I love tattoo art too. My biggest issue is tattooing something on me then 10 years later I'm asking Why the bleep did I do that!???!??! The art itself I love, hell that's why I used to always wear Metal t-shirts and skulls etc. I love that type of art, but I just don't want to permanently wear it since my feelings about it can and definitely will change with time. I can take a t-shirt off. A tattoo is expensive to put on and probably expensive to remove too. Even that removal was sketchy too. Lets not even get into facial tattoos.
I hear ya, I have one tattoo I would have removed. I got it in the mid to late 90’s when I was 18. It was a classic 90’s tribal type design. On one hand, I don’t like it and it screws up the congruity of the black and grey “time” themed sleeve on my left arm but a) at least it’s mostly covered with short sleeve shirts and b) I’ll still never forget the story behind it. I skipped spring break, while at military school, to go help my buddy tear down a barn and do other hard manual labor on his dad’s land in Muleshoe, TX so I could earn the money to get that piece of trash, lol. Although it was tough work, we had a blast and it was something I’ll never forget. If I never wanted the tattoo, I never would have had that experience. The tattoo is garbage, the memories behind it are priceless, truly.
Lol, oddly enough, you may appreciate this (I think it was you who made the Post Malone/Pantera comment). The other tattoo I actually had removed was so I could have my full American history sleeve done without any cover ups because this particular artist doesn’t do cover ups nor would I want one because it would severely limit my design options. Anyways, it was my first tattoo...a CFH tattoo, as in Pantera’s Cowboys From Hell. Looking back, it was trash, the H wasn’t even curved like it should be and it faded quick. Another military school special, lol. I always said I would get a proper CFH tattoo but haven’t done it yet...I need too, Pantera was my jam growing up.
Most of my tattoos have some meaning or significance behind them but I have a couple that I like because of the “art”. Just like some people look at a Picasso and find it beautiful while others think “what the hell is this supposed to be”? the same applies for tattoos and certain artists in the tattoo world. At least a dozen times I’ve had some random person come up to me at various places across the country (restaurants, bars, the gym...) and ask “did so and so do that” or “I could tell that was so and so from across the room” just based on the type of tattoo or a certain “signature” they may have in their work. Not one of those times was the artist they mentioned a local artist or even close to local, I’m talking opposite coasts.
Someday I may regret some of them, although doubtful, and I know they will look worse and worse over time but oh well, you only live once. I’ve made some bad decisions in life, if getting tattoos ends up being something that I end up greatly regretting over other things I’ve done or decisions I’ve made then I need a lot more mental help than I thought, haha.
As I said, it’s not a regret but when I think of the money I’ve spent and how much closer I could be to paying off my house or how much more I could have put towards retirement..oh well. I’m still not done, IMOF another artist I really like is going to start taking appointments this week (he only does it 2-3 times a year and for one week only) and then he picks and chooses what he wants to do. As I said, it’s somewhat of a game and luck. I struck out the first time but I’m changing my idea slightly to something I think may appeal to him more and something I like more so we’ll see what happens. To most of the better artists you really have to sell yourself because they get hundreds, if not thousands, of applications for a short amount of time so they get to be very picky with what they want to do. Things such as where you want the tattoo, how picky you seem in your application (restricting their freedom of creativity or trying to micromanage every aspect of the tattoo), coming up with a design or theme they think will work well with their style, etc all come into play. I even have to send a picture of where I want this tattoo because skin tone and area is something they consider, if I’m old with wrinkly skin, real tan, freckled, etc than that probably hurts my chances compared to someone who looks like a jar of mayonnaise.
One thing that pisses me off with this guy, and it’s a first I’ve dealt with, is on the application you state how much YOU’RE willing to pay for the tattoo! That’s not unheard of but very uncommon. I don’t mind too much because, like a piece of art, you should only pay what you’re comfortable with or what it’s worth to you. Who knows though, maybe the first time he liked my idea but thinks I low balled him? I offered what I thought was very fair but I can’t find anywhere online what this guy has charged others so I have no idea if I was even close or not. As I said, it can be a game of sorts.
Wow...I can get carried away talking about tattoos. lol. Sorry about that.
