the black outline of the initial and started in on the coloring of the flames and beak, he failed to use one of the photographs of the bird i had given him (buried in the back of his drawer) and initially colored in the beak with a tanish color instead of the vibrant red as it was supposed to be and he had to go over it a second time right away…the result was that the beak looks light, almost pinkish (which seems to come up on other parts of the tat, another issue) and doesn’t vibe with the rest, which was a key element in the uniqueness of this particular bird (oh, it’s a new zealand black swan)…
another element he talked about but never asked permission was to leave the color away from the edges in the lower part of the tat, which now that it’s settled in for three weeks honestly looks sloppy as hell since the upper portion is totally filled in…
in addition, the orange that is supposed to be blended with the red looks more like a ‘wash’ and not even close to a solid color, plus somehow some of the red looks pink which i don’t understand at all…
on a color advice and design as well, is there any way to make the feathers ‘pop’ a bit more? in the photographs the feathers are white, and somehow he convinced me that the white ink would look bad and not age well (i think ten years before it ‘yellows’?)…
so, my main question is, if he has made some really pretty bad errors how do i go about discussing these with him and getting him to do the minimum of corrections on his time and his dime since i’ve already paid for professional work to be done and feel he hasn’t lived up to it? or do i ask for a partial refund and get another tattoo artist to fix the snafus? i don’t want cause a super bit of drama since he is a really good friend’s roommate, but i definitely want this fixed right…
oh, and any other design suggestions and corrections from your mind would be greatly appreciated…

#114236
Briscogun
Participant
@briscogun

I know white is a tricky color. I’ve heard of some artists actually using a blue shade instead.

Can you post a pic so we can see?

#114237
Aahzz
Participant
@aahzz

A pic would definitely assist in judging the artist’s work and making a solid recommendation

#114240
mike fox
Participant
@mike-fox

i don’t see any way to post an attachment? should i try and link to a pic? i am new to this forum and greatly appreciate any and all advice…
M

#114241
ArniVidar
Moderator
@arnividar

You can post the pictures in your album in here, then copy/paste the BB code from that picture to a thread, or you can post it on any image hosting site you like and copy their BB code. Direct attachment is not enabled, sorry.

#114249
mike fox
Participant
@mike-fox

i hope this link works for the pics for any suggestions for corrections…
and i’d like to hear from any tat artists as to the protocol of fixing mistakes…
thanks,
M

https://plus.google.com/photos/111701093268295254082/albums/5564866231269659969

#114264
buttwheat
Participant
@buttwheat

tatcorrections1.jpg

Just being honest here. There is much at all that I like about that tattoo.
With that being so far from what you want you should not plan on going back to him. He will never be able to do it to your satisfaction time to move on.

#114273
anonymous
Participant
@anonymous
buttwheat;99071 wrote:
With that being so far from what you want you should not plan on going back to him. He will never be able to do it to your satisfaction time to move on.

Agreed.

He was right about the white though. White tends to just “disappear” into the skin. I try to avoid it in my own tats except for highlights.

#114291
mrchen
Participant
@mrchen

white nearly vanishes once it is healed, all your ink is in your dermal layer, it must be seen thru your skin, your skin makes the white look nearly skin color, unless you have really great paper skin you will not see much white

this tattoo sucks, it is poorly done, line work look like shit, color blending looks like shit, composition, flames, fillagree all look like crap,

so question is, how did you choose this person???……………did you see somethign in their portfolio that made you think they could do a good black swan?………this person appears to have very little talent for tattoo, he should be washing cars or flipping burgers perhaps?

honestly, I couldnt wear this, I would talk to a REAL artist about trying to fix it up , but it would be better off removed and do it right with a good artist,

I am sorry I am so blunt, you deserve good ink for good money, I wanna see you get it, best of luck to you,

#123211
crazyclifford
Guest
@

Hey guys, this is my first reply/question on here. I have similar beef with my new tattoo. I am in the process of getting a wing set 3/4 of the way down my back. The left wing is a “demonic” wing, kind of bat-like. And the right side is an “angelic” wing. This tat represents the struggle between Good & Evil inside me.

Here’s where it gets tricky…

I made an appt for Thursday because he had NO appts the whole day! The deal was for me to come to the shop around 3 and do sketching and concepts, then by 5 when my wife came with the money he would start. Well long story short I began my tattoo at 11:35pm after sitting the from 3:00 watching girls walk in and out and get sat right down and drawn on and take 2 hours to finally decide on what they even wanted and where at! And not to mention I was “put off” and “forgotten about” each time – no more artwork or questions, and he even put his computer on “LOCK” to where the apprentice (who I like very well I might add) and I could no longer use it to find art online. He was then just focusing on the T&A that would come strolling in every hour or two.

Well, by this time I had enjoyed so much free time that I had a completed sketch of what I wanted and more importantly I had the details of how I wanted feathers to be shaped, spikes to be placed, my vertabrae “tips” to be exposed, etc, etc, etc….(yea I know I shouldn’t of had that much time but I can live with wasted time, but not a “bad” tattoo!)

Next, at around 8:45p he randomly asks me to stand while he draws an outline freehanded on me. As i’m standing I begin to wonder how he knows what to draw because I have the sketch in my pants pocket and he hasn’t looked at it yet or had me decide on an exact image yet….hmmm…so I wait until he finally fishes and “wha-lll-aaAAAA!!!!” ….it’s hideous… Yea it was EXACTLY what I “didn’t” have in mind. The feathers were flared out and fluffy looking, not matted like I wanted, it had NO crescent moon shape like I asked, and he had that stupid bone/top piece that for lack of better words: looks odd and out of place and isn’t feather or bone or even gold armor or whatever!! It’s just “there”… I wanted a streamlined wingshape with small deviations only to detail the cascading feathers on the outline. And a lot of other things that now can’t be done, like ripped looking “holes” “in my demonic wing.

As for drawing here’s what happened:

He had the 1st and worst drawn on me, and I nicely told him it wasn’t what I wanted and I didn’t know was drawing the entire outline on me at first. He got a lil irritated and tried telling me that the right wing I drew was a “bird” wing and not an “angel” wing. I started telling him how I wanted it to look and then it happens…My retarded wife get the idea to look at me and him and say, “Dammit Chris you are being the asshole that nobody can please! Just let him do it and stop wasting his time.” YEA, I very well could have slapped her right there where she stood in the parlor. Who is she or him to have anything to say about wastime time? I’m the one who had tp pitch my tent in the shop for 7 hours while did what he wanted ALL DAY LONG to every bimbo (no offense bc normally I like bimbos!! LOL) that randomly showed up. So yea by this point I am slightly upset, but coping….

To make matters worse, when I get done listening to my wife’s fanatic’s I notice that the artist has disappeared and went outside to talk to his friends about BS because I coulsd mostly hear them through the screen door where they were smoking… “Call of Duty this” and “Battlefield 3 that” etc… He comes back to me a half an hour later and decides he has a migraine and wants hurry up! WTF? I didn’t get here at 3 and pay $200 + $35 tip to have a half-a** job.

He reluctantly drew another outline on my back and got it closer to what I wanted, but said that you couldn’t make the feathers like I showed him on my sketch. He also told me he would have to freehand the backbone part. He started the tattoo and OMG it hurt on my sides and ribcage. It’s large and I sat through the whole outline and partial shading and had to stop around 1 am. When I looked at it I hated it but in too much shock to say much other than “ok”.

He has done about half of it, got several things wrong, it sloppy and plain, has no color or places for color except the middle for the exposed skin, did it bigger and farther down than his original proposal, and didn’t listen to a **** word I said about what “I” wanted, only gave me shit about it. He tattooed stars on my wifes side the next night and we had a sketch of the exact layout and style we wanted. She even wanted it exactly bc “I” drew it. Did it turn out like that? No, he rearranged the stars, (he said that layout had wouldn’t work bc it would be on her hipbone, then goes and puts his design on her hipbone any-F’ing-way! Hell, that was the ONLY reason we “couldn’t use the layout in the first place!)

I get the feeling that he was intimidated of MY artwork and ill towards me as a form of insult that I used all the time he gave me to “out do” him or something.. Call me crazy but…oh yea they do call me that!

So my question is:

How do I approach him about it?

Do I ask him to fix it? —->I’m VERY worried that “he” is not capable of “fixing it”, if it even can be =^(

Should ask for a refund? Partial refund? —> he is only 1/2 done and still owes me for work/money and I don’t WANT his “work”.

What are my rights?

I will also try to get some pics posted so you guys can bear witness as well as hear my testamony. Any advice will be appreciated as I am NOT looking forward to getting any more ink put on me by this barbarian.

#123215
anonymous
Participant
@anonymous

You don’t have any rights other than finding another artist to finish/fix what he started. If he sucks, there’s no approach that is going to make him any better. Next time pick a better artist.

#123230
GrayCatLove
Participant
@graycatlove
crazyclifford;109231 wrote:
How do I approach him about it?

Do I ask him to fix it? —->I’m VERY worried that “he” is not capable of “fixing it”, if it even can be =^(

Should ask for a refund? Partial refund? —> he is only 1/2 done and still owes me for work/money and I don’t WANT his “work”.

Let’s say you order a hamburger at a restaurant. The waiter was slow and the food was cold and tasted terrible. However, rather than send it back, you wolf down the whole thing. You can’t use a service entirely and then complain it’s bad. You had many chances to say, “I’ll take my business elsewhere.” You knew he was not a particularly good artist. However, you still chose to use him, and allowed him to tattoo a design you approved. Too late.

$200 is VERY cheap for such a large tattoo – I have a 6″x8″ tattoo, and it was $200. Warning bells should have gone off.

Quote:
What are my rights?

You have the right to be an intelligent, careful consumer. If it were me, I would (politely) ask about getting a partial refund, but be aware he doesn’t owe you squat. Anything he does like that is simply good business practice.

#123232
ArniVidar
Moderator
@arnividar

I would say that the lesson you need to take from this is to listen to your instincts. Sadly, you did not, despite knowing full well that you were in for a world of trouble.

Don’t make the same mistake again. Find a better artist to try to salvage what you’ve got.

And yes, please share some pics with us.

Viewing 13 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)

You must be logged in to create new topics.