43 Tattoo Artists Share the Most Shocking Client Requests They Regret Inked Forever
Second was a real muscular guy, the type that spends more time in the gym than anywhere. Tells the artist he wants a chain that goes all around his neck. Artist tells him, that’s a bad idea, it’ll hurt like hell when I get to your collar bone, but guy says he can take it. Artist knows better, but decides to draw up two versions: one he shows the guy that looks like what he wants; the other where it goes up to the collar bone, so it looks like the chains are coming out of his skin. That one he doesn’t show guy. He starts tattooing, and when he gets to the collar bone, guy starts crying like a baby. Artist says, you know what, I have an idea of how to do this if you want me to finish.
Last was the guy that wanted his girlfriend’s name tattooed on him. Artist doesn’t like tattooing names, and will do his best to talk people out of it, but he *will* do them. Guy starts talking to the girlfriend on his phone while artist is doing his thing, then guy starts crying. Really crying. Artist is confused, as he has a light touch, and this shouldn’t hurt very much. Then he realizes while inking that the guy is crying because his girlfriend had broken up with him, and thought calling her while getting her name tattooed would convince her to take him back. It didn’t.
One of my best friends is a tattoo artist and a real pro. Shes much older than me but we became close when I was 15. I asked (begged) her for a tattoo when I was 16 and she agreed as long as I got parental permission. My mom was done arguing with me by then and said, Whatever. So I picked out what I remember feeling extremely passionate about: a fairy looking back with tons of swirls and sparkles as—a huge tramp stamp. She laughed at me and argued that this in no way represented who I really am and that it would be almost impossible for her to endorse. I was very persuasive and so she agreed to do it in a beautiful pencil-like way so that she could “cover it up when I was grown and wanted to.” It looked awesome to me so I was easily persuaded. Kept that dumb thing for 20 years and now Im three several-hour sessions in on a half back cover up and man is it cool that the fairy is gone!
Guy wanted a barcode. Artist told him it wouldn’t actually work and that it’d be decorative only. Guy says okay. After it’s done guy pulls out his cell phone and tries to scan it. It doesn’t work. Guy is angry.
A buddy of mine who ran his own studio once asked me to do an illustration for a strange request that a customer had. I had done a number of custom pieces, and some of them were pretty weird.
This one, though…
The guy essentially wanted a portrait of a 60’s era William Shatner “deep in thought.” He also wanted a dream bubble coming out of Shatner’s head, and inside that dream bubble he wanted the exact same portrait of William Shatner *with a mustache.*
Essentially William Shatner dreaming about William Shatner with a mustache. The dude wanted this engraved on his flesh. I was in awe of how beautifully stupid it was.
Being that portraiture wasn’t my strong point, I gave it to someone else. Last I had heard, the guy actually went through with it.
A tattoo artist friend had great stories. My favorite was the fellow who came in wanting “those two hands clapping with a necklace.”
It was a rosary prayer. He wanted a rosary prayer tattoo.
Not a tattoo artist but…My dad has a terrible tattoo on his arm of his and my mums name. Years ago she told him to get something around it to make it look a little nicer and he came back with a dolphin on his pec 😂
*edit* Thanks for my first ever gold kind stranger!
Not an artist, but when I was in highschool, a kid got a 7/11 slurpie tattooed on his inner forearm. He showed it to the guy who owned the 7/11 near by, who was so impressed he gave him free slurpies for life.
edit: here ya go!
Edit 2: also i forgot to mention, it’s a bad tattoo hahaha.
Opposite end of this spectrum. I was 19 and my buddy from the dorms in college decides he wants a tattoo on his stomach of his initials. Think Tupac “Thug Life” tattoo but like gothic lettering initial or something. Sounded stupid to me but whatever, I am not a tattoo guy. But, we go into this tattoo shop that was pretty popular at the beach near us and he tells the guy what he wants and is looking at pricing and fonts etc. But, the tattoo guy starts trying to talk him out of getting his initials and instead says he needs something more “you know eye grabbing like VIOLENCE, or RAGE, or MAYHEM, you know something cool.” His exact words and suggestions. Strangest interaction by anyone trying to sell anything I have ever seen. To also put some perspective on this, this was 1999 and my buddy had a pooka shell necklace, frosted tips hair and wore cargo shorts and Ralph Lauern Polos every day of his life. He was not the “I need a tattoo that says VIOLENCE on my stomach” kind of guy and that was pretty obvious.
Definitely the Pillsbury doughboy holding money bags, accompanied with the gentleman’s street name which I can no longer remember.
Not mine but our tattoo artist’s friend, he was indecisive of his first tattoo, so what he did was to take a marker, did some quick scribble on his arm and said “this one”, the artist and even his friends went “wtf is wrong with you are you sure” and he indeed was sure. since then, it has become the symbol of his indecisiveness
Not an artist but when I was getting my first tattoo I was sitting in the waiting area and this girl probably 18-20 was with her mom and they were talking with the artist. The girl wanted some Arabic script on her arm and the artist asked them if they knew what it meant at least 2 times and they said no but insisted on getting it. She did end up getting it.
I wanted a tattoo on the bottom of my foot so bad. Three different tattoo artists told me no, and objectively they were right. Cuz like, that’s where it’s most likely to rub off, infection chance is much higher, it hurts like hell, etc. But I really wanted it, so I did it myself stick n’ poke. And it was the worst pain I’ve ever experienced. But five years later it’s still going strong.
Not the artist, but I got “are you sure”d by the artist before my first tattoo.
Afterwards it was explained to me that it was because I was 25 asking for a tattoo roughly the size of the palm of my hand for my first one and he’d not done one that size on a young woman for their first before.
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