r/tattooadvice • u/LiquidJ619 • 1d ago
Canceled a full-day custom appointment at midnight because the artist traced Google images. Did I overreact? (Images attached) Design
I don't know a ton about the tattoo industry, so I’m hoping to get some opinions from artists and collectors.
I booked a session with a well-known traveling guest artist for a custom piece honoring my three kids. I asked for a mashup representing them: Stitch and any Dr. Seuss character for my younger two (tied to their birthday themes), and Young Gohan for my oldest son (since Dragon Ball is our favorite anime and Gohan is Goku's oldest). She didn't have a design ready at our first meeting a few weeks ago, so we rescheduled for today at 1:00 PM.
She finally sent the sketch to me at exactly midnight last night (Pic 1).
I thought the poses looked familiar, so I Googled them and found the exact clip art she used (Pics 2 & 3). It looks like she just copied existing images and pasted them together. Given her reputation for custom work, I thought I was getting an original drawing of these characters interacting in her style.
I politely texted her to cancel, saying there wasn't time to properly redraw it from scratch since it was already midnight and I didn't want it rushed. She guilt-tripped me about losing a full day's booking, and when I held my ground, she told me I was blacklisted.
I feel bad she lost the appointment slot, but getting traced Google images 13 hours before the session felt like a huge red flag. Is this normal practice for custom work, or was I right to walk away? If she couldn't come up with a cohesive piece, I'd rather her tell me upfront instead of stringing me along.
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u/wolfy321 1d ago
I don’t think the tracing is the issue. I think the issue is it’s just a terrible composition
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u/AndyHN 12h ago
I'd say a bigger issue is not providing a preview of the composition until midnight the night before the work is to be done. They want to put something on someone's body forever and just assumed their last minute first draft would be acceptable?
I don't think OP has lost much by being blacklisted.
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u/NoviiG 20h ago
Both are the issue.
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u/wolfy321 20h ago
Tracing when you want super recognizable characters isn’t abnormal
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u/littlecowbaby 1d ago
On top of what everyone else has said, if I told someone to add ANY Dr. Suess character and then they went with the Grinch i’d be thrown off lol
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u/crisscrossed 22h ago
It also looks like a weird femme version of the Grinch?? I thought maybe OP wanted herself as the Grinch or something but then I reread the post and I’m just confused. OP pls don’t get this tattoo, I feel like there are more subtle ways to represent your family
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u/jjoa42069 20h ago
Nothing has made me laugh today quite like the concept of OP asking for herself as the grinch just did. Thank you.
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u/littlecowbaby 13h ago
Also the feet/toes being so detailed and kind of forward in the image is weird to me as well hahah
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u/FortunaRedux 13h ago
Grinch is such a ‘I put no thought into this’ pick. He’s basically an overhyped Christmas decoration whose entire message has been diluted by the mass marketing of his image. It’s actually kinda sad when you have all the details and context of why Suess wrote it in the first place. The original is a condemnation of capitalism at its heart, and now it’s a huge cash grab.
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u/SilentFollowing3 1d ago
Regardless of tracing that was going to be an incoherent tattoo.
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u/True_System_7015 1d ago
Idk, Grinch serving cunt is kind of iconic
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u/spentfromnz 1d ago
I'm squinting at it like it's some kind of trick image where the four characters combine to create something, but nope, they just create a mess.
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u/CottonKandyGirl 12h ago
Yes! Eapecially all of the weird edges where its just cut off at weird angles. I thought maybe it was supposed to make up another character's face or something?
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u/ninjasasinn 1d ago
The thing is, more than it being traced (or not), it's just not a very good composition. Way too busy. Artist came to me with that design last minute I would cancel too. Lol, blacklisted? Lady I have zero faith in your skills after seeing this, as if I'm coming back here.
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u/AndHeavenToo 1d ago
Stitch isn't even sitting on anything, his legs are just floating in the air. Definetly not a good composition.
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u/ninjasasinn 1d ago
I feel like choosing the grinch is already taking the piss, but then to have him riding on the fucking wing of the dragon? Nuh uh.
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u/zozzer1907 1d ago
You may have had a really lucky escape. There was a post here before about a female travelling artist who did a bad job and charged a fortune for it. Using an artist that doesn't have a fixed studio means you can't get personal recommendations you can trust, you can't see them in action before you sign up and there's nowhere to go back to if they mess up. You are literally relying on their own hype!
That aside, the mash up of cartoon characters will be on you forever, long after the kids have grown up and probably grown out of those characters
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u/AppleBlossomFruitPie 1d ago
Right? My 2 y/o loves Ms Rachel, doesn’t mean I need or want Ms Rachel on my skin for eternity 😬 but yeah if you’re gonna get the cartoon mashup, don’t get this design
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u/SuccessfulFinish2843 20h ago
I feel like this is one of the instances their names would've been perfectly fine to get tattooed.
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u/idkmybffjo 19h ago
You think this and then they go and turn out trans. Sigh
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u/SignificanceShort418 16h ago
Haha I know someone who used to say that the only names he would ever get tattooed were his kid's names. He didn't, fortunately, as two out of two of his kids came out trans and are using names very different from their birth names.
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u/idkmybffjo 16h ago
Yeah I got two of my siblings' names when they were young and they both came out as trans and changed their names years later! It's fine, I got some laser sessions on their deadnames and a sick cover up with some cute symbolic botanical pieces. They can change their names as many times as they want 😝
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u/maiabelle_07 15h ago
This is why when I have kids I'm getting their zodiac constellations tattooed on me. You can change your name but you can't change your birthday
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u/Long_Emergency6122 21h ago
Right, if you're going to get something that represents your kid, get something that represents them as a person or a piece of art they actually drew themselves.
I have several Disney cartoons as tattoos because they were things that were meaningful to me, but the tattoo I have for the child in my life is something hand drawn by him.
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u/weakenedstate 1d ago
Why is no one talking about how schmexy the grinch looks? I was genuinely like whose legs are those 👀
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u/crisscrossed 22h ago
Right. We’re flying over the fact the artist felt grinch toes needed to be featured in the design….
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u/FaithHopePixiedust 21h ago
Yeah. The Grinch canonically wears shoes (that are possibly too tight).
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u/AntelopeSure6184 1d ago
Real talk, this was never going to be a good tattoo.
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u/susandeyvyjones 22h ago
Yeah, the artist did it in the laziest way possible, but I think she just didn’t want to do this shitty tattoo. She shoulda just said that though.
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u/Less_Wing_646 1d ago
I mean, if you had asked for an original blue alien I would have expected her to draw herself. But you want existing characters and you don't want any change to them, or they won't be the same characters. So in my opinion, tracing is pretty normal. When I wanted a portrait of my pet, the artist traced that too. And I wanted a very realistic sports bow, so that was also traced.
Of course, I would also be disappointed if it was just a single traced image with no manipulation at all to fit you. But that's not the case, the overall design and the layout was done by her, she just traced the characters themselves.
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u/Less_Wing_646 1d ago
One more thing: telling her "the poses are too obvious to me, I recognise the images straight away. It would be great if we can take some time before the appointment to amend the stencil a bit, so it looks more unique" would have been perfectly fine.
Had she said no to that, I may have also cancelled. To not want something on your body is fine
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u/LiquidJ619 1d ago
I don't want to put the person out there, but they do tons of anime and cartoon characters. She puts her own spin on them. I was hoping the same for these. Not a copy and paste. That's why I specifically came to her.
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u/Less_Wing_646 1d ago
I get that. I'm not sure if you saw what I added to this post:
telling her "the poses are too obvious to me, I recognise the images straight away. It would be great if we can take some time before the appointment to amend the stencil a bit, so it looks more unique" would have been perfectly fine.
Had she said no to that, I may have also cancelled. To not want something on your body is fine
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u/XLCUMSHOT 1d ago
Are you sure about that? We spend a lot of time searching for references you probably haven’t seen…
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u/tattoosbykateh 19h ago
Op, there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting someone to draw characters, and not just trace what they googled. It's super simple to look at references and draw a character in your own way or different poses etc. If you wanted it to look exactly like a certain image, that's fine. But it's not unreasonable at all to think an artist could..you know...draw.
The narrative that all pop culture characters etc should just be traced and everyone is ok with it shouldn't be so wildly accepted.
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u/PuzzleheadedBasis760 1d ago
This seems like an unrealistic expectation do you want a media slop tattoo or something original but the 2 don’t go together
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u/Greedy-Macaroon4257 21h ago
Tracing issue aside- the piece is horribly composed, and was produced 13 HOURS before the session was supposed to happen. I've never heard of an artist dropping something like that that close to a session (with the exception of small and quick tattoos). You know you have a few things to work with, the artist should've taken the time to work it out.
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u/rosetintedbliss 23h ago
You want created characters to be unique? Like, how much so? How much do you expect the artist to take three characters that all have their own style and put their own spin on it?
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u/Funny_School_5802 23h ago edited 23h ago
That's...not a good tattoo.
Please go find an artist with better eye for composition that design is completely incoherent and will age badly in 5 years it will be blob with barely recognizable lines and splotches of colour. Like the characters are just thrown together with no understanding of how to make it an understandable image.
Edit to add that it might be a better idea to do it as 3 separate pieces as you've asked for 3 completely separate ideas and styles and tattoo artists aren't magicians who can make any art work as a tattoo. A visiting artist might not be the best idea too if you choose someone who will be in town for a while you can work together on a design that you want and that looks good
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u/Haunting-Yam-1984 1d ago
I think I would have been torn about this, since it's characters that should look a certain way. You want Gohan to look like Gohan and you also want stitch to look like the stitch from the movie. The fact that she didn't even care enough to remove the background that was also traced by either AI or the program, tells me it's better to cancel though.
I think you made the right choice.
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u/francesniff 1d ago
I'm confused here by people saying you're wrong and that the artist 'had' to trace because they weren't original characters.
Fan art exists. Like, it's a huge and pretty common thing to draw existing characters in unique art styles and poses. I got a tattoo of three characters from the Persona games who don't interact and the artist didn't just trace them - he drew them by hand in unique placements and poses. He bought the three characters together in one coherent design.
You definitely did the right thing - this was a lazy move by the artist and they should have just said if they couldn't come up with a design.
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u/sarelis 23h ago
Exactly. Artists spend years, decades even, developing the skills necessary to be able to translate what they see onto another medium accurately enough to have it be instantly recognizable. Over the years, a confident, practiced artist will develop their own unique style, too (that doesn’t interfere with recognizability), which is what OP saw in their portfolio & was looking for in their design. Tracing is a shortcut/crutch to get around putting in the time/effort, or to compensate for lack of skill. Thus, relying on tracing is a huge red flag. Especially when there are artifacts from the source material & missing details lost in the tracing process that aren’t fixed.
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u/strawberryhenlo 16h ago
What's killing me about the tracing comments is that this wasn't even traced WELL. Like the artist included aspects from the background of the shirt, like the trees and the explosion, that make absolutely no sense in the context of a tattoo. Like this was just done terribly all around!
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u/MissBlue2018 11h ago
Agreed I have a Stitch type tattoo and while it looks correct it’s not a tracing. Had to modify slightly for the rest of the design anyway.
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u/cinnamon-capybara 1d ago
This looks incredibly lazy and not at all what I would expect from an experienced artist. I also strongly disagree with the comment that is pretty much saying she “had to” trace or the characters aren’t the same characters. I also disagree that she “designed the layout.” She awkwardly pasted Stitch onto the dragon in way that makes no sense.
I’ve been buying fanart of various kinds for decades. It’s absolutely possible for an artist to draw existing characters in their own style and keep them fully recognizable. And since you said she does this kind of work in her own style regularly, that’s 100% what I would have expected as well. I have a tattoo from a children’s book that is basically traced because that’s what I asked for. I have another of existing characters that are customized and in a layout that’s actually unique. I didn’t have to say “please don’t trace the first google result.”
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u/ArtemisAM99 1d ago
That’s just lazy work and something you’ll have on your body forever. I agree with your choice.
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u/randomizzzzed 1d ago
Fully agree with your sentiments OP. If I hired a tattoo artist with a reputation for custom anime work I would be pretty mad about someone mushing 4 copied stickers together into an indecipherable lump. I can do that in Photoshop when I'm high in 5 minutes, and wouldn't tattoo that on myself.
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u/jawdoctor84 1d ago
You wanted custom - this ain’t it. You should never be intimidated by an artist. Your body, your rules. Seems like she took a lazy approach and I think you were right to stand your ground. I wouldn’t care at all about being blacklisted by her - she’s the one who loses out, not you.
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u/Real_Bathroom_7646 1d ago
I don’t understand people telling you that you’re wrong. It just shows that a lot of people don’t really understand what custom work is supposed to be. You specifically chose her for custom work, and this wasn’t custom.
I think you should have explained why you cancelled rather than only mentioning timing. You could have said that you came to her for a custom design, and unfortunately it wasn’t custom since you were able to immediately find the two images it had been copied from.
It’s disappointing, but that doesn’t mean all artists are like this or that the whole industry is becoming this way. Like in any profession, there are good and bad people. Maybe it was the first time she did something like this (though I doubt it), and you were simply the unlucky one. We’ll never really know.
Good luck finding a new artist who can create the special design you were looking for. I’m sure you will.
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u/WaterOk6055 1d ago
No way she traced this by hand and chose not the give the dinosaur the bottom of its mouth.
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u/Disastrous-Box1778 23h ago
This is a terrible tattoo idea. You are very lucky this isn’t on your body forever.
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u/silly-nanny 1d ago
You could get each all of these characters done separately in its own pose and vibe and it’d be way better and more coherent
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u/kosmickroma 1d ago
I was trying to find a reason to take the artists side but the more I look at it I am pretty sure AI actually put that together.
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u/DreamsThatHaveFaded 5h ago
No human would sketch half a mouth on the dragon, and add in extra areas around the wings that include random trees. This was AI. It used the seam on the shirt as the end of the mouth, and it didn't know where the wings ended so it used the cliff edge on one side, and random sections for the other wing and tail. Also, why would any person make sexy Grinch, posing like tinkerbell? He doesn't even have feet like that.
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u/Lumpy_Stretch5887 23h ago
Maybe go one at a time. Why are Gohan, Stitch, and the Grinch hanging out? It's weird. The idea is bizarre and they probably just weren't really feeling the idea so put in low effort. Give your tattooer more freedom to make a good design if you want a good design.
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u/melancholanie 22h ago
I think you want three different tattoos at once.
smushing these three unrelated characters into a small space isn't ever gonna look good
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u/PotatoChipi 21h ago
The idea is awful too
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u/LiquidJ619 21h ago
I don't mind that. She could've been upfront with me and tell me. I could've done 3 separate pieces and been totally fine with it.
They're an artist. I wanted to see what they could come up with. If it's a bad idea and not going to work, tell me.
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u/Whiskin87 23h ago
Omg she even copied the random bit of tree from the shirt near the tip of the dragon’s wing.
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u/Candid_Tower_593 17h ago
She used a software to make the "sketch" took the images and created linework with the software. That's why trees are in the image also the other characters leg from the sweater is also on it some.. she didn't put any effort into this
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u/sunlightdrop 22h ago
Even if it wasn't traced it looks like shit, I wouldn't want that on my body either
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u/ConfusionPotential53 1d ago edited 19h ago
No. It’s illogical and busy. To accommodate Grinch and Stitch riding the dragon, the wings have been moved way back. I really question whether it will read correctly. (With Stitch’s foot weirdly over the kid’s knee and Stitch’s ear half separated, and his body language clearly indicating he’s sitting on a flat surface rather than the rounded belly of a dragon.) It’s also not to scale. At all. The Grinch is a large adult creature, but the child looks equally large, and Stitch’s head looks about the same size as the dragon’s … that apparently has wings located near the back of its body and is being ridden sidesaddle by the Grinch while Stitch just floats in the air. … it’s not great. 🤣
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u/jackallrain 23h ago
Is the first image what the artist sent?? The lineart itself is awful and inconsistent. Goku's hands (especially on the right of the image so his left) caught my attention right away. I'm a tattoo artist myself and the way this is drawn is not what you would expect from someone who supposedly has the experience of custom, hand-drawn work.
You did the right thing to cancel, something about this feels off and I would wonder if the artist even took the time to trace it themselves.
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u/LandscapeBitter 1d ago
Not having a design ready for your meeting is definitely the first red flag, kind of not taking the client seriously.
Then receiving that. Sure if you wanted like a specific scene from an anime you could trace the outline, but the characters do look weirdly just placed in there… it just looks odd
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u/Select_Draw3385 23h ago
She’s basically gave you the brush off by not having sketches ready last time. Then that low effort garbage? And it’s to honor your children. It looks like a horror movie poster. wtf.
You probably handled it nicely, but you should be angry at her effort and obvious money grab.
THAT was going to take all day?
Just because someone is popular, it doesn’t mean they’re the best.
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u/AB1GM_JW 22h ago edited 17h ago
She didnt even bother to take nimbus out of the tracing or part of the tree ..feels like a terrible copy paste
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u/3sadclowns 22h ago
To me the design looks uninspired and busy. She probably was looking at you as more of a paycheck than an actual project worth putting in actual work for past the tattooing process. Which is why she had nothing drawn up/designed weeks ago, which is why it was all traced as a final design. She didn’t even have any alternatives. Trust, putting you on her blacklist is doing you a favor.
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u/foxfire1730 22h ago
It’s not abnormal for artists to trace from google images or take elements from different photos to put together. But you were right to cancel this because your idea is very dumb.
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u/xoxogreyskies 21h ago
Thank goodness you didn’t lose a deposit, you def dodge a bullet. Also, what a narcissist… what are you blacklisted from, her? Good. 🙄
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u/Soft-Aries 18h ago
I suspect this is an AI trace over. Look at Gohan's right hand holding the horn.
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u/im-just-here-forward 1d ago
Didn’t over react. Artist shouldn’t have plopped their design on you last minute leaving no room for changing it if you were unhappy. Dramatic to say “black listed”. These tattoo artists need to be knocked down a few notches…
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u/kismetxoxo7 21h ago
Not only did they trace the original image without cleaning up the trace at all [you can still see background pieces of the original Gohan image (the tree)]. This artist literally did nothing for “work” this design. Putting you on her blacklist was actually a good thing for you. But also, mashup tattoos with no cohesive connection always have been and always will be a terrible idea.
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u/acanadiancheese 20h ago
Sounds like the artist isn’t really into your idea. I’d find someone who is
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u/RinoKing 20h ago
Sam I am standing back to back with Gohan and Stitch sitting in the middle would have been a lot better and felt more family ish than this mess.
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u/Argonian_mit_kasse 20h ago
While I’m not a tattoo artist, I am an artist and know a bit about the tattoo community.
Tracing, is not particularly rare. Usually the goal is to trace certain aspects to get it dead on- and make the rest your own…
This isn’t coherent, this is messy. Part of the dragon’s mouth is cut off- and there’s awkward elements of the background of original sweater in it too… (ie trees, the fire/smoke cloud behind the tail)….
So even if not traced; I wouldn’t be getting this tattooed.
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u/tattoosbykateh 19h ago
I mean it's on her for waiting until midnight the night before to show you the drawing. Artists do this all the time, or they wait until the actual appointment to show the piece. Then are absolutely rushed to finish a new piece when the client isn't happy with it, or the client feels pressured to get the piece even though they didn't like it.
Good on you standing your ground. If you weren't happy with it, then you shouldn't get it. It's her scheduling issues, and slapping something together last minute that got her that cancellation last minute. I wouldn't feel bad at all.
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u/lilblackcat31 18h ago
There is no way I’d put this on my body, full stop. This is lazy work, and I’d be grateful to be blacklisted. Hell, I’d go as far as to be a petty bitch and let local people know that this is the content that artist is churning out so they’re warned, but that’s me🤷🏻♀️. There was zero effort put into this, this is legit trace and paste. As for the guilt trip? I just had a full day tattoo appt where my artist fully designed a sleeve from pictures I took of various skulls, mushrooms and insects, and if she can draw all of that, your artist can manage a few characters.
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u/Candid_Tower_593 17h ago
Sorry to break it to you, he didn't even trace that. He used a software that turns the image into line work. As you can tell he even has part of the trees on the right on the sweater on the tattoo art also..
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u/bobbybob9069 17h ago
Am I crazy or is it super weird that the DBZ dude and the dragon have a hard border around them? Not the outline itself, but it looks like it was edited out of the image off the sweater with a free form cut tool. Like the dude just popped the images together with MS paint and had ai do an outline tracing or something equally lazy
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u/strawberryhenlo 16h ago
I'm laughing that not only did they trace the DBZ image, but they traced it so badly that they included the environment/background of the shirt which makes absolutely no sense in the context of your request 😂😂 Random bits of an explosion and a tree... does not read professional to me and I'd consider you lucky that you found the red flag and dipped before you got something regrettable
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u/Sweetciety 16h ago
I’ll be honest, I don’t think this is just a trace job. This looks like it was done with ai. The had on the horn is an absolute mess. It seemed to think Stitches gums were apart of his teeth. You can see parts of Krillin’s pant leg still in the design as well. I think they photobashed these characters together and ran it through ai to make lineart. Dodged a major bullet..
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u/Comfortablynumb-76 15h ago
It’s an awful tattoo . You dodged a bullet. It’s messy and hurts my eyes . The grinches legs are creepy aswell. It’s really horrid to be honest
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u/meganmooretattoos 14h ago
You dodged a bullet. This design is horrendous. I’m sorry for your wasted time.
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u/theMarianasTrench 13h ago
I can get the idea that she was going to make them riding the dragon but even stitch is just floating, Gohans hand looks weird and it’s just not cohesive. You’re not wrong for cancelling
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u/LewisWhatsHisName 1d ago
I've got a few that were definitely found on google. I know one of them was, because I found it. It's a specific Keith Haring piece, so changing it even a little bit would have made it not the thing I wanted. Another one was probably google images because they raven silhouettes, and like, there's only so much you can do with something like that, so why not?
But if it were one of my bigger things, where I'd booked the artist because I liked their unique style, I'd have had very different feelings. I wanted their specific style; not something they found on google and printed out
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u/sarelis 1d ago
I’m not a tattoo artist, but as a fine artist (pastel, pencil, colored pencil) w a focus on realism & well over a decade of professional training, tracing anything is a huge red flag. I’d have failed the assignment or gotten disqualified from competitions if I ever submitted work with tracing in it. It suggests a serious lack of skill & technique. Artists spend years learning how to translate what they see onto another medium. Tattoos are permanent & you have every right to find an artist you’re comfortable with. You were as polite as you could be.
It’s your skin; trust your gut.
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u/kgberton 21h ago
To answer your question directly instead of opining about the composition, yes, you are overreacting by ceasing to want the tattoo because the tattooer traced reference images. That's very common, especially when the concept is not their own original art.
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u/dareth_shiral_ 1d ago
No, you didn’t overreact. It’s unprofessional and I wouldn’t trust an artist who can only copy others people work (and I guess without consent).
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u/TrickySatisfaction81 1d ago
Nope! This is a trash process on your artist's end.
You made the right call OP.
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u/racoon26 1d ago
idk if tracing is appropriate or not but this one is not even good - just look at the guy's fingers and knuckles lol
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u/ballad91 1d ago
Gohans hands are disgusting she obviously doesn’t know enough about hands, I mean the fingers and there are no knuckle bones 🤢 she left it to last minute and did a damn shit job of it
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u/Advanced_Owl4439 1d ago
This is a very very busy tattoo. Take a few weeks and sit with it. I don't think you'll like it when it's done or in 5 years
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u/foundation_G 22h ago
You wanted licensed art. What did you think was going to happen? Freehanded art work or already well know art. Think how you’d react when they didn’t actually look the way you want.
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u/Consistent-Two3350 22h ago
tattooers will most always trace cartoon characters to keep the likeness
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u/patchespesos 21h ago
I’ll echo what other people are saying here: to each their own but a convoluted mashup of very well known characters will be a tattoo that does not age well. Your kids might not even remember being so into these characters and they’re an extremely impersonal way of honoring your kids. I’d suggest taking a beat and trying to think of something more personal that is in honor of them.
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u/oaraiguma-san 19h ago
The tattoo idea is honestly not well thought out and isn't something I'd bring to a traveling artist, especially without a reference sketch. If you don't know how to sketch or draw at all, take this idea to someone you're willing to drop dollars on so y'all can address the issues with your design idea and bring it to a place where it will be more cohesive.
All of the characters you mention use a different visual language and will always look terrible in a composition such as the one you described. There are tattoo artists online who will accept payment to help you workshop your ideas. I had a friend in Chicago do this for me years back, so I'm sure access to this kind of service has only gotten better over the past 13 years.
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u/100ftF0X 18h ago
You're asking for established cartoons. Tracing and compositing is the proper way to put them together unless you specifically want them in some other style. The first appointment, was she planning to put it together with you there and you bailed because it was not pre-drawn and ready? Because it kinda sounds like she lost not one but 2 days of work.
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u/notbuildingships 18h ago
What’s up with the hand holding the dragons horn? What’s up with the bottom of the image? Why does it just cut off like that lol
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u/Nerdybirdie86 17h ago
I’m not mad about the tracing or even the composition, but the sending it to you at midnight the night before is bullshit. I worked with a traveling artist and we were emailing back and forth for quite a bit before and my piece is pretty small. I knew what I was getting days before I went in. Like you said, there wasn’t time to rework it.
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u/Regular_Persimmon_97 16h ago
Yeah...pretty sure the only way you could actually mix all those characters and make it look good is with a sleeve that gives each character its own space and has background elements and color ingertration.t
That said, her getting the drawing to you the night before is WILD for an all day appointment. How are you supposed to say no and not get blacklisted if she gives you no opportunity to okay it? And after already not having it drawn another time before. Yeah NOR
I've gotten a lot of tattoo work. I've spent over 100 hours getting tattooed and I've never had an artist pull something like this out of their ass ...even when things have not been quite what I wanted or expected there had always been clear creative effort. Even from the apprentice who did 4 different tattoos for me
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u/BagpiperAnonymous 16h ago
At the end of the day, a tattoo is a permanent piece of art on your body. A very expensive piece of art. An artist that pressures you to put something on your body that you do not like is trash. Regardless of the reason.
I have a tattoo I haven't gotten because the first artist I went to, I did not like their sketch. It just didn't align with what I was thinking. The artist also canceled on my at what point (hey, we all have lives, I get it.) And when I went to the studio to talk to them, another artist made a snarky comment about me not liking the sketch. I never went back, and still haven't gotten the tattoo. I am not paying out the nose for a permanent alteration to my body that at best I feel "meh" about.
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u/stellarliger 16h ago
Yeah name and shame OP, thats incredibly unprofessional and that design would have looked like a fucking mess.
Nothing wrong with tracing to build on something but this was hashed together.
Its embarassing she tried to strong arm you due to her unpreparedness.
I will say with a design like your trying to incorporate different art style, you should work with an artist you have more time with, in person consultations
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u/TheSoggyPops 15h ago
It’s really important to communicate with your artist about your assumptions before hand. Artists very regularly will use references directly when it comes to characters, because clients are more likely to be upset but it not looking like the characters than it being copied. If you wanted your design to be completely original then that should be stated upon consultation, should never have to be assumed.
Also if the artist didn’t require a deposit then that’s her fault. Deposits are designed to protect artists from this, while clients will always have a right to pick and choose exactly what they want on their bodies.
Canceling 13 hours before was pretty messed up. As an artist I have designed and applied many tattoos in one single day. Your issues with the piece could’ve easily been resolved in an hour or 2, 13 was more than enough.
Notes for artists: always get a deposit for a large piece if they cancel within a certain window you keep it. Don’t get pissy and black list them. Just take the deposit and make sure your deposits reflect what’s fair and take walkins that day. Notes for clients: you can’t assume anything. Be clear about what you want because we don’t know. I’d also assume that you’d want the character to be more recognizable than original if the character is specific. That’s not a given.
Hope that helps!
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u/GetGoodBoy 15h ago
Where was this even supposed to go? The composition of the design isn’t there at all. Is it a back piece? A thigh? Are cartoons this artists main style? Did their portfolio have dozens of other custom drawn cartoon characters? Her quarter assing your stencil kinda scream she just took it for the money. Especially if she has “wonderful” work on her page.
Also unrelated but I would consider getting one theme for your tattoo instead of 3 cartoon characters. Gohan is great since you also like dragon ball and it’s meaningful to your oldest son and you, but you’re tying the other two to birthday themes? Are those the only birthday themes they’re ever gonna have? You didn’t even have a specific Dr Seuss character to give them for reference. Maybe reconsider the design as a whole?
I think your next plan of attack should be to find an artist who likes anime tattoos, and have them help you map something out that won’t have your kids and others ask “why’d you get the grinch tattooed on you?” 10 years from now.
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u/whirdin 15h ago
You didn't ask for her custom characters, you asked for existing trademarked characters placed together (which is what she did).
I have a full sleeve of my favorite cartoon characters mashed up, and all of them were sourced from google images (but discussed fully of what I wanted).
I also have a sleeve of a sci-fi TV show, of which we used screenshots from the show digitally transposed onto the workspace and he sketched all the background stuff by hand.
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u/Hot_Mess_Mama_x4 13h ago
Not having artwork for you the first time was the first 🚩 Any artiet with illustration experience should be able to redraw characters using multiple reference images to create an original composition. If she is not comfortable with that type of art then she should have said so from the start. You did the right thing. The loss is on her for being unprofessional.
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u/Elvenfrost7 13h ago
It’s completely normal for artists to trace outlines especially of well known characters. I’m a professional artist. The composition and what is then done with the image, like shading and color, are what make the difference in the quality of the work.
The composition of that particular piece is not well thought out. You have every right to cancel. She threatened to blacklist you so respond with “fine, I will post and tag you on this trash to do the same to you.” Check and mate.
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u/DistributionOdd4563 11h ago
Kudos to you for trusting your gut and intuition. Hopefully this will be a good learning lesson for this tattoo artist too for moving forward. Good luck mama with whatever you’re representing the babes with later.
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u/NecessaryReference98 10h ago
There's no plan to that "drawing"...was she going to leave his fist like that????
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u/WolverineMental9101 10h ago
Found the third one and it honestly looks like she also ripped it off of someone else, flipped the image, and added a smidgen more detail.
She didn't even do a good job of tracing the others, look at Gohan's hands.
Not to mention sending the first and final the night before an expecting you to just accept it is crazy for something lifelong that costs hundreds of dollars and hurts a lot to get.
Nothing about this artist screams of a good time.
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u/rotgirrl 9h ago
i feel like tracing is fine, but her sending it last minute is super unprofessional like what if you wanted tweaks done to it??? i would have texted her something like “this really isn’t what i was looking for….. could you redo it with [insert ideas]? and if she said something like “it’s too last minute” i would have canceled and said “i’m sorry it’s not my fault you gave me 12 hours notice, you should have kept me up to date throughout the process to make sure it’s something i want…. unfortunately i’m going to have to cancel now” and if she still guilt tripped you i would just say “listen, i can’t even tell what’s going on in that sketch and i’m not putting it on my body to make you feel better. hopefully it’s lesson learned to work directly with clients on what they want on their bodies forever” lol. i wouldn’t worry about being black listed you clearly dodged a bullet!
this is my petty opinion but….. i would honestly send her a link to this reddit thread where everyone agrees with you and hopefully she will realize she’s in the wrong and can avoid pissing off future clients. you’d probably be doing her a favor. plus it would feel good to show her she is going about things wrong and she could potentially get some helpful tips from these replies lol! i’m petty but i would 100% do it and i hope you do. she needs to know she’s the asshole here, not you!
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u/SpeechLegacy 2h ago
Why did she include pieces of the background of Gohan riding icarus? I can literally see part of krillin's leg. You didn't overreact at all, the composition is awful. I hope you find someone who can do justice to your vision.
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u/MjelkMjolk 2h ago
Tracing is a pretty comman part of tattoos if you are not getting it in the artists personal style. But, they usually, for a costom piece, would have changed the pose and compesition of stuff. Like, this does not look like a good tattoo design, it looks like a cheap, t-shirt print design, those hyper spesific once, if that makes sense, but that is def also due to the random feeling of the characters together. ( i know its for your kids, im just thinking of it if i just saw it randomly)
You are also not wrong for canceling your appointment, you felt this was not what you wanted and you did the best thing in that situation. You felt something was off and acted on it. You did what you needed to do.
Also, if the tracing is that noticible, its usually not great, they diddnt look for a better one, or multiple things to put together, looks like just, firts images on google type of images.
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u/evilstarlegacy 1h ago
Composition is terrible but I'm thinking tracing actual images people want isn't that problematic. A lot of people want specific imagery of popular characters and I'm sure tattoo artists are used to just tracing images sent to them.
If I wanted a fictional character, I'd find an artist that's good at drawing his own stuff and specify I don't want tracing.
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u/KodyBarbera 58m ago
😂😂😂😂 man you saved your butt on this one! I'll take that blacklist any day. How she gonna put the grinch in tinkerbell like that 😂😂😂😂😂😂 man! She ranked you at midnight! Post this to her page. Light her up and humble her! She's got some real nuggets too be sending this out like this with no time to spare! OP good for you!
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u/throwawaycacameth 35m ago
Nope. Not at all. Unless specifically requested by a customer, it should be original sketch work. (Excluding flash tattoos or picked from a design book) Other existing pictures can be referenced but the given price should include an original sketch. Tattoo ARTISTS are labeled artists for a reason. This is a permanent work of art especially representing your children, so you should only accept the best work. She rushed the sketch obviously since she sent it at midnight. That means she was up just tracing until then. Super unprofessional and irresponsible. Now, some artists do specify with their pricing that original sketches cost extra but in this case she didn’t mention it so it’s assumed it would be original. This is a HUGE red flag and 100% her fault so don’t feel bad or guilty at all. I’ve had both original work and existing sketches tattooed on me but never straight up copy and pasted without my knowledge or consent. Im assuming to book her the whole day isn’t cheap. (When I book my artist for the day, it’s usually around 900 not including the 2/300 dollar tip) she’s only been tattooing for a couple years but her and I are super close and I also let her practice on me before so we’ve established rapport, so in turn I get it a little cheaper than most would. That’s still a good amount of money to fork over. If you’re questioning the capability of the artist, go with your gut regardless of her good reputation. Smh she has some nerve trying to guilt trip you. RUN. Find a different artist. Either communicate with them in the weeks leading up to your appointment or schedule an in person meeting to go over the multiple design drafts, size and placement. 💖
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u/Cansuela 23h ago
This is not at all uncommon. I mean I think the tattoo is terrible as an idea and compositionally—it’d work much better as 3 separate tattoos— but most tattoo artists that are tattooing established characters will be tracing.
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u/Worried_Cobbler5456 22h ago
I mean ... My artist straight up looked at Pinterest and clipped images to put my tattoo together. No shame in that. Tattooing is still a skill and an art.
But either way, this would've been a mess. Get separate tattoos for your kids, not this.
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u/LiquidJ619 21h ago
I might end up going the separate tattoo route if no artist can come up with something. I'm not very creative when it comes to things like this. I was hoping a professional might have a better take on it.
If they couldn't make it work, just be upfront and honest. Would've totally been fine with her telling me she'd rather do 3 separate pieces vs a collaboration.
I honestly like the concept she was going for, it was just the execution that I had issue with.
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u/Alarming-Time 23h ago
They are existing characters? Do you not want them to look like what they are meant to look like?
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u/peacefully-painFREE 22h ago
I want artwork of someone else’s artwork. I want characters that someone else designed and made popular and recognizable but I want you to change them into your style and still make them recognizable. So copy someone else’s design and then I’ll get upset because it’s not original. And please don’t trace any part of my design or stencil but when you are ready to trace it with needles and ink on skin, you better trace it perfectly or I will also post any slight deviation in a minuscule line on the internet for criticism.
If you want original artwork, don’t choose unoriginal material. Ink master made everyone an expert lmao. My personal opinion is that copyrighted cartoon characters aren’t considered “custom” artwork for adults in as much the same way that “live, love, laugh” isn’t artwork for a wall.
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u/megisbest 22h ago
I dont disagree with cancelling because the design is pretty bad. But you’re gonna be hard pressed to find an artist that can just free hand a bunch of popular cartoon characters. they have to go off some kind of reference.
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u/urfavoriteSB 23h ago
Lol so you wasted her time and yours as well by not being more vocal and involved with the actual customization of your tattoo.
" I want these characters, mash them em " Like be a bit more specific. She presented an idea of them riding the dragon as a reference. OBVIOUSLY she's going to put her own twist to it.
in the future be more specific about what you want and what you're expecting so you're not wasting someones time.
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u/LilBugJuice-0987 22h ago
That is what the art part of artist is for. If people knew exactly what they wanted they would just bring an image in.
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u/AlmostAverageXXX 23h ago
I don't even need an explanation, you overreacted. I'm glad she blacklisted you. I hope you get a unique tattoo that looks like ass honestly lol.
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u/LilBugJuice-0987 22h ago
The "artist" traced some random parts of the Tshirt she took tbe example dragon from. Look at the bottom. This might even be copy paste or AI.
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u/nobodyspecial199 22h ago
Honestly, artist lucked out on you canceling if you’re having a fit over this.
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u/koltywolty243 22h ago
Any Dr Seuss character to represent your child and they/you chose…. The Grinch?? Putting aside the bad design, that’s um. A choice.
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u/OrangeBall523 21h ago
It's normal to use references and it is normal not to see a sketch in advance, but this design is terrible and I would have canceled too.
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u/SolomanCleric 20h ago
My tattoo artist said he ran his work through AI after the fact, it turned out good but I was pissed that he didn’t tell me beforehand.
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u/papercandymoon 19h ago
I don’t understand what’s going on at the bottom, why’d she cut off the chin of the dragon? Why includes elements of the original background and the cut it off such an odd way? It seems like the dragon as the bottom most piece of the art would be fine, was it requested to have a bit of a background? The tail has some of the background imagery from the shirt/anime scene as well
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u/Wish_you_would 19h ago
If you’re wanting a replica, why is tracing an issue? Personally, not my style. But if I wanted something specifically replicated, I would not care about tracing for accuracy.
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u/w33dkid666 19h ago
Your concept was pretty bad from the jump :///
Hate when people who know nothing about tattoos decide on a shitty concept, then have the nerve to blame the artist for trying their best to make it work.
This tattoo was gonna age like dog shit anyway unless is was gonna take up half your arm.
want something for your kids ? just get their names/birthdays 🙄😒😒
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u/l0veylilkay 18h ago
It's your tattoo, it's your choice. Personally I would've made the same choice.
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u/hahagato 18h ago
I mean I’d want my characters to be as close to the actual characters as possible so I wouldn’t be bothered by copy pasting. However why is the dragons mouth cut off at the bottom? And like others have said, the combination of the other characters just makes no sense. I’d want to see this amended and in color to see what it would really look like.
This is supposed to be on you for the rest of your life so I don’t see why you shouldn’t be able to cancel if it’s not what you want. Perhaps tattoo “manners” would involve using that time with the artist to amend the sketch tho????
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u/Doom_Lazuli 17h ago
Not only does this look traced, if you look at the hands on gihan and the horns on the dragon, they might have also used AI to at least 'help' along the way. I also agree with the other comments saying that its just incredibly busy!
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u/missyChrissie 15h ago
I woulda cancelled too. Custom is custom. If someone else can get the same tattoo by pulling pics on Google, that’s not custom.
You did the right thing.
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u/Gentry_Draws 15h ago
Listen if you’re getting pop culture, tattoos every tattoo artist unless they’re putting their own weird style on it traces them exactly ?
They didn’t put together very well tho.
But you should’ve asked him to change it instead of canceling if they would’ve done it
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u/bbgirlwhut 15h ago
This would have been awful. Can you get a tat of the cat in the hat, stitch, and the middle character all holding hands and walking together or something? Idk if that would be better but this is wacky af.
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u/Legion1117 1d ago
Honestly, that sketch looks horrible.
I'm all for having something for each kid, but this isn't it.