Tattoo Artists Share Their Craziest 'Yeah, That's A Hard No' Career Experiences
Not with my talent?
Image by ilovetattoos from Pixabay |
I've been waffling for years as to whether I should get some body art. I keep chickening out. Getting inked isn't for everyone. And I still have night terrors from the time I held a friend's hand as she shook through a six-hour sit down for a massive thigh portrait. So much blood. Yuck. But I do have a few artistic ideas...
Redditor u/Paintingrefinish wanted to hear from the tat community about the times they had to weigh art over conscience by asking... Tattoo Artists of Reddit What was the most "Hard NO" moment of your career?I've seen too many friends have to do cover up art. The older you get the more you realize... how stupid young you was. And now that pot leaf has to be turned into shamrock or a rose, because what do you tell your kids? That's why it's good to know that there are tattoo artists out there with a conscience, and a brain to think for you when your's malfunctions.
Bad Idea
artist tattoo GIFGiphy18 year old girl wanted her considerably older bf's name just above her vagina for her first tattoo. Hard no, and had to explain why it wasn't a good decision.
That's a Limp Idea...
I was asked to put a full-fledged erect penis on someone's back, right above his butt crack. Veins and all. I would have considered it but there was some heavy breathing involved and... yeah, no, I do not want to spend hours and hours lovingly doing that, thanks very much.
Think Ahead!
I had a conversation with my tattoo artist about this. He said he wouldn't do any "instant tough guy" tattoos, mainly face, neck or hand tattoos, unless the person already had a good deal of coverage on other parts of their body.
Had an artist make an exception for my wife and I. Our wedding rings are tattooed on and (at the time) it was our only ink. He had the same rules generally, but was super nice and made an exception for that reason.
Not for Cash
My dad was a tattoo artist in the 80's/90's he was REALLY passionate about doing good artwork, especially mythological creatures (dragons & pegasus were both specialties of his) he refused to do partners names, when we needed cash he would do a bit of work in a bigger shop where he would have to basically ink whatever the customer wanted, he used to affectionately call it "wh*ring himself out."
Bless You
Judging No Way GIF by CameoGiphySevered Jesus Christ head on the butt cheek.
Seriously... what are people thinking? This ink is for LIFE. There is no body white out or eraser. Thank the Lord for the people willing to... just say no.
People Break Down The Best Loophole They've Ever Exploited
The Sting
Weekend Spider GIFGiphyI asked a scorpion in my hand, when I was 19. Had a hard no from tattoo artist. I thank him forever!
No Removals
It's not the whole shops policy, but my friend won't do names unless it's their children. They could have it tattooed over, but they'd still forever know what's underneath it. And the shop doesn't do removals.
This is a good policy. The guy who taught me to tattoo would refuse to do names unless it was of children's or parent's.
When he was planning to move to another country, he decided to not turn down any work as he needed as much money as he could make in a few months.
A young guy got his girlfriend's name tattooed on his arm, despite being warned not to and advised to think about it, he insisted so, that's what he got.
Three weeks later he wanted a cover up. It wasn't even healed yet. Six large black Olde English letters running down his forearm.
The only suggestion he was given was to find another girl called Nadine.
Bobby & Becky!
Story time!
I was in the shop shooting the crap and looking through the books, while my buddy was in the chair getting some new ink. Young couple walks in.
They're maybe 19-20 years old and pawing each other to the point that I thought they were going to fall down and have sex right there on the floor.
Girl says "We need matching Bobby and Becky Forever tattoos with hearts and flowers!"
Artist (also a friend) doesn't even look up "No, go away. You been together what? One month? Two? Come back in five years"
The girl argued for about a minute and then they left
Artist "I hate doing coverups of my own work".
Keep the $60
I wanted a tattoo on my finger back when those were popular. Went in for a consult, front desk quoted me $60. I get to my appointment, my artist looks me in the eye and told me no way in hell would he tattoo my hand, he would do an arm or I could go elsewhere. I agreed and said he was the expert and I'd do what he thought was best. He still honored the $60. I wish I remembered literally anything about him (that was a messed up year for me in general and my memories are fuzzy at best) so I could thank him, because he was right.
No Hate Here!
GiphyMy dad owned a tattoo shop despite not being an artist (his buddy was and my dad basically provided funding while his buddy ran the shop in the partnership) and their rule was that the only hate symbol they would do was a swastika, but it would have to be on your forehead so everyone could see what a sh*tty person you were.
Forget Her
My dad has mine and my brother's tattooed on his shoulder. When the artist asked if he wanted to add his wife's name my dad said "only if it's somewhere that can be cut off." He's been married three times and has a sense of humor about it.
I once considered getting my SO's initials as a tattoo. Since we share the same initials, I would simply end up with my own initials (though of course I'd know better). Didn't do it though.
Please Leave
I was a tattoo artist and I was asked to draw a dog with a human head, shark fins, cat legs, and a lizard tail, at first I went along with it but i asked to make sure that was what he wanted. He then said "give it a d***" i just asked him to leave. This was a few years ago and still remember it very clearly.
Bad Author
I was asked by a maniac to tattoo 4 years worth of his dead girlfriend's essays all over him until there isn't a spot with his skin color left.
No Refunds
When I got my first tattoo I complimented my artist's collection of Virgin Mary designs. He laughed and said people were shocked that he was Jewish when they saw them. I asked if that was ever a problem. He said, "Nope. I always take payment first anytime someone wants a swastika or something, then halfway through I tell them. If they still want it, it's just a job. But if they don't, they leave with half a hate symbol and I don't give refunds." I always loved that story.
WARNING!
Anybody who wanted swastikas or hate symbols. Anybody clearly messed up. Anybody who couldn't pay.
One tat artist here, on another askreddit thread, said they love doing that since it means they are installing a warning label on the person who clearly needs a warning label.
Not saying you should do that I am saying I laughed at the mental image of a guy excited to slap a "threat. Threat. This one is a threat" label on someone.
Oh Hell No!
This was about 30 years ago. I was getting a tattoo and all of the sudden from another chair erupted a "get the freak out of here" and a lot of arguing about a tattoo being halfway done. Dude was getting a name tattooed with a date. Artist assumed it was a birthdate or something. The dude told the artist halfway through that it was the name of someone he killed and the date he killed her.
Space Needed
sexy guy GIFGiphyI know a tattoo artist who has a very firm rule about not tattooing hands or neck unless there's no more room left on the person. Always thought that was fair lol.
That Girl
Not a tattoo artist, but my friends are. The one that sticks out in mind was this cashmeousside type of 18 year old white girl went into his shop and asked him to tattoo her knuckles, neck, and do a full sleeve. The reason he denied it upfront is because he knew she was basically attempting to ruin her social life and be denied jobs forever just because of it.
I think I've decided, I want some ink on my back, or right shoulder blade. I'm thinking... Madonna, Adele, Buffy walking hand in hand as they walk Scooby-Doo. Who can draw that for me? Who will paint me? Send DMs... ;)
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We all have to draw the line somewhere.
Tattoos are both expensive to get and slightly dangerous. I mean, you're literally coloring on somebody's skin with a needle. And that tattoo is going to stay on that person's skin for the rest of their lives, presumably. So you want to make sure that you aren't doing something too crazy.
Still, people will demand crazy. And it's up to you in those moments to set your personal tattoo boundaries.
u/staychel asked:
Tattoo artists of reddit, who and what have you refused to do?
Here were some of those answers:
Tattoo artists are artists. Artists love variety and there comes a point when you are drawing on people's skin that you just think, "no. I do not want to do that again."
Everybody has personal taste, so not every tattoo artist will be annoyed by an infinity symbol on your wrist. But still, don't be surprised if your request for the word "Always" in cursive gets turned down and you need to find another artist.
Tattooing is an art form. It can also be one of life's biggest addictions. Some people love to be tatted like a flesh canvas. Tattoo artists have reality shows and have become celebrities on their own. However, as much as some tats are a work of divinity many of us really need to rethink our life choices when permanently marking our bodies. FOR LIFE! For instance, at least get engaged to someone before branding yourself with their name.
Redditor SledDog888 wanted the tattoo artists of the internet to admit a few things... Tattoo artists of Reddit, which tattoo made you they most uncomfortable to do?
The semi-truck seems like a bit much. No?
It wasn't so much the tattoo, but rather the customer. He was a very strange older guy, and out of 7 artists in the shop, only one could tolerate working on him. He came in sometimes days in a row, and normally we don't recommend getting multiple tattoos so quickly, but with this guy it was like, to hell with it.
He came in one time for a semi truck with 'kicking a**' written on the back window. A few days later he came in to get 'alone and beating it' - completely unaware of the irony.
Thank the Lord...
The discomfort came after. When the client was paying I went to grab the money and he said something along the lines of "you like that money baby?"
It was awkward I'm usually quick with comebacks, but I just stared at him until he left. Also the women who moaned loudly the whole time I tattooed her. She said it was to help her ease the pain, but I'm not entirely convinced as I was near her lower regions.
Also not me, but my boss and other workers at the shop had to deal with a lady that would reach into their shorts. Some liked it some didn't, plus she was aggressive and would call for the lords help loudly every time she got tattooed.
Dust Bowl
My ex-girlfriend's best friend was dating a guy at the time named Dustin. Her nickname for him was 'Dusty'. I'll let you guess what she got tattooed... right above her vagina.
She's not dating him anymore, so I'm sure that's an interesting one for current / future partners.
Johnny Forever!!
Wife's friend is a tattoo artist. She said her most memorable was a young woman who came in and wanted Johnny tattooed on her chest because she loved her boyfriend so much. Said boyfriend showed up at the tattoo parlor after she finished so she could show off the new tat, they ended up getting in a huge fight and he broke up with her.
Couple months later, girl comes back in with a different dude for another tattoo. Says to the artist, "this is my boyfriend, Johnny!"
Not the dark place!
I was getting tattooed once and this guy comes in to get a tattoo of a diver swimming out of his a-hole. Luckily I was lying down so I had an excuse not to look over but the artist seemed kinda uncomfortable afterwards.
Dated a girl once with numbers tattoo'd on her wrist. As it was highly unlikely she had been in a concentration camp, I asked her for the story. It was her social security number, apparently her mother had this done to both her and her brother in case (and I quote) "they find your body but the head's been cut off and they need to identify you."
Yeah that family was a little messed up. Oh and it was pretty sloppy, like prison level, so considering that and the fact that it would have been done on children, it wasn't likely done at a professional shop.
X does NOT mark that spot!
Tattoo artist here.
I recently had a man come in and ask about getting a name covered that was placed right above his genitals. He brought a drawing in of a tribal dragon that he did himself. After explaining that his drawing really wouldn't work for the area or the cover up he said, "I guess that spot wasn't a great place to put my daughters name huh?" After a really awkward few moments he left.
I didn't end up covering it and haven't seen him since.
I was asked by a research lab to tattoo 3 hamsters that were identical. Like a little symbol on two of them, so each could be distinguished. I wasn't sure if it was real or not, as the interaction was over the phone.
I tattooed a couple of real characters over the years, including one guy who kept getting the same tattoo over and over again (a tiger head) and eventually just got little dots to fill in around them all, and another guy who got vertical and horizontal lines on various body parts to make himself appear larger. He talked about getting additional teeth implanted so he could process food more efficiently, and wanted me to be his disciple.
I can't hear you Sir...
I was being tattooed once and this guy walked in, super strange and we could tell something was off about him. He was wanting some kind of Japanese symbol on his forehead and my artist (shop owner) asked him if had any other tattoos. The guy says no and the owner tells him he won't do face tattoos without having any other tattoos.
This guy proceeds to just stare at us all for a solid two minutes without saying a word. Wide eyed, like we were from outer space and told him the Earth was flat. Then the artist says "Sorry man. I can tattoo the symbol on you anywhere else but I won't tattoo it on your face without any other ink." The guy continues to stare at us, says okay, slowly turns around and walks out the door. We thought he was going to come back and kill us.
My friend is a tattoo artist and a guy came in wanting a KKK tattoo. So the very heavily muscled black tattoo artist came out like "you're gonna be in my station." The guy shuffled out of the shop very awkwardly.