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Yep, I agree with everyone else here. It's a fantastic tattoo, and it'll only look better after it settles into your skin. I've had my fair share of tattoo regret, and it's faded every time. Sometimes within a couple weeks, other times much longer. Give yourself time. And I know you don't want to do the other side of your back (at least not yet ), but a whole back piece built around that tattoo/style would be effin' rad IMHO...

Hey @oboogie, what's not healed? I jacked mine up by wearing jeans on day four, so I have a nice crusty scab on the outside hinge that just won't heal. I am sure that it will but F.

That’s a very nice tattoo!

There is a trick there, because a good artist will tell you if they're not up to the task, but a bad one won't necessarily. The best defense is to spend a lot of time learning how to recognize average work from great work. Your tattoo isn't shitty - but it isn't world class, either. We've all had or have those, too. If you really want to commit to world class results you could laser at least the hair places a couple of times and lighten up everything. That would open up your world to infinite cover options with the right artist.

That's a very tough image to pull off as a tattoo. You would've needed an exceptional (and specialized) artist to pull it off.

^ one of the great things about tattoo that I think a lot of the average people getting tattoos overlook and miss out on. kudos for picking up on that.

first of all that tattoo is fuckin awesome. sorry you are experiencing that though. while not having full blown panic attacks, I’ve had similar experiences with bigger pieces. i’ve never been one of those people that gets a tattoo and is immediately so psyched and wow’d by it, it takes me some time to love it, hate it, and get used to it. i think the risk, feelings, and change process is part of the art in a lot of ways. i would try to give it some time. everything in life is impermanent, including our bodies, minds, feelings, and thoughts. hang in there. and again that tattoo rocks.

Haha. "Toad-frog" is the common name for them in our local "Appalachian" dialect.

At the ripe old age of 59, and I can hardly believe I'm that old, I can tell you that what people say about regretting the things you didn't do more than the things you did do is 100% true. I don't have many regrets as I try to find the good in all my experiences, but the few I do have are regrets about things I wished I'd done. I was in a motorcycle accident 10 years ago, almost lost my leg, was inconstant pain for about 5 years and was in physical therapy trying to walk without a limp for 7 years on and off. I could cry about that, but my wife at the time asked me for a divorce the week I got home from the hospital and I wound up meeting the love of my life. In my book, even the accident worked out pretty good! Life is all about how you view it.