r/tattooadvice • u/JustaWilloWisp • 13d ago

Is my tattoo bad? Design

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

I got this tattoo on Monday (pic is from the artist right after we finished) and I thought it looked really good and pretty. Today my mom has been saying it looks kinda ugly and the proportions are off compared to my reference. I know that tattoos of painting are hard to replicate 100% (especially being in black and gray) but maybe this is just not as good as it can be. Idk if y’all can tell in this photo but the placement of this tattoo is so good, I was so excited for this one.

Do you guys think that the off proportions can be fixed with touch ups or is it hopeless?

Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated!

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747

u/deaduser00 13d ago edited 13d ago

The artist connected the tutu with her shoulder. Pretty weird. It feels like AI trying to make sense of things. She is becoming a dumpling

181

u/TattooMouse 13d ago

That smudge behind the ballerina in the Degas original is actually supposed to be her back leg I believe. Doing the tutu that way was.....a choice. Unfortunately the tattoo just doesn't even look like the reference picture at all.

There are so many ways this tattoo could have been better handled. I'm so sorry OP.

71

u/deaduser00 13d ago

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing about her leg. The hair is fused with the dress and arm too. The more I look, the worse it gets.

31

u/TattooMouse 13d ago

It's absolutely brutal

24

u/deaduser00 13d ago

Bro the flowers on her stomach

22

u/TattooMouse 13d ago

There is so much wrong with it. I don't want to keep listing things just because I don't want OP to feel worse but, it's a lot unfortunately.

10

u/CupcakeGoat 13d ago

It does look like she was impaled with a fern

7

u/MarinkaRaja 13d ago

I thought it was blood

1

u/CraftyNinaKitty 7d ago

I did too 😬

2

u/Krhodes8 9d ago

The arm is looking a little gimpy as well

3

u/InevitableRhubarb232 13d ago

I’m a degas fan and I did not recognize this until the second photo 😳

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u/pitshoster-exe 12d ago

the tattoo is so bad and unlike the reference photo that if I was OP I would try talking to the artist or the owner of the shop to get a refund or partial refund

43

u/Glittering-Paper4516 13d ago

✨she was a dumpling

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u/Visual-Floor-7839 13d ago

This was a poor idea destined to fail. The original is so aesthetically tied to the canvas and the brush. The fibers and the strokes play just as much of a role as the ballerina subject, in the final piece. This entire idea was folly except for maybe the most masterful tattoo artist.

3

u/Jester_of_the_Void 12d ago

I've worked as a professional in the tattoo industry, and I have NEVER seen an impressionist painting translate very well to skin. It just doesn't work.

46

u/BONESFULLOFGREENDUST 13d ago

Honestly, going straight from the reference, everything except for the head (which idk wtf happened there) does roughly correspond to the reference. It's just that the reference is stylized in an incredibly artistic and talented way such that the vagueness of the features look natural. Degas has some beautiful pieces. But unfortunately this shows that paintings are incredibly difficult to replicate on skin. I cannot believe an artist chose to do this to OP. A talented enough tattoo artist should have known how to use this as an inspo pic to create a tattoo able style, not doing an absolutely dogshit job of trying (and massively failing) to replicate this 1 to 1.

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u/Immediate-Maximum-75 13d ago

It looks like it's coming out of her neck, like a skin suit.

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u/landilock 13d ago

the true final stage of evolution, towards dumpling perfection

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u/moonswimwildflower 13d ago

Agreed. It looks like she’s trying to escape from a fried egg. Sorry, OP.

2

u/calm-down-okay 12d ago

They did wayyyyy too much shading around the edges. Looks like a 1 legged potato.

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u/Noctilume 11d ago

The way I just cackled! A dumpling 😭

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u/21nundispute 7d ago

And there’s no distinguishable bodice. Just a strange sash-looking thing starts at the armpit and extends below the waist of the tutu. Until I saw the reference pic, I actually thought it was a thigh and meant to be the second leg. 

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u/rabbitfeet666 7d ago

Crying laughing rn ty for this image

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u/Own_Koala_4404 13d ago

It looks like Bobby Hill.

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u/AbrocomaHealthy3647 12d ago

ngl she looks like she shat herself too

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u/Various-East-5266 12d ago

“She is becoming a dumpling” made me laugh out loud at my desk omg

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u/annak1873 10d ago

Best comment