Not so good tattoo

They're... not.

Hey, i'm glad you chose to get a tattoo that means something to you. Alot of people just point at the wall and say 'Gimme that one'. Unfortunately I made a hurried decision to get tatted and ended up having it covered. I don't feel bad about it at all. I think your's came out good. I Have a Chuck Taylor Converse All Stars logo on the inside of my ankle... So i'm 'unoriginal' too. 9

Not really , you should be able to go into a tattoo shop and get a nice tattoo regardless of when you sit down to do it . Of I'm in a hurry to go home , I'm not going to " squeeze in " another quickie just to make a few extra bucks . I would make an appoinment to do it at another time when I could focus on it better and do a nice job , OR I would make a phonecall , tell my wife I was going to be late and take the time it took to do a nice job on you .

As far as I can tell , it looks how it is supposed to ? Do you have a picture of the image you showed him , that he came up with that ? what do you want to try and make it look like now , after the fact ?

You've really gone out of your way to be condescending to someone for no particular reason. The OP was looking for suggestions on repairing her tattoo, not for someone to bash her choice, insult people in her age group, etc.

getting tattoos is still 'original'?

As an employee of a store in the mall, I say the following:

Do not come in for custom work within the hour before we close. Feel free to buy stuff we have on the shelf.

correct me if I'm wrong, but all the research and such I put into tattoos (I would consider this a major decision, so therefore, I put some thought into it). I've read consistently that you do not want to have a tattoo artist that uses stencils anyways. Obviously it's better for someone who would need them, but generally you shouldn't go for those artists (although they do need to improve their skills somehow).

Dear DrGonzo2000, though the Smashing Pumpkins may be gone, they'll always live on forever in our hearts...and on amatterofgrace's belly!

I kid, of course. I don't think that logos are a bad idea at all. As far as some of the posts which ask for "originality" in tattoos, well what's original? Most people's tattoos (excepting tribal stuff) are representations of actual preexisting objects or designs that exist out there in the world.

you're wrong .

If you get a tattoo done totally free hand, without at least a basic outline stencile that would be your choice, I don't care how long a person has been tattooing.. if they aren't going to stencile the work I would rather not have them touch me. particularly if it's my design.
if there is an error in the stencile it can be fixed, if there is an error in totally free hand work it can't be.

My artist uses stencils, and he's designed most of my custom work. As a non-artist, I rely on his ability to take my concepts and work them into something I want permanently imbedded in my skin. I certainly want to see an image of the piece on my skin before that first touch of the needle.

I view stencils the same way I view sketching out the basic design for a painting. There is nothing artistically wrong with preplanning and pre-placing the design on your canvas while it's still easily alterable. It allows for further consideration and easy adjustment of the piece, provides a sense of the scale, etc. That's my 2¢.

I really wouldn't rush into a cover up or anything. Although it's not perfect in your view, live with it a while. The imperfections you described don't take away from the image - it looks fine to me.

Being tattooed means accepting the permanence, what the hell, it's only skin.

It's not fixable, not in the way you want it to be. Live with it a while, and if in a year or so the imperfections are really bugging you, then think about a cover up.

I don't want to sound negative, I really think you may come to love the imperfections. Sometimes tattoos like this can be as much about the time you got them as the image you were aiming for.

I agree with Celeste. Don't be in such a hurry to change it. I felt the same way about a tat on my back, but I've had more fun laughing and joking about its imperfections than if it were "perfect."

I agree. It looks like their logo as far as I remember. If it isn't detail perfect, then hey, it's "original!"

Rather than ask more tattoo artists if they can fix it, it'll be cheaper, and more fun, to just go to the mall and look at all the tattoos that are worse than yours. 'Cuz there are some horrible ones out there. And in FL there's on display year round.

I'm correcting you for being wrong. Everybody uses stencils.