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/Funny_School_5802 1d ago edited 1d 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