Synesthesia

No, I sincerely do like it haha. I still say laser it off if you really can't stand the sight of it. If you're okay with how it is but want to "fix it up" by adding stuff, I would suggest leaving it alone and laughing off a youthful mistake and just concentrating on tattoos elsewhere. Hardly ever is a tattoo improved by adding more stuff around it, it just draws more attention to it. Your idea of a Norse sleeve sounds cool and could make a good cover up if you do decide to lighten it up with laser.

Imo, you're doing this kind of backwards. You pick the artist first and then go with their price. It sounds to me like you're comparing two people and trying to decide based more on cost than who you prefer as an artist. You need to pick who you think would give you the look you want better. You're concerned about $100 difference, which is small change for a piece of art on your body forever. I'm also not sure what tattoo you're getting. You posted a picture of a bear on a hand, then a rose, then a wave. Which thing were you hoping to get? Have you not decided yet? Figuring out what you want should be the very first thing you do. I prefer Aaron's style a lot more, but it's up to you. If you want a more traditional style whatever it is you're getting, I think he would kill it.

Well, it's a small picture, but from what I can see...it's very flat and boring. It's lacking any kind of dynamic composition, it's pretty much just some hieroglyphics without any kind of shading to give it depth. I just googled Egyptian tattoos and this was one of the first hits I found. Notice how much more detailed and visually interesting it is. There's a lot cooler things you can do with an Egyptian theme. Where are you located? Maybe we can suggest some local artists.

That's rough and a lot of solid black. I think with at least a couple sessions of lasering you could get a really nice cover up though. Laser might sound scary but it's come a long way as far as effectiveness and pricing. Alternately, you could just chalk this up as a life experience, and get better tattoos everywhere else to distract from this one. Either way, this time do more research into your artist, maybe we could offer suggestions if you give us an idea where you're based. Cool profile pic.

@HettyKet That's the one that inspired me! I love how that sits. Gives me hope that not all women's chest pieces need to be symmetrical and/or birds.

Maybe, if we're thinking of the same one, it's very NSFW lol. The forum's images are all messed up now and I can't seem to find it. I remember first getting the idea a couple years ago after seeing some lady on here post hers, so it could very well be the same one. But yeah, it feels like traditional "something" is right, since both my arms are going to be traditional style. Just can never make up my mind about the subject matter. That Pharaoh's horses idea has stuck with me the longest though, maybe I should just go for it someday.

^ That's very cool and not the kind of chestpiece I'm used to seeing women get! Since posting that, I'm still kicking around some ideas. I think someone posted a Pharaoh's Horses chest piece on a woman a while back and that's the idea I keep coming back to. I think if the horses were spread out a little more, and I added a couple American flags to the side, it would make something kind of v-shaped that would fill that space nicely. Still thinking over my options though. Thinking something along the lines of this but adjusted for my anatomy so they don't cross into boob territory:

I've had a few that still had light peeling or looked shiny for a few weeks after I got them. Some spots just take longer than others. They say stuff closest to your chest heals faster because there's more blood there since it's near the heart, some stuff on your arms or legs might just take longer. It will eventually heal 100%, just leave it alone. Any pictures?

Most of us aren't tattoo artists. If we have a bad day at work, we get a scolding from the boss and go home without any lasting repercussions. When you mess up at work, it's on someone forever. Instead of getting defensive, you need a serious attitude change and to take your craft more seriously. You can't go through your career saying "Boy I really fucked up that guy, oh well, I had a bad day. Next!" Whats your excuse for nearly every other pic in your profile? Because most of them are jacked up.

I looked them up on Facebook and Instagram. If you care about getting a high quality tattoo, I would recommend always doing that. It's part of the research experience. You need to see for yourself what kind of work you're going to get, not just asking a couple buddies if that's a good shop. This seems like an average street shop. I don't think you'll get butchered if you go there, but there are so many better shops in your area that I can't really say I would recommend you to go here. I know it's tempting to just get something ASAP and for free, but there are much better artists nearby.

True. I was just wondering if there were some other local gems I didn't know about. I mostly only pay attention to traditional/neo-traditional artists in my area and now I'm kind of interested in other styles and don't know where to begin.

Your artist being well known doesn't necessarily mean anything. Jon Boy is well known but I wouldn't call him good by any means (https://www.instagram.com/jonboytattoo/). Your artist probably told you that image wouldn't look good because you wanted it upside down. Tattoos should always look upside down to you when you look down at them, it's more aesthetically pleasing. Just for future reference. I don't really understand what the crown is supposed to signify but I agree with the person who said it looked like the Keep Calm and Carry On logo. I think you'll have a lot of people just assuming that's what it means until they start twisting your arm and squinting at it to read it (and they will, people are grabby about lettering tattoos). I think that banner design is better, all the black in the banner makes it a little bolder. But still, I wouldn't get it. Tattoos, imo, should speak for themselves and not have to be so wordy. A cool image will make you feel just as good about yourself as your mantra. That's all just my opinion, sounds like you're pretty set...

Lately, I've been entertaining the notion of getting a black and gray realism piece but I don't know of anyone nearby that specializes in that type of thing. I've been thinking about getting a bear/tiger/etc but don't really want to give it too much thought until I know if there's a guy nearby that can do it. Can anyone think of someone preferably within a few hours drive of me? I live in south central PA, about 2 hours from Philly and 1 hour from Baltimore, if that gives you some perspective. As it stands now, I think Bryan Merck in Philly is probably my number one choice. I've seen some really nice black and gray realism from him, but not a lot of animals in his portfolio. I don't even know if he'd be interested.

Well, if you like green, that's an advantage to getting them green. If you like orange, getting them orange would be an advantage. I think I've read that yellow is one of the faster fading colors, but with proper contrast, you still shouldn't need a touch up for many years at least. So it really doesn't make much difference. Kind of depends on what other colors are going in the tattoo, imo. Any progress pics?

I think this thing's a mess, man. For one thing, your whole deposit situation and him calling you for the rest of the money is really weird and doesn't indicate he's a professional. This guy's lines look shaky and not confident, and exceptionally thin. He has an okay eye for composition, I like how the flowers go into your elbow, although I wonder what he was planning on doing for the empty spot on your inner bicep (background? nothing?). His shading looks amateurish. If you're going for realism, his approach is too bold, if you were going for something more "cartoony," he isn't being bold enough. I'm afraid it'll end up being a really weak tattoo overall if you continue with this guy. I think if you change artists now and have a better guy finish it for you, it could turn out really nice. I think you have the framework for a nice tattoo but someone else needs to take over. Do you have any portfolio pictures from the current artist and the guy you're planning on going to? Do they have Facebook, Instagram, etc? Your arm isn't ruined, it could definitely be a lot worse.

Personally, I would never, ever get this. It's on the forearm, which is a highly visible place and prime real estate for tattoos. I'd rather put an awesome picture in that spot and not sideways lettering, and certainly not that cursive style of lettering. It's hard to read and it isn't going to age well as is because of its size combined with the fact it's in a highly visible spot (sun exposure). My first line of advice is to get a picture of some sort instead of words. They generally age better and they have more "impact" as something recognizable (no strangers squinting at your arm and asking what it says constantly). Is there a scene of the show you like? A motif of some kind you can reference? Someone on it you'd like to get a portrait of? Even if you could pair this quote in a banner with a picture of something would be an improvement, imo. I doubt you'll change your mind so my next line of advice: make everything bigger and make sure it has easy to read composition. You may have to change the placement of it if you aren't comfortable going big, although bigger is always better for tattoos. Like I said, I would never consider something like this, but different types of tattoos appeal to different people. If I had things my way, everyone would get panthers and daggers. If you're dead set on a lettering tattoo, just make sure you change the font and size if only so it doesn't all blur together in a few years.

Where did you go? Any Facebook or Instagram links to a portfolio or pictures of the shop?

@Mark Bee Is that supposed to make me feel better? I'm normally forgiving of an artist's mistakes, but this uneven handle is going to drive me crazy! I need to stop by at another shop in the same town sometime to let another guy who tattooed me get healed photos of what he did, so I figure I'll just pop in to both shops someday.

Picked up a little new one on the back of my arm Saturday evening. By bedtime, it seemed to be done oozing and getting a little scabby already so I went to bed without wrapping it (unlike I normally do). No problems. Washed it in the morning in the shower and left it dry all day yesterday. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night and had to peel my arm off my sheets, left a nice dagger shaped blob on my sheet. Wtf. I've never had a tattoo ooze more the second night than the first. You learn something new with every tattoo I guess. Getting that spot tattooed was wild too. It's the farthest on the back of my arm I've gone, and I had to sit almost bent in half with my arm behind me. I expected it to hurt way worse than it did, only the very top part up near my arm pit sucked a little, the rest was just typical tattoo scratchiness.

I picked up this little heart and dagger at a local shop's flash event. Didn't realize until I got home that the top of the handle is jacked up. I think it'll be an easy fix so I'll just swing by one afternoon after it's healed and ask him to fix up the diamond-y part. Don't really blame the guy considering how insanely busy the shop was that day. Other than the handle, I love it, and it helps fill in an annoying gap nicely. EDIT: Silly me, I forgot to give credit. Atom Lenhart at Golden Ages in Lancaster, PA did this. I've been tattooed by two guys in that shop now and will probably get a second from Atom (I have an idea he would be awesome at) and will probably get stuff from the other two guys too.

You'd get more responses if you post in your own thread, but I'll bite. You'll probably need a couple sessions of laser to open up more opportunities for a cover up. Most of it is pretty light, but there's a couple darker spots and a lot of lines. As usual, I recommend a black panther to cover it!

Hey, I'm from York, about an hour and a half from you. I don't know what kind of styles you like, but here's a few good local artists to get you started: Rob Diamond in Harrisburg - https://www.instagram.com/_diamondtattoos_/?hl=en Paul Acker in Philly - https://www.instagram.com/paulackertattoo/?hl=en Bryan Merck also in Philly and at the same shop as Paul Acker - https://www.instagram.com/bmerck_ink/?hl=en Pat Haney, again in Philly - https://www.instagram.com/easy_tiger/?hl=en Michael Kelly in Lancaster - https://www.instagram.com/michaeljtattoos/ Once you figure out what styles you're most into, we could probably give you some more specific recommendations, but those guys are just the first few off the top of my head that do really nice work.

Nope, surgical steel just means it won't dissolve in your skin or anything gross like that. A really good site to order jewelry through is this one: http://www.bodyartforms.com/ You can search by material, which is great for people with allergies. You can also make custom orders through them and their customer service is always top notch. About once a month or so, they have sales, there's currently a 20% off sale going on. Post pics of every stage of the healing process! And @ksherbini, start your own thread please. You'll get more responses that way.

Apparently me feeling like I ripped myself off because I thought someone would be a lot less cool than they were is grounds for a bashing. Because somehow that's a negative thing against the artist. It's the only time I've ever came in right at the upper limit and I have no one to blame but myself, kind of just a funny story more than anything else but somehow it turned into me ripping an artist I greatly admire. Whatever. So much unnecessary drama in this thread...

Guys, I'm making a point that the only time I felt even remotely ripped off was when I basically ripped myself off by assuming Chad was going to be a dick. Kind of just a funny story about my assumptions more than a complaint against him. I've also said repeatedly that I didn't care and would do it again if I had to.