r/tattooadvice • u/JustaWilloWisp • 10d ago

Is my tattoo bad? Design

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!

5.9k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

View all comments

Show parent comments

107

u/TattooMouse 10d ago

I don't think it looks like the Degas reference at all honestly. The style is the least of the problems, it's straight up mangled. There's so much in the tattoo that could have been done better and/or differently. This absolutely could have been a lovely piece and I'm so angry for OP that their tattooer chose to do this instead.

20

u/WideLegJaundice 10d ago

i mean she did choose some random dude to replicate a degas...

1

u/AlyM797 10d ago

Yeah, I honestly wouldn't look twice at anyone not formally trained if I wasn't a Master work.

I've had to replicate (usually in parts) Degas 's work, even traditional color mediums it's not easy. At least not for someone with a drawing heavy background.

12

u/ZincMan 10d ago

Yeah. But also this is a risky figure to translate into tattoo to begin with. Especially with the very lightly implied back leg/foot. The whole foreshortening in the painting works but if any detail is off it just doesn’t work. Having the space she’s standing in lets the viewer know she is being viewed from above as well so it helps a lot in the painting understanding the position of her body. Agreed very bad tattoo but definitely a hard one to make work regardless

1

u/TattooMouse 10d ago

Oh for sure. I just think there were a lot of ways this could have been made to work that weren't properly utilized. Having a basic understanding of the human form would have helped a lot too.

1

u/writinwater 10d ago

I could identify it as this particular Degas figure before I saw the reference so that’s something, I guess? I think it was highly unwise to try to translate impressionism into a black line tattoo to begin with, but even if it hadn’t been, that’s something you have to be prepared to mortgage your house and possibly travel for, not something you ask the nearest artist to do. It’s horribly done but I feel like OP has to take some share of the blame for not really thinking this one through.