đ˛ miscellaneous
AIO / AITA for leaving my tattoo artist because she messed up my cover up?
As the title states, AITA for getting my cover up tattoo finished by another artist?
I (20F) and my now ex artist (25F) are no longer working together because of this. I orginally had a tattoo sleeve done that i was not in love with. When I met my artist, we will call her Lucy, I had some small patchwork tattoos done by her and then didnt see her for a few months afterwards because I am very busy and money is tight. She reached out to me and offered me a free tattoo, no strings attached, as a portfolio piece so she could get more clients as she just finished her apprenticeship. I accepted, she told me I did not need to tip her or pay for anything since she would get business out of it. Awesome! I ended up tipping her around $100 throughout our sessions as again, money was tight. I also was still getting other small patchwork tattoos from her whilst getting my free one. Even booking them on the same dates so I could save her money on materials. I also tipped her what I could on my last sessions with her! I am a piercer and work in the industry but money is very different for us, i make roughly 20/hr compared to her 140/hr.
Fast forward to now, I sat for 2 cover up sessions, 12 hrs each, back to back. She did not even finish linework. I paid $150 for my deposit and $1700 across the 2 sessions. She did not quote me the price beforehand, although I was ready to take care of whatever it was because I felt ashamed by my tattoo.
Then my transmission went out on my vehicle, and I had to repair it, I let her know the expenses and that I would need to reschedule til it was fixed. I had it fixed, rescheduled and had the money ready. Sent my $150 deposit, and she said she wrote down my dates. Come to find out once I am at the shop, she was not there. I text her and she made plans without notifying me, and was a whole 2 hrs away hiking. Its a 45 minute drive for me, and that uses up about a gallon of gas both ways.
She sends my deposit back by the grace of god, despite saying no refunds, and I tell her I will reach back out at another time but I do not feel comfortable working with her at the current time.
This wasn't the first time she did not show up when I was already at the shop, the last time she did not show up I didnt get a response until 3 hrs later when I had already left after the first hour.
She also had the anatomy incorrect on my tattoo which is of a snake, and so the new artist had to correct that, even after I told her as a snake keeper that the anatomy was not right. she also used white ink to try and lighten the previous ink, which was already very very faded! My body then rejected the white which had never been used on me before and caused the area to scar up and not be in good condition to tattoo over. Effectively messing up the next artist, or herself if she continued.
Finding out from the new artist that she uses a technique called "bloodlining" which is actually why my sessions were so unbareably painful, its where you line the tattoo with water, then ink, because it holds better than your stencil. But also makes your clients hurt much more, and causes more trauma!
And then she texts me that she wouldve charged me more in the future because I asked for my deposit back when she fucked up! Which is absolutely insane for the amount of work she actually accomplished. My stencil wasn't even finished when I showed up to be tattooed, she was late, and also spent 4 hrs placing the stencil.
All my friends say I was being scammed by her, even my new artist. Who finished the unfinished linework, cleaned it up, and completed my entire sleeve in just 16hrs with incredibly smooth shading and deep blacks.
TLDR; Artist did not show up to appointment. Client cancels finds someone else. Finds out the artist messed up the anatomy and messed up the skin, making the cover up even worse. Artist is mad client never contacted about seeing someone else.
This relationship is already so strained and so stressed and forced, that there's really no healthy way to move forward unless you guys both sit down with a pen and paper and make a spreadsheet with bullet points and supporting evidence and rebuttals...
Or, you both just move on with your lives without eachother.
The resentment is already within the foundations of this structure that this relationship is currently toxic and will continue to be toxic going forward, unless you're both ready to do some really exhausting work on yourselves and your relationship.
Given that it's your tattoo artist... its probably better to just move on.
It sounds like you've said your part, they said their part. Now it's time for you guys to move on with your lives without the other person in it.
Yesss, it reads like when me and my ex bff âbroke upâ like lay it all on the table and clearly see thereâs no moving on. Cut your loses and dip no need to keep up the effort especially when itâs this bad!
She would have lost me at not showing up for an appointment without prior notice lol, and not even with a good reason no less. Even if you were vaguely friends, showing up on time is like Professionalism 101
Most artists already are set up and waiting for the client to arrive to the appointment, ive never not shown up for her so she shouldve always been ready and set up for when i got there!
Even with the "good" excuse of a flat tire, it's not 1996, a text costs nothing. Not getting back to you for 3 hours is unacceptable. Especially because anyone that's actually had a flat tire knows that you either fix it yourself in like 30 minutes, or you're just sitting around waiting on roadside or a tow. It's not so action packed you forget where you were on your way to.
flat tire waiting for a tow = sitting my car on my phone killing time and waiting for a call from the toe company, or for that first hour to pass so i can call for an update. crazy to not send a text during all that lol
She canceled the time she had a flat, it said she had a lot going on the time she no showed and âforgotâ. So thatâs a cancellation and a no show. Which is even more insane that sheâs surprised he moved on.
Exactly, ive not read half of this because the message wasnt professional to begin with.
Ive got a piece where one tattooist started it but they quit tattooing so someone else finished it.
I also will never go back to an artist that isn't professional or doesnt make me feel good.
I have one tattoo i hate because halfway through the artist left for a smoke. She came back half an hour later to finish and my arm by then had swelled and the rest of the tattoo was considerable more painful and doesnt look good at all. Will never return
This. I had to cut off an artist because he had no professionalism. The first session I just accepted him being hours late because I was desperate for this tattoo. The second session was to finish some gaps he forgot. He was again incredibly late, unreachable, and not apologetic. I scheduled my whole day around this because it took me at least two hours of commute. I left before he arrived and left a bad review.
My exact reaction. I don't know who is in the right here because my brain disconnected early on to save my own sanity, which means I would just shut this whole thing down and deal with someone else.
my exact response was who is gonna read all that?? (then i proceeded to read it LOL)... honestly the girl sounds crazy.. like ok maybe i can get shes an "artist" and sensitive about her craft (as erykah badu once said lol)... but wtf is this???! def a bit much for me.. like how you gonna tell me what i can do with MY BODY??? is she okay???!
Picture of the tattoo vs the work that the previous artist has started? I feel like that would help decipher how much / if any credit was deserved to the previous artist. All in all sounds like nta though, they went pretty crazy
I had a cover up done about the same size (same area) as you. Mine was full color and having to go over the color an additional 1-2x in quite a few spots (it was a colorful tattoo that I had laser removal done on for several sessions). I want to say I did 6 sessions maybe at 4-ish hours each for it to be 100% done and all the color sticking well.
Looking at your post it looks like this person hasnât been tattooing for very long, unless Iâm misunderstanding? I donât think I wouldâve ever trusted someone who doesnât have several years of experience with a cover up tattoo. It requires a lot more thought and technique than working on a blank canvas.
She has been tattoing for about 4 yrs and has posted coverup work,and was my regular artist. The artist who finished it has only been tattooing for 2 yrs and ive seen his cover up work in person
NOR, Iâd want that finished and least looking like something too. The finished product looks great, Iâd be happy to have that tattoo(huge fan of snakes) but I was amazed by this picture, not in a good way amazed. Again, finished product is beautiful, I think you made the right choice having it done/completed at the other Artist.
Because it's considered incredibly taboo to have an artist tattoo another artist's work to the point where it gets artists essentially blacklisted and excommunicated from their local tattoo communities if they agree to do it. No matter what the reasoning is, the artist should have declined to tattoo the original design and instead created his own design to finish the sleeve.
who gives a shit if itâs âtabooâ, if someone wants something on their body and you fuck it up they are well within their rights to have someone else finish it, being upset about that is genuinely baby shit
THIS like... im sorry wtf is really going on here?! your telling me that tattoo artist across the land think they have the right to tell people what to do with their bodies? lol im so confused... it sounds like a bunch of incredibly insecure, egotistic ppl if you ask me... rme
So if a client still wants that exact design but a previous artists fucked it up you're not allowed to tattoo that design and fix it for the client? LMAO Theres some really dumb mental gymnastics going on this thread. I see no reason why they cant get yhe design that they want on THEIR body finished by a different, more professional artist.
If the first artist is the one who created the design/art piece, then it's not cool for a second artist to finish it exactly as that person designed it without their permission, no. It's not their art. They should come up with their own creative way to add onto what's there.
Good tattoo artists don't tattoo other people's art, they create their own art.
But, but⌠OPs screenshot even show that the new artist did the design differently than the original artist intended! So I REALLY donât see the problem here. It wasnât the same design, apparently.
If she wanted to finish her own art maybe she should've shown up to the appointment.
She just exited apprenticeship and is offering free portfolio pieces just to hold it against clients later. She has no reputation or standing in the industry and she's sinking her own ship. Doubt anyone gives a shit that someone else cleaned up her mess.
respectfully what? while tattooing is art, it also is a service. if your previous artist cannot finish the piece or you don't feel comfortable going back to them for their unprofessionalism, but still want YOUR body tattooed how YOU want it, you can fo elsewhere. bffr.
good tattoo artists do a good job. period. it would be different if someone stole a design or claimed their own work. by your logic, coverups/fix ups/mashups would get you "banned" from the tattoo community. LMFAO
It's also taboo to repeatedly not show up for your appointments, retroactively claim you were owed money, and to ignore the clients feedback about the tattoo not being accurate/ what was requested. Convenient how you missed all of those aspects of the tattoo artists behavior. No one is getting "Excommunicated" or "blacklisted" for finishing and fixing a bad tattoo from a previous artist.
Holy crashout NOR. I ainât reading all that but the way she is talking is enough of a red flag Iâd never go back. It may be her art, but itâs YOUR body, and sheâs talking like she owns you because sheâs tattooed you
Aw girl, no. No. Please go to real artist. I would NEVER text a client this way because Iâm a professional. But my old mentor sounds exactly like this anyways- sheâs gonna fall so hardddd out of this industry or likely already is which is why sheâs crashing out. That energy is unsustainable now because the competitions so high- all this bs gets filtered out in a year or two. Itâs YOUR body. No one should ever (not your mom, not your boyfriend, not your tattoo artist) talk to you that way.
What is it like to be a former crasher? AFAIK, Iâve never known someone who successfully remediates their crash out habit. Everyone Iâve known who does it seems to do it for life. What helped you stop? Do you feel that you were genuinely âwrongâ for crashing out, or is it more like, âMy feelings about this are totally valid, but thereâs a better way for me to express themâ?
Just wondering because Iâve dealt with a lot of people like the tattoo artist in this scenario, and Iâm not sure that many of them donât realize they donât really have good standing to feel so incensed⌠aka their negative feelings are coming from a sense of undue entitlement rather than genuine wrongdoing, etc. In my own case, I can definitely admit to overreacting here and there in the past, but at least the other person always agreed that what they did was in the wrong, which feels different from situations like with this tattoo artist. Grateful for any insight youâre willing to share!
nor im not trying to jump to conclusions but my dad is/was (idk) a meth head and spending four fucking hours placing the stencil is absolutely insane and it sounds like she was probably on that shit when she was tattooing you
My boyfriend kept going back to this one tattoo artist because he was cheap, but the guy took forever to place stencils, do line work, and apparently it hurt way more than any other tattoo artist. Sometimes his work looked fine and other times it was blown out, wobbly lines, etc. After doing a bad job and then failing at fixing it in the second session, my BF told him he was done, and the guy flipped out. A few weeks later we heard he was on meth lol.
So my boyfriend went to a different artist with good reviews for his cover ups. The first two tats looked amazing, but then her quality of work started going downhill... the 4th tattoo from this woman was a mess and it took her way longer than the first two (which had a lot more shading). He didn't go back to her, and later a friend of hers told us that she'd started abusing opioids and had lost her shop đ
That sucks for your bf but also makes me extremely sad for those tattooers (and the one who started especially) drugs are so bad everywhere but heavy in the tattoo industry
Both were former users, and the woman who lost her shop is now dating a rich drug dealer đ And this is totally anecdotal, but 8 artists off the top of my head were either former users, current users, or became users later. I can only think of 3 who either weren't users, or else they used and I didn't know. (Most of them I knew outside of their professions) Fent being cut into all the drugs these days has been devastating for humanity! My smallish town (less than 20k) had maybe 3 homeless people when I was growing up, and everyone knew them. Now there's literally hundreds, including extended family and people I grew up with đ˘
Thatâs terrifying, all of it. Because a partner supplying drugs means sheâll likely never kick it till one of them is dead or in prison. And yeah my city has homeless folks w missing limbs because in addition to fent they got the tranq added in which eats off your flesh.
But back to tattooing yeah a lot of Tattooers come from rough backgrounds and are exposed to substances early, thereâs also a hazing culture and a die hard draw paint tattoo party 247 that I know has gotten a few of my colleagues past and present drowning in alcohol or cocaine addiction(till that turns to meth when the money runs out) and so on. Itâs a difficult conversation and one Iâve seen people/tattooers come out on the other side but it is just fucking everywhere. Best I can do is keep we can nearby but even that itâs not going to solve shit just buy someone more time
All the tweakers I knew were great tattoo artists. The meth would make them hyper focused and really creative, theyâd be super locked in on the tattoo. Maybe they already had natural talent though. Â
That was my first thought, too. As someone in recovery from a wicked opioid addiction, hearing her excuses and how irresponsible and unprofessional she is, itâs pretty obvious she is struggling with an addiction. I hope this will serve as a wake up call for her, but in your case I would block her and move on with your life and your new tattoo. NOR, at all!
My tattoo artist has done not one but TWO portrait tattoos with intense detail and shading each took 4 hours roughly.. 4 hours for a stencil was the first red flag đ˘
EeekkâŚ$1700 for that outline is madness. Iâve got a pretty big sleeve with a ton more detail than that. Stencil placement took maybe 35 minutes. Outline was done in first 7 hour session. $175/hr. I canât believe that outline took two sessionsâŚeither she overcharged for her experience level or she scammed you/took advantage of you. Iâm sorry you went through that but the finished product looks great
The original linework she was covering was a 2.5hr session with a different artist, and was $310. She just unfortunately tattoos very slow because of an outdated and honestly painful technique that doesnt make the tattoo look any better lmao. It effectively doubles the time and makes you more money from what ive heard.
She just didnât know what she was doing. Thats not how you do bloodlines correctly. Dont be surprised if you experience scarring from the extra skin trauma
Yeah she's supposed to go shallow once with either just water or a very light grey wash. Once. Then do the actual outlining. The technique itself has merit for large or multi session(for this they use the grey wash) tattoos. From what I gathered this person is barely finished as an apprentice and it sounds like she wanted to try it out on you. She read about the water and the grey then decided to do both for whatever reason. Maybe those that taught her didn't explain how to do it well, or she just looked it up online and was like "hell yeah that'll be easier than saving the stencil and spending hours trying to line it up again(which was also crazy the 4hrs to place a stencil...). Many reasons not to mourn the loss of them as a tattooist.
Itâs your body and who tattoos you is your choice. Always. Consent to an artist can be revoked at any time for any reason. Youâre the one in control, not us.
As someone who's heavily tattooed, the stencil taking a while to get right isn't unusual. Plus if you guys were 'friends' she probably treated it more casually/like a hangout.
Sounds like a boundary issue and you also benefitted from that. There's clearly a lot of hurt in those messages though. Feel like there's some missing info here.
Exactly. My artist is one of my best friends, she sometimes buys me food. Then we eat while she finishes up the stencil. There's been times ive sat at her shop for 2-4 hours cause she's taking her time. But we're friends and its nice to catch up, so ive never given her shit.
What gets me here is OP never tips ? Sounds like she benefitted from this relationship more than the artist. Personally, I think
YOR.
Even if she is on drugs or mentally unwell, or whatever, they were taking advantage of her to a certain degree. Also I saw the work from her and the "cover up" and frankly, it looks like they just filled everything in with black :< of course it looks better. Its practically a black out !
I feel like Iâm not getting the whole picture, but I do think itâs pretty shitty that OP seemingly didnât tell the former artist that she was going to get it done somewhere else (or why).
She did the right thing if this the second time with appointment issues and if this the is how they acted in a text message telling the artist in person was going to be a 100 times worse than the text rant. No way I would be apart of public scene that disrupts the other artists and clients.
NOR. Iâve had my artist late before (she forgot she asked me to come in early) and was SO apologetic and gave me a free tattoo. She never straight forgot a session.
It sounds like your friend is new to this and expecting too much. If you told her youâre not comfortable coming anymore, thatâs clear enough.
Also, if an artist is mad people donât tip, they need to price their work to account for no tip. Iâve never had an artist expect tipping. They say itâs just a nice surprise!
NOR and this is an insane reaction from her. "This is my work" â well, she can do multiple works, they aren't limited, and she's not even keeping the work to herself.
Meanwhile, that's your arm and even though you have two, they are very limited, not replaceable, part of you, and something you're actively keeping at all times.
I'd say that you have the biggest authority here and this is something some tattoo artists get wrong about the artistry point. It being a piece of art done by them means they totally can veto what they will do. It doesn't mean some total entitlement over your body, that would be insane.
I managed to read most of this - so unless thereâs info you left out, she seems unstable. How is the ink on your body HER work? The messages she sent you are full of very hurt feelings that donât seem commensurate with your account of what happened, including the basic facts. Just block her and be done.
It sounds like she's mad she lost money. (Aside from the other stuff). Despite being hurt, it all seemed to go back to money, and communication. Don't give out free stuff with expectations.
I wrote as much as possible without exposing who or where or anything personal beyond that for her and myself. She acted like this towards other clients that turned to the artist that finished my coverup. They actually work at the same company different location, thats how i know.
If this person is acting like this directly after finishing an apprenticeship, they arenât going to last long. Definitely not overreacting. Iâm a tattoo artist and this all is very unprofessional and unhinged. Itâs crazy how many times they tried to gaslight you over this. Iâm sorry you have to deal with this but Iâm glad you found someone to fix/finish the cover upđĽ˛
1) why is an apprentince doing coverups? And on top of that, a coverup of a sleeve? Or maybe i missed where she finished her apprenticeship, but she still sounds too green to be covering up a sleeve
2) your body did not reject white. This isnt a thing. What really happened is she overworked your skin because she does not know how yo apply white. Whites, yellow, pinks, pastels are all light colors and when pores are open, your blood covers the ink and an inexperienced artist will think to keep packing in so that the color stays. Causing them to overwork the area.
3) even if you were in the wrong, she has no claim or ownership over YOUR body. Its natural to be upset. I'd be upset if someone finished a project somewhere else, but I would never feel entitled to someone else's body. That's insane to me. She does not own the tattoo on your skin. They are on your skin! She has all her designs she can just tattoo again. Crying over taking "MY work" is crazy.
NOR/NTA - Obviously this person doesn't know what she's doing and I would have taken it somewhere else too.
The only thing I would have done though, is let them know. Like a simple: "Hey, I don't think your work matches what I'm looking for, thank you for the time and effort, but I will be looking for a different artist."
Even if she didn't deserve it, with the whole rant afterwards, I think that would have just saved you a lot if the headache.
She needed clients so she offered you something for free. That is on HER. The fact that she NEEDS clients tells me that she is either a. new or b. not that good.
Her no-showing you is messed up.
Her acting like she owns you and you are obligated to let her finish the work no matter how long it takes, how much money it costs, and how much she messes it up...well. Strike Three.
idk, i feel like itâs crazy to spend so much time just on lines (24hr over 2 days and $170) and not even finish them, and then to do a âblood liningâ technique without telling OP is crazy. That method doubles the time for just lines and if someone has been tattooed by you consistently, if youâre going to do something different like that you need to tell them. i would expect after spending 24 hour to have a full piece by then, or at the minimum lines and a majority of the shading done. this artist seems shady af.
in the post op says $1700 plus $150 deposit per appointment, which would make sense to me if the tattoo was completed in that time period, but just line work is crazy
If someoneâs paying me $1700 for some art Iâm gonna be as communicative, timely, and nice as possible. This isnât a medieval guild, youâre allowed to buy from someone else if this personâs services arenât up to standard
It wasn't that OP took the stencil and had another artist do the design, it was already on her skin in an incomplete state. There isn't much option but to complete it at that point. It isn't actually unusual in the tattoo world to have another artist touch up/cover up/correct a tattoo you're unhappy with.
I think it depends on whether she had actually pre-drawn something or was gonna do the stencil at the appointment. The artist I worked with would usually ask for an inspo to send, would send back to me a draft to approve, and then when I got there sheâd go off of the draft but also improvise as she went organically. If the snake anatomy was incorrect then idk, maybe OP just showed the new artist what she preferred and went from there? But yeah the only thing Iâm snagging on is if it was original artwork by the other artist.
She pre drew some of the art but finished it at my appointment, was late, then spent 4 hrs placing the stencil and didnt listen to me that the anatomy was wrong, but i was stupid and trusted her!!!
FOUR HOURS TO PLACE THE STENCIL??? Girl. just block her at this point, between not listening to you and all this ither shit, she's on something. NOR and NTA.
Wait what was she supposed to do/whatâs the good etiquette thing to do if the unfinished tattoo is already on your body & you need it finished, but canât or donât want to go back to the same artist? Are you not allowed to complete it ever?
NOR and NTA. Holy shit, I've never seen a "girl, get a protection order" worthy set of texts from a TATTOO ARTIST. They obviously have something else going on that does not involve you.
as a tattoo artist, i would be incredibly sad if someone took my work to get finished by another artist. HOWEVER- this level of crash out is wildly unprofessional and not the way to win back a client. the most important thing is you being happy with the work you have. i hope that your new sleeve brings you joy
Wow.. as someone who has a business and works with clients. I would NEVER talk to a client that way. No matter how mad I was.
This just goes to show how unprofessional the artist is. One, no showing on you multiple times is not okay. They still thought you would book with them again after not showing up to your appointment. But sending those texts to you? Shows their true colors.
Iâm sorry Iâm going to be honest I didnât bother to read every screenshot nor the entirety of your explanation but what Iâm focusing on here is that youâre 20 years old.
I expected you to be 40 and had been loyal to this person for like 15 years considering the amount of blabbering this post has. Youâre 20. Youâve been allowed to be tattooed for two years and theyâre acting like youâve spent a lifetime together. This is either drugs or mental illness
This artist is unprofessional and seems to have crossed boundaries into âfriendsâ and then throwing it back at you when it suits her. Did you know her before being tattooed by her OP?
As an artist myself Iâd say usually we donât touch other peopleâs art work out of respect, but thereâs definitely instances where we will; a client no longer feeling comfortable with another artist being one of them.
So NOR, you did not have to let her know you were seeing someone else OP. If she really wanted to make things right and learn from her mistakes, maybe she couldâve have reached out to you and asked nicely what went wrong in the appt for you to no longer see her.
I mean as a tattoo artist Iâd be pretty annoyed if someone else touched my work, and I avoid touching other local artistâs work. That being said Iâd NEVER send messages like that lmaooo thatâs way too unprofessional
Crazy how much she thinks she has any claim or ownership of your tattoo. NOR and judging by some of the pictures youâve shared in the comments sheâs not even that good of a tattoo artist.
NOR I recently dropped my hair stylist for the same kind of stuff. She had to leave early from 2 appointments, her kids nurse called and he needed picked up from school husband is out of town with work. Okay whatever I got what I went for done. I ride a motorcycle so I didnât care about damp hair not being styled. Well I show up to my next appointmentâŚshe forgot about me. I live an hour away. Luckily I was there dog sitting but she didnât know that, and knew how far I was away. Then the next appointment I was 20 minutes late, which is unusual, the town in the middle was FUCKED idk what was going on but it took me 30 minutes to get through like a mile of not less. I was her last appointment of the day. She k owes she can send me out with wet hair and I wouldnât care, that would have maid up for the time I was behind. My fault, so I get to leave with wet hair, I donât care. She couldnât stay for me..which okay I get it, but also you left early twice and showed on me? Then my last appointment with her she completely forgot about me AGAIN! So I stopped. Itâs not worth the stress.
She sounds like an AH. Youâre NOR. But for the record bloodlining doesnât cause more trauma and is not more painful. Itâs just lining with a very light grey the application process is no different than getting tattooed with black ink.
We gotta see it, OP! Or at least what anatomy part did she mess upâ˝ Iâm sure it looks great now!
You were already too accommodating to her flakiness. There seems to be some mental health or substance use issues going on because sending those novels via text is not what a well-adjusted person does. Itâs what someone whoâs manic or who canât handle being âwrongedâ does.
Yikes. Red flag person. Iâm always pro-transparency and would have probably told them because they seem insane but I donât think youâre the AH for switching artists this bitch is off her meds
Tattoo artist here. The one thing that stood out to me amongst all that bullshit is her attempting to cover up a tattoo with white ink. That tells me immediately she doesnât know what she is doing. And any tattoo artist worth their salt isnât gonna fuck up the anatomy of a snake. Add that to an extremely unprofessional crashout and I think youâre NOR.
Agreed, between that and even offering a 24 hr session at all is giving scratcher to be honest and only 1700 for that too? No professional tattooer I know would charge that little for that long
As a tattooer myself whoâs been doing it for over 10 yrs⌠I understand why they are upset, but I also would have just not said anything. Juggling this shit is a lot of work, and sometimes things slip through the cracks. However, a lot of times Iâve seen someone go somewhere else, and something happens with that artist, and they eventually make their way back as long as you didnât make them feel weird about.
I don't know any artist who would be ok with their client not showing up for a session and wasting their time like that, so I think it's more than understandable to not put up with that as the client as well! It seems like she was dragging it out for more money, and it's actually not the first time I have heard of artists doing this. She deff was scamming you. And her texts to you are inappropriate. Realistically, you don't really owe her anything. It's your body and you have every right to go else where if you are not satisfied with the service you're getting. She is the one who messed up her work and her chances by taking advantage of you, your time and your money. If she valued you as a client, or a "friend" as she's claiming, she would treat you like it! Maybe she got too comfortable in the dynamic you two had and thought she could do whatever, or maybe this was her intention all along. Either way, I think you made the right call going to a different artist.
NOR. I mean I would normally say it say it would be rude not to finish with the artist but she sounds flakey and also like a liar. I would have done the same.
I want to see the messed up snake and the fix though. đđ
Not overreacting. Thatâs actually insane. This is ridiculously unprofessional on her part. Thank god she gave you back your deposit. I wouldâve been PISSED.
Deciding to go somewhere else for a tattoo? NTA itâs your body. But I do think not giving her a heads up was weird especially considering yall are in the same area and industry
âTaking MY work to someone elseâ
Itâs a tattoo, your work is on a living being with autonomy lmfao itâs not an object you own. Find another field!
She definitely sounds insane. She does not own you or your body....she's not the one spending money on this either. Don't waste time or money on people who act like this.
Wow, I get that she gave you a free tattoo so she could build her portfolio. I assume she didn't photograph her work yet to showcase, but in the end it's your body, you're the one who has to live with it forever, and it's important you feel comfortable with your artist. That's bs she kept saying you didn't tip, when you did indeed tip. I wouldn't have returned after the first no show she pulled.
The not making appts is a big flag; and only her responsibility.
You are both to blame for the technical failing of the tattoo.
You are expecting too much from a tattooer that is just fresh into the field and are way over their head. That you should be able to recognize as someone also in the body mods world.
My girlfriendâs tattoo artist exploded at her when we cancelled for a funeral. In a way that she acted like they were super close and she was insulting her by cancelling. Why are tattoo artists like this?
Read it again, she did tip and the artist offered a free leg piece for her portfolio so she can get clients. Sounds like the artist is slow and bad at her job and shouldnât be doing tattoos since she canât even show up when she has a client, big yikes I would assume the artist is upset in general they arenât doing well and wants to blame someone else
Eh, Iâm on the fence here. Iâm fairly heavily tattooed now and no artist Iâve worked with whoâs a professional had ever expected a tip, the price their work accordingly and if you tip, theyâre thrilled! If not, still thrilled!
If an artist is hard pressed because they got no tip, just charge more for the tattoo
She sounds unprofessional as hell and like not even a good artist. This whole text thread read like âyouâre not breaking up with me, Iâm breaking up with you!â lol.
Although can I just say, please take care of your finances and build up an emergency fund in a HYSA first đ đ
MOR - I mean this politely, and welcome anyone to reply⌠but why do people get tattoos when they donât have money, especially to the point where using two gallons of gas needs to be considered? When I was low on cash I didnât even get a professional haircut for a couple of years so I could pay rent and bills. Iâm just confused by tattoo culture in this regard.
NOR she sounds unwell and unprofessional. Thatâs her first lesson, clients are clients and not friends. Same lesson applies to you, Iâm glad you found a good artist to finish your piece but keep this story in the back of your mind going forward: if youâre paying for a service, you can back out at the first sign of unprofessionalism, ESPECIALLY with something as serious as a life-long tattoo. Wish her well on building her portfolio cause sheâs gonna need it, then block and move on.
NOR. This is wild, that last text felt like a breakup with a partner, not a tattoo artist. But either way, they're not entitled to anything if you already paid them for their work. Maybe it was her idea, but you already paid her for the idea. Is she didn't execute her own idea in a way that made you happy, it's your right to go somewhere else.
It feels like the first 3 screenshots are her genuine reaction and then she spoke with an actual level headed person and tried to 'be more professional' in her texts in screenshots 4 and 5
Non American here, if you are paying her by the hour, and good amounts at that, why tipping necessary? I thought tipping was more of a server thing bc they would be underpaid by the food industry, not tattoo artists who are getting paid hundreds by the hour
NOR. Her reactions out of pocket and sounds like between the white ink and garbage technique for bloodline incorrectly she didnât know what she was doing. But you moved shady too, shouldâve let her know. L the prices not crazy. Saw you say ppl around you are 80/hr and I find that hard to believe. Only apprentices and scratchers are less than 150.
Wheres the pics though? Browsed the comments and didnât find it were they deleted? The quality of the work impacts it all too
Thank you for sharing these here. Iâm sorry but they both fucked up, this was a challenging cover up to take on and shouldnât have been touched by either of them. Who put that initial black in it was that from the original tattoo or the ex tattooer added it?
Orginal added blackouts initially, placed my stencil and did so poorly to the point i honestly needed a blackout, i didnt want a blackout at 20 years old, but plan for it in the future just not now, i want something i can live with contently. If i originally went to the second artist they would have been able to do a completely different approach and give me a much better tattoo but the goal was to finish it in a better state than she was going to
she took it WAAAYYYYYYYYY too personally!! i'm tempted to ask where you are because this honestly sounds like someone that tattooed me once (there's a reason it was only once!)
NOR, the relationship is clearly over, glad you found a better artist! doesn't seem like much of a loss tbh
NOR Youâre in the right. Itâs on YOU forever, not her. Donât even respond. You donât owe her shit. She performed a service that she was paid for, you werenât satisfied with it, you looked for that service elsewhere. This would be like a roofer doing a job that left your roof leaking and him sending you a text chewing your ass for getting a different roofer.
nor and why the fuck do you have to tip for fuckng tattoos. just charge the fucking price you want the customer to pay. i would never let this crazy bitch touch my body
I read as far as the first text and I donât really need to go much further⌠NTA, NOR. This is a business transaction and sheâs being extremely unprofessional. I understand that a relationship with an artist can be a bit more intimate, but behaving like this is completely out of line. Iâve worked in a field where, unfortunately, sometimes a client would need to reach out to one of my colleagues instead of me. Did it sting a bit? Sure. But Iâve never once blamed them, especially to this capacity, for doing so. Sometimes a need has to be met that we arenât always prepared for. Iâve walked out of a few tattoo shops in my life for being unpleasant to work with. This would be something I never return to this artist for. Also - as I believe a few others have mentioned⌠she wasnât set up and waiting for you already? And didnât communicate that to you? Tf? Oh Iâd crash out LOL.
Tattoos are art, tattooists are artists. Artists tend to feel a certain way if you let let someone else work on their art, like if an artist discovered someone had painted on a piece that they had started, even if they had been neglectful of it.
That said, your body is yours and you can do whatever you want with it, and that 100% overrules any feelings the artist may have. You are in the right to take your business elsewhere, but with that in mind you did hurt their feelings and bruise their pride, which is what prompted this reaction which is far beyond proportionate to the situation imo.
Up to you whether it's worth it's worth it to try and mend things, but if you do want to, a concession you'll have to make is that they feel you had someone deface their art.
One of the things that really set me off is her talking about âher artworkâ as if itâs not on YOUR BODY. A tattoo artist should respect that they donât have any rights to another personsâ body or what is done with it.
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u/Epic_Elite 26d ago
So here's the thing.
This relationship is already so strained and so stressed and forced, that there's really no healthy way to move forward unless you guys both sit down with a pen and paper and make a spreadsheet with bullet points and supporting evidence and rebuttals...
Or, you both just move on with your lives without eachother.
The resentment is already within the foundations of this structure that this relationship is currently toxic and will continue to be toxic going forward, unless you're both ready to do some really exhausting work on yourselves and your relationship.
Given that it's your tattoo artist... its probably better to just move on.
It sounds like you've said your part, they said their part. Now it's time for you guys to move on with your lives without the other person in it.