I’m gonna say this once. Baked into paying an artist to design a tattoo is the implication that the person you want to tattoo it isn’t an artist.

The thing about tattoos is that skin is living & stretches & changes & the body is actively trying to break down pigments. Tattooers aren’t photocopiers. There is a tremendous amount of knowledge required both in visual art as well as the specifics of working on skin

It’s a massive bummer honestly to get emails where the client has done the ‘work’ & you have to tell them it’s not tattooable without a massive redraw. Skin ain’t canvas, the amount of information you can pack in is much much lower.

There are is a ton of context that doesn’t exist in 2d art. Bodies arent flat. A good tattoo will look good from front on or the side or when the body part stretches and there is literally no equivalent to this in art. Please please start going to tattooers to draw your tattoos.

Finally tattooers are working this year during a pandemic & have to touch people. You cannot social distance & tattoo. Lockdowns keep happening, most artists don’t have access to unemployment. And like everybody else are going through divorces, illness, nervous breakdowns etc. 1

And unlike in art you can’t just gesso over an imperfect tattoo

Everything is hard for everyone right now but please please understand the amount of stress involved under good conditions in permanently changing a person’s appearance & that we are in no way under good conditions

Ok actually one more thing a lot of people treat tattooers as therapists & it makes sense because a lot of tattoos are very personal. But the reason your artist is being flakey or disengaged might be related to the constant barrage of emotional bombshells that go w the industry