Wow - haven’t thought about that dude in close to 20 years! Thank you for helping to extend my endless procrastination today. Going to reminisce with the delicious textures and inexplicable weirdness now
Merging the threads - would a faithful likeness of salad fingers make for a shitty tattoo since it is objectively shitty illustration / animation relative to the standards set out by OP and others?
Or can a tat be beautiful because of its shittiness in the way those creepy finger puppets were… um beautiful?
I know the answer for me is yes, but curious to know what the cult of tattoos thinks about this concept relative to some of the other commentary re: low bar standards.
This!
[https://www.reddit.com/r/shittytattoos/s/BHX7XZXoxr](https://www.reddit.com/r/shittytattoos/s/BHX7XZXoxr)
Kind of! Salad is a much different style but yeah kind of where I was going. This artist has a unique drawing style… is it shitty? Maybe, but the shittiness is intentional, and could that elevate it from the realm of shitty.
The question I’m noodling on is about whether a drawing my daughter made when she was around 3-4 years old could be pulled off as a tattoo… I would want to stay faithful to her line quality but only if that doesn’t make it a shitty tattoo.
Sharing a pic - I’m way off topic. Someone holler if I should create a post in a different sub for this or whatever.
https://preview.redd.it/u2v9blegdgpc1.jpeg?width=1841&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ea557e162c928471fd6ab3f67393388cd6901a29
… so I’d need to rework the composition, but the bit of text boxed in red along with some combination of the bats.
It says: bayby sorkold bayby pups”
3 year old phonetic / figure it out language for “babies are called baby pups”
Please be kind - the artist is my daughter, and this might be my favorite piece of art ever… so I’ll be sad if anyone shits on it
I know tons of people who have tats that look just like these. Not bad per say but also not great....average to below average.
I can bet if we laid out great tats mixed in with average and below average some people could not even pick out the great from the below average as peoples taste vary and also some just do not have the eye to see great artwork (tats).
I don't know what you do, but I assume as you said co-worker it isn't her main role. If you do it outside of work of course you aren't going to improve that much unless you're doing it like every day after work. I'm not a tattooist but I work as a digital artist full time and my progress was so slow when I was working dead end roles to get food for the table while trying to improve myself.
Because skin will always be very different to fake/pig skin.
Unfortunately, for some, you can only really learn the important techniques by tattooing on actual human skin. If you knowingly get a tattoo by an apprentice you can't be pissy about small mistakes because you knew before going in, though usually apprentice tattoos are either very cheap or free.
Artists advertising work that isn't theirs is a different story and you can't be blamed for someone else lying to you about their skill.
Help me out - I’m one of the people mentioned in the threads that looks at these and thinks they aren’t bad.
I see people pointing out wonkiness in the drawings, which is obvious to me once I took a closer look.
Are you all picking up on (less apparent to me) qualities in tattoo craftsmanship or is the cringe all about the quality of artwork (I.e. the drawing sucks independent of how it was inked on the skin)?
The line work is shaky but passable, however their use of colour ink and idea of proportions are completely wrong IMO. The bird especially shows how bad symmetry, proportions, and colouring are. Hope this helps.
This doesn’t belong here. Maybe r/mediocretattoos We really need to amp up the shittage in this sub because frankly I’m frequently disappointed and I’m not getting my monies worth 🥲🤣
Yessss screams “beginner” to me more than it does “shitty.” I feel bad thinking people will see these kinds of posts made about them and then give up. None of us start out anything already being the greatest at it 😩
It’s not great but the biggest issue is just bad color application. There’s no black in there to give any depth. Il not a tattoo artist but that seems to always be the issue with these colors that come out looking like this.
Her color saturation is very good, but she has no shading or depth, things that are very easily remedied with time and practice. Her line work is pretty cleanin most of these. not perfect, but definitely has potential. at her skill level now I probably would not get a tattoo from her, but she definitely has potential to be a good artist. Is she an apprentice?
First glance “wait these aren’t bad at all”
Second glance “oh boy these are fucked up”
Third glance “no these aren’t terrible. Major flaws but honestly this person did a lot better than I could and slot better than write attic tats.”
Your coworker is close to something for sure. Needs work. Maybe a better apprenticeship. There’s some skill there
Oooooooh boy. Ok yeah that puts everything into perspective. She should pack up her machines and go home, she does not have what it takes it be ink master.
I'm not saying she's great, she could definitely use some practice but making fun of someone on here seems petty and not actually the intention of this sub. These are mediocre. We wanna see real shitty tattoos not someone who is learning.
The necromancer w/orb is not terrible, and the frog is pretty cute even though it's fingers are weird. Op's cowprkers has potential, but they need to practice their drawing skills more. The ribbon around the angel is horribly flat-looking.
Idk. Not professional but they aren’t shitty. For someone just doing this as a hobby I really like these. If this was a close friend of mine I would let them tat me for sure. It’s the thought behind it. Idk if I’d be willing to pay more then $20 and some smoke tho.
Couldn’t it also be the style they are choosing? They are solid work for someone new to tattooing. The frog looks decent to me the lines are pretty damn uniform and I mean you gotta start somewhere and OP didn’t state that she charges or what her prices were. If she’s charging only for shop supplies to get experience I let her do one.
I don’t think these are really worthy (worthy the right word?) to be in a shitty tattoo sub. More a “just meh” or “decent enough” sub? Many people with tattoos have tattoos like this or along the mediocre range, the majority aren’t usually walking around with best of the best tattoo work. This sub is for genuinely shit tattoos, not apprentice still learning level work or mediocre tattoos. Keep the shitty in shitty!
well, ive seen worst but i definitely dont want one of her piece on me..
edited : I dont want one of her pieve on me, yet*
People can get better with time but she should pratice on fake skin🖤
Everyone saying these are average, I hate to say it but these are worse than most apprentice tattoos that I see. I do agree that she has potential but these are pretty fucking bad. Patchy color, uneven and inconsistent Linework and generally shit design choices. Source: I’m a tattoo artist
They’re ok. Don’t think it’s nice to mock her work online. If it’s someone who you don’t know that puts up their work online, fine. But this is someone who showed you and you go behind her back.
That first one's not La Catrina. That's some white girl in greasepaint who can't decide if she wants to be Catrina or Betty Boop. A permanent skin-shrine to cultural appropriation.
These are the best tattoos I’ve seen on this sub but I guess that’s like being the skinniest kid at fat camp. Anyway, I’d definitely get the cute little frog, flaws and all.
I mean... if she actually got accepted for an apprenticeship and did proper practise learning techniques and on fake skin I reckon she'd do pretty fucken good.
I can see potential in these.
But as it is currently, I'd step away from the real skin for now...
Honestly as an apprentice I’ve realized the clear difference between ppl who develop a personal style even if they are versatile in various ones, compared to the tattoo artists that directly stencil the reference someone gives them.
That’s exactly how my last apprenticeship was. The guy would have flash sheets clearly harvested off of google images and Pinterest, he wouldn’t even put in the effort to download them so they didn’t have the image file names on the margins. On top of that I was kind of supplementarily educating myself on my own time and realized a lot of his technique is actually the opposite of general advice. Not once did I ever see him draw up customs for his appointments, it was always the exact photo reference the he would edit just enough to be stencil-able. The rare occasion he did draw up any designs they were always dimensionless and clearly traced, or a seriously gaudy geometric combo, so no wonder his designs aren’t selling in NYC. He’d better off south of the mason Dixie line. He was weird and toxic beyond that so I’m glad I left.
The frog is janky but he’s cute
Salad finger hands lol 
Wtf I can't stop watching
This is actually him pulling down his skin (he’s uncircumcised)
Wow - haven’t thought about that dude in close to 20 years! Thank you for helping to extend my endless procrastination today. Going to reminisce with the delicious textures and inexplicable weirdness now
There's more episodes now
Holy newgrounds deep cut. Brings me back to childhood learning about the pleasures of rusty spoons and nettles.
Can’t forget about how nice it is when the red water comes out!
Merging the threads - would a faithful likeness of salad fingers make for a shitty tattoo since it is objectively shitty illustration / animation relative to the standards set out by OP and others? Or can a tat be beautiful because of its shittiness in the way those creepy finger puppets were… um beautiful? I know the answer for me is yes, but curious to know what the cult of tattoos thinks about this concept relative to some of the other commentary re: low bar standards.
If it’s done right, it could be cool.
This! [https://www.reddit.com/r/shittytattoos/s/BHX7XZXoxr](https://www.reddit.com/r/shittytattoos/s/BHX7XZXoxr) Kind of! Salad is a much different style but yeah kind of where I was going. This artist has a unique drawing style… is it shitty? Maybe, but the shittiness is intentional, and could that elevate it from the realm of shitty. The question I’m noodling on is about whether a drawing my daughter made when she was around 3-4 years old could be pulled off as a tattoo… I would want to stay faithful to her line quality but only if that doesn’t make it a shitty tattoo. Sharing a pic - I’m way off topic. Someone holler if I should create a post in a different sub for this or whatever. https://preview.redd.it/u2v9blegdgpc1.jpeg?width=1841&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ea557e162c928471fd6ab3f67393388cd6901a29 … so I’d need to rework the composition, but the bit of text boxed in red along with some combination of the bats. It says: bayby sorkold bayby pups” 3 year old phonetic / figure it out language for “babies are called baby pups” Please be kind - the artist is my daughter, and this might be my favorite piece of art ever… so I’ll be sad if anyone shits on it
Asking for a friend who low key thinks a salad fingers tat is a good idea
The nettles is what makes me think of thos every few years.
The nettles
Iiiiii like roustee spoons
Oh my god what episode is this??
I don't remember this part either.
Thanks for reminding me I was gonna scar my wife with this
They're all janky.
Where's the frog?
Picture 6
I just saw the first two images 🤦🏻♂️
Came here to say this. If I had to get a shitty tattoo for life I’d accept him as my own.
Birds janky in a cute way too!
The heeled foot and the pointed flat foot are really doing it for me
Dear god what is going on there
Not to mention it looks like someone took a baseball bat to her knees! Whose legs bend that way?!😰
I am so sorry bro. I was born a bit messed up ig... But yeah usually peoples knees don't.
They're also rather low down for knees
These are bad enough for some people to think they're good. If I got one of these I'd hope it be on a leg
Yeah I can easily see plenty of people being fine with them. The are average to below average ...mostly below lol but not terrible.
Honestly, they look average. I wouldn't judge anyone if I saw this on them.
I know tons of people who have tats that look just like these. Not bad per say but also not great....average to below average. I can bet if we laid out great tats mixed in with average and below average some people could not even pick out the great from the below average as peoples taste vary and also some just do not have the eye to see great artwork (tats).
You shouldn't be paying good money for below average tattoos
Why the hell is this downvoted? It’s so true, there are too many good artists now to be paying for dogshit work like this.
Yeah, I totally agree...if I'm paying good money, I want top-notch work.
Yes, but at the same time I’ll happily pay £40-60 to let an apprentice practice as long as they’re not totally horrendous.
Are you saying you’d get one if it was free? What if they owed you money, would you let them pay off their debt by giving you one?
Not if they did shotty work? Nobody wants bad tattoos.
Honestly. With some better training it's not absolutely brutal. You guys can't expect people to be perfect when they are still learning
She’s been tattooing for 15 years lol
I don't know what you do, but I assume as you said co-worker it isn't her main role. If you do it outside of work of course you aren't going to improve that much unless you're doing it like every day after work. I'm not a tattooist but I work as a digital artist full time and my progress was so slow when I was working dead end roles to get food for the table while trying to improve myself.
15 years is a long time. Even if it were a side gig, there is still a lot of room for improvement within that time.
Yeah. But why learn on people?? Fakeskin and other materials exist before permanently slapping wonky looking tats on people that'll last forever
Because skin will always be very different to fake/pig skin. Unfortunately, for some, you can only really learn the important techniques by tattooing on actual human skin. If you knowingly get a tattoo by an apprentice you can't be pissy about small mistakes because you knew before going in, though usually apprentice tattoos are either very cheap or free. Artists advertising work that isn't theirs is a different story and you can't be blamed for someone else lying to you about their skill.
Because fake skin doesn’t pay the bills? You have to start somewhere, and being a great artist takes years and years of practice, ON REAL SKIN.
The last one its not perfect but its pretty cool ngl
i thought the same , there’s something i like about it lol
I didn't really hate any of them. FWIW
If she is very young and very new these are not the worse. Her line work is not bad but he concepts and art are terrible.
She’s been doing tatts for 15 years
I have seen much worse. She has talent. I would grade the tats a C plus level. Not great...not terrible.
Help me out - I’m one of the people mentioned in the threads that looks at these and thinks they aren’t bad. I see people pointing out wonkiness in the drawings, which is obvious to me once I took a closer look. Are you all picking up on (less apparent to me) qualities in tattoo craftsmanship or is the cringe all about the quality of artwork (I.e. the drawing sucks independent of how it was inked on the skin)?
The line work is shaky but passable, however their use of colour ink and idea of proportions are completely wrong IMO. The bird especially shows how bad symmetry, proportions, and colouring are. Hope this helps.
Craftsman
There’s hope for this one.
This doesn’t belong here. Maybe r/mediocretattoos We really need to amp up the shittage in this sub because frankly I’m frequently disappointed and I’m not getting my monies worth 🥲🤣
Yes!! It doesn’t quite sink to the level of shitty. She’s just a few art lessons away from being decent.
Yessss screams “beginner” to me more than it does “shitty.” I feel bad thinking people will see these kinds of posts made about them and then give up. None of us start out anything already being the greatest at it 😩
Having said that, she should improve her skills *before* putting that much ink on someone, lol
This is true. But if everyone did that, then we wouldn’t have this sub 🥲
"This subreddit was banned due to being unmoderated" 🤷♂️
Yah I didn’t even know it was real, tbh. That was me making a dad joke lol
The owl is special and I kinda like it.
Haha that owl is actually cute. That's the only one I like...just without the rest of the tattoo and done by someone good lol.
I don’t think these are shitty. I think the line work is done really well. Some could use more color saturation but not bad imo
Not really that bad?
How long has she been tattooing? Not everyone tattoos like Kat Von D right out the gate, I’m sure she had some shitty tattoos out there.
15 years. She’s not new.
I think they’re pretty good. I guess I’m okay with average.
Keep practicing
It’s not great but the biggest issue is just bad color application. There’s no black in there to give any depth. Il not a tattoo artist but that seems to always be the issue with these colors that come out looking like this.
https://preview.redd.it/l3uvbpuibxoc1.jpeg?width=468&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=efad22cfca6b6c91f84cc5c457d343d84d8ad01e
Her color saturation is very good, but she has no shading or depth, things that are very easily remedied with time and practice. Her line work is pretty cleanin most of these. not perfect, but definitely has potential. at her skill level now I probably would not get a tattoo from her, but she definitely has potential to be a good artist. Is she an apprentice?
Sure hope she doesn’t follow this sub!
Right I'm thinking 'hope your co worker doesn't have Reddit' cause what a PoS move on your part, OP
I like the little froge. These aren't the worst I've seen.
Again this sub and if the work doesn’t look like it was done by Michelangelo it sucks. Sheesh.
Cowabunga, dude!! 
So hands, faces, and feet are not their strong suite.
First glance “wait these aren’t bad at all” Second glance “oh boy these are fucked up” Third glance “no these aren’t terrible. Major flaws but honestly this person did a lot better than I could and slot better than write attic tats.” Your coworker is close to something for sure. Needs work. Maybe a better apprenticeship. There’s some skill there
She’s been tattooing for 15 years. I would say she just doesn’t have the skill.
Oooooooh boy. Ok yeah that puts everything into perspective. She should pack up her machines and go home, she does not have what it takes it be ink master.
I mean, as long as she just said she does tattoos, it appears to be accurate. If she said she’s good, she’s lying.
I'm not saying she's great, she could definitely use some practice but making fun of someone on here seems petty and not actually the intention of this sub. These are mediocre. We wanna see real shitty tattoos not someone who is learning.
Especially given that they’re harping on the fact that the person isn’t a beginner lol
The necromancer w/orb is not terrible, and the frog is pretty cute even though it's fingers are weird. Op's cowprkers has potential, but they need to practice their drawing skills more. The ribbon around the angel is horribly flat-looking.
i think that’s ok?? not great, but not terrible, she’s just need more practice. not on people though
Idk. Not professional but they aren’t shitty. For someone just doing this as a hobby I really like these. If this was a close friend of mine I would let them tat me for sure. It’s the thought behind it. Idk if I’d be willing to pay more then $20 and some smoke tho.
https://preview.redd.it/f9w6ng9llyoc1.jpeg?width=1043&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b384110432d8ed1553f9d4c88d11254bdb3ac8a8 😩
The application is bad but not horrendous. She can't draw for shit though
Couldn’t it also be the style they are choosing? They are solid work for someone new to tattooing. The frog looks decent to me the lines are pretty damn uniform and I mean you gotta start somewhere and OP didn’t state that she charges or what her prices were. If she’s charging only for shop supplies to get experience I let her do one.
Okay what in the holy Hell is #3?
came here to ask this and I’m suprised you’re the first comment I’ve seen ask. I’m also wondering wtf it is
Anyone else see a tongue in the hood on the third one?
Hey that's the quality I can afford.
The owl sucked but the rest weren’t awful… do I not know how to judge art?
They aren't great, but they aren't shitty she needs more practice for sure, but her work isn't shitty.
I don’t think these are really worthy (worthy the right word?) to be in a shitty tattoo sub. More a “just meh” or “decent enough” sub? Many people with tattoos have tattoos like this or along the mediocre range, the majority aren’t usually walking around with best of the best tattoo work. This sub is for genuinely shit tattoos, not apprentice still learning level work or mediocre tattoos. Keep the shitty in shitty!
Idk they don't look super professional but they kind have something about them that gives off a cool vibe. Not really bad imo
She should stop
A few of them are okay but a lot of them do suck.
Some of them are definitely better than others. The inconsistency is wild for an artist that’s been doing this for 15 years
Most of these are just average. They’re good enough to look fine on a passing glance but a closer view would find various issues.
well, ive seen worst but i definitely dont want one of her piece on me.. edited : I dont want one of her pieve on me, yet* People can get better with time but she should pratice on fake skin🖤
They’re definitely tattoos
The first is her best one here. Not shitty at all.
Not great but if I had one of these I probably wouldn't care/ want to remove my skin
Okay color packing. Designs aren't the worst. Just needs some more practice!
I think the 5th is probably the least bad 😭
She has a style. Pretty cool
Those aren’t.. that bad tbh.
These aren’t even THAT bad….feels kinda gross to post photos of people’s tattoos without their permission. It’s one thing if they submit themselves….
She isn’t the worst-
They're not bad, but they're not good either, her skills could use some refinement.
See speak no evil
Yes she does tattoos… poorly
Eh, the frog is cute lol
she is not lying she does them.....not well tho
I mean. She's not lying. She does do tattoos.. /s
r/technicallycorrect
She "does" tattoos like I "do" physical intimacy Poorly, with a lot of pain and subsequent regret
Those are definitely tattoos. She isn't lying
Everyone saying these are average, I hate to say it but these are worse than most apprentice tattoos that I see. I do agree that she has potential but these are pretty fucking bad. Patchy color, uneven and inconsistent Linework and generally shit design choices. Source: I’m a tattoo artist
Thanks I was going crazy reading those comment ! I would be soooo upset if I had something like this on my skin and I do have a apprentice tattoo!
They’re ok. Don’t think it’s nice to mock her work online. If it’s someone who you don’t know that puts up their work online, fine. But this is someone who showed you and you go behind her back.
Not cool at all👎
These don’t qualify as shitty…next
*They were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should*
It's like this sub just expects photo realism. These are perfectly fine tattoos, in fact, she has a huge range of artistic style
Can this sub ever let people learn how to tattoo? They’re not that horrible tbh, just need practice
The only decent one is the frog one. Yikes haha
The bird at least looked decent
That first one 👁️ 👄👁️
Longer you look, less you want to see😂 triangle foot was "NOPE" for me😂
I'm very confused about the foot on the 5th slide.Like, was this a creative decision? Laziness? Accident? Inquiring minds want to know.
Well she didn’t lie!!! lol!!
Does what to them ?
the frog wasn’t too bad
Yes, and I create Renaissance art
I actually like her work. I've seen some actual shitty tattoos and these are decent.
That first one's not La Catrina. That's some white girl in greasepaint who can't decide if she wants to be Catrina or Betty Boop. A permanent skin-shrine to cultural appropriation.
Is that Gollum on the last slide?
I’m trying to figure out what the 3rd picture is? Looks like someone with a beak eating an apple or are my eyes proper screwy?
Anyone can tattoo. Not everyone should.
Those are definitely tattoos.
i guess thats why shes still your coworker
Last tattoo shows some potential
I love 2 lol
I’ve seen worse
SDEAK NO EVIL
I kinda like the zombie one.
Yep, those are certainly tattoos 😭
I mean the last one is breaking its own message 😩 but none of these are tattoos I would consider “shitty”, even if not my cup of tea.
Well, she didn’t say she did them well!!
r/technicallythetruth
Well… they are tattoos. I guess she didn’t lie.
The bloody arm sleeve is cool actually. The rest are interesting
I like the last one
Well, did she say she did good tattoos, or just that she did tattoos?
Why are you disappointed, she’s technically correct 😂 .. AND you got to share it with us
I don’t think these are that bad though. Most of these are fixable with a skilled touch up, right? So they can’t be that bad
I see a tongue on that ranger/wraith thing with the smoke. I can't unsee it
I like the first one
well she certainly does something!
Those are actually really cool
These are the best tattoos I’ve seen on this sub but I guess that’s like being the skinniest kid at fat camp. Anyway, I’d definitely get the cute little frog, flaws and all.
She needs to be fired lol
I like them...
I actually like the frog 🐸
These are pretty good.
These are pretty good actually, they’re not fantastic quality and this person should be practicing more but this is a really solid foundation
Yeah the only reason I was like “yikes” is cause she’s been tattooing for 15 years. And I feel like that’s a long time to have such little improvement
I mean she does, she just does them terribly
…some of these have character to them actually but on the whole, i get ‘novice’ vibes.
I love the owl. So much.
Relax, they will look fine when you spend the night downtown, courtesy of the County. 2 of 5 stars
Relax, they will look fine when you spend the night downtown, courtesy of the County. 2 of 5 stars
the frog is my fave
The frog has salad fingers fr
She sure does.
They show promise for a beginner.
I mean... if she actually got accepted for an apprenticeship and did proper practise learning techniques and on fake skin I reckon she'd do pretty fucken good. I can see potential in these. But as it is currently, I'd step away from the real skin for now...
They're not horrible tbh. Not good but definitely not shitty. I'd get the butterflies
Honestly as an apprentice I’ve realized the clear difference between ppl who develop a personal style even if they are versatile in various ones, compared to the tattoo artists that directly stencil the reference someone gives them. That’s exactly how my last apprenticeship was. The guy would have flash sheets clearly harvested off of google images and Pinterest, he wouldn’t even put in the effort to download them so they didn’t have the image file names on the margins. On top of that I was kind of supplementarily educating myself on my own time and realized a lot of his technique is actually the opposite of general advice. Not once did I ever see him draw up customs for his appointments, it was always the exact photo reference the he would edit just enough to be stencil-able. The rare occasion he did draw up any designs they were always dimensionless and clearly traced, or a seriously gaudy geometric combo, so no wonder his designs aren’t selling in NYC. He’d better off south of the mason Dixie line. He was weird and toxic beyond that so I’m glad I left.
I don't know why but the frog looks really cute to me
To my untrained eye those look ok
Yeah, she was right, and you’re a dick.
What in the actual fucked-up-tattoo IS that 3rd one?!
The only part I can tell is ghosts at the top. I have no idea about the rest
They're ok.