A person’s taste in art and design might be incredibly subjective; however, this doesn’t mean that their choices won’t be judged by their peers. Some people’s ideas on what to get inked are so bizarre that others can’t help but criticize them.
AskReddit users, both tattoo artists and fans of getting tattooed themselves, took to several online threads to share their thoughts about the tattoo types they find to be the most cringeworthy and weird. Scroll down for their personal opinions about what designs you might want to consider avoiding.
#1
Hate symbols.
Image credits: anon
#2
Not a tattoo artist, but my sister has possibly the worst/stupidest tattoo i have ever seen.
On her lower back she has this elaborate cross thing with arrow like points on the end of each bit, which when she wears a shirt (and lets face it, she is pretty bogan so the shirt never meets the pants) all you see from behind is a whopping great black arrow to her a**e crack.
To top it off she has gone and got 'love hurts' tattooed across her shoulder blades in f*****g huge letters (you can almost see this s**t from the moon) so on warm summer days when she is wearing a singlet top all you see from behind is "love hurts" and an arrow to her a**e.
She gets s****y when I point out that love does hurt if your aiming for that hole. Doesn't see the funny side at all.
Needless to say she is classy as f**k.
Image credits: taniastar
#3
Forehead, anywhere else I'm ok with but foreheads sorry not for me.
Image credits: stevieraygun
According to Singulart magazine, butterflies are the most popular tattoos in the United States, with 201k people searching for them on Google every month.
In second place with 165k monthly searches are rose tattoos, followed by flower designs and dragons (both 110k searches each). Next up in terms of popularity are snakes (90.5k searches), tribal designs (74k searches), and more ‘traditional’ ink designs.
#4
Incorrectly translated foreign text.
Image credits: Kyounokaze
#5
Lips on the neck. Every time.
Image credits: Top_Put_7788
#6
Not a tattoo artist but when I went to get my first tattoo, I was sat waiting for the tattooist to get the stencil ready so I was reading through some tattoo magazines and there was this one tattoo... It was a full on v****a with a tampon sticking out of it with blood leaking all over the place. Just.. Who the f**k would get that.
The least popular designs, at least in the US, are likely star signs, musical notes, Disney characters, and pet tattoos.
On the other side of the Atlantic, in the United Kingdom, butterfly and rose tattoos also rank in the top two spots.
Other popular designs are dragons, flowers, lions, snakes, and matching tattoos, all of which are equally desired by Brits, with 18.1k searches on Google each per month.
#7
Chinese characters whose meaning people don't understand.
Image credits: Dexsport_Fam
#8
Names, unless it is the name of your child, don’t do it.
Image credits: tryinandsurvivin
#9
Faces of people.
Image credits: anon
In the UK, angel, bee, and dreamcatcher designs are also popular, while Roman numerals are very much lauded in specific cities like Birmingham, Bristol, and Glasgow.
Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, tree tattoos are the most wanted, while people living in Bristol are also big fans of stars.
#10
Not an artist, but my friend posted a picture of this HUGE forearm tattoo of a Green Day concert ticket. It was probably one of the most stupid tattoos I'd ever seen. The friend said that her little brother got his first tattoo, and I asked if it was a joke. It wasn't.
I happened to save the picture to my computer, so here it is!
Image credits: Gailyn
#11
Not me but my mentor tattooed the words "No daddy don't!" on some guys hand. apparently the dude wanted to see that so he thought about his kids every time he reached for a drink.
#12
I've written about this before, but back when I did tattoos, I had a guy who wanted "failure is not an option" on his stomach. I warn him that the stomach area doesn't feel all that great. He says he can handle it. Ok, whatever. So, I draw it up, get the stencil on him and start the tattoo. Immediately he's yelling, "holy s**t! Stop!!!". So I stop. "Oh my god! S**t! I didn't know it would hurt that f*****g much!" Well, I tried to warn you. He goes and has a cigarette, comes back, and has me start again. So I slowly get through the outline, the whole time he's swearing at me and he's having to take breaks every few letters because the pain is too much for him. Finally it's time to fill in the letters. This guy just could not handle it. I got to "failure is" before he completely quit. So, I guess, failure WAS an option. Lol.
When I was an apprentice at a shop, we had a girl that came in who lost a bet at beer pong that had to get "don't call me in the morning ❤" tattooed on her a*s. Whatever. So the chick I was learning from draws it up and puts it on her. As she's tattooing the girl's butt, she asks her, "what if you meet a guy you like? He's not going to call you back!" And she said, "I just won't do him doggy style then." Lol. Ok.
What are some tattoo types and styles that you utterly loathe, dear Pandas? What ink designs get you all riled up when you see them? On the other hand, what tattoos are you genuinely huge fans of?
Do we have any veteran or amateur tattoo stylists here with us today? What do you personally think lies at the core of truly great designs? Let us know what you think in the comments.
#13
I’m not a tattoo artist but I’ve got a cousin who got a speech bubble on his arm with The Voice written on it so that he could ask people if they preferred XFactor or The Voice and then when they asked him, he could just lift his sleeve up.
No clue why.
Image credits: Muffin0511
#14
I have a tattoo of Borat on my butt.
Image credits: anon
#15
I'm an apprentice atm and asked my mentor this question a while back. He wouldn't give specifics, but said he "doesn't do a*s tattoos anymore..." I'm hoping that if I'm patient I'll get the story out of him eventually...
#16
Babies' faces.
Image credits: WheeZee65
#17
Unfinished ones because they couldn't bear the pain.
#18
My ex bf was a tattoo artist before he was paralyzed. He did some amazing cover ups. One guy had f***k the police tattooed under his left eye/ upper cheek. After years of terrible encounters with law enforcement ( understandably) he came in for a cover up. My ex did an amazing scorpion covering all traces of the words. My ex was an amazing artist ( he did the majority of my tattoos) that unfortunately had his career cut short.
#19
I get this question almost every day. you do so many tattoos that you get jaded. so eventually none are weird or cringy. everyone gets em for whatever reason they feel they need em. so , judgy shouldn't be part of the job. that being said. these mother f*****s coming in to get each other's names after only being together for a couple weeks is pretty bad. my shop is across from a bar. this one time, a few years back. a man and a woman come in and want shot glasses with each others names in em. say they met that night. decided to be spontaneous. i was like " f**k yeah you do, come on in. " never heard from them again after that. don't know if they killed each other? or spending quarantine in bliss?
#20
It was way back during my high school years. My friend decided to get a tattoo from our weed dealer (used to run a parlor). Next morning I met him for tea, he is sitting there like his cat died. I ask him what’s wrong. He said nothing and started to unbutton few buttons. By then I started to speculate that that guy f****d up his tattoo. But it was magnificent- he wanted his dad’s portrait on his chest. And the portrait was done just right; every little feature. Too bad it wasn’t his dad’s portrait.
#21
Trendy ones. Currently seeing a lot of lions with blue eyes or clock faces.
Image credits: intheabsenceoftruth
#22
I have a friend that's an apprentice in the midwest, so I get bizarre tattoo stories all the time.
He told me recently a young woman was vehemently demanding that the artists tattoo "Daddy's Little Girl" on her mons pubis. All 4 artists in the shop refused and sent her away.
#23
I'm not a tattoo artist, But my friend got a tattoo of a d**k riding a d**k with a speech bubble saying "D**k-Seption".
#24
Barbed wire around the bicep.
Image credits: Rogue-Accountant-69
#25
My tattoo artist had on her instagram where she covered up what looked like a prison tattoo on a woman's Mons Pubis that said "Amy's Property". The coverup was Tweetybird on a lilac, which isn't a subject matter that I would personally get tattooed on myself, let alone in the swimsuit area, but has to be better than "Amy's Property." Especially since my artist told me the lady is now married to someone who is presumably not named Amy.
#26
The cousin of a friend got his first name in big letters on his right arm and his last name on his other arm. The first time we got introduced he showed me his arms.
#27
What I find cringy in a tattoo is not the tattoo itself but the explanations that always go with it, like : “yeah you know, I decided to get this tattoo of a car with flames and a rifle surrounding it because my best friend had a car accident and I thought he could have died and once I shoot a gun and ...” dude stop it ! You like car, you got a tattoo with a car, period. You also like guns and think you look badass with it, go for it, but don’t make cheap excuses.
#28
Tramp Stamps.
#29
Not a tattoo artist, but a friend of mines cousin has the words "Your Name" tattooed on his a*s. So he goes around at bars betting people that he has "Your Name" on his a*s. This man makes some decent money off of people.
#30
Somebodies name.
Image credits: Kevalino
#31
Badly done ones and misspelled words.
#32
Not a tattooer but I worked at a tattoo shop for several years. One of the funniest/oddest tattoos ive ever seen was on this black guy who was about 50 years old. He got his forehead tattooed with a faux hair line and had one of those pencil thin beard, goatee, chin strap type of facial hair styles, tattooed. He was very very insistent on how he wanted it done and how thin it needed to be. It wad maybe 1/4 inch all the way around. Im pretty sure he eventually got his entire scalp tattooed to resemble a stubble growth. And his eyebrows done to appear perfectly waxed at all times. Very weird individual. He was loaded though so good for him I guess.
#33
My female friend and I were really drunk one night. We decided to go to a tattoo artist to get matching tattoos. When we got there, she decided to get a tattoo of a d**k in the middle of her t**s. Me being my drunk self, decided to do the same. The tattoo artist asked me three or four times if I actually wanted to do this and I just said, "Yeah dude, totally, just stick the needle already." The next day, we both laugh and stare at our respective tattoos. After a couple of years I decided to remove it, but it was a fun night.
#34
A buddy of mine is a tattoo artist so I just asked him this question. His reply:
"I had a gay guy come in once to get some prices. Now, merovingion, ya know I don't have anything against gay people but this guy wanted a tat I just had to refuse out of hilarity. He wanted the Dodge Ram symbol, yes the truck, with 'Don't Dodge It' on top and 'Ram it' on the bottom. Here's the kicker, he wanted it a tramp stamp. . ."
I mean, really? We weren't sure if this guy lost a bet or if this was legitimate.
#35
My fiancé tattooed "shazam" with a lightning bolt exclamation point on some guys balls.
#36
Do not tattoo, but draw tattoos for artists to put the ink to skin.
The worst was a lady who had miscarried. And not only wanted the ultra sound picture with a little heartbeat indicator turning into a flatline. And something like "You're mother will always love you".
No matter how much I tried to correct her grammar, she would not listen. I turned it into the artist and he saw the pic, said "are you kidding me?!" then I brought his attention to the text. He went and spoke to her, and she said "Why cant you people just give me what I want?!".
#37
I had to tattoo an icecream machine on someone's lower back and handle going down to his crack.
He kept saying that 'softserve was hilarious'
what a freak.
#38
I'm no tattoo artist by my grandma has her eyebrows tattooed on and same with her eyeliner. She never has to do her makeup.... Ever.
#39
Used to be really good friends with a dude named Greg. And his wife was... nice enough but not nearly as cool. Very b****y, not very nice to him or others. My friendship with the dude was very cut and dry, not something that could ever be considered questionable or indecent, etc. We'd just video game together.
Anyhow, they were married with a kid, and I went over to play DDR or some similar dance game with them on her invite. Apparently during this time, (to hear Greg tell it) she got jealous of me for some reason and asked if I would let her use a zombie self portrait I had painted of myself as a tattoo.
I thought nothing of it and assumed she meant as a reference for something kind of different... etc, I said sure.
The next week, this girl got my WHOLE A*S LIKENESS done as a FULL back piece. I'm talkin neck to butt crack. Before proceeding to divorce her husband a month later and abandoning their baby girl with him.
To this day I have no idea what she was thinking.
#40
New a guy who got deadpool riding a unicorn on his entire chest.
#41
Not a tattoo artist but one of my friend's mom got her husbands name tattooed on her left arm and after they divorced she tried to cover it up but some s**t got messed up and now her left arm has a huge black blob.
#42
Southern Cross tattoos.
Image credits: teebs86
#43
The second week after I moved to LA I got black out drunk and woke up with an LA tramp stamp. I'm a dude...
#44
Birthyear.
Image credits: Honest-Preference905
#45
Tribal tats that looks like something from those old WWE games.. we make fun of this guy and his tat cos of how it looks.. like it was a design you put on as a car vinyl rub on tat from a pack of gum.
#46
One military tatto is cool. two is okay. three or more is just too much.
#47
When I just turned 18 my friends and I thought it would be a great idea to all get tramp stamps. I had always wanted to work with dolphins and loved them since I was little. When it was my turn I pointed at the wall and said that one. The guy looked at the wall paused and said “that cartoon dolphin? Really?” Needless to say I regret it to this day.
#48
Saw one a co-worker’s ex had done that was funny but dangerous.
I used to waitress with this nice enough woman but she had a temper. I knew she was fairly newly divorced, cuz her ex would often come in at the end of her shift and drop the kids there, as it saved him drive time. All friendly but a few times I saw her unleash her temper at him.
One day, we’re in the bathroom before shift and she says want to see my new tattoo cover up? Sure. Turn around and I’m greeted with way more of her a*s than I thought I’d ever see, but ok, nice job. What was it? It used to be ex’s name. Said she had to cuz he told her he was going in to get his tattoo of her name covered. Ok, moving on.
He comes in when end of shift is near with kids, and I have no fear of seeing his a*s cuz I knew her name was on his forearm, so I ask to see his new ink. He chuckles, turns red and asks think she’ll be pissed? What am I looking at? The grim f*****g reaper. He turned his ex’s name into the universal, timeless symbol of death personified. My eyes just got wide as I backed away.
She walks up and knows what I’m looking at, sees it and loses her s**t. I bet your m***********g FRIENDS told you to do that! Is that what you think of me when I have you two KIDS?! On and on. And yeah, his idiot friends spawned the idea, but he got it done. I still felt bad for them. I mean divorce doesn’t mean never in each other’s lives.
#49
Not an artist but, coworker had some weird ones.
Stormtrooper playing the cello on his thigh.
Mother Mary praying but her face was Uma Thurman ODing on h****n from Pulp Fiction.
Beautiful landscape scene with a couple sitting on a bench looking at the sunset, but the sunset was a tablesaw blade for some reason?
They all looked pretty great actually.
#50
Can’t do Roman numeral tattoos….
