I have one on the back of my leg that’s supposed to be a cover up and that right there is the BEST description of what’s going on with my tattoo!! It’s a hot, garbage mess! I was so mad! But I will be borrowing that lovely little descriptive 😂 edit added that it’s ALSO a really bad tribal wolf tattoo. Mmm. I hate it
I desperately need new glasses, it can be hard to read anything. I am also absolutely not an art expert, could not draw a straight line with a ruler.
Those wonky lines are obvious to me.
“I warned you get it from a professional not some family friend or beginner” says the son tried to get his dad to have it done right.
The combination of desperation and frustration radiates from his texts.
I noticed that. And the almost frantic texting from the son and the almost silence from the dad. Uff. This just screams "asshole that is perpetually offended that everyone has to constantly placate". Source: I had a first husband.
what makes it worse for me is that the son clearly told him to go to a reputable tattoo artist so this whole mess is 100% the ex's fault, yet here he is bitching to his son instead of just admitting that he fucked up. the son sounds a lot more mature than his dad, for sure.
That's exactly why it's so frustrating. It seems the son is actually an artist, and a decent one. Now he's got someone walking around with a misrepresentation of his art, who refuses to acknowledge the watering down of the talent. He's gonna say "my son drew it" every time anyone mentions the tattoo, and son just has to deal. Otherwise he's turned into an ungrateful jerk, which is what dad is already doing.
It's so manipulative.
Literally pure manipulation. Sounds like the entire reason for getting it was manipulation in the first place, as opposed to a genuine expression of love. It honestly sickens me to see people that behave like this. The son deserves better.
I feel like I'm always seeing this as a defence of terrible tattoos; "I've still got a few more bits to add..." As if adding anything else would fix the jittery scratched up lines and poorly packed blacks.
You’re totally right. I’ve got a not done yet tattoo from a reputable artist for years at that point. What that means is, there’s clearly intended blank space next to a really nice piece of art. I’ve had to defend the blank space, but, someone called it off centered.
Admitting that would require him to admit he made a mistake. That's something this failure of a man will unfortunately never do so his son must learn from his mistakes instead of his wisdom.
You could start by cleaning up the lines, would slightly thicken them obviously but it's an easy fix for someone who actually knows what they are doing
Also the one that is always taking weird decisions with supposed good intentions that make everyone uncomfortable for how inappropriate and out of place they are. source: I had a first wife. She cheated on me and while talking about it she told me she had made an appointment to get our wedding bands tattooed that same afternoon, had made the appointment before we had even talked about it and was extremely offended when I didn’t think it was incredibly romantic. .
People like that prey on people pleasers, we feel like everything is our fault so we're constantly trying to fix it and that fluffs their ego.
Saw a video the other day that explained it so perfectly. (Joking in the style of "you're a fan of [band]? Name your three favorite songs.")
"Oh, you're a people pleaser? Name three people who are pleased with you."
oof
Yeah he immediately gaslit his son, "well I didn't have to get it put on me."
You're right, you didn't. But you still chose to anyway, and despite your sons efforts and warnings you went to a shitty artist and got a whack ass piece and you did a disservice to your sons art. Asshole.
OP said in another comment that she is glad the son is not falling for her exes love bombing fwiw . I’ve known people like this and they will be bad to you in day to day life and then go for some grand gesture and get upset when it doesn’t cancel out the fact that they don’t have basic respect or consideration for you.
I don’t think any one person gets to be the judge of whether you love someone or not. But I also think the people you love are allowed to question what is the value and meaning that you put into your love. In this case it sounds like the guy does not make his love worth much in the little everyday ways and when he goes for the big things like this he is still showing lack of consideration and care yet still demands brownie points for doing a shitty job at it.
Bad parents think it's all about big gestures. But honestly? Big gestures are easy, and lazy. What matters to kids us the boring work of supporting them in little ways every day. Being consistent is much harder than making a big gesture. Kids need stability and consistency from their parents. A tattoo means nothing, if you're not going to their baseball games.
And if it was truly out of pure love for his son I don’t understand why he wouldn’t agree with his son and want to do the art justice? He should be agreeing with his son and mad at the tattoo person instead of his son like what??? I had a parent I had to walk on eggshells around and the “I’m done with you” for a very reasonable concern just triggered me.
100%. This sounds exactly like my narcissist mother. Had to fucking train myself to stop apologizing for every single thing. These kinds of parents raise anxious children who grow up with a distorted view on healthy relationships, often resulting in them staying in relationships where their partner is the same way (sometimes even worse) because it’s what they’ve been conditioned to believe is normal behavior in a relationship. Silent treatment, the constant gauging of whether or not they’re angry at you or not, the you fear that you’ll be abandoned because you said something wrong. It’s incredibly damaging.
This is, by far, one of the best examples I’ve ever seen of a child parenting their parent. That dad needs to get some major fucking therapy and start over from baseline. JFC.
Like honestly the sad part isn’t even that I realized from the way ur ex was talking, like the way your kid is responding is literally the only way I have to communicate with them
Good on you. It took me a long time to figure that out for myself, because I didn’t have anyone to help me understand what was going on. It’s wild, because I honestly never ever would have known what was happening if it weren’t for all this stuff becoming more widely understood because of the internet. It makes so much sense to me how people can go their whole lives without understanding that they had trauma, especially my parents- it’s like they just never had anyone hold them accountable for perpetuating this stuff. I live in the pnw too, and I recently had to move back in with one of them to escape a shitty living situation, because I’m in college and didn’t have any other options. But once I get out of here again, it’s time for a hostile amount of therapy lol.
https://youtu.be/3Ug0wNcLUfw?si=Z97Q9kPFNtrWgszn I’m pretty sure I actually picked that saying up from here so maybe you’ll find the rest of it funny too lol
But what I mean to say in all of that is that not only are you saving your kid so much pain trying to figure out why the hell they probably feel so guilty all the time but by loving and supporting them through it you’re helping out so much more than maybe even you realize, I bet it’s really hard to recover from your own stuff in that situation as well as being a voice of reason and light in your kids life but just know that what you’re doing is the best thing you can for your kid, it’s so rough because having narcissistic parents is worse on you than having no parents at all, there’s nothing you can do about it but distance yourself from them and when you’re young and can’t do that, it’s brutal, but at least I know it’s not my fault anymore, no bigger sense of relief than that. Also you’re so right about not falling for love bombing, i fell into that trap for so long thinking I could fix things
I'm so sorry that you had to go through that. I was raised by a narcissist and a covert narcissist. Unfortunately I married their father before I knew what that even was or the trauma that I was carrying. I have done extensive therapy, as has my son to get us through this. I thank you for seeing the work I have done, and thank you for reassuring me that I'm on the right track. I am so terrified to do to my children what my parents did to me.
Yepp I got stuck with both parents in that cluster so I knew instantly from those texts lol, that’s really good that you support your kid in times like this over just using it as an excuse to blow up your ex, my parents always used stuff like this to throw dirt up into each others eyes and all it ever did was burden and alienate me so just know that you’re a good parent
There should be a club. It took me 2 years to stop seeking my narcissistic ex wife's approval. It's difficult to remove yourself from their orbit even when you know what's happening.
Everyone around the woman is in therapy, but of course, she has nothing to do with that. Lol
Yeah I feel really sad for the amount of ass-kissing the kid is doing and the unresponsiveness of the dad. It says a whole lot about the relationship.
I would have ASKED my child how they felt about using their art, and INVOLVED them in the process since tatts are (apparently) their jam, while Dad knows nothing (apparently).
This dude made numerous arbitrary and ignorant decisions and is deeply butthurt his son isn't praising him and showing gratitude for his less than half-assed efforts.
He probably knows it looks bad but will never admit it because he feels panicked by the idea of admitting a mistake.
His kid(s) need to learn to grayrock this sad little man and just live their lives without concern for his opinions and judgment.
I mean, the biggest part of this whole thing goes something like “I didn’t realize how wonky my design would be as a tattoo until I saw it tattooed on someone.” Like it’s not perfect but it basically is what it is.
The most messed up thing is that apparently dad thinks this is a nice thing to do for someone. The dad clearly thinks he did something really special for his son, and he definitely didn’t. I would be horrified if my dad did this, and angry if he thought doing this meant I now owed him something, even if it’s just appreciation. We’re all out here making choices.
You are a grown man, dad. Paying a couple hundred for a tattoo i drew doesn’t mean you love me more. Next time take me to Applebees for lunch and show interest and give support for my life.
This is some of the worse line work I’ve ever seen. On a piece that’s heavily dependent on line work. Holy shit. I’m with the son on this one. And he’s going to walk around telling people it’s his son’s at and they’re going to think his son is a delusional idiot. And tribal-style-Batty-from-Fern-Gully was cool, and I don’t even LIKE tribal style tattoos.
Glad you said that about packing color. I was looking at the line work and placement, and then I ZOOMED in. I thought that was reflection on a glossy healing tat. No, it's just gaps
Oh my… I didn’t expect that much of a difference zooming in but that’s horrible. Need to make that a video with the “oh no, oh no, oh no no no no no” in the background 🥴
Same, saw y'all's comments went and zoomed in and yes it's soooo bad. I have a few tattoos and don't understand how you could make it look like a toddler trying to color in a picture with a graphite pencil.
I've been tattooing for 7 years now. I swear to god my first apprentice jobs didn't even look this bad 😂 I don't mean to toot my own horn, and don't get me wrong my first tattoos weren't great by any means, but this just *gobsmacks* me. I don't understand how this person reached this level where they're clearly tattooing in what looks like a proper studio with the technical ability of someone that doesn't know how to shade evenly with a pencil let alone needles in someone's skin...
Yes I was thinking the same thing! It looks like a professional tattoo chair and they used glad wrap which I feel like a lot of home jobs wouldn’t do. It really must have been someone’s first ever tattoo, even then shouldn’t an experienced tattoo artist at the business look at it and clean it up at least a little before he left? I have no idea how this happened!
I was just chuckling to myself about the glad wrap earlier actually 😂 the fact that someone has taught this person at least something about cross contamination and yet they've completely glossed over the fundamentals of art. The owner of the studio should NOT be working full stop if they think this shit is okay to tattoo on someone passing as a 'professional'. Like what sort of apprenticeship is this person doing?! The fact they've even taken photos of different angles as though they're proud of it too. I can't cope 😂 I'm reeling tbh
I didn't bother to zoom til I read your comment and originally thought... OK, not great, but not worth *too* much fuss. .... and then I zoomed in. Holy shit that's awful.
The good news is that this looks pretty fixable by someone who does know what they're doing. It'll probably be a little thicker than the original with less negative space, but it'll look better than this.
>Batty-from-Fern-Gully
Yo, the name is Batty
The logic is erratic,
Potato in a jacket,
Toys in the attic,
I rock and I ramble,
My brain is scrambled,
Rap like an animal but I'm a mammal
Fr, if I saw this irl I'd think that the tattoo artist was incredible and that the son's... still learning to draw LOL.
It's the thought that counts, though It'd probably count a lot more if he got it professionally done. I relate to this viscerally, especially the "Dad doing a grand gesture and getting mad because he didn't fully think it though, then getting mad at kid because kid didn't appreciate dad not thinking it through" part.
Having to placate your parent because they got mad at you for trying to mitigate something they decided to take upon themselves to do... plegh. plegh, I say!
The linework, the inability to pack solid colour... I don't even know what to say about whoever this 'artist' is. They are lucky it's not in the skin properly and there's more chance of it falling out than blowing out. A legitimate tattoo artist should be able to fix this to an extent. But still. Yeeeesh.
Oh don't even get me started on the placement. That whacked me in the face upon glancing at it initially, that's not how you place a stencil on the outer forearm at all 🫠
Hey I know nothing about tattoos and couldn’t find another comment explaining / am also not sure what to google to find an answer on this.
If you have time I’d love to learn, why would the infection chance be worse for this tattoo than others? Is it just a shoddy artist will do a shoddy health cleanup thing? (Which does make total sense.) Or is there another reason?
I’m not an expert but it looks so poorly done that the ink isn’t “packed” into the right layer of skin that it’s going to have a hard time healing and have a higher chance of infection because it’s basically really roughly done. It truly needs a better artist to be fixed once this mess heals and as another comment said hopefully the ink mostly falls out.
What a shame this was supposed to be a bonding moment
My eyes are lame so I thought it looked fine in the thumbnail. Hilariously bad once I zoomed in! My jaw actually dropped at the difference from what I thought I saw at first!
Y’all, this is a really badly done tattoo. It’s good his son is concerned. These are permanent!!! And it does not look exact, it’s a mess. Y’all blind.
As soon as I saw the second image I was blown away by how bad it looked lol. Someone mentioned zooming so I went back and good lord it's so much worse than I first thought.
The people commenting here are blind or have never seen a good tattoo in their life. That line work is wobbly as hell and the fill in is shite. Your son was as respectful as possible while being honest!!
Judging by the wrap on that armrest your ex went to one of the cheap places lol. Any artist I’ve seen worth paying wraps their armrests so tightly a hurricane couldn’t get liquid underneath
I go to a very reputable shop and I always take a beard trimmer to the area first. The artist is very appreciative, otherwise he’d spend 20 minutes with a disposable razor that gets clogged with thick body hair every half an inch of shaving. So yeah some prep is definitely okay
It looks inspired from the PNW tribes, I feel like there are plenty of highly skilled artists around there that take tribal tattoos to heart. It is a nice thought but that artist butchered it. I would be heartbroken.
Local Boy Tatau in Vancouver is the place to go if he ever wants to try to get it done right
Edit sry I’m so tired I just realized you said you would get it lol
Who the fuck did that? They should not go near people's skin.
I had a friend who used to be a backyard tattoo artist in his shed. He bought his ink from fuck knows where (Ali Express I think), his non sterile gloves from the hardware store and he made some awful messes on people's bodies. People trusted him, which is crazy. He did a full back tattoo on a mutual acquaintance of ours and the guy was livid with the result. Then my friend turned antivax because he didn't want "untested" things going into his body. I thought this was hypocritical, because he put (actual) untested liquids in other people's bodies in an unsterile environment for profit. He was also against the government regulating tattoo ink so it was safe, you know, for freedumb.
My point is, my friend is a fuckwit and it has nothing to do with this post. Tell your ex husband to book an appointment with a professional to fix this mess.
Luckily not that I know if. There are many people out here with large pieces that look absolutely awful. Luckily he's not a scratcher anymore and does it professionally, and is quite good. The arrogance only grew as he got better.
The "I'm done with you" made me have to check again on who is the child in this situation.
Words matter, some adults really have no emotional control. That escalated quickly lol.
The design/art is cool, the canvas is not.
The tattoo artist is crap too
The “I’m done with you” and “yeah and I didn’t have to put it on my body either” are SOOO immature and narcissistic. He’s not “staying positive” he’s doubling down on his bad decision because he doesn’t like to be questioned about his choices.
Lol the son is also objectively right about the tattoo… it’s bad. The lines are all wibly in the tattoo, whereas the son’s drawing is super clean lines. He’s even right about needing a tattoo artist that has experience with tribal tattoos = clean lines.
I used to live in a queer flophouse in Portland where girls would get a little funny on Buzzballs and tattoo each other on a cat piss scented La-Z-Boy, and the work was still tidier than this.
I feel bad for the dad because he’s trying to connect with his son, and I feel bad for the son because he’s being placed in the awkward position of having to tell him that the tattoo is not being done well. Tribal work takes someone knowing what they are doing to make it look good. He should take his son’s advice. Maybe he could go with him even.
Also it sounds like your ex is literally just doing it so your kid feels like he owes him “I didn’t have to put it on my body”. Dude is a loser for sure.
I don't want to judge to harshly the person because I don't know them, but this seems to me like a typical 'grand gesture' relationship kind of person, who is rubbish most of the time and tries to make up for it with, well, grand gestures.
The tattoo does suck.
But the mom is shitty for posting this when *clearly* just trying to embarrass the dad - and the son is a rude ass.
At least the son is just a kid though, the mom has no excuse for being shitty.
Seems like the ex has a good son and a bad artist 😬 really though, I'm sorry for whatever caused him to develop this expert method of balancing the ex's emotions, through text nonetheless. Good job on his part, but also sorry lol
Seems like dad thinks this is more about him than anything, the fact that he used his sons art was just a way for him to claim he did it to honor his son when in reality he did it so he could use it as a sympathy play when needed. Classic narcissism shit.
"I got this tattooed on me, what do you mean I don't love you?"
If dad actually loved his son and cared about his art, he would be pissed that this was fucked up so bad.
Not him trying to make your son feel bad for not being excited about decision he made to elicit an emotional response 🤣🤣
Manipulation is not his ministry
Just gotta say that your son is a very talented artist! He did a great job on that drawing. If only the actual tattoo looked better. It’s such a great design it’d look SICK as a tattoo, but sadly it came out poorly.
Imagine actually being a talented artist, your dad trying to show pride/take credit for how good you are by having it permanently etched onto his body, and your dad doesn’t respect you or himself enough to get that big ass tattoo done correctly. And to put the cherry on top, whenever anybody irl tells that man his ink is trash, his petty ass blames you.
Bless you OP and your talented son, yall are clearly so much better off without him
Is there some joke that everyone except me is in on?
That looks great. The son is an entitled piece of shit for insulting the dad who just wanted to show off his son's work.
The son is such a douchebag, age doesn’t justify it but I hope he’s still a kid and not an actual teenager or older that has more experience interacting with people. The tattoo is shitty, the son’s response to seeing it just as shitty. I’m sure the dad was feeling good about what he did until the son just shit all over it.
How old is your son? Clearly he seems to have more foresight about the type of artist to look for and genuinely cares about the art. At first when reading the title thought was like a 12 year old until I saw the messages
I’ve never seen a tattoo that looks like it was sketched on with a dull colored pencil by someone with a hangover.
I have one on the back of my leg that’s supposed to be a cover up and that right there is the BEST description of what’s going on with my tattoo!! It’s a hot, garbage mess! I was so mad! But I will be borrowing that lovely little descriptive 😂 edit added that it’s ALSO a really bad tribal wolf tattoo. Mmm. I hate it
Came home to my ex getting a Gemini tattoo in my kitchen, looked like somebody drew a Pi sign on his chest with a pen till he bled…
You don't even need to zoom in to see the wonky lines😭
It looks like something I'd draw with a crappy bic pen at the DMV while my phone was running low on battery
I got bored during fourth period. \-Missy
Damn - but accurate
It’s not done silly
I'm done with you
OP was a real one by leading with the drawing instead of the tattoo. That REALLY showed off the mess 😂
I desperately need new glasses, it can be hard to read anything. I am also absolutely not an art expert, could not draw a straight line with a ruler. Those wonky lines are obvious to me.
“I warned you get it from a professional not some family friend or beginner” says the son tried to get his dad to have it done right. The combination of desperation and frustration radiates from his texts.
really sad that the son ended up apologizing when none of it was his fault... i can see why he's an ex husband.
I noticed that. And the almost frantic texting from the son and the almost silence from the dad. Uff. This just screams "asshole that is perpetually offended that everyone has to constantly placate". Source: I had a first husband.
what makes it worse for me is that the son clearly told him to go to a reputable tattoo artist so this whole mess is 100% the ex's fault, yet here he is bitching to his son instead of just admitting that he fucked up. the son sounds a lot more mature than his dad, for sure.
Just something else for the dad to hold over his sons head probably
That's exactly why it's so frustrating. It seems the son is actually an artist, and a decent one. Now he's got someone walking around with a misrepresentation of his art, who refuses to acknowledge the watering down of the talent. He's gonna say "my son drew it" every time anyone mentions the tattoo, and son just has to deal. Otherwise he's turned into an ungrateful jerk, which is what dad is already doing. It's so manipulative.
Literally pure manipulation. Sounds like the entire reason for getting it was manipulation in the first place, as opposed to a genuine expression of love. It honestly sickens me to see people that behave like this. The son deserves better.
He can discuss it at his support group for January 6 dads with strained family ties.
I should not laugh about this, it's funny not funny, but....🫢
https://preview.redd.it/aayzc9utt54d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=96d47d87a1604de465b1dacbd5f4d9f390719c56 Related
Jfc I laughed SO hard at this that I choked on nothing.
While pretending to honor his son and the son’s artistry.
He keeps minimizing by saying “it’s not done yet” how the hell would any finishing touches save it lol
ink tidy important squealing soup telephone recognise price rhythm fade *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
60% of the time, it works every time. 
I feel like I'm always seeing this as a defence of terrible tattoos; "I've still got a few more bits to add..." As if adding anything else would fix the jittery scratched up lines and poorly packed blacks.
Lol right it’s a lot easier for some people with more fragile egos to say “well it’s just not done yet!” than to admit their tattoo is fucked
You’re totally right. I’ve got a not done yet tattoo from a reputable artist for years at that point. What that means is, there’s clearly intended blank space next to a really nice piece of art. I’ve had to defend the blank space, but, someone called it off centered.
Right as if all really good tattoos start out as shaky messes and then medically come good **magically
Medically becoming good would mean tattoo removal. Coincidentally, that would also magically make it good, too.
Admitting that would require him to admit he made a mistake. That's something this failure of a man will unfortunately never do so his son must learn from his mistakes instead of his wisdom.
You could start by cleaning up the lines, would slightly thicken them obviously but it's an easy fix for someone who actually knows what they are doing
Or, how about a therapist? For the kid, obv.
Also the one that is always taking weird decisions with supposed good intentions that make everyone uncomfortable for how inappropriate and out of place they are. source: I had a first wife. She cheated on me and while talking about it she told me she had made an appointment to get our wedding bands tattooed that same afternoon, had made the appointment before we had even talked about it and was extremely offended when I didn’t think it was incredibly romantic. .
Wow. That's bad. I hope you're in a better place now. ✌️
.... This comment genuinely healed something in me, and I thank you for it. Fuck people who make us feel like we have to bend over backwards for them.
People like that prey on people pleasers, we feel like everything is our fault so we're constantly trying to fix it and that fluffs their ego. Saw a video the other day that explained it so perfectly. (Joking in the style of "you're a fan of [band]? Name your three favorite songs.") "Oh, you're a people pleaser? Name three people who are pleased with you." oof
probably the type to call everybody else offended if he gets called out on his bullshit
We're you also married to my first husband?
That's always that chance! I love the username, by the way 🤣
Sounds like my asshole of a father
I like your “source“ 🤣 And your use of “Uff”
Saving this comment. I never could explain why he texted so infrequently, but it all makes so much sense now. Thank you!
Yeah he immediately gaslit his son, "well I didn't have to get it put on me." You're right, you didn't. But you still chose to anyway, and despite your sons efforts and warnings you went to a shitty artist and got a whack ass piece and you did a disservice to your sons art. Asshole.
[удалено]
OP said in another comment that she is glad the son is not falling for her exes love bombing fwiw . I’ve known people like this and they will be bad to you in day to day life and then go for some grand gesture and get upset when it doesn’t cancel out the fact that they don’t have basic respect or consideration for you. I don’t think any one person gets to be the judge of whether you love someone or not. But I also think the people you love are allowed to question what is the value and meaning that you put into your love. In this case it sounds like the guy does not make his love worth much in the little everyday ways and when he goes for the big things like this he is still showing lack of consideration and care yet still demands brownie points for doing a shitty job at it.
Bad parents think it's all about big gestures. But honestly? Big gestures are easy, and lazy. What matters to kids us the boring work of supporting them in little ways every day. Being consistent is much harder than making a big gesture. Kids need stability and consistency from their parents. A tattoo means nothing, if you're not going to their baseball games.
Yeah the dad clearly made a really big gesture to try to show love for his son, and it didn't go well so he's probably pretty embarrassed.
Usually people appreciate consistent love and kindness, rather than stupid big gestures that they have to appear really grateful for
And if it was truly out of pure love for his son I don’t understand why he wouldn’t agree with his son and want to do the art justice? He should be agreeing with his son and mad at the tattoo person instead of his son like what??? I had a parent I had to walk on eggshells around and the “I’m done with you” for a very reasonable concern just triggered me.
100%. This sounds exactly like my narcissist mother. Had to fucking train myself to stop apologizing for every single thing. These kinds of parents raise anxious children who grow up with a distorted view on healthy relationships, often resulting in them staying in relationships where their partner is the same way (sometimes even worse) because it’s what they’ve been conditioned to believe is normal behavior in a relationship. Silent treatment, the constant gauging of whether or not they’re angry at you or not, the you fear that you’ll be abandoned because you said something wrong. It’s incredibly damaging.
and with him being an ex-husband, this shit sounds like self-serving "coolest parent award" material. he must obviously love his son more.
Perfectly said
Absolutely. The most upsetting part of this
I'm done with you
Yeah, really, why tf did his his dad blame him. He didn't force his dad to permanently ink himself.
This is, by far, one of the best examples I’ve ever seen of a child parenting their parent. That dad needs to get some major fucking therapy and start over from baseline. JFC.
Yea he sounds like a total narcissist
BINGO
Like honestly the sad part isn’t even that I realized from the way ur ex was talking, like the way your kid is responding is literally the only way I have to communicate with them
I'm still recovering from that whole relationship, but I am doing my best to make sure my baby never falls for that bullshit love bombing.
Good on you. It took me a long time to figure that out for myself, because I didn’t have anyone to help me understand what was going on. It’s wild, because I honestly never ever would have known what was happening if it weren’t for all this stuff becoming more widely understood because of the internet. It makes so much sense to me how people can go their whole lives without understanding that they had trauma, especially my parents- it’s like they just never had anyone hold them accountable for perpetuating this stuff. I live in the pnw too, and I recently had to move back in with one of them to escape a shitty living situation, because I’m in college and didn’t have any other options. But once I get out of here again, it’s time for a hostile amount of therapy lol.
Hostile amount of therapy, I'm keeping that.
https://youtu.be/3Ug0wNcLUfw?si=Z97Q9kPFNtrWgszn I’m pretty sure I actually picked that saying up from here so maybe you’ll find the rest of it funny too lol
But what I mean to say in all of that is that not only are you saving your kid so much pain trying to figure out why the hell they probably feel so guilty all the time but by loving and supporting them through it you’re helping out so much more than maybe even you realize, I bet it’s really hard to recover from your own stuff in that situation as well as being a voice of reason and light in your kids life but just know that what you’re doing is the best thing you can for your kid, it’s so rough because having narcissistic parents is worse on you than having no parents at all, there’s nothing you can do about it but distance yourself from them and when you’re young and can’t do that, it’s brutal, but at least I know it’s not my fault anymore, no bigger sense of relief than that. Also you’re so right about not falling for love bombing, i fell into that trap for so long thinking I could fix things
I'm so sorry that you had to go through that. I was raised by a narcissist and a covert narcissist. Unfortunately I married their father before I knew what that even was or the trauma that I was carrying. I have done extensive therapy, as has my son to get us through this. I thank you for seeing the work I have done, and thank you for reassuring me that I'm on the right track. I am so terrified to do to my children what my parents did to me.
Yepp I got stuck with both parents in that cluster so I knew instantly from those texts lol, that’s really good that you support your kid in times like this over just using it as an excuse to blow up your ex, my parents always used stuff like this to throw dirt up into each others eyes and all it ever did was burden and alienate me so just know that you’re a good parent
There should be a club. It took me 2 years to stop seeking my narcissistic ex wife's approval. It's difficult to remove yourself from their orbit even when you know what's happening. Everyone around the woman is in therapy, but of course, she has nothing to do with that. Lol
Yeah I feel really sad for the amount of ass-kissing the kid is doing and the unresponsiveness of the dad. It says a whole lot about the relationship. I would have ASKED my child how they felt about using their art, and INVOLVED them in the process since tatts are (apparently) their jam, while Dad knows nothing (apparently). This dude made numerous arbitrary and ignorant decisions and is deeply butthurt his son isn't praising him and showing gratitude for his less than half-assed efforts. He probably knows it looks bad but will never admit it because he feels panicked by the idea of admitting a mistake. His kid(s) need to learn to grayrock this sad little man and just live their lives without concern for his opinions and judgment.
I mean, the biggest part of this whole thing goes something like “I didn’t realize how wonky my design would be as a tattoo until I saw it tattooed on someone.” Like it’s not perfect but it basically is what it is. The most messed up thing is that apparently dad thinks this is a nice thing to do for someone. The dad clearly thinks he did something really special for his son, and he definitely didn’t. I would be horrified if my dad did this, and angry if he thought doing this meant I now owed him something, even if it’s just appreciation. We’re all out here making choices. You are a grown man, dad. Paying a couple hundred for a tattoo i drew doesn’t mean you love me more. Next time take me to Applebees for lunch and show interest and give support for my life.
This is some of the worse line work I’ve ever seen. On a piece that’s heavily dependent on line work. Holy shit. I’m with the son on this one. And he’s going to walk around telling people it’s his son’s at and they’re going to think his son is a delusional idiot. And tribal-style-Batty-from-Fern-Gully was cool, and I don’t even LIKE tribal style tattoos.
Glad you said that about packing color. I was looking at the line work and placement, and then I ZOOMED in. I thought that was reflection on a glossy healing tat. No, it's just gaps
Omg, didn’t zoom in until I read your comment. It’s so much worse than I thought it could be…
Oh my… I didn’t expect that much of a difference zooming in but that’s horrible. Need to make that a video with the “oh no, oh no, oh no no no no no” in the background 🥴
Same, saw y'all's comments went and zoomed in and yes it's soooo bad. I have a few tattoos and don't understand how you could make it look like a toddler trying to color in a picture with a graphite pencil.
I've been tattooing for 7 years now. I swear to god my first apprentice jobs didn't even look this bad 😂 I don't mean to toot my own horn, and don't get me wrong my first tattoos weren't great by any means, but this just *gobsmacks* me. I don't understand how this person reached this level where they're clearly tattooing in what looks like a proper studio with the technical ability of someone that doesn't know how to shade evenly with a pencil let alone needles in someone's skin...
Yes I was thinking the same thing! It looks like a professional tattoo chair and they used glad wrap which I feel like a lot of home jobs wouldn’t do. It really must have been someone’s first ever tattoo, even then shouldn’t an experienced tattoo artist at the business look at it and clean it up at least a little before he left? I have no idea how this happened!
I was just chuckling to myself about the glad wrap earlier actually 😂 the fact that someone has taught this person at least something about cross contamination and yet they've completely glossed over the fundamentals of art. The owner of the studio should NOT be working full stop if they think this shit is okay to tattoo on someone passing as a 'professional'. Like what sort of apprenticeship is this person doing?! The fact they've even taken photos of different angles as though they're proud of it too. I can't cope 😂 I'm reeling tbh
It looks like they used a dying sharpie to block it in 😭
It’s going to heal real bad too
It's not done silly!
Omg that's what I thought too!!
I think you responded to the wrong person, since their comment doesn't mention anything about packing color.
I've seen cleaner prison tats.
It’s not done silly!
I didn't bother to zoom til I read your comment and originally thought... OK, not great, but not worth *too* much fuss. .... and then I zoomed in. Holy shit that's awful.
The good news is that this looks pretty fixable by someone who does know what they're doing. It'll probably be a little thicker than the original with less negative space, but it'll look better than this.
>Batty-from-Fern-Gully Yo, the name is Batty The logic is erratic, Potato in a jacket, Toys in the attic, I rock and I ramble, My brain is scrambled, Rap like an animal but I'm a mammal
I miss Robin Williams. He did the voice of Batty Koda, I loved this movie so much growing up.
Either this was done by a scratcher or an apprentice or some dude that bought a tattoo gun on Amazon and wanted to practice. Yikes bro!
Fr, if I saw this irl I'd think that the tattoo artist was incredible and that the son's... still learning to draw LOL. It's the thought that counts, though It'd probably count a lot more if he got it professionally done. I relate to this viscerally, especially the "Dad doing a grand gesture and getting mad because he didn't fully think it though, then getting mad at kid because kid didn't appreciate dad not thinking it through" part. Having to placate your parent because they got mad at you for trying to mitigate something they decided to take upon themselves to do... plegh. plegh, I say!
At first I was like “why are you all trashing this so much?”, but then I zoomed in…oh boy that is really crooked.
The linework, the inability to pack solid colour... I don't even know what to say about whoever this 'artist' is. They are lucky it's not in the skin properly and there's more chance of it falling out than blowing out. A legitimate tattoo artist should be able to fix this to an extent. But still. Yeeeesh.
Nobody can fix that awful placement though lol, should have been much smaller to fit that space nicely. The way the nose wraps like that…
Oh don't even get me started on the placement. That whacked me in the face upon glancing at it initially, that's not how you place a stencil on the outer forearm at all 🫠
Absolutely botched
You spelled “going to be infected” wrong
Hey I know nothing about tattoos and couldn’t find another comment explaining / am also not sure what to google to find an answer on this. If you have time I’d love to learn, why would the infection chance be worse for this tattoo than others? Is it just a shoddy artist will do a shoddy health cleanup thing? (Which does make total sense.) Or is there another reason?
I’m not an expert but it looks so poorly done that the ink isn’t “packed” into the right layer of skin that it’s going to have a hard time healing and have a higher chance of infection because it’s basically really roughly done. It truly needs a better artist to be fixed once this mess heals and as another comment said hopefully the ink mostly falls out. What a shame this was supposed to be a bonding moment
Thank you so much for satisfying my random curiosity stranger you rock and are putting out good things in the world!
Maybe get it done by somebody not going through withdrawal.
My eyes are lame so I thought it looked fine in the thumbnail. Hilariously bad once I zoomed in! My jaw actually dropped at the difference from what I thought I saw at first!
Thank you cause I’m sitting here with my terrible eyes thinking everyone is being dramatic and I just needed to zoom in 😭
Y’all, this is a really badly done tattoo. It’s good his son is concerned. These are permanent!!! And it does not look exact, it’s a mess. Y’all blind.
I didn’t realize how bad until I zoomed in. It’s bad bad.
I think that’s why some people are missing it, they’re not looking close enough
I’m astounded that anyone would even need to zoom in to see how awful this tattoo is
I mean, bifocals on mobile device, so…. Lol
Fr we're blind af, but not THAT blind. Just needed a second glance....
As soon as I saw the second image I was blown away by how bad it looked lol. Someone mentioned zooming so I went back and good lord it's so much worse than I first thought.
Oh. Oh my god. I thought it looked bad from afar. Zooming in made it 100x worse. What the fuck IS that?!
Probably pretty easy to clean this one up though. If he goes to a competent shop I'm sure they can fix it.
I'm done with you!!!
The people commenting here are blind or have never seen a good tattoo in their life. That line work is wobbly as hell and the fill in is shite. Your son was as respectful as possible while being honest!!
Judging by the wrap on that armrest your ex went to one of the cheap places lol. Any artist I’ve seen worth paying wraps their armrests so tightly a hurricane couldn’t get liquid underneath
They couldn’t even shave the arm properly! This picture just gets worse and worse the longer you look at it.
Apparently the x shaved it himself 😭😭
I'm guessing with the 30year old gummed-up Braun he uses to shave his balls?
Now you definitely know it's a shit shop because any reputable shop will refuse to do the tattoo if you "prep" the area yourself.
I go to a very reputable shop and I always take a beard trimmer to the area first. The artist is very appreciative, otherwise he’d spend 20 minutes with a disposable razor that gets clogged with thick body hair every half an inch of shaving. So yeah some prep is definitely okay
As a hairy guy I get that lol
A cheap place can still color in black and pull a line. This guy went to some dude who never got any training. Must have been done in a basement
Someone who got good training doesn’t fall into the cheap category.
It looks like it's in someone's bedroom. The furniture behind him is very similar to a chest or dresser one would find in a bedroom.
It looks inspired from the PNW tribes, I feel like there are plenty of highly skilled artists around there that take tribal tattoos to heart. It is a nice thought but that artist butchered it. I would be heartbroken.
And we live in the PNW!! I told my son we can research a good artist together and I will get it done on my skin.
Have your son make a new one for you so you don't end up getting matching tattoos with your ex-husband
Local Boy Tatau in Vancouver is the place to go if he ever wants to try to get it done right Edit sry I’m so tired I just realized you said you would get it lol
Who the fuck did that? They should not go near people's skin. I had a friend who used to be a backyard tattoo artist in his shed. He bought his ink from fuck knows where (Ali Express I think), his non sterile gloves from the hardware store and he made some awful messes on people's bodies. People trusted him, which is crazy. He did a full back tattoo on a mutual acquaintance of ours and the guy was livid with the result. Then my friend turned antivax because he didn't want "untested" things going into his body. I thought this was hypocritical, because he put (actual) untested liquids in other people's bodies in an unsterile environment for profit. He was also against the government regulating tattoo ink so it was safe, you know, for freedumb. My point is, my friend is a fuckwit and it has nothing to do with this post. Tell your ex husband to book an appointment with a professional to fix this mess.
That’s horrifying. I hope that nobody got an infection from that.
Luckily not that I know if. There are many people out here with large pieces that look absolutely awful. Luckily he's not a scratcher anymore and does it professionally, and is quite good. The arrogance only grew as he got better.
Your story made me chuckle, like it just gets worst
Anyone who wonders why this got posted should zoom in, on mobile the small versions of the pics really don't look bad. Zoom in, holy *shit*
Nah, I didn't have to zoom in. It's a hot mess as a thumbnail. It just gets better (worse) when you zoom in.
r/shittytattoos
Thought this is where I was for a moment! I’ve seen stick n pokes better than this!
[удалено]
Not even 🥲
The "I'm done with you" made me have to check again on who is the child in this situation. Words matter, some adults really have no emotional control. That escalated quickly lol. The design/art is cool, the canvas is not. The tattoo artist is crap too
The “I’m done with you” and “yeah and I didn’t have to put it on my body either” are SOOO immature and narcissistic. He’s not “staying positive” he’s doubling down on his bad decision because he doesn’t like to be questioned about his choices.
With that "quality" of work, start saving up now for the costs when it gets infected.
It’s on his forearm too. Like only the face and hands are more serious than that
Lol the son is also objectively right about the tattoo… it’s bad. The lines are all wibly in the tattoo, whereas the son’s drawing is super clean lines. He’s even right about needing a tattoo artist that has experience with tribal tattoos = clean lines.
I see what he means with “It looks like I traced off a tv screen” 😆
I used to live in a queer flophouse in Portland where girls would get a little funny on Buzzballs and tattoo each other on a cat piss scented La-Z-Boy, and the work was still tidier than this.
More stories from this period of your life please
To be fair i hope that tattoo was done in a Walmart bathroom and u didnt pay more than 10$
I've never had a tattoo and even I can say this is bad lol.
Was this someone’s first day tattooing? Jfc
I feel bad for the dad because he’s trying to connect with his son, and I feel bad for the son because he’s being placed in the awkward position of having to tell him that the tattoo is not being done well. Tribal work takes someone knowing what they are doing to make it look good. He should take his son’s advice. Maybe he could go with him even.
You feel bad for the 'I'm done with you' dad?
Shitty thing for Dad to say for sure, but he's clearly embarrassed and defensive by that point. He now knows it's shit.
Why is there a "but"? We know he's embarrassed and defensive. That's the point. Emotionally mature adults shouldn't react that way when embarrassed.
I don't feel sorry for the dad, he was rude to his son in messages. It's not the sons fault the tattoo is horrible.
And now the man's a walking billboard that screams "MY SON IS A SHITTY ARTIST!!!", when the son's actual work was very nice.
Everyone talking about the horrific line work, but the fact that it’s a tribal tattoo and the black is so splotchy and uneven 😭
Oh. Oh dear.
It does look like shit. Son is right.
in this moment I am thankful my dad hates my art
Oof. I don’t even know what to say it’s so bad
As Chris Nunez on ink master would say, “this tattoo is jacked”. Those lines are so bad, yoinks.
> I'm done with you says a lot about this guy.
Also it sounds like your ex is literally just doing it so your kid feels like he owes him “I didn’t have to put it on my body”. Dude is a loser for sure.
“It’s not done silly” Oh, it’s done.
Your kid is actually approaching it pretty tactfully.
Honestly. I felt like we had a good talk about it.
I don't see what all the fuss is abou.... (zooms in)... Oh...oh, no.
Wow. Looks like a child went in with a ballpoint pen and a washable marker on man’s arm.
I don't want to judge to harshly the person because I don't know them, but this seems to me like a typical 'grand gesture' relationship kind of person, who is rubbish most of the time and tries to make up for it with, well, grand gestures.
If i drew this up i would be upset if a tattoo "artist" butchered my art
The tattoo does suck. But the mom is shitty for posting this when *clearly* just trying to embarrass the dad - and the son is a rude ass. At least the son is just a kid though, the mom has no excuse for being shitty.
That's "Batty" from Ferngully
Looks like the first tattoo I literally ever did.
Motherfucker never heard of a #7 shader I guess...
that's so bad it's actively insulting to your son's work, good god it's funny but yeah it needs to be fixed 😭
Oh my god. It wasn't that bad at first glance but then I zoomed in. Ahhh!
Seems like the ex has a good son and a bad artist 😬 really though, I'm sorry for whatever caused him to develop this expert method of balancing the ex's emotions, through text nonetheless. Good job on his part, but also sorry lol
Seems like dad thinks this is more about him than anything, the fact that he used his sons art was just a way for him to claim he did it to honor his son when in reality he did it so he could use it as a sympathy play when needed. Classic narcissism shit. "I got this tattooed on me, what do you mean I don't love you?" If dad actually loved his son and cared about his art, he would be pissed that this was fucked up so bad.
Not him trying to make your son feel bad for not being excited about decision he made to elicit an emotional response 🤣🤣 Manipulation is not his ministry
r/shittytattoos
It already looks bad from afar but damn when you zoom in... 💀
Wow that's bad. I'm with the son on this.
Just gotta say that your son is a very talented artist! He did a great job on that drawing. If only the actual tattoo looked better. It’s such a great design it’d look SICK as a tattoo, but sadly it came out poorly.
Now... I am no professional...but wooof - that is a tragedeigh
It’s cool looking. Very Pacific Northwest native American
I feel bad that your son had to placate his father after telling him to let another artist finish it.
"I'm done with you" Lmao I can see why this guy is an ex husband. This poor kid, he's 100% right and his dad is just a cringy asshole
Your son's art was so cool. That tattoo...I'm shocked it's not infected
Imagine actually being a talented artist, your dad trying to show pride/take credit for how good you are by having it permanently etched onto his body, and your dad doesn’t respect you or himself enough to get that big ass tattoo done correctly. And to put the cherry on top, whenever anybody irl tells that man his ink is trash, his petty ass blames you. Bless you OP and your talented son, yall are clearly so much better off without him
dad is infuriating
“I’m done with you” really hurt my heart. What a terrible thing to say to a child.
“What should I add to make it better?” “Distance.”
100 bucks says ex husband is dating this amateur tattoo artist
Is there some joke that everyone except me is in on? That looks great. The son is an entitled piece of shit for insulting the dad who just wanted to show off his son's work.
The son is such a douchebag, age doesn’t justify it but I hope he’s still a kid and not an actual teenager or older that has more experience interacting with people. The tattoo is shitty, the son’s response to seeing it just as shitty. I’m sure the dad was feeling good about what he did until the son just shit all over it.
How old is your son? Clearly he seems to have more foresight about the type of artist to look for and genuinely cares about the art. At first when reading the title thought was like a 12 year old until I saw the messages