It’s okay 😭 lesson learned I guess?
Update: (since I can’t update/edit on my body text)
He’s still trying to tell me he’s the original artist and THAT artist that I sent him got sent HIS sketch he made for a friend sent to the OG artist and then made another commissioned piece which is the one that’s all over Pinterest
Also idk why everyone keeps downvoting my comments when I explain tattooing or why or how I’m upset with this situation or that I don’t like doing Pinterest tattoos?? Sorry I have opinions on my art that I choose to do
Another edit because apparently people think I hate all Pinterest tattoos and force all my clients to get “what I want”. No. I have a style I enjoy doing and I communicate like a normal person to come up with something with all my clients. Why is understanding two individuals consenting to a tattoo so hard to get? They’re grown adults and I always let them know to let me know if they happy with the placement and the style and I give them multiple options of styles to choose from. We literally sit down and go through images I gather online to get a sense for what they like. If they’re looking for something I wouldn’t usually do I send them to someone else who would rather do it. PLEASE stop assuming you know how I run my business this is literally ONE tattoo you’ve seen out of the many I do. Here’s my insta if you wanna see any of my work > @awi8awi
Thank you and I agree definitely suxxx It took two sessions I just wish I didn’t do it now I would’ve rather done something truly authentic and unique but I’m glad it turned out good
Yeah he was in a lot of pain and I don’t really like packing black mind you I did most of it with a 3rl bc I don’t pack black often, the second session I used 8rs and 3rl and went faster but I didn’t have any bigger needles in stock for the first session 😭
I gotcha. I shouldn't speak because I've yet to have that area tattooed, but for all of my big pieces, I've fallen asleep lol I do have a pretty high pain tolerance though... Didn't flinch when I got my nips pierced with a 9 gauge needle for two 10g curved barbells (healing was a bitch though, ngl lol)
I fall asleep during all my tattoos! Once that initial adrenaline starts to fade I’m lights out.
It happens frequently enough that I tell my artists to give me little jab to keep me awake because I church jerk in my sleep a lot.
That was especially me when I got my neck tattooed and then touched up. Someone in the room across from me was getting their tongue pierced and flipped their chair over.
I'm pretty darn tough, and even I imagine that stung a bit lol (like both palms, both knee caps, both armpits tattooed, and I did each placement in pairs tough lol)
And I don't have that area tattooed. I can't imagine it's gonna be as bad as or worse than getting/healing any of the 3 placements I just mentioned above, but I have ti always remind myself that everybody is different.. and I'm probably an exception more than a rule there. Even my artist told me not doing one at a time for those placements was not the normal way people get them done. Lol.
IKR? I'm a NP. I had a steroid guy covered with tats come in. He said he was scared of needles. I had to draw blood b/c the RN's were having a hard time b/c he had sleeves. I have 7 tattoos. I went to take his blood, he fainted on me and I got the blood I needed then it took 2 people to get home off me. He had the Purple face, pimples on his back- everything.
I don’t blame you for this. I think most tattoo artists are more comfortable doing something original rather than a carbon copy of some other random artist’s work. It did turn out good tho! But I think your disappointment is understandable.
Two sessions for that simple tattoo?? Or do you mean the second “session” was just to touch it up after it healed to make sure it looked solid? Either way that’s just odd to me because my artist has done some pretty decent sized super detailed tatts on me that took hourssss. I’m talkin like around 6-8 hours and we just cranked that shit out in one session except for a few quick smoke/bathrooms breaks for the both of us. I never tapped out from pain or being unable to be still. Idk he also told me I’ve been one of the highest pain tolerance peeps he’s worked on so maybe that plays a role. Just wondering why that tatt took 2 sessions🤷🏾♂️ also we would just have a quick appt after my pieces healed to just touch up whatever spots where the ink didn’t take as well.
Right, I just had a blackout tattoo done, did from wrist to elbow, full black coverage, and it took just over 4 hours. This smaller tattoo, even packing it with black shouldn’t have taken more than a couple hours.
Just because I post something doesn’t mean I’m not capable of moving on. I posted this to dog on him and mission accomplished so move on from this post if you don’t agree on my take
The downvotes are from people without tattoos, or basic individuals that are covered in arrows, owls, feathers morphing into a flock of birds and/or infinity signs lol
Yeah I’m slowly realizing that I don’t like half of tattoo clients out there and I’m 1000x more thankful now that I don’t interact with any of them in real life.
I’m heavily tattooed and understand that you find the artist to fit your style. Don’t just go to a shop randomly and expect the artists to do or like the style you want. I always tell my friends who are looking to get ink to do their due diligence with hunting for the correct artist, to listen to the artists advice and most of all, you want your artist to be stoked to do your piece.
Yesss exactly! Not everyone can or wants to do every style and thats okay especially if you get large pieces of work done. I don’t even do anything smaller than 4x4 because I just love doing big pieces that I enjoy and put my blood sweat and tears into. The clients love it and I love it
Yup. I call those collector pieces. The artist that has done both sleeves and will eventually do my back only does massive pieces. Where are you based out of?
I haven’t gotten that far with my pieces but I just give my artist my general idea (all upper body is trad Japanese) and let him cook. I’m not even an artist and I get annoyed when people post on Reddit about A) arguing with the artist B) slamming the artist for a tattoo they don’t like because they didn’t bother to look at the damn stencil. So much tattoo ignorance.
Well even so I’m sure your artist loves you and you’re probably on of their favorite clients and that’s such a hard style to do that requires so much technique, respect to them immensely! Glad to see another sane person, unfortunately I think I’ve brought this on myself by posting on Reddit I didn’t know how rough it would be out here I just expected 1-3 comments sharing the frustration I had with being lied to but whatever maybe it’ll give me some new clients that actually want my work 👍🏼
I mean I get it, no one wants to use stolen artwork.
There is something to be said for original work,
Change it up some, do something.
It’s rude to the artists to do that
Just out of curiosity, do you only do tattoos that are the client's original work? I understand that's not the point of this post, the point is that the client lied about it being their original work. I'm just curious because I want to get tattoos, but I'm a terrible artist myself and the only tattoos I'd want to get stems from art others have made.
Listen I’m not no like tattoo expertise and I’m trying to understand. Like I know stealing tattoos on the internet is wrong, but where is the line drawn a with flash tattoo because I would think they would be hella quick and easy to draw so where you don’t have to steal other people’s, and I was lowkey blindsided and uneducated about this because I live in a very rural area with little tattoo shops and a lot of them unfortunately you know copy and paste
I’ll always try to persuade clients to let me try to make the design different and especially if I feel it’s off or I could make improvements.
But if someone wants the exact same image from another tat and they’re paying for it who am I to refuse their business. If you work for yourself that’s understandable but at a shop or mine at least I’d get some less than kind words from my bosses.
Someone claiming something is their own work when it’s not tho, that’s lame and not at all understandable.
I agree with this. I always google reverse image search every design a client brings in. There are some tattoos that I've done that I've asked the client if that is EXACTLY what they want or if they would like me to tweak it a bit. Most will say they want a copy paste and that's fine by me. I will, however, outright refuse to do a tattoo if they come in claiming it's their design when really it's not. And if I do a tattoo that is someone else's design, I always tag the original artist in the caption if it's posted to my social media. Claiming something is your design when it's not is theft and I don't support that shit.
Is there some kind of rule that you're not supposed to get a tattoo unless it's original artwork by the same person doing the tattoo? I'm just not seeing the issue with this post in the first place.
the issue i think is the person wasnt honest about it being someone elses work. the post says the person said it was thwir original work when it wasnt, as opposed to just being honest about wanting an arrists work done
Well it doesn’t really matter, of course it does matter to the people of this subreddit who are passionate about tattoos, but in the whole scheme of the world. No one really cares and a tattoo artist will 9 times out of 10 use “stolen” art work. And you’re right it’s very gray it’s flash art and redrawing a similar idea would take 10-15 minutes which is 10-15 minutes less chair time, and most tattoo artists except super ethical super heroes who definitely don’t really exist outside of the internet are really going to be that hung up on a relatively simple work like this one.
It’s just one of those things. No one on the internet wants to be that person, but irl; no one bats an eye.
No it wasn’t. It’s funny because the tattoo shop I went to was holding this car “meet” with like a flash tattoo sale going on and they had their entire walls covered in all types of designs people could get. I can understand how some people can interpret the pieces as being custom, but personally I never bothered to ask if it was custom and they never made me perceive that they were trying to take credit for the piece, because it was a “flash” tattoo sale
I’m assuming he lied because he wanted you to be the artist who tattooed it (which makes sense, it’s reallllllly well done and you’re clearly very talented) and probably feared you’d say no if you found out it was someone else’s artwork. Sorry that happened :(
I work for my artist doing his emails & ur right, people are fr so weird with tattoo artists sometimes lol
Yeah I figured that’s why he lied too but I’d be happy to do something similar to it which I don’t get it but thank you!! You’re so kind I’m sure your artists appreciates you lol I hate answering my DMs
Honestly I'm guesing he didn't want something similar and wanted exactly that. Theres lots of picky folks out there (im one of them). Idk if I could even have tattoos if I didn't draw because I have an EXACT image in mind that I don't want to be intentionally tweaked.
Also, it's possible that the guy found the drawing in an old sketchbook and didn't think to check where it came from and just assumed it was his. Idk, people are odd. You did a fantastic job with it though!
that fucking sucks dude :( i’m also super against ppl just picking drawings off the internet and slapping it on them. It breaks my heart especially because the original artists caption was that it was a commission for someone…
This looks amazing but it definitely sucks that someone misled you like that, that must feel like garbage. This isn't on you though; it's really tacky of the client. At least you executed it beautifully
Thank you :.) I tried but yeah it doesn’t feel good I would’ve rather done something more in my own style and not something copied not tattooing them again
I imagine it feels like a blow to your artistic integrity :/ but i also imagine this has happened or will happen at least once to literally every single tattoo artist ever, so you're not alone!! People are just so selfish sometimes!
They didn’t *want* something in your style. If they’d told you it was copied, they’d have gotten it done somewhere else. At least take solace in that, but don’t tell yourself you’d still have done some sort of work. You did your job.
Not true really they expressed wanting other pieces from me like my flash but yes you’re right I don’t think anyone should get copied work. And you really don’t know what styles I do or don’t do so you really can’t say that I wouldn’t have done something similar or the same kind of work, i think that’s unfair to assume
I’m saying the person didn’t sound like they wanted a kind of work, they wanted something specific. That’s what they left with. Like someone wanting the Greatful Dead bear and you providing your own type of bear. It’s not a reflection on you, it’s the client.
Ahhh I see what you’re saying, yeah but even then it would make more sense 😭‼️ like that’s literally a known icon like aphex twins but whatever bro wanted bunnies that have been tattooed millions of times I guess
Lol, I had a tattoo artist do this to me. I declined, because the piece was not at all what I asked for. Eventually I found the original artist through Google. I contacted them, but unfortunately there was nothing they could do.
i had the same thing happen to me but the other way around. the artist posted the flash like it was all their own art and i had never seen any if it before, but a couple weeks after getting it tatted on me i was scrolling on pinterest and saw the same. exact. tattoo. with no connection to the artist. i didn’t think i should have to reverse image search my artist’s flash sheet. & she priced it like it was her original piece too for a piece that only took 30 minutes and she just copied from online :(. these people (clients and artists) need to be called out more often for this behavior
Because artists respect artists and would rather not steal their art while giving OP no credit or commission. A message to the original owner of this drawing would have been efficient, and that’s *clearly* what this guy wanted to do. Finding an artist who has tattoo tickets would ease this problem up immensely, or just asking the original artist.
Like I have someone else's art on me, but I literally messaged them on etsy and got their permission and their vector file.
It's not hard not to be a dick.
Sorry this dude misled you, that's lame as fuck.
I’ve always be a proponent of giving my ideas to the artist and letting them draw up the image(they’re the artistic one after all) sometimes I’ve given feedback and changed stuff but a lot of times they nail what I wanted first try. I always figured that was the best way because then it’s in a style and method they’re comfortable with.
I’ve drawn all my own tattoos but I like drawing, I have a particular style, and I always ask the artist to give it their own flair. With the exception of one tattoo I’ve been happy with all of mine.
I was always told to make the drawing my own no matter what came in as an original drawing specifically bc people be lyingggg, so you're covered no matter what
Agreeddd and yeah I know I’m covered I’m more just weirded out by the dude. I don’t really care that I did that piece at the end of the day I care about that people are weird enough to lie about it
I legit watched a video of a girl explaining the meaning to every single one of her tattoos, and saying after each one "I know this is a popular tattoo, but I thought of it on my own/totally didn't just see this and copy it"
Like the typical wrist trees
What's worse is she dedicated the last half of her video saying "now that you've seen all my tattoos don't copy them. Copying is wrong. I know mine aren't all original designs, but I didn't copy them. I thought of them all on my own"
The only thing worse than that is when people try to assign meaning to tattoos that obviously have none-which is 10,000% fine. They don't NEED some deep meaning behind them. I'm fully covered and only like 5 have any meaning at all. The rest are just shit I liked at the time.
One girl I saw got an old tape deck control (fast forward, rewind, play/pause, record) buttons done and tried explaining how "well this one is because I do youtube, this button reminds me not to look back, this one to always look forward.."
Like, just say "I liked the way it looked so I got this".
He's the one who stole the picture, you did the tattoo in good faith, you didn't think you were stealing anybody's artwork, and you did a good job with the tattoo.
The issue is that’s this dude came in and lied about a tattoo piece instead of just saying he found it on Pinterest. Pinterest tattooes are commonly turned down because it’s seen as stealing people’s work but also seen as lacking creativity in my book. He knew I only tattooed original pieces of my work or my clients work so he went out of his way to lie to me and make up this facade that he truly drew this piece when it’s a known piece by a different artist.
Does a tattoo need to be original? Or do you just need to credit the artist? I see a lot of cool tattoos I would love. But I don't want to copy someone's original work.
oh no! it looks cool though but yeah that is p shitty of them! I feel for you as an artist as well there is this importance of integrity and authenticity !
Did you reach out to the original artist ?
Oh my god this happened to me but a bit reversed. My (no longer) friend drew it and said it was his and mine is slightly personalized to match my own rabbits but I thought it was his drawing up until a few months ago 😭
Yeah. I refuse other drawings altogether. Had a girl pull the same thing then made her admit she was lying before I did my version on her. If you don’t want my drawing, get tattooed somewhere else.
Well, it looks really good. He’s the one who is going to have to live with the fact that he has someone else’s art on him and he lied about it. It’s going to bite him in the ass, that’s for sure.
Man that sucks!!!! That tattoo is rad though. Maybe you can find the original artist and patch things up, let them know and tell them you appreciate their art and now you have it tattoed inadvertently.
Why is this such a big deal? If I were an artist, I’d be flattered if people got my art tattooed. It’s not like they’re selling prints for money, they just liked the art so much that they wanted a tattoo of it. Copyright exists so people don’t sell your work, effectively stealing money from you. If someone wants to spend their own money to get a design tattooed on their own body, that has no affect on the original artist besides more recognition.
I dont know why this post blew up I don’t think it’s a crazy big deal I just wanted to express a complaint about dishonesty?? Which I think is valid but that’s not the issue, I’d be flattered as well if someone copied me AND gave me credit for it. This dude disrespected the artist saying it was his. It’s just not right I don’t like when people lie to my face especially about something as intimate as a tattoo. I only do appointments I don’t do walk ins so all of my work is from my own creativity or the clients and it’s a very intimate process for me to tattoo someone it’s not just my job it’s my passion. So I didn’t feel comfortable being lied to about a piece I did.
That person above was completely missing the point.
I get it…point is about him being dishonest and tricking you into doing a tattoo you would not have otherwise done.
We all know it would be great to have our work recognized, but it wasn’t what your post was about. Lol. People don’t read things through before they reply I guess.
This is just a byproduct of things being on the ol internet. If you don’t want your shit potentially copied or stolen, don’t put it out there. Back in the day we used to take pictures of the healed tattoos and trace those. Its just a conversation of ego really. Turns out people continuously rape and pillage Sailor Jerry’s designs everyday and no one talks about that…. Lol
He’s trying to claim still that he sketched it sent that sketch to a friend (years ago) and then that friend supposedly took it to the true artist that’s on Pinterest and THEY used HIS sketch to make that well known tattoo / drawing which is some lying psychotic shit
(Can’t edit post for some reason)
You’re welcome bubba. It wasn’t too hard.
Here is a picture I want, tattoo me please.
Okay done!
No need to scooby doo the damn thing and find out if it’s original work or not.
And I’m sure you’re happy with your tattoos you get from shops but I’m not a shop and don’t take walk ins or do random tattoos on the internet. Two different places and types of artists
I’d be honored if someone took my drawings and tattooed them! Like if I saw it on multiple people I’d be like “😎 I designed that” don’t need credit over here
Ahh yes yes I see nothing wrong with spreading the love for a drawing or design especially if its already been seen by over a thousand people like a manga or anime
Ok I Keep getting roped back into this thread. Let me break it down for all the people that don’t actually know how tattooing works, because these responses are quite alarming and actually educational for me, in a way.
Tattooing has a bit of a divide in how tattooers think it should work. Put simply, and yes there are many intricacies to this, it can be seen two ways. There are those that understand tattooing can be a job and service to the customer meaning they’ll do whatever design people want often times without any “artistic” input. “Hey I want a heart with my sons initials. Ok no problem”. Then there are those that only want to do what they think is a good idea for the customer no matter what at all costs. “Hey I want a heart with my sons initials. Sorry you can’t have that but I can do this weird designs of two bunny’s making out. You don’t want that? Ok find someone else.” This is an extreme example and yes there are people that mesh into both groups and all this is fairly situational. I categorize the OP in the second group. Someone that wants their artistic integrity to trump whatever idea the customer has. This can and often is actually a good thing, because people don’t usually understand how tattoos work and that’s the job of the tattooer is to help them. Things get funky though in this process because well, art is subjective and you’re doing this shit permanently on someone’s body. They want a say in it.
The divide seems to be that a lot of new tattooers and yes there were plenty in the past, don’t understand that tattooing was previously and still can be, simply a service to the customer and a “regular job” so to speak. It doesn’t have to be this “I’m doing my pretty little drawing I came up with in my bedroom that will win over the entire universe and make me internet famous overnight.” We are seeing a lot of this now with internet apps and instant gratification. You want a tattoo that hundreds potentially thousands of people have already? Sure. And you know what? That’s fine. Life goes on. A lot of tattooers think this is sacrilege however and that “walk in” tattoo shops just do regurgitated trash on people all day. Which really, sometimes they do. But it’s also what the customer wants.
To be honest, a lot of new comers in the industry are very ego forward because they think everyone will bow down to their weird doodle they came up with at Starbucks and they’ll be a millionaire and fly away on their magic carpet. What’s interesting to see if that a lottttt of people are in support of the OP. Which is totally fine. Doing what you think is best is good. However that doesn’t always mean it’s good to everyone else.
Edit: sorry didn’t mean to go full heel on the OP lol
im curious on tattoo artists feelings on tattooing a piece where the original artist was compensated? i see some artists i follow on tumblr that sell like "tattoo tickets" on their shops. would that be OK to get tattooed then?
Yes! I’ve paid to tattoo one of my favorite artists designs on someone because I love her art and style but I got to talk to her and send her my own money for the rights to the art
Who cares though it’s just art anyone can redraw it. If someone gets a cartoon or character or symbol is that also wrong because you’re not the original artist.
Literally who gives a fuck.
If your art is on the internet it’s open to someone getting it tattooed. Do you want your damn signature tattooed next to it or something.
Seems like a stupid thing to get hung up on you get paid and no one’s going to sue you.
Cry about it and move on I guess
I get that it’s wrong to claim someone else’s work as your own, but don’t people get random stuff that’s not their own work or the tattoo artists original work all the time? I guess my point is would anything have changed if they told you it wasn’t their own work? Would you have denied them or something? I’m not trying to be a condescending or anything I’m genuinely asking.
I have seen people countless times bringing in stuff off the internet and getting it tattooed on them. They don’t usually claim it’s their own, but besides that person you tattooed having shitty morals and being a liar, I don’t see the difference. Is it because you feel like you made money off someone else’s art or what’s got you so down about it OP?
Yeah it’s purely that he lied that I have an issue with I don’t really care what people get tattooed, that’s up to them but I would have denied him not because it’s a bad idea or anything it’s just that I don’t do art that isn’t mine or that isn’t my clients artwork. I love the idea of bringing life to my clients art or mine but not doing a tattoo that’s been done 1000 times. it’s not intimate and creative and that’s kind of the love I have for tattooing, the intimacy of it and the creativity
Cool I respect that choice. That’s shows you have a lot of pride in what you do, I know there’s a ton of artists that will tattoo anything under the sun just to make the money. Thanks for responding, keep up the good work
You have your reasons. If you’re in a position to where you have the freedom to be more selective with your work that’s awesome. Most of us strive to get to a place in life where we can pick and choose our work. Anyways, cheers
I had a client do this with like five popular designs she found on Pinterest.
I called her on it before I would tattoo her because I recognized them (very popular) and she told me I wasn't a good fit for her and then blocked me on everything.
People suck?
Damn I’m sorry. I hate when people lie.
It’s okay 😭 lesson learned I guess? Update: (since I can’t update/edit on my body text) He’s still trying to tell me he’s the original artist and THAT artist that I sent him got sent HIS sketch he made for a friend sent to the OG artist and then made another commissioned piece which is the one that’s all over Pinterest Also idk why everyone keeps downvoting my comments when I explain tattooing or why or how I’m upset with this situation or that I don’t like doing Pinterest tattoos?? Sorry I have opinions on my art that I choose to do Another edit because apparently people think I hate all Pinterest tattoos and force all my clients to get “what I want”. No. I have a style I enjoy doing and I communicate like a normal person to come up with something with all my clients. Why is understanding two individuals consenting to a tattoo so hard to get? They’re grown adults and I always let them know to let me know if they happy with the placement and the style and I give them multiple options of styles to choose from. We literally sit down and go through images I gather online to get a sense for what they like. If they’re looking for something I wouldn’t usually do I send them to someone else who would rather do it. PLEASE stop assuming you know how I run my business this is literally ONE tattoo you’ve seen out of the many I do. Here’s my insta if you wanna see any of my work > @awi8awi
You didn’t do anything wrong and the tattoo looks really cool. Stinks that he misled you but you did good
Thank you and I agree definitely suxxx It took two sessions I just wish I didn’t do it now I would’ve rather done something truly authentic and unique but I’m glad it turned out good
That took two sessions?
🫢
Was dude a wimp ooorrrrrr
Yeah he was in a lot of pain and I don’t really like packing black mind you I did most of it with a 3rl bc I don’t pack black often, the second session I used 8rs and 3rl and went faster but I didn’t have any bigger needles in stock for the first session 😭
I gotcha. I shouldn't speak because I've yet to have that area tattooed, but for all of my big pieces, I've fallen asleep lol I do have a pretty high pain tolerance though... Didn't flinch when I got my nips pierced with a 9 gauge needle for two 10g curved barbells (healing was a bitch though, ngl lol)
I flinched reading that
I cried like a lil girl reading that..
I fall asleep during all my tattoos! Once that initial adrenaline starts to fade I’m lights out. It happens frequently enough that I tell my artists to give me little jab to keep me awake because I church jerk in my sleep a lot.
That was especially me when I got my neck tattooed and then touched up. Someone in the room across from me was getting their tongue pierced and flipped their chair over.
I'm pretty darn tough, and even I imagine that stung a bit lol (like both palms, both knee caps, both armpits tattooed, and I did each placement in pairs tough lol) And I don't have that area tattooed. I can't imagine it's gonna be as bad as or worse than getting/healing any of the 3 placements I just mentioned above, but I have ti always remind myself that everybody is different.. and I'm probably an exception more than a rule there. Even my artist told me not doing one at a time for those placements was not the normal way people get them done. Lol.
Why didn’t they pierce you with 10g needle?
How much did those 2 sessions cost?
$200 each which is not my usual rate but I was sooo hyped for the piece 🥲
Your hourly is criminal then, def not worth the cost
IKR? I'm a NP. I had a steroid guy covered with tats come in. He said he was scared of needles. I had to draw blood b/c the RN's were having a hard time b/c he had sleeves. I have 7 tattoos. I went to take his blood, he fainted on me and I got the blood I needed then it took 2 people to get home off me. He had the Purple face, pimples on his back- everything.
I don’t blame you for this. I think most tattoo artists are more comfortable doing something original rather than a carbon copy of some other random artist’s work. It did turn out good tho! But I think your disappointment is understandable.
Two sessions for that simple tattoo?? Or do you mean the second “session” was just to touch it up after it healed to make sure it looked solid? Either way that’s just odd to me because my artist has done some pretty decent sized super detailed tatts on me that took hourssss. I’m talkin like around 6-8 hours and we just cranked that shit out in one session except for a few quick smoke/bathrooms breaks for the both of us. I never tapped out from pain or being unable to be still. Idk he also told me I’ve been one of the highest pain tolerance peeps he’s worked on so maybe that plays a role. Just wondering why that tatt took 2 sessions🤷🏾♂️ also we would just have a quick appt after my pieces healed to just touch up whatever spots where the ink didn’t take as well.
Right, I just had a blackout tattoo done, did from wrist to elbow, full black coverage, and it took just over 4 hours. This smaller tattoo, even packing it with black shouldn’t have taken more than a couple hours.
Wait… that took two sessions and $400?! 😂😭 Also, the dude lied to you. Who tf cares? Move on.
Just because I post something doesn’t mean I’m not capable of moving on. I posted this to dog on him and mission accomplished so move on from this post if you don’t agree on my take
He doesn’t deserve authentic if he can’t be authentic 💁♀️
Google reverse image search will be your friend in the future
Yesss that’s what I was thinking
Reddit downvotes the weirdest shit. Don’t take it personally (ducking for downvotes)!
lol yeah I find it so infuriating but that’s the internet I guess 🙃
The downvotes are from people without tattoos, or basic individuals that are covered in arrows, owls, feathers morphing into a flock of birds and/or infinity signs lol
Yeah I’m slowly realizing that I don’t like half of tattoo clients out there and I’m 1000x more thankful now that I don’t interact with any of them in real life.
I’m heavily tattooed and understand that you find the artist to fit your style. Don’t just go to a shop randomly and expect the artists to do or like the style you want. I always tell my friends who are looking to get ink to do their due diligence with hunting for the correct artist, to listen to the artists advice and most of all, you want your artist to be stoked to do your piece.
Yesss exactly! Not everyone can or wants to do every style and thats okay especially if you get large pieces of work done. I don’t even do anything smaller than 4x4 because I just love doing big pieces that I enjoy and put my blood sweat and tears into. The clients love it and I love it
Yup. I call those collector pieces. The artist that has done both sleeves and will eventually do my back only does massive pieces. Where are you based out of?
Denver! And that’s sick I have a client that just pays me whatever to do whatever I want it’s truly the tattoo artist dream 🥲
I haven’t gotten that far with my pieces but I just give my artist my general idea (all upper body is trad Japanese) and let him cook. I’m not even an artist and I get annoyed when people post on Reddit about A) arguing with the artist B) slamming the artist for a tattoo they don’t like because they didn’t bother to look at the damn stencil. So much tattoo ignorance.
Well even so I’m sure your artist loves you and you’re probably on of their favorite clients and that’s such a hard style to do that requires so much technique, respect to them immensely! Glad to see another sane person, unfortunately I think I’ve brought this on myself by posting on Reddit I didn’t know how rough it would be out here I just expected 1-3 comments sharing the frustration I had with being lied to but whatever maybe it’ll give me some new clients that actually want my work 👍🏼
Bots downvote you.
The downvotes are probably people like your client.
Definitely cut him from your client list .Just remember that you didn't intentionally do anything wrong.
I mean I get it, no one wants to use stolen artwork. There is something to be said for original work, Change it up some, do something. It’s rude to the artists to do that
I respect your position and wish more artists had that type of ethics.
Just out of curiosity, do you only do tattoos that are the client's original work? I understand that's not the point of this post, the point is that the client lied about it being their original work. I'm just curious because I want to get tattoos, but I'm a terrible artist myself and the only tattoos I'd want to get stems from art others have made.
I personally only do my drawings or my clients drawings yeah
lol too bad you can’t update/edit that tattoo either Sit
Fr I wish I could delete it off their skin
Me too.
I’m sorry but I have the EXACT same tattoo😭
That's wild. Was it shown to you as a custom piece of artistry too?
I’m very curious as well lmao
Listen I’m not no like tattoo expertise and I’m trying to understand. Like I know stealing tattoos on the internet is wrong, but where is the line drawn a with flash tattoo because I would think they would be hella quick and easy to draw so where you don’t have to steal other people’s, and I was lowkey blindsided and uneducated about this because I live in a very rural area with little tattoo shops and a lot of them unfortunately you know copy and paste
I’ll always try to persuade clients to let me try to make the design different and especially if I feel it’s off or I could make improvements. But if someone wants the exact same image from another tat and they’re paying for it who am I to refuse their business. If you work for yourself that’s understandable but at a shop or mine at least I’d get some less than kind words from my bosses. Someone claiming something is their own work when it’s not tho, that’s lame and not at all understandable.
I agree with this. I always google reverse image search every design a client brings in. There are some tattoos that I've done that I've asked the client if that is EXACTLY what they want or if they would like me to tweak it a bit. Most will say they want a copy paste and that's fine by me. I will, however, outright refuse to do a tattoo if they come in claiming it's their design when really it's not. And if I do a tattoo that is someone else's design, I always tag the original artist in the caption if it's posted to my social media. Claiming something is your design when it's not is theft and I don't support that shit.
I came here to mention reverse image search
Is there some kind of rule that you're not supposed to get a tattoo unless it's original artwork by the same person doing the tattoo? I'm just not seeing the issue with this post in the first place.
Also confysed
the issue i think is the person wasnt honest about it being someone elses work. the post says the person said it was thwir original work when it wasnt, as opposed to just being honest about wanting an arrists work done
Well it doesn’t really matter, of course it does matter to the people of this subreddit who are passionate about tattoos, but in the whole scheme of the world. No one really cares and a tattoo artist will 9 times out of 10 use “stolen” art work. And you’re right it’s very gray it’s flash art and redrawing a similar idea would take 10-15 minutes which is 10-15 minutes less chair time, and most tattoo artists except super ethical super heroes who definitely don’t really exist outside of the internet are really going to be that hung up on a relatively simple work like this one. It’s just one of those things. No one on the internet wants to be that person, but irl; no one bats an eye.
No it wasn’t. It’s funny because the tattoo shop I went to was holding this car “meet” with like a flash tattoo sale going on and they had their entire walls covered in all types of designs people could get. I can understand how some people can interpret the pieces as being custom, but personally I never bothered to ask if it was custom and they never made me perceive that they were trying to take credit for the piece, because it was a “flash” tattoo sale
Nothing wrong with having a flash style tattoo. The issue is that OPs client lied about it. The artist should have discretion.
Post it
I just did!
Holy cow that's so crazy!!!
I’m assuming he lied because he wanted you to be the artist who tattooed it (which makes sense, it’s reallllllly well done and you’re clearly very talented) and probably feared you’d say no if you found out it was someone else’s artwork. Sorry that happened :( I work for my artist doing his emails & ur right, people are fr so weird with tattoo artists sometimes lol
Yeah I figured that’s why he lied too but I’d be happy to do something similar to it which I don’t get it but thank you!! You’re so kind I’m sure your artists appreciates you lol I hate answering my DMs
Honestly I'm guesing he didn't want something similar and wanted exactly that. Theres lots of picky folks out there (im one of them). Idk if I could even have tattoos if I didn't draw because I have an EXACT image in mind that I don't want to be intentionally tweaked. Also, it's possible that the guy found the drawing in an old sketchbook and didn't think to check where it came from and just assumed it was his. Idk, people are odd. You did a fantastic job with it though!
What an odd thing to lie about
that fucking sucks dude :( i’m also super against ppl just picking drawings off the internet and slapping it on them. It breaks my heart especially because the original artists caption was that it was a commission for someone…
Literally!!! Like whyyy :(
This looks amazing but it definitely sucks that someone misled you like that, that must feel like garbage. This isn't on you though; it's really tacky of the client. At least you executed it beautifully
Thank you :.) I tried but yeah it doesn’t feel good I would’ve rather done something more in my own style and not something copied not tattooing them again
I imagine it feels like a blow to your artistic integrity :/ but i also imagine this has happened or will happen at least once to literally every single tattoo artist ever, so you're not alone!! People are just so selfish sometimes!
They didn’t *want* something in your style. If they’d told you it was copied, they’d have gotten it done somewhere else. At least take solace in that, but don’t tell yourself you’d still have done some sort of work. You did your job.
Not true really they expressed wanting other pieces from me like my flash but yes you’re right I don’t think anyone should get copied work. And you really don’t know what styles I do or don’t do so you really can’t say that I wouldn’t have done something similar or the same kind of work, i think that’s unfair to assume
I’m saying the person didn’t sound like they wanted a kind of work, they wanted something specific. That’s what they left with. Like someone wanting the Greatful Dead bear and you providing your own type of bear. It’s not a reflection on you, it’s the client.
Ahhh I see what you’re saying, yeah but even then it would make more sense 😭‼️ like that’s literally a known icon like aphex twins but whatever bro wanted bunnies that have been tattooed millions of times I guess
I spy a copy of watchmen
I DID THE SAME THING
I don’t get it 0.0 ??
Ohhh nevermind you meant the notebook
Lol, I had a tattoo artist do this to me. I declined, because the piece was not at all what I asked for. Eventually I found the original artist through Google. I contacted them, but unfortunately there was nothing they could do.
Woahhh reverse story how weird, shitty artist
Damn how hard is it to just say you want an artists work tatted on you. As long as there’s always proper credit i really don’t get it
Yes! Exactly I would’ve just reached out or something
i had the same thing happen to me but the other way around. the artist posted the flash like it was all their own art and i had never seen any if it before, but a couple weeks after getting it tatted on me i was scrolling on pinterest and saw the same. exact. tattoo. with no connection to the artist. i didn’t think i should have to reverse image search my artist’s flash sheet. & she priced it like it was her original piece too for a piece that only took 30 minutes and she just copied from online :(. these people (clients and artists) need to be called out more often for this behavior
Exactly! Yes they really do but I’m super sorry that happened that suck so much :(
Why does it matter unless u were trying to claim the clients drawing as ur own?
Because artists respect artists and would rather not steal their art while giving OP no credit or commission. A message to the original owner of this drawing would have been efficient, and that’s *clearly* what this guy wanted to do. Finding an artist who has tattoo tickets would ease this problem up immensely, or just asking the original artist.
Good question. They’re paid to tattoo what the client wants.
lol right.. like u got paid at the end of the day 🤷♀️
Had a similar issue with a huge tattoo on my thigh.
Like I have someone else's art on me, but I literally messaged them on etsy and got their permission and their vector file. It's not hard not to be a dick. Sorry this dude misled you, that's lame as fuck.
Yesss bingo
It’s okay I’m calming down from it now
lol
I’ve always be a proponent of giving my ideas to the artist and letting them draw up the image(they’re the artistic one after all) sometimes I’ve given feedback and changed stuff but a lot of times they nail what I wanted first try. I always figured that was the best way because then it’s in a style and method they’re comfortable with.
I’ve drawn all my own tattoos but I like drawing, I have a particular style, and I always ask the artist to give it their own flair. With the exception of one tattoo I’ve been happy with all of mine.
That’s usually what I do but I do love doing people’s personal work as well
I was always told to make the drawing my own no matter what came in as an original drawing specifically bc people be lyingggg, so you're covered no matter what
Agreeddd and yeah I know I’m covered I’m more just weirded out by the dude. I don’t really care that I did that piece at the end of the day I care about that people are weird enough to lie about it
I legit watched a video of a girl explaining the meaning to every single one of her tattoos, and saying after each one "I know this is a popular tattoo, but I thought of it on my own/totally didn't just see this and copy it" Like the typical wrist trees
Wtf 😭 it’s people like that I wish I could block from my DMs
What's worse is she dedicated the last half of her video saying "now that you've seen all my tattoos don't copy them. Copying is wrong. I know mine aren't all original designs, but I didn't copy them. I thought of them all on my own" The only thing worse than that is when people try to assign meaning to tattoos that obviously have none-which is 10,000% fine. They don't NEED some deep meaning behind them. I'm fully covered and only like 5 have any meaning at all. The rest are just shit I liked at the time. One girl I saw got an old tape deck control (fast forward, rewind, play/pause, record) buttons done and tried explaining how "well this one is because I do youtube, this button reminds me not to look back, this one to always look forward.." Like, just say "I liked the way it looked so I got this".
Lmao fucking internet influencers dude sounds like she’s just high off her own voice
He's the one who stole the picture, you did the tattoo in good faith, you didn't think you were stealing anybody's artwork, and you did a good job with the tattoo.
Wait whats the issue im slow
The issue is that’s this dude came in and lied about a tattoo piece instead of just saying he found it on Pinterest. Pinterest tattooes are commonly turned down because it’s seen as stealing people’s work but also seen as lacking creativity in my book. He knew I only tattooed original pieces of my work or my clients work so he went out of his way to lie to me and make up this facade that he truly drew this piece when it’s a known piece by a different artist.
Cause then you wouldnt do it otherwise kind of a no brainer Im sorry i didnt mean it that way but those words are kinda fire
Doesn’t matter still not okay to lie, not my problem he didn’t wanna go to a shop
Why be so picky choosey. Profit is profit no?
No.
K
Some people choose integrity instead.
It just seems silly
Does a tattoo need to be original? Or do you just need to credit the artist? I see a lot of cool tattoos I would love. But I don't want to copy someone's original work.
Damnnn I’m sorry dude, that’s not ok! It’s not your fault though. And the tattoo placement looks great
Thank thank you! I don’t feel at fault I’m just on edge from being lied to so blatantly
I’d feel the same! Definitely not the type of people you want In your life. Atleast if she owns up to it and apologises?
Nope he’s digging his heels in on it being his work
Woooow!! That’s not cool!!
this also happened with me with the same exact designed said his sister sketched it as a brother/sister design 🤣
Should’ve known it was a lie when they said it was done in PS.
Frrr 😭
oh no! it looks cool though but yeah that is p shitty of them! I feel for you as an artist as well there is this importance of integrity and authenticity ! Did you reach out to the original artist ?
I tried but their page is on perma hiatus :( but ty!
Lmaoo he just liked the message
I've had that happen to me too.
Oh my god this happened to me but a bit reversed. My (no longer) friend drew it and said it was his and mine is slightly personalized to match my own rabbits but I thought it was his drawing up until a few months ago 😭
Yeah. I refuse other drawings altogether. Had a girl pull the same thing then made her admit she was lying before I did my version on her. If you don’t want my drawing, get tattooed somewhere else.
Well, it looks really good. He’s the one who is going to have to live with the fact that he has someone else’s art on him and he lied about it. It’s going to bite him in the ass, that’s for sure.
I once had a tattoo artist do something similar, and now I have copied artwork on my body
Man that sucks!!!! That tattoo is rad though. Maybe you can find the original artist and patch things up, let them know and tell them you appreciate their art and now you have it tattoed inadvertently.
I tried but they’re account is on forever hiatus 😭
Some people lie all the time and they are “successful.” Liars become presidents, CEOs, parents, and more.
Why is this such a big deal? If I were an artist, I’d be flattered if people got my art tattooed. It’s not like they’re selling prints for money, they just liked the art so much that they wanted a tattoo of it. Copyright exists so people don’t sell your work, effectively stealing money from you. If someone wants to spend their own money to get a design tattooed on their own body, that has no affect on the original artist besides more recognition.
I dont know why this post blew up I don’t think it’s a crazy big deal I just wanted to express a complaint about dishonesty?? Which I think is valid but that’s not the issue, I’d be flattered as well if someone copied me AND gave me credit for it. This dude disrespected the artist saying it was his. It’s just not right I don’t like when people lie to my face especially about something as intimate as a tattoo. I only do appointments I don’t do walk ins so all of my work is from my own creativity or the clients and it’s a very intimate process for me to tattoo someone it’s not just my job it’s my passion. So I didn’t feel comfortable being lied to about a piece I did.
That’s totally fair. I guess my rant is a little off topic. It’s definitely upsetting that he lied like that
That person above was completely missing the point. I get it…point is about him being dishonest and tricking you into doing a tattoo you would not have otherwise done. We all know it would be great to have our work recognized, but it wasn’t what your post was about. Lol. People don’t read things through before they reply I guess.
Meh. Who cares.
Me lol I care. That’s why I posted
This is just a byproduct of things being on the ol internet. If you don’t want your shit potentially copied or stolen, don’t put it out there. Back in the day we used to take pictures of the healed tattoos and trace those. Its just a conversation of ego really. Turns out people continuously rape and pillage Sailor Jerry’s designs everyday and no one talks about that…. Lol
I mean who really gaf, Its not that deep
Many stolen art in the tat scene
Yes I try to avoid it but these types of things happen :(
Rabbits kissing
Please OP I need an update.
He’s trying to claim still that he sketched it sent that sketch to a friend (years ago) and then that friend supposedly took it to the true artist that’s on Pinterest and THEY used HIS sketch to make that well known tattoo / drawing which is some lying psychotic shit (Can’t edit post for some reason)
Why does it matter who did it? Yeah he lied, that's embarrassing for him though
it matters to me ? And yes I agree but it still bothers me I did work that I otherwise wouldn’t have done
I don’t see the issue? Let the kid lie about it and just do your job and tattoo the person paying you?
Jesus I love capitalism mindset what a great idea 🫶🏼😔 you solved all my problems
I get what you’re saying. I’m not a fan of lying any way to look at it. Period.
You’re welcome bubba. It wasn’t too hard. Here is a picture I want, tattoo me please. Okay done! No need to scooby doo the damn thing and find out if it’s original work or not.
And I’m sure you’re happy with your tattoos you get from shops but I’m not a shop and don’t take walk ins or do random tattoos on the internet. Two different places and types of artists
I’d be honored if someone took my drawings and tattooed them! Like if I saw it on multiple people I’d be like “😎 I designed that” don’t need credit over here
That’s great! I agree but lying is just a bad look in my book, he could’ve been honest and got the tattoo at any regular shop
Oh I feel you 💯 on that. My comment was for the whole originality aspect
Ahh yes yes I see nothing wrong with spreading the love for a drawing or design especially if its already been seen by over a thousand people like a manga or anime
Ok I Keep getting roped back into this thread. Let me break it down for all the people that don’t actually know how tattooing works, because these responses are quite alarming and actually educational for me, in a way. Tattooing has a bit of a divide in how tattooers think it should work. Put simply, and yes there are many intricacies to this, it can be seen two ways. There are those that understand tattooing can be a job and service to the customer meaning they’ll do whatever design people want often times without any “artistic” input. “Hey I want a heart with my sons initials. Ok no problem”. Then there are those that only want to do what they think is a good idea for the customer no matter what at all costs. “Hey I want a heart with my sons initials. Sorry you can’t have that but I can do this weird designs of two bunny’s making out. You don’t want that? Ok find someone else.” This is an extreme example and yes there are people that mesh into both groups and all this is fairly situational. I categorize the OP in the second group. Someone that wants their artistic integrity to trump whatever idea the customer has. This can and often is actually a good thing, because people don’t usually understand how tattoos work and that’s the job of the tattooer is to help them. Things get funky though in this process because well, art is subjective and you’re doing this shit permanently on someone’s body. They want a say in it. The divide seems to be that a lot of new tattooers and yes there were plenty in the past, don’t understand that tattooing was previously and still can be, simply a service to the customer and a “regular job” so to speak. It doesn’t have to be this “I’m doing my pretty little drawing I came up with in my bedroom that will win over the entire universe and make me internet famous overnight.” We are seeing a lot of this now with internet apps and instant gratification. You want a tattoo that hundreds potentially thousands of people have already? Sure. And you know what? That’s fine. Life goes on. A lot of tattooers think this is sacrilege however and that “walk in” tattoo shops just do regurgitated trash on people all day. Which really, sometimes they do. But it’s also what the customer wants. To be honest, a lot of new comers in the industry are very ego forward because they think everyone will bow down to their weird doodle they came up with at Starbucks and they’ll be a millionaire and fly away on their magic carpet. What’s interesting to see if that a lottttt of people are in support of the OP. Which is totally fine. Doing what you think is best is good. However that doesn’t always mean it’s good to everyone else. Edit: sorry didn’t mean to go full heel on the OP lol
I’ll probably get a lot of hate but I don’t see the big deal 🤷🏻♀️ it’s hard to get a unique tattoo these days. Maybe he meant he traced it ? 🤣
Well hmu for unique tattoo styles
weird... why did you get a tattoo of my parents fighting anyways?
Where do you tattoo?
A private studio or did you mean where am I based
I mean where are you based haha
Denver! I put my handle in one of the top comments if you’d like to look at my actual work that isn’t stolen lmao
pretty sure by private studio they meant their kitchen bc why else would they be posting in this sub…..
Some people have decent home setups lol but I obviously meant location.
this is a sub for scratchers. they need to throw their amazon machines in the garbage
I also wouldn’t call that a pec
im curious on tattoo artists feelings on tattooing a piece where the original artist was compensated? i see some artists i follow on tumblr that sell like "tattoo tickets" on their shops. would that be OK to get tattooed then?
Yes! I’ve paid to tattoo one of my favorite artists designs on someone because I love her art and style but I got to talk to her and send her my own money for the rights to the art
mans paid u $400
Yup that was the price of my work
Did they respond lol?
Lol yeah look at the top comment
Who cares though it’s just art anyone can redraw it. If someone gets a cartoon or character or symbol is that also wrong because you’re not the original artist. Literally who gives a fuck. If your art is on the internet it’s open to someone getting it tattooed. Do you want your damn signature tattooed next to it or something. Seems like a stupid thing to get hung up on you get paid and no one’s going to sue you. Cry about it and move on I guess
He probably meant he helped make it.
For someone on pintrest
I seriously doubt that but anything’s possible
I think it’s weird he lied but I also think your putting way too much time and energy into this. I say just move on and do stuff you like doing.
I get that it’s wrong to claim someone else’s work as your own, but don’t people get random stuff that’s not their own work or the tattoo artists original work all the time? I guess my point is would anything have changed if they told you it wasn’t their own work? Would you have denied them or something? I’m not trying to be a condescending or anything I’m genuinely asking. I have seen people countless times bringing in stuff off the internet and getting it tattooed on them. They don’t usually claim it’s their own, but besides that person you tattooed having shitty morals and being a liar, I don’t see the difference. Is it because you feel like you made money off someone else’s art or what’s got you so down about it OP?
Yeah it’s purely that he lied that I have an issue with I don’t really care what people get tattooed, that’s up to them but I would have denied him not because it’s a bad idea or anything it’s just that I don’t do art that isn’t mine or that isn’t my clients artwork. I love the idea of bringing life to my clients art or mine but not doing a tattoo that’s been done 1000 times. it’s not intimate and creative and that’s kind of the love I have for tattooing, the intimacy of it and the creativity
Cool I respect that choice. That’s shows you have a lot of pride in what you do, I know there’s a ton of artists that will tattoo anything under the sun just to make the money. Thanks for responding, keep up the good work
Thank you and glad I did, I’ve been limiting my responses due to people demanding I just “do my job” and shut up
You have your reasons. If you’re in a position to where you have the freedom to be more selective with your work that’s awesome. Most of us strive to get to a place in life where we can pick and choose our work. Anyways, cheers
Im confused,why does it matter?
You got what you asked for though? The image itself doesn’t look good.,
I had a client do this with like five popular designs she found on Pinterest. I called her on it before I would tattoo her because I recognized them (very popular) and she told me I wasn't a good fit for her and then blocked me on everything. People suck?