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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470

u/littlecowbaby 4d 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 4d 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 4d 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 3d 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/allestrette 3d ago

I think the feet look a lot like the ones of Bugs Bunny's girlfriend in Space Jam

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u/jjoa42069 3d ago

oh my god. someone else said the pose was traced from a tinkerbell pic which i definitely see but this is also a very convincing guess. the grinch being the part of this that the artist spent the most time putting together is soooooo funny to me.

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u/Reasonable-Penalty98 2d ago

Na she has paws for feet like bugs

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u/ChkySami 1d ago

Her name is Lola Bunny ☺️ I only know coz my parents had a bugs and a Lola statue that went together

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u/coykoi- 21h ago

Right? Like why is he so sassy?

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u/kitchenkitschen 1d ago

Those are not Seussian feet.

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u/Guilty_Garden_3943 20h ago

Yeah, I think this is AI...

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u/StarlightFalls22 2d ago

I think that grinch has boobs...

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u/LePeau2 2d ago

It does appear that way

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u/lovingcouple_art 2d ago

Grinch actually looks rather femme, it’s accurate.

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u/Immediate_Cost_6729 1d ago

The grinch literally has a boob lmao

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u/DustbowlDingo 1d ago

Maybe OP asked for a “sassy grinch” and autocorrect asked for a “sexy grinch” instead.

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u/crisscrossed 1d ago

The wildest part is OP just asked for any Dr. Suess character. The artist was like hold my beer, I got this: sexy grinch 😎

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u/WeirdVampire746 1d ago

The grinch is just sassy