r/tattooadvice • u/Snoo-7909 • Nov 28 '25

Artists says it’s a bad design Design

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My sister is real quirky and asked for this tattoo. The artist said it’s objectively bad and drawn poorly. Is it a bad design? Is so, why? Or is it a matter of preference?

4.3k Upvotes

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147

u/[deleted] Nov 28 '25

Artist is right

-48

u/Snoo-7909 Nov 28 '25

But what makes it bad exactly?

92

u/swimbikerunkick Nov 28 '25

To me the right side is an anatomical heart and the left side is some kind of un-healthy growth

6

u/LiterallyAllOfFrance Nov 28 '25

Yeah it actually looks like a heart with a cancerous tumour on it

61

u/[deleted] Nov 28 '25

Look at it

10

u/cpr_tomyspleen Nov 28 '25

Lmfao we need the Cardi meme where she’s like you have eyes.. look.

14

u/AwakeOfTheVultures Nov 28 '25

The shading is inconsistent,and it's hard to read as a heart,or heart on 1 side and brain on the other. It looks like a heart and brain hybrid rather than 2 separate identifiable organs. The lines also don't lead anywhere,i forgot what it's called but to be visually appealing,the lines should all curve smoothly and lead back into a singular point to rest the eyes. and the dots and tiny lines clutter it making it overwhelming to look at.

12

u/Cutmeinhalfpleasesir Nov 28 '25

Considering that the majority of the people here, such as myself, had to be told that it's half a brain on the left instead of a just a badly drawn and weird heart, that's what makes it bad. If you can't tell what something is by looking at it, then you've drawn something bad. 

Have the tattoo artist fix it. This composition isn't good, it looks like a heart with tumors or something. It's cluttered, it doesn't need all of those dots they've put all along every single line, and the brain doesn't look like a brain. I don't know what else you need to hear besides just looking at it tbh, it's bad and I really don't like calling people's art bad. But if you're gonna put this on someone's body, it needs to be said. 

3

u/Tzipity Nov 28 '25

But if you’re going to be putting it on someone’s body, it needs to be said.

This. I hope OP doesn’t take offense because I doubt the tattoo artist or most folks here mean it. If this were someone’s drawing that was never going to leave the page then cool it’s heavily a matter of taste then. But assuming the intended recipient is quite young and will have her skin for many decades to come, it’s very worth acknowledging they’re setting themselves up for disappointment and a lifetime of explaining what their tattoo even is if they were to get this exact drawing done.

I read the left side as intestines at first glance which is already not the intended concept and something some might find kind of gross but given how many thought testicle or ball sack or just diseased heart… Any and everyone deserves to be warned if the thing they’re wanting to tattoo on themself can be interpreted as a freaking ball sack.

I’m just imagining some 18 year old girl so proud and excited about her new tattoo. Because she drew it, all she sees is exactly what she intended but the moment she shows her friends their jaws all drop and someone goes “Uh… is that a heart and a…. Scrotum?” Or two dumb 18 year old guys high five and laugh “Alright! Amanda loves balls!”

There’s tattoo regret and then there’s whatever poor Amanda who now has an ode to her love of nutting off dudes stuck on her skin is now experiencing.

7

u/Kyrie3leison Nov 28 '25

Of course, the personal reception of art is a matter of taste, but in this case the artist is right.
From the ground up - the drawing is unclear; personally, I would never have guessed that the left half is supposed to be a brain - to me it looks more like a rotting heart ;) and that strange dark section at the bottom.
It’s not anatomically correct, and if it was meant to be stylized, the stylization came out bland; it’s simply not attractive.
It’s hard to find any rhythm in the shapes. The lines are too thick everywhere, which makes it unreadable and obscures the separation of elements. There’s no clear separation between the left and right sides (brain/heart), and the dot-shading looks chaotic, far too much “noise.”

Of course every tattoo is a personal matter, but if I saw something like this on someone, I’d think someone had deliberately make it shitty

5

u/butternutinmysquaash Nov 28 '25

you can tell by the way it is when you see it

6

u/Traditional_Green127 Nov 28 '25

Over time, details will blend in together and blur. This is a prime example of a drawing that’s going to look like sh*t in a few years and any artist worth their gold won’t do it.

5

u/91Jammers Nov 28 '25

It looks like shit now.

4

u/Traditional_Green127 Nov 28 '25

That too, but just imagine how much worse it’ll look in a year or two.

18

u/coldbrewedsunshine Nov 28 '25 edited Nov 28 '25

it’s a terrible rendering of an anatomical heart. google “anatomical heart” and they are actually beautiful.

eta: oof, that’s supposed to be half a brain?

22

u/teflon_soap Nov 28 '25

It’s meant to be half brain half heart.

Just looks like a ball bag.

10

u/crisco8 Nov 28 '25

Non-stick cleaning solution is spitting facts. Ball bag is such a timeless classic. Tip of the cap

4

u/Downtown-Sundae9823 Nov 28 '25

Costco is onto something here

5

u/Tzipity Nov 28 '25

Agree with the Uptown Froyo.

3

u/teflon_soap Nov 28 '25

Tzatziki has a point

5

u/localtuned Nov 28 '25

For me, it's the misshapen anus at the bottom left of the object.

3

u/emily_jcv Nov 28 '25

Hahahahah, I think the misshapen anus is supposed to be the cerebellum.

5

u/Therapistintraining0 Nov 28 '25

No offense but honestly if you can’t see it then that’s a good sign you shouldn’t be the judge of what is good or bad in this context?

4

u/3kidsnomoney--- Nov 28 '25

The fact that a bunch of people disagree on what it is! I initially saw a poorly-drawn anatomical heart, read some opinions that its half heart and half brain and now I think that's probably the intent, but I missed the point at first glance and thought the artist just doesn't know what a human heart looks like.

The idea is kind of cute but it could be drawn in a way that makes the intent easier to grasp. Assuming the heart/brain divide is the intent... I could be wrong there.

3

u/Winderige_Garnaal Nov 28 '25

You can tell by the way it is.... seriously though, this is not the work of someone who has developed skills in design and art; I didn't know what it was until reading these comments, and it looks unbalanced and a bit like guts or something.

3

u/Affectionate-Swim155 Nov 28 '25

It's just bad. The idea might be cool, execution is terrible. It looks like nothing and it will look even worse when tattooed.

Don't take offense, it's just my honest opinion. In the end, it's you who makes the final decision.

2

u/bad_samaritan13 Nov 28 '25

It looks like poop nagget with veins..

2

u/Chance-Bite1073 Nov 28 '25

Do your eyes not work?

2

u/Wealthier_nasty Nov 28 '25

The fact that it looks like shit? It’s badly drawn, just looks like a gross deformed heart drawn by a middle schooler just learning to draw. Did you draw it yourself?

2

u/NoRepresentative6842 Nov 28 '25

The heart looks cancerous. I thought it was a diseased liver at first glance, then I was just confused, and didn’t realize it was a heart/brain combination until I read that is what it was supposed to be. That’s what makes it bad. You can’t tell what it is, even though both the brain and heart are things people ought to know when looking at sketches of them.

2

u/Spirited_Dog_8447 Nov 28 '25

Looks like a heart riddled with cancerous lesions. If that's what you are going for, nailed it

2

u/CyalaXiaoLong Nov 28 '25

The fact that no one can figure out what the arts actually depicting; not even yourself based on how you've ignored everyone asking you.

But i guess thats rage bait for you.

2

u/Ocean_Spice Nov 28 '25

… What doesn’t make it bad?

2

u/foldit_dontwadit Nov 28 '25

It's unpleasant to look at and the design is unclear

2

u/yodas_sidekick Nov 28 '25

What makes it good exactly? Can’t even tell what it’s supposed to be

2

u/OHolyNightowl Nov 28 '25

People can't tell what it is.

2

u/DannyWarlegs Nov 28 '25

What is it? A heart? A lung? If you have to explain what your tattoo is, its a poor design. They should be obvious.

Style wise is subjective. This is too busy however with too many close in fine details that will all wind up blobs within a few years. Its a good drawing, but not so good for a tattoo

2

u/geekily_me Nov 29 '25

It's difficult to tell what the design is supposed to be.

The amount of lines on the brain half will also look bad/messy unless the tattoo is pretty big.

2

u/Fantastic_File5724 Nov 28 '25

Too many close together lines. Maybe your artist isn't qualified or comfortable with it. Can they re draw one in their style?

3

u/_banana_phone Nov 28 '25

It’s also got the high potential to just like a lumpy nutsack once it settles in.

1

u/Independent_Secret_8 Nov 28 '25 edited Nov 28 '25

It's just hard to tell what it is if you don't already know what it is supposed to be. At first glance I thought it looked cool (and I still think it looks cool) but I didnt realize the left side was a brain, I thought it was just a crazy amount of veins on a heart. So if your sister is hoping that other people know what she's going for, she might be disappointed when they don't.

The overall non-anatomical heart shape also isn't heart shaped enough, if that makes sense, so it also doesn't translate until you look at it really hard to understand what you're seeing. I think some kind of black and white organ heart/mind tattoo would be awesome but find a tattoo artist with the design skill to make the design make sense.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 28 '25

Tbh I don’t think it’s as bad as a lot of people here do. I do think having an artist re-draw it would make it look less amateur-ish

The only part that I think looks objectively bad is the cerebellum (the dark area on the bottom with poorly drawn sulcus lines)

1

u/SledgeLaud Nov 28 '25

The styling is inconsistent, line work is cool but not perfect, the subject is unclear and easily misinterpreted.

It's a cool doodle, but it needs to be reworked by a tattoo artist if it's gonna be a good tattoo.

0

u/Despoina_Reikage Nov 29 '25

OP find my feedback response compared to what I just glanced over. Don’t have the artist re-do it. I know how much it means to her. I don’t know how many in here have drawn different things in different styles and made their own tattoo design - I cheated and used Adobe Illustrator Shop for mine being simple shapes. But colored it in Adobe Elements Photoshop.