littlefox1970

Rich Cahill for the popped cherry 6 years ago.

At first I freaked out. I guess the permanence of it hit me. I also got my first couple of tattoos on impulse. But then I started getting more and before I knew it I wasn't worried anymore. Now I'm 13 in and already planning the next one. The best thing you could do is add to it as others have said. Find an artist who can incorporate it into a sleeve. And no, I don't think it's too big, it's a good size for your forearm. 

exactly. a full sleeve would likely be cheaper and less painful, but definitely look way better than laser removal. think thru this next decision carefully and learn from your past. maybe get something positive that balances the negative energy you're feeling and make it BIG! that'll make your current tattoo relatively smaller and it'll be allllll goooooood.  best of luck and welcome to LST!

I'm not experienced enough to really advise you on lasering, but my understanding is that it's not going to totally eliminate what you have. And, it's expensive and painful. To me, the idea of adding to it to create at least a half sleeve - perhaps even covering some of it through that process - is a better possibility. Although I only have two tattoos, both done in the last year, I think the quality of your work, size and placement are fine. My advice would be to build on it, not to worry about it.

No it is not too big, and you should know that most of us are going to encourage you to turn it in to at least a full sleeve ?

Trust me, I've been there. Everything you just said I felt when I got my first couple of tattoos. I also considered laser which, as far as I know, does work, though results vary. The best advice I got on here was "get more tattoos". You'd be amazed at how soon you stop worrying when you have a few more. I strongly recommend keeping it, at least until it heals completely. I really think it looks good, and it has genuine significance to you. Remember, it could always be a whole lot worse.

Sorry for you loss man. I think it looks great. It's clean, and nicely done, and even though it's not quite my style, it's actually among the better "lettering" tattoos I've seen. I'd keep it. Also, it's only been a month, it ain't even healed yet! Give it time, it'll grow on you. Trust me.

I am also sorry for your loss - just lost my mom 3 weeks ago. The work looks well done and placed - can you tell us exactly what it is you don't like about it? Is it, perhaps, an emotional reaction to you mom's passing? You generally have 3 options - Live with it, laser it, or cover it. The first is, generally, the easiest, least expensive and least expensive route. Only you, though, can ultimately decide which route to take.
In any case, welcome to the forum.

I agree! Well placed and well executed.

Sorry for your loss.
It appears to be a well placed and well executed tattoo.
Is it the design you hate, or does it have something deep to do with making your mom's passing really real?

Handson makes a great point...

Impulsiveness has brought you to this crossroads.  The important thing now is to not allow it to decide which path you will take a second time.

 I can feel your angst and I empathize ... everything in you is pushing to make it gone, now ... but for your own sake, please, take your time with deciding what you will do next.

My father had that exact same tattoo on his bicep ... I always thought it was very cool. :)

Speaking of Walmart tattoos and earning tattoos ... lol ... this gentleman certainly seems to have earned his!

St. Christopher, 2003 ... 

I got my first tattoo 6 days ago. A traditional sailor jerry bald eagle with American flag. I plan to add a lot more around it though. I never understood what drove someone to get full sleeves...now I do .
 
Edit: The first picture is fresh,  the second is 6 days into healing.

Ain't tattoos just such fun =]


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My first tattoo was a trail of seven butterflies going from the front of my right hip up and around my side. I was 19 and at the time the first two sat in my undies line and the last one closer toward my back. 4 kids and 12 years on, they sit very differently ? poor things have been through a fair bit! In the past I wanted to either rework them or add to them, but now I'm too sentimental and like them all stretched and sad looking ?

So interesting, thanks everyone! Next time we head down there (recoloring my peony on my upper arm so it flows better w/my big piece) I'm going to talk w/my artist about fixing my feet, and what can be done w/my ankles. My dragon is just a flash dragon, no attachment there..but my Tigger..I dunno if I could mess w/him. Buuut then I don't know how things will work w/the plan I have in my head for future pieces. 

My first tattoo when I was 18

I then got this one not longer after there both home jobs the cross is on my chest and the dragon is wrapped around my right arm which is incomplete 24 now and wanting more including the dragon finished





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the heart with the key and banner was my first tattoo,I got it in 1985,(I was 26)it was for an ex-wife with her name in the banner.it was flash off the wall,that's the way it was back then.
and a couple other stupid choices from a while ago.

.but now it's all nicely covered up ! :)

I just got my first tattoo yesterday (23rd of September 2016) and I am really proud of it. 

First tattoos were wild roses on each hand and a shrimp on my collar bone 3 years ago when I was 18. They were original drawings from the t-shirt artist Craig Robson, whom was my favorite artist at the time. I was entoxicated by art school culture and didnt really think ahead. I initially wanted the shrimp behind my ear but decided to not because I thought it would hurt too much.
I regret them because they were pulled off the internet and I enhibited the artist from doing a better job because I wanted them to be exactly like the picture. I also regret getting them on my hands, as they cant be covered. Getting anything on your hands/head is a bad idea in general, let along as your first tattoo. I also regret getting the shrimp on my chest as it enhibited me from getting a large chest piece latter on.  I told the artist to make it darker after my bad heal for a touch up and it's sort of just a dark mess now. I've seen worse out there but if I was to get laser surgery these 3 would be the ones Id get rid of. I should have gotten them on my leg or something. Much easier to hide and work around.
I dont have any good photos of the shrimp as its hard to photograph, but heres a voomed in crop of me while I was getting my chest tattooed.

Artwork from Frank Turner's Poetry of the Deed. In the process of lasering it off, so I can get a coverup done!

My Grandfathers' WWII service serial numbers on each tricep after my first grandfather passed. They each pretty much raised me. 

my first ever tattoo I got about 7-8 years ago - its covered now - basically i went to a local shop - got a small tattoo of plankton (yes from spongebob) which promptly became infected - skin fell off - scars were established - it was then covered by this Bob Marley tattoo - which was later chewed on by a pitbull (whole nother thread there) - anyway - my tattoo selection process has changed since then - and I dont think i'd ever get another coverup - anyway...

My first tattoo was a little broken heart with a small rose I got straight from a flashbook when I was 14. I was shopping for clothes in the city with my mom and mentioned I wanted a tattoo. We walked straight from the mall to a tattooshop and picked something out. The original was a normal heart, but I asked for a broken one because I was "emo". Later I had some more rose added around it when I was 16. And then a (really, really badly done) girl shooting herself through the head with crows flying out, behind it when I was 17.
At 20 I finally got some sense and had the whole thing covered and started getting good tattoos. :')