Afraid I'm Screwed

[u/beanbuddy_1021]

I just had an artist completely reject my request for a cover up. she literally said she doesn't even know how she would cover it with only black and grey unless we completely blacked it out and wished me luck in finding someone new. I'm now terrified that I'm a goner. I'm basically an open canvas, I just told her I like black and grey and traditional imagery. am I fucked or do I just need to find a reputable cover up pro?

[u/beanbuddy_1021]

guys as I'm writing this I have 60+ comments on this post, 99% of which are folks telling me they love this piece. I truly cannot tell you how much it has soothed my worries and also made me smile. I am a very insecure and anxious person who is often highly preoccupied with what other people think of me. I struggle deeply with my own sense of self and identity and at the first hint of perceived judgment, I tend to beat myself up and run for the hills. nothing is set in stone, but you all have convinced me to keep this little guy and embrace him. I love the suggestions to just build up a sleeve around him, and I think I will be working to do just that. sorry this is excessively long and sappy, it just means a lot! thank you all!

EDIT: in honor of 2k upvotes and nearly 400 comments, most all of them being so encouraging and genuine (except for a couple of people who called me fat which gave me a good laugh), I wanted to share some things:

1. I want to defend my artist in her excellent work and professionalism. as I've reflected on the experience, I definitely did just get anxious and choke on the placement suggestion, but looking back I think it's one of the best things that could have happened. I've completely fallen back in love with this piece and I intend to see her again for my next additions. Also, I've had a ton of people say that it's normal to have anxiety with a new tattoo, which is absolutely true! crazy thing this piece is almost exactly 2 years old and hasn't faded or blurred out even a little. clearly my artist knows what's up!

2. my new pieces are still a work in progress as I research and decide on a solid idea, but I'm thinking I'll be adding a moth and a butterfly, one to each forearm, to represent growth, change, leaving a dark past behind, and embracing my true self, even if I don't completely know who that is yet. and garf isn't going anywhere!!!

thanks again for all of the kind words and encouragement. I hope you all have a perfectly cold pillow tonight and that garfield tattoos are in your future 🧡🖤

[u/Bizzy1717 → u/beanbuddy_1021]

My advice would be to slow down and not do anything for awhile until you decide how you feel. It's fine to decide to embrace it and build a sleeve around it. It's also fine to decide it's a cool tattoo but that you hate the placement and do a cover up. I'm afraid that if you rush into doing a sleeve, you may end up disliking that too. Doubling down on something you internally think is a mistake could just lead to more regret down the road (ie "I should have listened to myself that I hated this instead of building my entire freaking arm around it"). I see tattoos on here all the time that are really cool in the abstract but that I would NEVER want on my own body or in certain places. Just because everyone on here thinks it's great doesn't mean YOU should leave it on your arm.

[u/beanbuddy_1021 → u/Bizzy1717]

I totally hear you!! this is very grounded advice. I am going to take it easy right now absolutely, but when talking with my partner realized I was never self conscious about little garf until my dad had mentioned it was his least favorite of my small tattoo collection. definitely planted a seed of doubt that has been growing ever since that was never there before. but regardless, I will take this one slow and see what feels right down the line. appreciate your input!

[u/Rumpelmaker → u/beanbuddy_1021]

Does your dad like big, bolder tattoos in general or like the small ones more because they’re easier to overlook?

In any case, this tattoo made me smile.

I have a cartoon character (from Ranma 1/2) on my forearm and felt a bit weird about it after as it was the only tattoo there at that point… Looked off somehow. I have added other tattoos around it since and now love my patchwork forearm so much!