43 Tattoo Artists Share the Most Shocking Client Requests They Regret Inked Forever
All went well though, which he confessed he was surprised about.
Edit for tattoo link (Circa 2013).
Kind of a”reverse” of this. I was 18 and wanted stitches on my neck, all around, as if my head was cut off and sewn back on.
The guy said “at 18 you need a parents signature” which was true in Chicago at the time. My mom said ok and came with. I love her, but she’s not the best decision maker. The guy sees me roll back in with my mom.
He gives the price. It’s insane. I have over 30 tattoos, I now have vague understanding of the pricing (vague, I’m not trying to be that guy who thinks he knows my tattoo artist buds). This price was insane. Not just because of placement, difficulty and shop rate. The dude saved me. He knew I didn’t have that money, and he saved me by just giving me a crazy price. I could have gone somewhere else but just assumed, at the time, it’d just be that much.
TL;DR I was the customer with a crazy request and the artist duped me and saved my skin.
I know a girl with a camel tattooed on one of her toes – it’s only an outline and it’s hidden most of the time, but I do wonder what motivated her to have a tattoo with the theme of ‘camel toe’.
Not a tattoo artist but my cousin has a tattoo of a carrot and a tomato boxing on his calf. Apparently he was drinking at a bar and they were playing darts. Whatever the dart landed on you had to get a tattoo of that. His dart landed right smack in the middle of the carrot boxing a tomato.
Obligatory “not a tattoo artist, but…”
I’m an artist someone wanted to commission to draw a tattoo for them. This was maybe 10 years ago. Dude offered me $100 to draw an obese raccoon in a diaper. I said “okay sure whatever, anything specific you’d like regarding color etc?”
He replied stating that he wanted the diaper to be “very full and leaking”. Now mind you, I have drawn worse things for money. When I was a teenager and into my early 20s, these more “questionable” commissions kept a roof over my head. So I wasn’t particularly shocked by the idea, what shocked me was that he wanted it tattooed. That just… seemed like the worst idea imaginable.
I ended up telling him that I wasn’t comfortable drawing that and refunded the $100. He replied with a massive wall of text about how close-minded I was.
I’m sure he found someone to draw him the thing but I just couldn’t do it. Not for a tattoo.
Not a tattoo artist but I asked the same question to the artist that did mine.
Young couple walk in and girl asks for guys last name on her rib cage. While doing tattoo guy never says a word and the girl is just going on about how much she loves him. When finished artist says “check it out in the mirror”. When she looks the guy is standing behind her with this blank stare. She spins around and says “doesn’t it look great!” The guy stares at her for 5 long seconds and then says “I know you cheated on me, have a good life” then walks out. She goes to run after him and the artist reaches out and grabs her by the arm and says “you’re going to have to pay before you leave the shop”.
Not the artist, but was keeping a friend company. She wanted to get a wolf’s pawprint on her foot. Not the top of the foot, the bottom of it. Right on the ball.
The artist and I both questioned her decision. “Are you sure? You won’t be able to walk on it, and even then, the ink will probably sweat out so it won’t be deep.”
She was insistent, willing to pay, her choice, etc. About a week later, all that was left was the faintest outline.
A friend of mine tattooed the Janelle chick from “Sixteen and pregnant”. She was mad that my tattoo cut 5 minutes into her and her boyfriends “YOLO” tattoos. When her boyfriend was done he looked in the mirror and got mad that my friend tattooed it backwards. He was reminded he was looking in a mirror.
Edit:
To be fair, I’m not sure what the boyfriends tattoo said but I believe it was on his leg.
1MORE Triple Driver In-Ear Headphones - Silver - Wired - Adult - In Ear - 18 grams - 90 days limited warranty
$39.99 (as of November 3, 2025 18:42 GMT +00:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
1MORE Triple Driver In-Ear Earphones Hi-Res Headphones with High Resolution, Bass Driven Sound, MEMS Mic, In-Line Remote, High Fidelity for Smartphones/PC/Tablet - Silver
$59.49 (as of November 3, 2025 18:42 GMT +00:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
RIVER OF GOODS Coastal 52 Inch Wooden Bead LED Ceiling Fan, Brown
(as of November 3, 2025 18:42 GMT +00:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
RIVER OF GOODS Coastal 52 Inch Wooden Bead LED Ceiling Fan, Cream
$198.00 (as of November 3, 2025 18:42 GMT +00:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
