“Absolutely Not”: 19 Times Tattoo Artists Drew The Line With Certain Requests
Article created by: Denis Krotovas
Getting a tattoo is a pretty lengthy experience, from idea initiation to finding a good artist, and not to mention the whole tattooing process.
Yet, not everyone even gets to that process. You see, there’s always a possibility that the artist you choose won’t want to fulfill your idea. And the reasons for this can be various. So, let’s jump in to find out about them, shall we?
I once refused to tattoo a girl and her father complained to me by yelling at me from about 2 feet away.
She was 14 (legal age where I live is 18) and she wanted her boyfriends name above her eye.
She was willing to compromise to her hand though.
No.
I won’t tattoo someone unless they can tell me themselves what they want. A lot of people’s friends/parents/partners do all the talking and tell me what the other person wants. If you want a tattoo, you gotta put on your big kid pants and tell me what you want.
The guy who walked in, placed his beer down in front of me and proclaimed “my mum died today, I need a tattoo” did not in fact get tattooed.
Client came in for a lip tattoo at my fiancé shop. He had everything set up, stencil, machine etc. when she pulled her lip down her entire lip was covered in herpes sores. Needless to say he politely declined.
A lot of people get drunk beforehand because they think it will ease the pain. Not only it will bleed more, but the tattoo artist won’t trust that you’ll not regret that tattoo in the morning.
I turned drunk people away several times. Plus people wanting to tattoo their SO’s names. Nope. Won’t do it.
Not a tattoo artist, but I once met a guy who had his receding hairline filled in with tattoo ink. Like, with stippling to look like a buzz cut to make it look like he didn’t have a receding hairline. He kept his actual hair cropped really short to try to make it blend in. It didn’t work. That’s the only time I’ve ever seen that, but wow was that a terrible idea.
Got a funny story actually. I once tattooed a Queen of hearts symbol on this girl (It was just a red Q written with classic card font) and a crown with a heart in it. Two weeks later she came back and had a black eye. I was new to the area so I wasn’t aware of gang symbols as much, but I realized it was a Latin King/Queen symbol (A famous Chicago Gang). I covered it up with a slightly bigger design for free. Refused any card symbols afterwards.
Refused a tat on a woman’s [intimate] area as she smelled so bad it was caused me to vomit! I only do this as a hobby and an outlet for my art. But I’m sure anyone would have refused her.
I’m a very blunt person. It was easy you smell really bad and I refuse to continue.
An artist once refused to tattoo how to use chopsticks on my arm. I’m very happy he did. 2008 was such a fun year, but also very unfortunate given how things have changed since then.
I don’t do the face at all or the neck. So many people regret those. I just covered up a set of eyelids that said just chill.
When I was deciding on options for my tattoo, one of the ones I didn’t go with was “Don’t Tell My Mom” as a [lower back] stamp. Present me would be grateful if that were refused.
Colour realism portraits on very dark skin tones, props if you know how to do it and it heals well but I just can’t, more than happy for it to be black and grey but I’ve yet to see really well healed colour realism on dark skin tones and I don’t want anyone walking around with a cocked up tattoo.
The guy I go to refuses to do infinity knots. He has a sign on his door that says “Infinity (k)not gonna happen!”
Not an artist but back when it was popular I over heard an artist refuse to tattoo ‘yolo’ on some chick… It was an actual sincere move.
My parents are pretty good friends with some local tattoo artists, they keep having to refuse a picture of a goblin smacking our PM. It’s kinda funny, but it loses it’s punch after a while.
