There’s no arguing about taste— even though you sometimes might want to! When you’re a professional in the tattoo industry, you’ll run into some truly bizarre situations from time to time… like customers who ask for really weird designs and refuse to be talked out of them.
Internet user u/noskee sparked an interesting and witty discussion on AskReddit after inviting tattoo designers to open up about the very worst tattoos they’ve ever given to someone. We’ve collected some of their most intriguing stories to share with you, and you’ll find them below as you scroll down.
#1
I knew a guy in high school who got drunk, and went out on his 18th birthday and got a tattoo of a mean looking grizzly bear on his bicep. Whoever did the tat, must have been drunker than he was, because it looked like a character from South Park. It was cartoonishly bad.
Image credits: Shaw-Deez
#2
"Katie's Revenge" across his forehead.
Image credits: JDogg_of_RS
#3
The worst tattoo that I wasn't given was denied to me by an artist who said I was too drunk.
...I owe that man or woman *everything*.
(It would have been a name tag on my chest that said "hello, my name is....").
Image credits: Weekend833
Yes, we’ve heard how the “customer is always right,” but this just isn’t the case. Naturally, you want to help bring to life your clients’ vision of their tattoos. However, that doesn’t mean that you have to stay quiet.
You can be diplomatic, witty, and friendly, but if you genuinely think they’re making a mistake with their design, you should speak up and explain the possible downsides. Then, if the customer understands the risks and your concerns but still wants the design, you might end up having to go through with it.
That being said, any professional worth their salt should refuse to ink tattoos that spread hate and go against common decency. Some lines should never be crossed. And a bigoted, hateful customer shouldn’t be catered to.
#4
My buddy has tear drops on the sides of his middle fingers. Anytime someone complains to him he puts them up to his eyes and makes a pouty face.
Image credits: KeytarPlatypus
#5
When i got my second tattoo in boston at regeneration records, a man came in and asked the artist if she would tattoo a portrait of himself on his back, holding two Desert Eagles, with a banner saying "watch yo back". i really hope he came back and got it. he seemed so enthused.
Image credits: adelaide129
#6
I don’t have a tattoo I regret doing, but I have a tattoo I regret needed to be done: One evening a dude came in to the shop with his tiny Asian wife saying he wanted a female artist to cover a scar on her abdomen with a rose. She didn’t speak any English and never once made eye contact, so I immediately assumed she was just a meek, submissive sort of chick going along with her authoritative white husband. (An encounter with another couple in the past made me apprehensive about this sort of situation). She seemed like she wasn’t sure if she should get the tattoo, and started out being a huge pain in the a*s. When we finally agreed on a design, though she made me place the stencil over and over, and over.
While remaking the stencil (for the like the 20th time), I remember joking with the piercer that “He bought this broad off the internet, for sure.” I joked he was able to her her scar covered using the money he saved buying out of the “scratch and dent” section of the mail-order bride catalog.
During the procedure, this chick showed no emotion or sign of discomfort AT ALL. I sat, impressed by her restraint, while her husband told me they met while he was teaching English as a second language over in Korea (I think?) He went on to say that she was part of a fishing village where the women would learn to hold their breath for several minutes at a time waiting underwater for fish to swim by and throw them up onto the beach. I practiced holding my own breath and only made it 20 seconds before i was forced to re-evaluate this chick. I was impressed, and I said so. He confirmed it is indeed “awesome” to grow up in such a village until a bunch of soldiers decide to drop by to rape and pillage. It stops being awesome when you see your friends and family die and all your food stolen. Which is exactly what happened to her. She survived, but gave birth to a son 9 months later. She also survived the next time the soldiers came through, but, ended up pregnant a second time.
He said: “If you lived where she is from, you would be allowed to have only one child. If you ended up pregnant again, you would be forced to undergo a hysterectomy, or go to prison.”
At that time I had one child, and was considering a second, which meant I didn’t think straight for months after that tattoo. I don’t regret the tattoo, but I do regret my stupid comments. It was a humbling reality check. That was 8 years ago but I still keep a photo of that rose next to my station.
Image credits: ms_mullet
Tattoodo urges people to think a lot about their tattoos before they even set up an appointment with their chosen artist. Think about the size, coloring, positioning, and other things. Sure, you might be flexible on certain aspects, but you should have more or less a clear idea of what you want. Take a bit of time to communicate with your tattoo artist if you’re unsure about some things. That being said, moderation in communication also helps. “60 emails or DM’s to your tattooist is a bit overboard!”
Meanwhile, consider bringing a few references to show the artist. Yet, don’t expect them to copy someone else’s art directly onto your skin. Each artist has their own style and way of doing things, and you want to give them some room for their talents to shine.
#7
I knew a guy from basic who got the recycle symbol tattooed on his a*s, made me chuckle.
Image credits: Thejestersfool
#8
This is so fortuitous that tattoos are on front page because I was just at Hurricane Harbor last Saturday and I saw a tattoo of two unicorns f*****g under a rainbow on the back of someone's neck, and I have been dying to talk about it.
Image credits: anon
#9
Not an artist, but one of my friends asked for 'Love, Laugh and Live' in Chinese script; it took a few days before someone pointed out to her that she actually had 'Please choose one of the tattoos below' in Chinese script on her right arm.
Image credits: richardharrowsmask
Furthermore, you need to find a balance between being vocal about what you want and not micromanaging the professional who’s working on your body. “As long as you’re respectful, you can meet your artist in the middle, and both of you can properly collaborate on your tattoo!” Tattoodo says.
At the same time, try to avoid asking for tons of tiny changes to the design during the process. “Changing sizes a million times, moving the stencil ¼” several times around your body, freaking out about insignificant details just to stall or make sure, just one more time, that it’ll be perfect...all of this can be so stressful for your artist.”
#10
This guy showed me a tattoo of Lois Griffin from family Guy in her underwear, right on his bicep. He was so proud of it.
Image credits: noskee
#11
He asked for a 13, and I drew a 31.
Image credits: reddit.com
#12
Not a tatoo artist, but have a mate that is one of the better tatooists in the city where I live.
One day he had a woman come in and ask for a full back tatoo of musical notes. My mate had asked her what music she wanted tatooed and she said she didn't care. So yeah I get this call from him asking if I could help him find sheet music to a particular song.
She ended up with Star Wars - The Imperial March tatooed on her back and to this day I doubt she knows what song it is.
Image credits: FjorgVanDerPlorg
In other words, it all comes down to communication and trust. You have to communicate what you want without making it seem that you don’t trust the artist to do what they do well for a living. If you don’t have any trust, why pick that artist at all?
Have you ever had to give someone a tattoo that you were unhappy with, dear Pandas? On the other hand, have you ever gotten a tattoo that was very different from what you wanted and what the artist said they could do? Which tattoos are you most proud of? Which ones do you regret? Feel free to share your tattoo stories in the comments.
#13
Cousin of mine got a tattoo on his ankle of Jabba the hutt, with a handful of dollars and a speech bubble that says "dance b****es!"
Image credits: d4nks4uce
#14
Professional artist 10 years exp here. I don’t want to go into too much detail because thinking about that week was hard but a very close friend of mine passed away and was cremated and her sister had some of her ash mixed into the ink for a memorial tattoo (its an incredibly small amount- entirely safe and will not affect the healing process). I can’t really tell you the feeling of handling that task or the ashes themselves knowing they were apart of someone who I could physically hug just a few days before… It wasn’t an easy process.
Image credits: xing112
#15
Buddy of mine in the Army got a rooster hanging from a noose tattooed on his calf so he could say he had a c**k that hung below his knee.
First year military tattoos are no joke.
Image credits: sheephound
#16
I saw a mugshot on the news a few years ago of a guy with F**K YOU tattooed across his forehead. Definitely a conversation starter...
Image credits: SLOGiants
#17
I once had a very embarrassed guy come in claiming he needed a cover up on a piece he had gotten due to losing a drunken bet.
I didn't do the initial tattoo but I did the cover up piece on the initial one that read:
"I love Karen's pu$$y"
Karen was his mother....
Image credits: R1Adam
#18
Knew this guy who got a disabled sign on his nipple and called it 'nipple cripple' or some stupid s**t like that.
Image credits: anon
#19
My sister in law just put a pokemon valor tattoo on someone's neck.
Image credits: Jilgebean
#20
A guy i know has a tattoo of Roman numerals with his date of birth running down his forearm.
The problem is - he wasn't old enough to get one at the time so lied on the form he had to fill out, and as a result, he now has a tattoo with the **WRONG** date of birth on his arm!!
Image credits: UnclePepperpoty
#21
I did a cover up that I wasn't proud of, but that's what the client wanted.
A couple came in to the shop asking for a cover up of an ex bf. She showed me and surely enough, a big guy's name on her side hip. The good part was it was done in a light blue ink, easy to cover. I already started getting ideas in my head of what to cover it with. Guy steps in and says, "No. We just want a star over it".
The name was about 5-6 inches long and I explained that a star that big would have to be, at least... 8inches big to fully cover the name. Both said yes to this. My boss walks over and gets on my a*s for not suggesting something else, but I explained to him that that's what they wanted. Both looked at him and nodded.
By the time it was done, this small, petite girl had a blue star covering her entire hip area. It looked cheap, tacky, ghetto mad, just stupid. After that, I refused to do cover ups if the client doesn't listen to reason.
Image credits: tattooed_n_high
#22
A guy from high school got a stick figure pushing a lawn mower above his pube line. Now he has a wife and kids.
Image credits: yay_dinosaurs
#23
I'm coming into this thread real late, but I'm a Tattooer, and I have two that come to mind. The first one was "F**K LOVE" across a Hispanic guys knuckles. I guess he had just broken up with his girl, and was really heated. Tried to talk him out of it, said his mind was made up, figured he might as well spend his money with me, and get it done nice. Gave him what he wanted and sent him home. The other one was on a biker girl that got "Property of (guy's name)" on her lower back. Talking huge though, literally half her back. Same deal as the last one. Might as well get it done right and might as well be the one that makes the money. Apparently her and the guy had only been dating for two months, and she had just had a baby with another guy. Even asked her when the guy went outside to smoke if she was sure, and that she could back out if she wanted to and made sure she wasn't getting pressured into it. She was just genuinely down as f**k for the guy, absolutely stoked to get that tattoo. Hope they're still together cause there's no way in f**k that giant tattoo is getting covered.
Image credits: Noservant
#24
I wouldn't say worst... I've got a few s**t ones in my first year but the one I felt like s**t for asking the guy to pay is for a different reason altogether.
I do custom script, there's this couple that comes in, trashy tattoos etc. She tells me that he's going away to prison in a few weeks and he wants to get her name and she'll get his name right after. I insist this isn't the best idea, try to convince them otherwise, they don't listen.
So I do it because rent doesn't pay itself and I got bad habits to maintain. He goes first. After getting her name tattooed across his stomach she spits in his face, says: "Now you understand how s****y it felt when you slept with *insert name here*, you thought I'd never find out you f*****g piece of s**t?!" And then stormed out the shop, never getting hers...
Now I'm not a 100% sure here because I'm not very good with these things but I think they had problems... *cough*.
Image credits: Grimzkhul
#25
Guy who recently became an officer in the army had a tattoo on his ribs/ stomach of a Unicorn with magic shooting out of its horn, rainbow colored magic, and then wheat coming out of the back. Wheat. Like what you make bread out of.
Image credits: anon
#26
Not an artist, but saw a girl with a large heart shaped confederate flag on her lower back with a banner behind it. Left side of banner bad initials in it, right side had dates. Above the whole thing it read: Daddy's Girl.
Fortunately I get to see this girl everyday
In the mirror.
She's me.
WTF was I thinking?
https://imgur.com/gallery/Mgyde
Image credits: MagaroniPenguin
#27
A girl I know got a rainbow and Nyan cat as a tramp stamp.....she's one of those girls.
Image credits: buttfartz3poo
#28
I also asked my artist this question while I was in the chair. His story is actually kind of sad - he was working in a shop somewhere "down south", and they used to have this Eastern-European sounding guy come in a lot with a string of beautiful Asian girls. The girls would get the same tattoos he had - they stopped serving him after this happened a few times. The first time they assumed it was a couple tattoo, second time that he has poor judgement, but after that it started to look a lot like a human trafficker marking his "property". He said one of the girls didn't even know the tattoo was permanent. He probably regrets tattooing some of those girls.
Image credits: One_Peanut_Cookie
#29
I asked the tattoo artist this question while I had mine done. Someone he worked with got an estimate request for a v*gina to be tattooed onto his taint. She gave him an estimate thinking he'd think it too high and moved on. Turned out the other places he went to first quoted him higher, so he accepted. The guy I was talking to said he'd walk by her cubicle and see her bent over with the guy's legs up, and she said she was fine the first hour or so until she took her first break. Then it was torture for her to finish.
Image credits: fantasticforceps
#30
The sons of anarchy logo. Kid had the s.o.a. jacket, and matching ball cap. Didnt even ride. Insisted on having the logo tattoed on his back. I just looked at him, "ok".
I. F*****g. Hated. That. Show.
#31
Maybe not worst necessarily but weirdest was once during my apprenticeship a guy wanted Wrangler pockets on his butt cheeks. Nobody else in the shop wanted to do it so they gave it to me for practice so I end up spending hours doing detailed pockets on this guy with the Wrangler patch on one cheek and the Skoal ring on the other. He seemed to like it though.
#32
Asked my artist this. He told me that years ago some s***pper came in looking to have vines and roses tattooed on that would come out of her b******e and curl up her back. He asks why not just get the roses on her back and butt, but she insists it must come out of her a**s. He reluctantly does the tattoo for a high price and said it looked pretty good too. But curiosity got the better of him after a while and he asks why she insists on having it come out of her b******e.
Her response was both the strangest and smartest reasoning I could have heard for such a tattoo. She would dance and she figured the guys would ask "hey how far does that tat go" to which she could say "for ten bucks I'll show you". So the dudes pay up a ten spot, she shows her a*****e real fast and done deal. She's richer and they looked at an a*****e. My tattoo artist is not proud of that job.
#33
Guy I knew in high school really liked to draw.
There's a huge difference between liking to draw, and drawing well.
If I had to describe his art style... It'd be something comparable to Napoleon Dynamite.
He also had a friend who owned a tattoo gun he liked to borrow.
This resulted in several terrible tattoos.
The worst might have to be when he tattooed the "girl of his dreams" onto his right forearm.
Needless to say she had a face only a mother could love... He was that mother.
#34
I'm not a tattoo artist but my cousin has had a bad experience with getting a tattoo whilst drunk. His friends offered to pay for any tattoo they wanted to put on him and give him 500$ (while they were still drunk from drinking that night) so he agreed since being drunk and woke up to his whole back being tattooed with the pillsbury doughboy on a cross crucified. He later got it covered up with tree leaves and a heart in place of the doughboy with text over it but I forget what it says.
No I don't have a picture of it but I'm sure he has one of it hidden somewhere.
#35
I know someone who got a tattoo of Lionel Ritchie in the where's Waldo outfit and it says "is it me you're looking for?" above and below it. That was his first tattoo. His second tattoo is... Indescribable... It's basically an Exeggutar with it's faces replaced with the dude's face from One Punch Man. I can't deal with it.
#36
Not a tattoo artist, but a friend has a naughts and crosses game tattooed on his leg, however the resulting combination of Xs and Os is impossible. I give him s**t for it every time he wears shorts.
There are 3 Xs which are forming a winning diagonal line, and 4 Os scattered elsewhere. The game should have ended at the third X, meaning there is no way a 4th O should have been played.
Edit: Tic tac toe for those players from the US.
#37
I became friends with the guys at a local shop who did a couple of mine. We had this same conversation and the worst they had done was a sexy chick who insisted on having maggots tattooed coming out of her p*ssy. They said they did it (and that her p*ssy wasn't gross or anything).
#38
One of my friends made the shameful decision of getting a tattoo of a lipstick kiss on his neck...not any particular person either. Just a random kiss.
#39
Tattoo artist here..
So this one time.. I had only been an apprentice for about a year or so. This really old lady came in, looked through loads of flash. She seen this one image of a little red devil f*****g a little penguin from behind. It was in the books cause my boss found it hilarious but no one ever wanted it, which is understandable.
So she wanted that. I said no way. This went on for a while. I knew I wasn't getting rid of this OAP so I just told her I was busy for the next 6 weeks. Well sure enough, one day each week she would come in, find the design n ask if I was still too busy.
This one day she came in, she started telling me how it's on her bucket list to get a tattoo that makes people smile, and how she was lucky to have 6 months left to live. Well f**k me, that's one way to k*ll a buzz.
Who am I to judge people, and cherry pick? I done the little tattoo for her one night. Felt weird. Didn't wanna be taking the p**s outta anyone or take advantage. But she wanted it. Old lady gave me a £20 tip. Never seen her again.
Another story for the hell of it.
I tattooed in Ibiza, Spain in 2008. A guy wanted his wifes initials tattooed on his chest. After I done the 3 initials he kept laughing. I asked what was up. He said "you'd never have done that if I told you it stood for Do Not Resuscitate".
My heart stopped. No pun intended.
#40
I once seen on the tv show tattoo fixers (uk) a guy who got "Bring back fingering" tattooed on him. What ever floats your boat I say. Edit saw not seen..I am stupid people of Reddit .
Image credits: MrsBiggusDickus
#41
I have a tattoo on the bottom of my foot that says "tickle here with feathers on each side" no ragrets.
Image credits: redditentity
#42
In high school I had a friend who got a tat of a little girl kicking a puppy on the side of her stomach.
The puppy was supposed to symbolize boys.
Before we graduated, she had been knocked up twice and that tattoo turned from a little girl kicking a puppy to STRETCHED BLOB.
#43
Disclaimer: Not a tattoo artist.
Late evening and I'm in a tattoo shop getting my first tattoo. About 15 minutes into it some guy drives up to the shop with alarming speed and I swear he stopped his car with his e-brake. He barges into the store and demands he have a "black bar" inked onto his chest. He pulls his shirt down and Rebecca is written. My artist replies "we don't do black bars here" and the guy furiously exited the building lol
#44
My friend just got a tattoo done and he asked his artist this same question. He said that once a huge black guy came in and wanted to get a tattoo of a ruler that was accurate on his forearm leading to his fist. The guy later explained that he was gay and he wanted to know exactly how deep he goes into the a**s of another man when he fists them...
Edit: so sorry I do not know if the big black guy ever came back, my friend that got the tattoo never asked, if he goes back I'll make sure he asks the artist
#45
From my friend's tattoo artist: "A couple comes in, sober as a judge. They been dating two, maybe four weeks and they want each others names tattooed....on their anuses. Ring around their anuses with the other person's name. Girl's...thing won't stop twitching while I'm doing it, I don't know what to do. Guy says 'Put your thumb in there, that's what I always do.' God help me, I did. $500 for ten minutes work.".
#46
Not an artist, but worked the counter at a shop for a little while.
A dragon and a unicorn. Spooning. Dragon was big spoon. They were floating on a cloud. It was a sizable shoulder piece.
#47
Not a tattoo artist, but a family friend had a bear with deer antlers tatted on his palm, so that, in his words, "He would always have a beer in his hand".
#48
Not an artist here, but a buddy of mine was in China and got a tattoo in chinese lettering saying "Horse C**k". He specifically asked the artist for the closest thing in chinese to "c**k" as opposed to just "penis" for extra vulgarity. The tattoo artist thought this was great because he himself has a tattoo of a wizard with a d**k for a head..
#49
There was this flash at my best friend's first shop, and I made her promise if anyone got it, she would call me immediately so I could watch. It was this jovial sunburned Jesus, who was laughing uproariously. Eyes rolled up to god. I wish it was ironic, but no. Fully in earnest, Jesus Christ laughing.
It was in the style of like, early Hanna-Barbera animation. Singularly worst piece of flash I have ever. ever. seen.
Came here hoping for laughing christ. leaving disappointed.
#50
My aunt's a tattoo artist who is lucky enough to be able to turn away basically any tattoo ideas she doesn't care for. Apparently one guy wanted to have "b*****s" tattooed onto his middle fingers. If the pun wasn't bad enough, his girlfriend then called up my aunt the next day to accuse her of sleeping with her boyfriend. Lovely people I'm sure.
#51
I met this guy at a party. He apparently lost a bet. http://imgur.com/P6hVmBN.
Image credits: jonincalgary
#52
Once an incredibly intoxicated man came in with his friends and oh-so-subtly asked for a star around his a**s. He then proceeded to whisper, "Don't worry, I shaved." I kicked him out.
Edit: A**S OKAY F*****G A**S.
#53
Two stories....
I was in the beginning of my career and had only been at it for about four years. Was making a name for myself doing black and gray portraits in my home town. One day a client came in for me. She had her husband and child with her, wanting a quote on some ink. Their child was only about a month or two old and they wanted to get the child's foot prints with a banner that included the date of birth. No big deal, pretty standard, done these a few times before. Then, I get hit with a twist, it needs another banner underneath it with nothing in it. Confused, I asked why. They told me the child was terminally ill and would die soon. My jaw dropped, I had a long conversation with the ups and downs of this decision and tried to talk them out of it. Eventually, they convinced me that it was not just so spur of the moment thing and I did the tattoo. About 6 months went by and I had put it out of head when they came back and wanted me to finally finish it. I felt so terrible that I couldn't bring myself to do it. I had my buddy do it instead.
Second story, 4 kids in their early 20s came in. One of them lost a bet, he had to get a tattoo and he had to let the tattoo shops artists pick it. Being the lot of wise area we are, I shouted "unicorn with a d**k for a horn" and my co-workers yelled "d**k taco". His friends laughed and he was blown away and just beside himself. His friends and him agreed to let him pick 4 of his own choices and put a number from 1 to 6 on all of the ideas then roll a die. Well, we had one of our best artists do an amazing a unicorn with a d**k horn on him... I'm just glad people still hold up to their end of a bet.
There are many more, but those are just the ones that always pop in my head.
#54
"I'm not as think as you drunk I am"
Edit: Nobody got the reference. It's a reference to what Andy almost got tattooed on his a*s in The Office.
#55
My friend got a foie gras tattoo. Our original idea was to get FOIE GRAS tattoo across his chest in stylized letters. He is a cook that absolutely loves the stuff. But we didn't think he was serious. Turns up a couple days later with a new tattoo. The original one was too much money so he got a sort of badge on his arm. It is a circle with a goose in the middle craning its head back and up into the air with a funnel forced down it's throat. Words around it say "In Foie Gras We Trust"
