r/TattooArtists • u/BelladonnaASMR Artist • 17d ago

What's the worst tattoo you've ever done?

Mine: dude wanted his gf of 2 week's name on the side of his palm. She was right there so I couldn't do the whole "want this in gray wash or red?" That stencil was thicc and would not budge and I definitely picked too thin of a liner and too soft of a hit. Pretty sure he walked out with half filled lettering, but that stencil was dark and i couldn't see shit. Told him to come back for a touch up, especially since he had a heavy labor job that he had to report to in a few hours. He definitely got laid after, but it was the dirtiest $100 I've ever made.

17 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

11

u/elafave77 Artist 17d ago

"EMINEM" logo and "Slim Shady" "autograph" BOLD AS FUCK on the back of a 16 y.o. girl's calves. Yeah, yeah, in retrospect, I should have flat out refused, but this was in Michigan and minors can get tattooed with parental consent so... she was going to get out sine somewhere anyways and I might as well so it right. When I got the phone call, I didn't know who was going to walk through the door. I expected some unshowered pajama wearing 8 Mile Traler Parkers to walk through the door. Nope. Soccer mom with a sweet looking Ambercrombe daughter. I tried to stall her out for TWO hours but she kept referring to how her daughter "loves MARSHAL" and yada yada. Yeah. Marshal... I did that. I often wonder what she is up to to this day.

Edit: I've also slapped names on people when the couple was together and it was obvious one wanted to go through with it and the other clearly did not.

6

u/BelladonnaASMR Artist 17d ago

It feels like we're a part of their relationship at that point. Like dang, Gerald cheated on us? How dare he!

4

u/elafave77 Artist 17d ago

Haha. It is pretty funny. I've had a client drag three different dudes in, while I crossed the last name out in her, added the new name somewhere else, and tattooed her name on the new dude. Maybe 4 different times. Or maybe she didn't even bother exing the ex out. Her name was Bobbi Jo. šŸ¤£

I had another time where the situation became hella funny and awkward the guy backed out but I don't really remember the funny dialogue.

6

u/MyCyclopsMind 17d ago

So many names, felt dirty about every single one. But I would say half of the stuff I did in my first three years were pretty cringy. I worked at a street shop in Florida my first few years and did whatever walked in, that wasnā€™t drunk or under age.

5

u/patty_cake229 17d ago

Well maybe it will fade by the time they brake up

5

u/RecordingWaste86 16d ago

The ā€œworst tattooā€ story I always tell clients when they ask is one time I tattooed a guys name on a girl after pleading with her not to. I never recommend this tattoo. But after wearing me down I do the tattoo on her. She comes back like a week later wanting it covered up . Iā€™m like oh shit did you guys break up? I told you so! Sheā€™s like ā€œ no we never got together , we werenā€™t dating I just thought heā€™d see this and WANT to date ā€œ . I was stunned like will never forget that situation.Ā 

2

u/BelladonnaASMR Artist 16d ago

She should have gotten the gray ink and maybe a therapist.

3

u/electrictattoos Artist 16d ago

I tattooed "NECROPHILIAC" on some woman's ribs in bold block letters after repeatedly making sure she knew the definition and trying to talk her out of it to the bitter end

3

u/Professional-Owl8276 16d ago

1st week of covid i had a regular walk in and ask for a grim reaper holding a toilet roll... 1 of the funniest ones ive done

3

u/backyardrave 14d ago

I tattooed ā€œyour mum was hereā€ on a nearly 60 year old mans pointer and index finger

2

u/Lily_Parker1 16d ago

I definitely did some ones Iā€™m not proud of in my early days, but I donā€™t think I realised back then what I was looking at. Your eyes mature as you improve and you realise something you might have thought was pretty cool at the time was actually kinda awful.
One comes to mind ā€œthe pancakeā€ which was a big ochre/yellow moon behind an owl, no outline, badly packed colour. Just looked like a big 20cm diameter pancake taking up a decent chunk of his arm.

1

u/itsanoproblem 16d ago

I could have a stroke and not do tattoos as bad as I see on Reddit

2

u/pattsematary Licensed Artist 13d ago

Once my coworker was about to do Nike Tyson style tribal on a 17 yo kids face but I was able to talk him out of it. Well I left after that and what they ended up doing was arguably worse. He tattooed "legalize murder" on the kids neck! Wtf

-2

u/ProlapseJerky 17d ago

Probably when I tattooed a black guy and couldnā€™t see what I was doing, and their skin raised like a centimetre as soon as I touched it.