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I think that stencil placement is part of the collaboration process! If you don't like it, speak up and ask questions.

Welcome to the forum! How long ago was the work done? Healing looks fine to me. You have some blowout - some of that will fade out over time. Short of a cover-up there's not much you can do about it and, in reality, you see it more than anyone else will. We're all just more critical and tend to overthink the work. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the quality of your artist's work. Lot's of issues with the line work - some corners squared, more rounded; the line pull of the outlines, etc. The most important issue is whether YOU are happy with it, though, in the end.

Placement is critical. Poor placement can make an incredible tattoo design look terrible on the body and good placement can make the simplest design truly pop. Most of my tattoos have had the stencil moved at least once. Sometimes its the tattooer not 100% happy with the placement or cut of the tattoo-edges on the body, sometimes its me wanting the placement tweaked ever so slightly. My tattooists have all been happy to oblige, but I also get a free pass because of the volume of tattoos I have; they appreciate how important placement is when you're running low on space. My tattoos in the last few years have become increasingly more of a challenge in terms of fitment, so stencil placement is crucial (and a fun part of the process) and I will only get tattooed by people who understand and respect that. I made my tattooer re-stencil something 8 times because it didn't look aligned with adjacent tattoos. He's a close friend and made a lot of my tattoos. But I think most would have been bounced da fuq out of the shop lol. In the end we nailed the placement and I got a sweet tattoo but also wicked razor burn from wiping the stencil off repeatedly :p So I echo the above comment...stencil placement is a collaborative part of the process. So speak up if you are not OK with stencil placement. However I would lean on the experience of the tattooer in most cases. Trust in your tattooer to make you and your tattoo look good.

Welcome - you can post your question right here!! Pictures will help if you're looking for any opinions or advice.

idk looks like you got what you asked for ? i think it looks cool and minimalist. we often make the mistake of wanting a full area filled in - prioritizing ink coverage over subject matter. looks like you got a couple nice open spaces to put in different tattoos, ideas are endless and they don't all have to blend. i like it when different styles and subjects melt together, it looks interesting. you can put some b&g roses, traditional tattoo designs, add some colour, cool japanese style tattoo to fill in the space, a snake, and and and... i would do some research and find some illustrative woodblock print references for ideas. don't need to rush, take your time until you find the idea that 'sticks'.

if you follow Jeff Rassier on IG, then you may have seen the four little fillers i got from him on Saturday. he drew them all directly on skin, so each one fits its spot perfectly.

Thank you so much Devious6 for your insight! That is definitely the best feedback I've heard from people I've asked online or otherwise. (: I got the work done 3 weeks ago and overall am okay with it but agree that I'm no overly thrilled with the quality of the work done. Made my day to get your response, many many thanks!

some nice minimalist mountains in the background would be cool

It's a little hot here right now in the hood

Are you willing to have a competent artist re-work what you've got or cover it all together?

Hey there! I would find an artist that you trust and ask them. :) They should be able to make your tattoo dreams come true.

Next appointment with Scott Sylvia isn't until October sixth to continue my Fudo/Dragon sleeve. However, Scott does have a walk in day once a month and I'm pretty sure I'll be going in and getting a design of the wall the first weekend of August.

More progress on the fudo/dragon sleeve. One week old today. Outlined/shaded the inside of my arm and did the coverup on my bicep.

Wrapped up this little guy today! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

When life gives you lemons... Andy Northup @ All Star Tattoo

Went to New Jersey on May 19th to see Robert Ryan, and picked this Narasimha out of his sketch book. He changed it a little from the original to fit the upper arm better. Easily one of my favorite tattoos. The next Saturday, I played the walk in game at Smith Street and got two tattoos from Bert Krak, a butterfly, and a skull & crossbones. I came in wanting the butterfly, and he said he had time for another quick one if I was interested, so I picked the skull after he said it was a shop favorite. Everyone at both shops were great, and I had a great experience getting tattooed.

2nd question = depends on the artist. Some hate it when the client doesn't know what they want. 1st question = shape can be adjusted by adding background/etc. Pick an object that speaks to you.

Placement is, in my opinion, the hardest thing about tattoos to understand, and it is also often the factor that distinguishes good tattoos from great tattoos. This probably isn't the most satisfying answer, but I think to really understand placement you need to look at real tattoos on people because pictures, especially the tightly cropped Instagram photos that make up most of what we look at these days, really give no sense of placement. Half the time you can't even tell what body part they're on.