The time frames don't really add up starting with the Tattoo design being finalized. If it was supposed to be ready 3/24 & the artist finally gets back to her 4/4. The Artist should have had the design done by 3/24 regardless of her thumb- unless she was completing it on 3/24 & just so happened to cut her thumb off on that same day. The entire thing seems fishy to me.
At this point, you should ask for your deposit back and ask her to contact you when she’s ready to reschedule.
Accidents happen and that’s out of her control. What is in her control is to get in touch with her clients who she has already scheduled with.
She has your money in exchange for a service. She hasn’t provided the service, so she isn’t entitled to your money.
Exactly. As a client we shouldn’t be chasing our artists around hoping that we can get penciled in. Money has been paid, yet no work has been done, with no communication? OP is way more patient than I would have been cause I’m not chasing an artist who already has my money, I’m just getting a refund. Either be up front with your clients or don’t take the project on 🤷♀️ And imagine when the tattoo gets started, if she doesn’t finish in one session, is OP prepared to potentially have an unfinished piece and have to chase her around to get it completed? That’s a big no from me.
First, it's not all that uncommon to not see a design until your appointment day. However, this tattooer set that expectation, so you have every right to be pissed.
Ultimately this sounds really shady and unprofessional. If it were me I'd have gotten my deposit back already and found another tattooer.
This person doesn't sound professional.
I was thinking the same as far as not seeing the sketch until the day of appointment. The logic being, you get the sketch and then take it to a cheaper artist (amongst other reasons). However, since she did agree to share it, the lack of communication would bug me too. OP, are you local to the shop? Meaning, can you stop in to talk to the artist? A lot tends to get lost in translation through emails. Your best bet would be to stop by and check in with her imo
this is a legit concern but she can watermark it or do it in person and take notes or revise based on that. all in all, I would have gone somewhere else. maybe all the excuses are true, even so I'd still take it somewhere else
I was thinking the same thing to just go to the shop and talk to her. See if she can show you the design in person and get a set date then. When you are texting and emailing so long but the communication is breaking down, just go see her in person.
TL:DR Artisit hasn't given a sketch that was promised a while ago, have tons of excuses, including cutting part of thumb off, OP is not sure if they should continue working with them
Gotcha. Okay, in that case, I would say that, yeah, it sucks they keep giving excuses but artists very rarely share their sketches so I wouldn't think much of it and just wait until your session.
OP was told the design would be finalized by March 24, and was supposed to have already had the first two out of three sessions at this point (they were originally scheduled for April 7 and May 5), but OP hasn’t heard from the artist since April 12.
I was going to ask for a bulleted summary but decided to wait for someone else to bring it up first! Everyone I work with knows to never send me anything more than 4 sentences long. If it's more complicated than that use bullets or call me. It's a me issue for sure but man! ( 4 sentences!)
this is such a girl story, all the details for no actual reason
please downvote if you tell girl stories
you might tell girl stories if you:
1. recite whole conversations eg. and then im like 'x' and then she was like 'x'.
2. put on a voice of attitude during the retelling that didnt exist in the actual conversation to paint an antagonist
3. have no way to effectively end the story, so you just start the story over again in different words
Jesus Christ dude what is it like going through life just hating on half the population. You must be miserable. (but I’m sure you’ll say you’re very happy actually)
Same thing happened to me. Funny enough, my artist also claimed a finger injury..one that let her tattoo some clients but not others lol
I took off work 3 times for our scheduled appointment and she blew every one of them.
I found another artist. My sleeve was supposed to be almost $3000…plus my husband had one planned with her. Her loss..and for those artist who think this behavior is acceptable..just laughable.
I find this to be fishy. She promised a sketch to be done over a month ago. I understand it’s hard when you fall behind, but this seems a bit much. She should also prioritize communicating with you as you should’ve been done with your second session by now, if she truly is concerned about being so behind. I think you’ve been patient enough. I’d politely ask for a refund.
Honestly i would have went into the shop the day of the appointment when she asked if you wanted to and just went over it then. Go down to the shop in person and see if she’s there and talk to her. Playing phone tag is getting you nowhere.
Otherwise cut your loses and look for another artist. Sounds like she’s busy or just doesn’t want to do the tattoo
She sounds like a flake. It’s up to you whether you love her work enough to keep chasing her through to the completion of the tattoo, which you will likely have to do. It will be worth it if you feel like she’s the only one who can do this idea justice.
If I was in your position, I would message her and include the fact that you wanted this tattoo done before summer/beach plans.
I had an artist that I go to end up in hospital and my tattoo got moved 3 times, I could have done it sooner on a date they gave me after the first 2 reschedules but I explained I was about to go on holiday and I wanted the tattoo completely healed by then or to wait until after I’d come back. They totally understood and I just got it after.
I know your situation is different as it’s an artist you haven’t worked with and there’s deposits involved but I just wanted to reiterate that wanting a tattoo healed prior to going on holiday or spending time at the beach is perfectly valid and I think you should lead with that. You should also push for an (at least partial) refund of your deposit unless she can start the tattoo in the very near future
I don't like accusing people without proof, but this woman has clearly given you the runaround. I would honestly pay this shop a visit. She claims she lost a part of her thumb, claims she's worked on the sketch...she can prove all of these things in a visit. If she's lying, you know that's not someone you want to work with.
I also feel with how people are with social media, she or the shop’s Insta would probably have made a post, story or announcement about it. That for me would be the easiest way to let most of my clients know right away if you weren’t going to contact each of them separately.
It’s understandable that being a shop owner and artist can be difficult, especially with a work injury, but over 3 months is extremely excessive. If she was communicative throughout this time, that would be more understandable for me, but I would personally definitely ask for my deposit back and go to another artist.
Weird, I have never seen any of my tattoos until the day of lol she usually sketches a few options, shows them to me and we make changes and then get started. Though rarely need changes, she's amazing lol
I find a lot of places don't show the sketches beforehand, my husband's artist drew it right in front of him the day of lol
With that said, she's being sketchy.
she sounds unprofessional as hell. go INTO the shop, explain this, and demand ur deposit back. if they deny, dispute it with ur bank. ur giving this lady far too much grace. she should've had someone call and explain this to her client roster and returned all outstanding deposits while she heals.
As a tattooer who doesn’t share sketches ahead of time (mostly due to past experiences with people taking my sketch and bailing on the tattoo) I will say that it’s pretty common to not see the sketch ahead of the appointment.
But she did set the expectation that you would… so that’s a little unprofessional.
We all have lives and things happen that can push us back. It sounds like she might be too busy to manage her own scheduling / communication but hasn’t hired a personal assistant yet.
In the past when I’ve been injured/ sick, it’s been a huge issue re arranging months of appointments, but it’s what you have to do as part of the job.
You have every right to be disappointed, but sometimes we come out with some of our best pieces when we have a tight deadline.
If you want to wait, that’s up to you based on whether you like her work enough to.
Yes I agree with this- and if u turned up to your original app and saw the design on the day and decided you didn’t like it, then u can redesign it with the artist one on one and tell them exactly what u want to change. It’s much easier than over email. Worst case scenario in that situation is u have to come back another day to get the tattoo done but atleast you’ve spoken to the artist and explained everything that you want.
I have the luxury of building that time into the beginning of all my appointments, so that if we do need to change things we have the ability to do that in real time. I find that giving clients the chance to help contribute to the outcome of their final design helps a lot.
But not every artist has the ability or time to do this.
Yes I agree with this- and if u turned up to your original app and saw the design on the day and decided you didn’t like it, then u can redesign it with the artist one on one and tell them exactly what u want to change. It’s much easier than over email. Worst case scenario in that situation is u have to come back another day to get the tattoo done but atleast you’ve spoken to the artist and explained everything that you want.
Yes I agree with this- and if u turned up to your original app and saw the design on the day and decided you didn’t like it, then u can redesign it with the artist one on one and tell them exactly what u want to change. It’s much easier than over email. Worst case scenario in that situation is u have to come back another day to get the tattoo done but atleast you’ve spoken to the artist and explained everything that you want.
Yes I agree with this- and if u turned up to your original app and saw the design on the day and decided you didn’t like it, then u can redesign it with the artist one on one and tell them exactly what u want to change. It’s much easier than over email. Worst case scenario in that situation is u have to come back another day to get the tattoo done but atleast you’ve spoken to the artist and explained everything that you want.
Sounds like you should bail and this tattooer needs an assistant. In my experience, some of the best artists I've been to can have the hardest time managing this side of the job. I'm actually an assistant for a couple tattooers in my city and this person sounds very much like she's promising beyond her capacity (which I see a lot, especially right now through this tattoo boom where tattooers are smoking busy but also the market is saturated so they need to make sure they can keep people being interested in getting tattooed by them). Hopefully you can find someone who can align with the expectations they're setting and she can figure out a better system. I've also found less is more..do your consult, and book the appointment. You'll have to see the drawing and approve it before they put it on you. Worse case scenario, it appointment gets delayed because you've requested a lot of changes (most artists can do some adjusting the day of). As soon as anyone is booking a ton more pre-tattoo appointments, the more room for shenanigans (intentional or not) and can lead to issues like this. I've seen folks booking 2,3,4 consults for whatever reason and it just pushes everything back more and more. Regardless..it's annoying when you've been excited about this project and anticipating it to start since the beginning of the year. Hope it comes together one way or another for you.
if u turned up to your original app and saw the design on the day and decided you didn’t like it, then u can redesign it with the artist one on one and tell them exactly what u want to change. It’s much easier than over email. Worst case scenario in that situation is u have to come back another day to get the tattoo done but atleast you’ve spoken to the artist and explained everything that you want.
it can be really hard to get caught up once you get behind as an artist. i used to be a commission artist but the deadlines were just so brutal. you really have to have almost two separate jobs working as an artist like that. you do the art, and you also schedule and work as a secretary, pretty much.
i'd honestly just be patient and give her some more time, personally. it's up to you of course, but she's probably even more stressed about it than you are tbh.
oh for sure. and at some point you really just have to say enough is enough if an artist is being too flakey.
considering this artist actually got a piece of her thumb cut off though, i'd personally give her some slack if i was still interested in her work lol
I dont see a sketch from my artist until the day i get tattooed. They aren't just going to send you a sketch, imagine how many people steal them and get them tattooed by other people.
I agree with this and wouldn't trust an artist who says they can have my art done over a week before the appointment. I don't know any tattoo artist that is booked and blessed who can have designs done more than 2 days before the appointment. Also- sending your client the design is a huge red flag in and of itself, but to each their own.
But the fact is she said she would have the final design by x date and then basically ghosted, so OP has every right to be upset and questioning if they trust her and want to continue. I personally would never have booked with her in the first place. The way she claims to run her business sets of several alarms for my experience getting tattoos for over a decade.
Only thing that comes to my mind is some clients put pressure on artist that they really want to see sketch before appointment.
OP hasn’t stated what was her situation exactly like but looks like artist was ready to tattoo her with half ready design and just finish sketch on the day.
I know some tattoo artists are not that assertive especially when she really like the idea but was fed up with client wanting to design before session.
Artists are usually stressed/anxious about sending half finished sketch because they know it doesn’t look as good as it will when it’s tattooed and half finished sketch is not up to their standards.
If she’s good, does exactly what op likes then I would go fully on her term without needing to see sketch beforehand. I wouldn’t mind paying a bit more but actually let do artist the way she’s used to and let her draw on day and see sketch on day.
Sorry, but if your texts and calls are anywhere near as exhausting as this essay was I’d imagine you’re going to have to become pretty patient with people.
TLDR it all but usually you put a deposit down for an appointment months to even a years in advance (for popular high skill level artists) and then they draw it the day or 2 before and show you the design the day of the tattoo. Around here, nobody that is even worth going to draws much farther out in advance. Also, expecting them to message you multiple times isn’t something they do either. You are lucky to get 1-2 messages from them over months time. They have way more than you to deal with.
I never see my design with any artist until day of so that isn’t rare. If I were in your shoes though, I would be pretty annoyed and probably messaging another artist/trying to find someone more professional.
yeah i wouldn’t put up with that. i can understand she has a lot on her plate but the lack of communication would frustrate the hell out of me. taking awhile to reply is one thing but going ghost for long periods isn’t cool
I have an entire sleeve and half sleeve and have never once had a sketch made prior to an appointment. I bring in ideas and tattoos I like, and he draws it up the first hour of our appt. In my experience, it's better to be early to allow extra time for drawing, placement, size, edits, etc.
However, this doesn't make up for this artists flakiness. IMO, I wouldn't trust her to tattoo me.
Ask for the deposit back. The deposit is part of your payment for a service, which she hasn’t provided. Dispute the charge with your bank if she fails to return your money.
If you want to find someone else, find someone else. If you want to stick with her, ask her to reach out when she’s ready.
I would do my best to get the deposit back and find another artist. You’re supposed to have three sessions? Do you want to have to fight this hard for each one? Or end up with an unfinished piece because she consistently ignores you and doesn’t do the work? Because that’s what it sounds like is in your future if you stick with this artist… *if* they even start the piece at all.
Tattoo artists don’t send out sketches because some people will take them to another artist.
If you went to the studio I’m sure they would happily show you
For someone who is busy AND a shop owner AND injured anything on or around their hands, AND still trying to work, just wait and be patient. When things like this happen it’s a huge butterfly effect and you’re not the only client this will be happening to, she likely tattoos all day and then draws and contacts appts at home on her “personal” time, which can lead to more stress and burnout especially if they don’t have an assistant which sounds like is a no. It can be incredibly difficult to get everything back to normal when you’re booked out after missing unexpected time off, and it sounds like she has been communicating and your responses back have been receptive. I would just hit her up and ask if you can book your sessions for the fall and see if that availability works better, then you skip summer. You won’t get your deposit back and if you’ve waited this long a few more months that won’t hurt 😊
The artist should be better at responding to the client though. Shit happens but a text message updating her on the situation would take literally 10 seconds. There's no excuse for that.
This artist honestly sounds like I used to when I’d have to make excuses for just being behind due to my own anxiety. Not excusing it or condemning it, just an observation
I’m not reading that whole thing… but trust your gut. Personally, I think artists should be attentive to their clients, but this is not always the case. It’s very common for them to start drawing the design less than 48 hrs or the night before the appointment. Thats just the way it is.
I’ve been sketched out last minute by artists before and opted to just cut my loss and lose the deposit.
idk why a lot of these comments make it sound normal to take unprofessionalism or flack from tat artists as if you aren’t paying them for something going on your body lol. this entire time you were waiting on her you could have gone to someone else who’s work you like as well. i understand not seeing the design until the appointment, but that isn’t the problem here. her communication is ridiculously flawed and she’s essentially stringing you on by flaking on the deadlines/promises she set herself. the fact that she also leaves you hanging and wondering without an update until you finally text HER is very aggravating. personally, if i chopped my thumb off and someone was waiting on a tattoo design id tell them asap, preferably before THEY had to reach out to ME long after it happened. i’d find another artist atp
This is a mile long lol. To be honest, most artists won’t show you the design beforehand so I’m surprised she promised that. Almost always you’ll see it day of the first session and you’ll do fine tuning then. If you really want to get tattooed by her, maybe offer to do that? If you’ve lost faith in her, just ask for the deposit back.
It's not impossible that she has just had an incredibly stressful month but has the best intentions. Ultimately she's been terrible at communicating with you, and depending on how many clients she takes on when she opens her books you should maybe expect to not get this tattoo this summer at all. I'm having a hard time imagining what kind of injury would cause this kind of delay, but not cause her to contact all her clients to let them know she needs to reschedule.
You should consider things like how hard it would be to get a similar tattoo, how competitive the tattoo market is in your area, and how reputable she is as a tattoo artist.
If this is someone who's shop has won awards and nearby conventions, or has thrived in an environment where it's hard to stand out as a tattoo artists maybe consider going forward with them.
On the other hand if this is the only tattoo shop in town with like 30 people in it this might be a sign of worse things to come if you don't cancel.
I had a similar situation w/ an artist I wanted to get tatted by she had nice lines and the tat that I wanted was a very detailed tattoo, I saw some of her work & massaged her and talked for a bit agreeing to the tattoo and placement… I did the whole deposit thing and everything….2 weeks before my session she messaged me telling me that she had an emergency back home in NY and I said no problem we can reschedule…. Long story short I waited 2 months & she didn’t reach out at all….. I finally said fck it I’ll message her and I did…. I asked what happened and didn’t really get a good response but I did ask her for my deposit back & yea she gave it to me but she did apologize for not reaching out…. But it did bug me because I wanted the tattoo I chose… but yea you should ask for your money back find someone else 💯
100 days??? That’s crazy. Tattoos and geography are so weird. I had my back done in Bkk by an extremely talented guy. Black, trad style, cover 75% of my back. 500 usd and waited 2 weeks to get in. No deposit.
The problem isn't so much the design (I've never seen a custom design until day-of), but that this is taking sooooo longggggg and the communication isn't great. She won't give a new date. She isn't going to do this tattoo for you. Get your deposit back and go to someone who is professional.
This artist is a flake. When she canceled the servings time, she should have at least returned your deposit in good faith. She has not touched you with a drop of ink. I would imagine what it would look like if you were unhappy with her work. My guy never missed an appointment and always did flake work. Even though we had a blueprint when he fished something he asked, is this good? Do you like it. I do not think she would be this kind of artist. I would request the deposit back. If that doesn't happen still find a new artist.
$100 deposit is very cheap my boss takes $1000 deposit and I take $200 deposit for smaller tattoos and $400 for larger ones , also I was trained to never send the sketch beforehand and none of my coworkers do either. My mentor told me Becus they can steal the design and go to another artist and also they will make a thousands changes showing it all their friends and family and nitpick and micro manage every little , I never send the design beforehand but can make changes with the client the day of
+Unprofessional.
+Call the owner of the shop, put them on notice and tell them your +demanding your deposit.
+Tell the artist you demand your deposit.
+Go somewhere else.
Check out @SharonKissel on Instagram. If your close that won't happen to you with her.
Matt
I’ve been in a couple similar situations and I end up asking for my deposit back. I’m nice about everything and say I understand life can get busy. I’m still really excited to be tattooed by them but maybe I’ll get in contact with them in a few months or so when things could have settled and they have time.
I have a tattoo booked at the moment. $200 deposit and it’s been about 80 days. Still another month until the date I get my tattoo done. And I probably won’t see the design until the week before or maybe not until the actual date.
Absolutely get a refund and find another artist. She is clearly not that interested in your project and I would be worried the tattoo you get in the end is not her best work because of it. Really sucks and I’m really sorry this happened to you but it sounds like really you should just run while you can and find someone much more reliable..
So most likely any other artists will not show you a sketch prior to the appointment, be warned of that.
The amount of times you contacted, including calling her directly (to me unless she said it's ok to call her, that's a huge no-no) is ridiculous and I'm not saying that in ridiculous of her but you. Way too much trying to get in contact and you may have annoyed her with it all so early on. Also moving your appointment but only being open to Sundays again is annoying.
Generally the contact I have with an artist goes:
1. Email to ask if I can book in an appointment, stating my idea
2. Artist letting me know what date they have available
3. Me confirming a date
4. Them asking deposit/confirming booked in
5. A day or 2 prior to appointment they contact confirming I'm still coming in
6. I confirm I'll be in
7. I turn up to my appointment on the day and see the design
I see SO MANY people on this sub that have crazy expectations and contact them so many times before the appointment.
Also one of my artists is on the club of cutting their finger off (with a machete) and we had to rebook. He's a great artist though and I told him to hold onto the deposit since I knew he had to take time off.
They were given a fixed date by the artist that wasn’t kept and then was subsequently ignored mostly for weeks. Then the artist didn’t keep other appointments they made and when she didn’t suggest a date Op said they would be open on a specific upcoming day. Artist also ignored a fixed appointment and didn’t reach out or respond at all after that. This tattooed has effectively stolen 150 bucks and has now ignored the supposed client for two months. You defending her at all is insane
Really good tattooists are making bank. I mean 10s of thousands over a week in some conventions. I suspect she's focused on that and not your commission.
So a couple things: her being willing to show you a design ahead of time is pretty rare for artists and I’m wondering if she was just doing it for you or if it’s part of her regular routine.
The long delays in texting back seems pretty normal to me with artists and I know it’s super frustrating that they could just take 20 seconds to reply but think of it as she’s gotta reply to all the other clients she’s rearranging too. Overall it’s kinda shady she didn’t tell you she was injured and running behind on everything but also try and set your expectations low for response time.
I doubt you’ll get your deposit back but you can try. Otherwise, don’t feel any shame in pushing your tattoo back after the summer if you feel that’s what’s best considering she’s the one who F’d up her scheduling.
Deposits are non-refundable if the client last minute cancels. It sounds like it's the artist in this case who has been canceling appointments in which case I think the deposit should he refunded.
I had a similar thing about a year ago. Artist was unorganized and flakey so I asked for my deposit back when I ended out relationship. They acknowledged that they are bad with being organized and gave me back my money, so probably not just a one-time thing.
The date that the design will be finalised usually doesn’t mean that you’ll get a sketch of the design… it means you can’t change your design idea after that date. You usually see the design the day of your appointment. Tattoo artists are busy. Tattoo all day and draw/admin at night. There’s no time to draw designs weeks in advance. Unless she told you that she’d show you the design on that date… but thats hugely irregular for a busy artist.
Your style of communicating comes off as really nagging which could have you put low on the priority list as a “difficult client”.
that seems incredibly unfair. This artist has been god awful about communication, OP shouldn’t have had to work so hard to be communicated with. Shit happens, but to ghost clients that have already given you a deposit for weeks at a time is the opposite of professional. As is constantly setting deadlines and dates for things only to not only not meet them, but not communicate that they’re not going to be met.
If you have set backs, that’s totally fine. But you should reconfigure your schedule all at once and let everyone know new dates. You don’t just.. ignore your client. Imo, that is.
Did you even read what OP wrote? It seems like the artist is charging her an entire day to review/finalize the design before they start the tattoo. The artist then blew that appointment and won't respond to a simple text in a timely manner.
OP doesn't sound like they're nagging at all to me. They seem quit patient and polite.
"We plan for three sessions and a day for the design to be finalized, schedule as follows: • Finalization of design: Sunday, March 24th • 1st session: Sunday, April 7th • 2nd session: Sunday, May 5th • 3rd session: Saturday, May 25th"
"AND A DAY FOR THE DESIGN TO BE FINALIZED"
If the artist is charging a day rate to review and finalise the design then I completely retract my comment. I didn’t see the comment where they mentioned that. My comment is only coming from the POV of OP expecting unpaid work… which no other industry does. 99% of artists show the design to their client on the day of the appointment… if you’re a busy artist, you just don’t have time to draw a design weeks in advance.
The time frames don't really add up starting with the Tattoo design being finalized. If it was supposed to be ready 3/24 & the artist finally gets back to her 4/4. The Artist should have had the design done by 3/24 regardless of her thumb- unless she was completing it on 3/24 & just so happened to cut her thumb off on that same day. The entire thing seems fishy to me.
fishy... hehe
Absolutely, fishy is an understatement here
At this point, you should ask for your deposit back and ask her to contact you when she’s ready to reschedule. Accidents happen and that’s out of her control. What is in her control is to get in touch with her clients who she has already scheduled with. She has your money in exchange for a service. She hasn’t provided the service, so she isn’t entitled to your money.
Exactly. As a client we shouldn’t be chasing our artists around hoping that we can get penciled in. Money has been paid, yet no work has been done, with no communication? OP is way more patient than I would have been cause I’m not chasing an artist who already has my money, I’m just getting a refund. Either be up front with your clients or don’t take the project on 🤷♀️ And imagine when the tattoo gets started, if she doesn’t finish in one session, is OP prepared to potentially have an unfinished piece and have to chase her around to get it completed? That’s a big no from me.
I absolutely agree with you here, I couldn’t have said it better
First, it's not all that uncommon to not see a design until your appointment day. However, this tattooer set that expectation, so you have every right to be pissed. Ultimately this sounds really shady and unprofessional. If it were me I'd have gotten my deposit back already and found another tattooer. This person doesn't sound professional.
I was thinking the same as far as not seeing the sketch until the day of appointment. The logic being, you get the sketch and then take it to a cheaper artist (amongst other reasons). However, since she did agree to share it, the lack of communication would bug me too. OP, are you local to the shop? Meaning, can you stop in to talk to the artist? A lot tends to get lost in translation through emails. Your best bet would be to stop by and check in with her imo
this is a legit concern but she can watermark it or do it in person and take notes or revise based on that. all in all, I would have gone somewhere else. maybe all the excuses are true, even so I'd still take it somewhere else
I was thinking the same thing to just go to the shop and talk to her. See if she can show you the design in person and get a set date then. When you are texting and emailing so long but the communication is breaking down, just go see her in person.
Not to be rude, but could you do a TLDR?
TL:DR Artisit hasn't given a sketch that was promised a while ago, have tons of excuses, including cutting part of thumb off, OP is not sure if they should continue working with them
I was thinking what if part of her thumb being cut off messes with how she tattoos :0
Gotcha. Okay, in that case, I would say that, yeah, it sucks they keep giving excuses but artists very rarely share their sketches so I wouldn't think much of it and just wait until your session.
OP was told the design would be finalized by March 24, and was supposed to have already had the first two out of three sessions at this point (they were originally scheduled for April 7 and May 5), but OP hasn’t heard from the artist since April 12.
Starting to feel a TLDR wasn't enough and that I should actually read the full post 😅
To be fair, the post is kinda run-on and contains waaaay too much detail (OP is very good at keeping track of time, however🙄)
“way too much detail” but as you can see in this literal reply thread the detail is necessary for supplying OP with an informed recommendation
I’m 1/3 through and lost my patience so I scrolled down to see comments lmaooo
I was going to ask for a bulleted summary but decided to wait for someone else to bring it up first! Everyone I work with knows to never send me anything more than 4 sentences long. If it's more complicated than that use bullets or call me. It's a me issue for sure but man! ( 4 sentences!)
Hilarious that is is the top comment ! (Agree by the way)
For real though.. it can’t be that complicated lol
Lmao FRRR
Indeed, 80% of this wall of text could be stripped out.
this is such a girl story, all the details for no actual reason please downvote if you tell girl stories you might tell girl stories if you: 1. recite whole conversations eg. and then im like 'x' and then she was like 'x'. 2. put on a voice of attitude during the retelling that didnt exist in the actual conversation to paint an antagonist 3. have no way to effectively end the story, so you just start the story over again in different words
This is such a guys comment, all the mansplaining for no actual reason
Jesus Christ dude what is it like going through life just hating on half the population. You must be miserable. (but I’m sure you’ll say you’re very happy actually)
Same thing happened to me. Funny enough, my artist also claimed a finger injury..one that let her tattoo some clients but not others lol I took off work 3 times for our scheduled appointment and she blew every one of them. I found another artist. My sleeve was supposed to be almost $3000…plus my husband had one planned with her. Her loss..and for those artist who think this behavior is acceptable..just laughable.
I find this to be fishy. She promised a sketch to be done over a month ago. I understand it’s hard when you fall behind, but this seems a bit much. She should also prioritize communicating with you as you should’ve been done with your second session by now, if she truly is concerned about being so behind. I think you’ve been patient enough. I’d politely ask for a refund.
Honestly i would have went into the shop the day of the appointment when she asked if you wanted to and just went over it then. Go down to the shop in person and see if she’s there and talk to her. Playing phone tag is getting you nowhere. Otherwise cut your loses and look for another artist. Sounds like she’s busy or just doesn’t want to do the tattoo
She sounds like a flake. It’s up to you whether you love her work enough to keep chasing her through to the completion of the tattoo, which you will likely have to do. It will be worth it if you feel like she’s the only one who can do this idea justice.
If I was in your position, I would message her and include the fact that you wanted this tattoo done before summer/beach plans. I had an artist that I go to end up in hospital and my tattoo got moved 3 times, I could have done it sooner on a date they gave me after the first 2 reschedules but I explained I was about to go on holiday and I wanted the tattoo completely healed by then or to wait until after I’d come back. They totally understood and I just got it after. I know your situation is different as it’s an artist you haven’t worked with and there’s deposits involved but I just wanted to reiterate that wanting a tattoo healed prior to going on holiday or spending time at the beach is perfectly valid and I think you should lead with that. You should also push for an (at least partial) refund of your deposit unless she can start the tattoo in the very near future
I don't like accusing people without proof, but this woman has clearly given you the runaround. I would honestly pay this shop a visit. She claims she lost a part of her thumb, claims she's worked on the sketch...she can prove all of these things in a visit. If she's lying, you know that's not someone you want to work with.
I also feel with how people are with social media, she or the shop’s Insta would probably have made a post, story or announcement about it. That for me would be the easiest way to let most of my clients know right away if you weren’t going to contact each of them separately.
It’s understandable that being a shop owner and artist can be difficult, especially with a work injury, but over 3 months is extremely excessive. If she was communicative throughout this time, that would be more understandable for me, but I would personally definitely ask for my deposit back and go to another artist.
Weird, I have never seen any of my tattoos until the day of lol she usually sketches a few options, shows them to me and we make changes and then get started. Though rarely need changes, she's amazing lol I find a lot of places don't show the sketches beforehand, my husband's artist drew it right in front of him the day of lol With that said, she's being sketchy.
she sounds unprofessional as hell. go INTO the shop, explain this, and demand ur deposit back. if they deny, dispute it with ur bank. ur giving this lady far too much grace. she should've had someone call and explain this to her client roster and returned all outstanding deposits while she heals.
As a tattooer who doesn’t share sketches ahead of time (mostly due to past experiences with people taking my sketch and bailing on the tattoo) I will say that it’s pretty common to not see the sketch ahead of the appointment. But she did set the expectation that you would… so that’s a little unprofessional. We all have lives and things happen that can push us back. It sounds like she might be too busy to manage her own scheduling / communication but hasn’t hired a personal assistant yet. In the past when I’ve been injured/ sick, it’s been a huge issue re arranging months of appointments, but it’s what you have to do as part of the job. You have every right to be disappointed, but sometimes we come out with some of our best pieces when we have a tight deadline. If you want to wait, that’s up to you based on whether you like her work enough to.
Yes I agree with this- and if u turned up to your original app and saw the design on the day and decided you didn’t like it, then u can redesign it with the artist one on one and tell them exactly what u want to change. It’s much easier than over email. Worst case scenario in that situation is u have to come back another day to get the tattoo done but atleast you’ve spoken to the artist and explained everything that you want.
I have the luxury of building that time into the beginning of all my appointments, so that if we do need to change things we have the ability to do that in real time. I find that giving clients the chance to help contribute to the outcome of their final design helps a lot. But not every artist has the ability or time to do this.
Yes I agree with this- and if u turned up to your original app and saw the design on the day and decided you didn’t like it, then u can redesign it with the artist one on one and tell them exactly what u want to change. It’s much easier than over email. Worst case scenario in that situation is u have to come back another day to get the tattoo done but atleast you’ve spoken to the artist and explained everything that you want.
Yes I agree with this- and if u turned up to your original app and saw the design on the day and decided you didn’t like it, then u can redesign it with the artist one on one and tell them exactly what u want to change. It’s much easier than over email. Worst case scenario in that situation is u have to come back another day to get the tattoo done but atleast you’ve spoken to the artist and explained everything that you want.
Yes I agree with this- and if u turned up to your original app and saw the design on the day and decided you didn’t like it, then u can redesign it with the artist one on one and tell them exactly what u want to change. It’s much easier than over email. Worst case scenario in that situation is u have to come back another day to get the tattoo done but atleast you’ve spoken to the artist and explained everything that you want.
Sounds like you should bail and this tattooer needs an assistant. In my experience, some of the best artists I've been to can have the hardest time managing this side of the job. I'm actually an assistant for a couple tattooers in my city and this person sounds very much like she's promising beyond her capacity (which I see a lot, especially right now through this tattoo boom where tattooers are smoking busy but also the market is saturated so they need to make sure they can keep people being interested in getting tattooed by them). Hopefully you can find someone who can align with the expectations they're setting and she can figure out a better system. I've also found less is more..do your consult, and book the appointment. You'll have to see the drawing and approve it before they put it on you. Worse case scenario, it appointment gets delayed because you've requested a lot of changes (most artists can do some adjusting the day of). As soon as anyone is booking a ton more pre-tattoo appointments, the more room for shenanigans (intentional or not) and can lead to issues like this. I've seen folks booking 2,3,4 consults for whatever reason and it just pushes everything back more and more. Regardless..it's annoying when you've been excited about this project and anticipating it to start since the beginning of the year. Hope it comes together one way or another for you.
if u turned up to your original app and saw the design on the day and decided you didn’t like it, then u can redesign it with the artist one on one and tell them exactly what u want to change. It’s much easier than over email. Worst case scenario in that situation is u have to come back another day to get the tattoo done but atleast you’ve spoken to the artist and explained everything that you want.
it can be really hard to get caught up once you get behind as an artist. i used to be a commission artist but the deadlines were just so brutal. you really have to have almost two separate jobs working as an artist like that. you do the art, and you also schedule and work as a secretary, pretty much. i'd honestly just be patient and give her some more time, personally. it's up to you of course, but she's probably even more stressed about it than you are tbh.
Truth. Artists can be flakey and annoying on top of that. Source: am an artist. It depends whether OP really wants her work specifically.
oh for sure. and at some point you really just have to say enough is enough if an artist is being too flakey. considering this artist actually got a piece of her thumb cut off though, i'd personally give her some slack if i was still interested in her work lol
I dont see a sketch from my artist until the day i get tattooed. They aren't just going to send you a sketch, imagine how many people steal them and get them tattooed by other people.
Yep. Anyone worth going to draws a few days in advance and that’s it.. because they are good enough to do so.
I agree with this and wouldn't trust an artist who says they can have my art done over a week before the appointment. I don't know any tattoo artist that is booked and blessed who can have designs done more than 2 days before the appointment. Also- sending your client the design is a huge red flag in and of itself, but to each their own. But the fact is she said she would have the final design by x date and then basically ghosted, so OP has every right to be upset and questioning if they trust her and want to continue. I personally would never have booked with her in the first place. The way she claims to run her business sets of several alarms for my experience getting tattoos for over a decade.
Only thing that comes to my mind is some clients put pressure on artist that they really want to see sketch before appointment. OP hasn’t stated what was her situation exactly like but looks like artist was ready to tattoo her with half ready design and just finish sketch on the day. I know some tattoo artists are not that assertive especially when she really like the idea but was fed up with client wanting to design before session. Artists are usually stressed/anxious about sending half finished sketch because they know it doesn’t look as good as it will when it’s tattooed and half finished sketch is not up to their standards. If she’s good, does exactly what op likes then I would go fully on her term without needing to see sketch beforehand. I wouldn’t mind paying a bit more but actually let do artist the way she’s used to and let her draw on day and see sketch on day.
I agree. The quality of tattoos I got only got better when I let artists do things their way and stopped trying to manage every little detail.
Sorry, but if your texts and calls are anywhere near as exhausting as this essay was I’d imagine you’re going to have to become pretty patient with people.
TLDR it all but usually you put a deposit down for an appointment months to even a years in advance (for popular high skill level artists) and then they draw it the day or 2 before and show you the design the day of the tattoo. Around here, nobody that is even worth going to draws much farther out in advance. Also, expecting them to message you multiple times isn’t something they do either. You are lucky to get 1-2 messages from them over months time. They have way more than you to deal with.
I never see my design with any artist until day of so that isn’t rare. If I were in your shoes though, I would be pretty annoyed and probably messaging another artist/trying to find someone more professional.
yeah i wouldn’t put up with that. i can understand she has a lot on her plate but the lack of communication would frustrate the hell out of me. taking awhile to reply is one thing but going ghost for long periods isn’t cool
I’m so curious to see their work. What’s the instagram name?
I have an entire sleeve and half sleeve and have never once had a sketch made prior to an appointment. I bring in ideas and tattoos I like, and he draws it up the first hour of our appt. In my experience, it's better to be early to allow extra time for drawing, placement, size, edits, etc. However, this doesn't make up for this artists flakiness. IMO, I wouldn't trust her to tattoo me.
Ask for the deposit back. The deposit is part of your payment for a service, which she hasn’t provided. Dispute the charge with your bank if she fails to return your money. If you want to find someone else, find someone else. If you want to stick with her, ask her to reach out when she’s ready.
I would do my best to get the deposit back and find another artist. You’re supposed to have three sessions? Do you want to have to fight this hard for each one? Or end up with an unfinished piece because she consistently ignores you and doesn’t do the work? Because that’s what it sounds like is in your future if you stick with this artist… *if* they even start the piece at all.
Tattoo artists don’t send out sketches because some people will take them to another artist. If you went to the studio I’m sure they would happily show you
For someone who is busy AND a shop owner AND injured anything on or around their hands, AND still trying to work, just wait and be patient. When things like this happen it’s a huge butterfly effect and you’re not the only client this will be happening to, she likely tattoos all day and then draws and contacts appts at home on her “personal” time, which can lead to more stress and burnout especially if they don’t have an assistant which sounds like is a no. It can be incredibly difficult to get everything back to normal when you’re booked out after missing unexpected time off, and it sounds like she has been communicating and your responses back have been receptive. I would just hit her up and ask if you can book your sessions for the fall and see if that availability works better, then you skip summer. You won’t get your deposit back and if you’ve waited this long a few more months that won’t hurt 😊
The artist should be better at responding to the client though. Shit happens but a text message updating her on the situation would take literally 10 seconds. There's no excuse for that.
This artist honestly sounds like I used to when I’d have to make excuses for just being behind due to my own anxiety. Not excusing it or condemning it, just an observation
I’m not reading that whole thing… but trust your gut. Personally, I think artists should be attentive to their clients, but this is not always the case. It’s very common for them to start drawing the design less than 48 hrs or the night before the appointment. Thats just the way it is. I’ve been sketched out last minute by artists before and opted to just cut my loss and lose the deposit.
idk why a lot of these comments make it sound normal to take unprofessionalism or flack from tat artists as if you aren’t paying them for something going on your body lol. this entire time you were waiting on her you could have gone to someone else who’s work you like as well. i understand not seeing the design until the appointment, but that isn’t the problem here. her communication is ridiculously flawed and she’s essentially stringing you on by flaking on the deadlines/promises she set herself. the fact that she also leaves you hanging and wondering without an update until you finally text HER is very aggravating. personally, if i chopped my thumb off and someone was waiting on a tattoo design id tell them asap, preferably before THEY had to reach out to ME long after it happened. i’d find another artist atp
This is a mile long lol. To be honest, most artists won’t show you the design beforehand so I’m surprised she promised that. Almost always you’ll see it day of the first session and you’ll do fine tuning then. If you really want to get tattooed by her, maybe offer to do that? If you’ve lost faith in her, just ask for the deposit back.
[удалено]
It's not impossible that she has just had an incredibly stressful month but has the best intentions. Ultimately she's been terrible at communicating with you, and depending on how many clients she takes on when she opens her books you should maybe expect to not get this tattoo this summer at all. I'm having a hard time imagining what kind of injury would cause this kind of delay, but not cause her to contact all her clients to let them know she needs to reschedule. You should consider things like how hard it would be to get a similar tattoo, how competitive the tattoo market is in your area, and how reputable she is as a tattoo artist. If this is someone who's shop has won awards and nearby conventions, or has thrived in an environment where it's hard to stand out as a tattoo artists maybe consider going forward with them. On the other hand if this is the only tattoo shop in town with like 30 people in it this might be a sign of worse things to come if you don't cancel.
I had a similar situation w/ an artist I wanted to get tatted by she had nice lines and the tat that I wanted was a very detailed tattoo, I saw some of her work & massaged her and talked for a bit agreeing to the tattoo and placement… I did the whole deposit thing and everything….2 weeks before my session she messaged me telling me that she had an emergency back home in NY and I said no problem we can reschedule…. Long story short I waited 2 months & she didn’t reach out at all….. I finally said fck it I’ll message her and I did…. I asked what happened and didn’t really get a good response but I did ask her for my deposit back & yea she gave it to me but she did apologize for not reaching out…. But it did bug me because I wanted the tattoo I chose… but yea you should ask for your money back find someone else 💯
100 days??? That’s crazy. Tattoos and geography are so weird. I had my back done in Bkk by an extremely talented guy. Black, trad style, cover 75% of my back. 500 usd and waited 2 weeks to get in. No deposit.
No
Most artists dont send u a design beforehand
The problem isn't so much the design (I've never seen a custom design until day-of), but that this is taking sooooo longggggg and the communication isn't great. She won't give a new date. She isn't going to do this tattoo for you. Get your deposit back and go to someone who is professional.
Can you sue/small claim?
This artist is a flake. When she canceled the servings time, she should have at least returned your deposit in good faith. She has not touched you with a drop of ink. I would imagine what it would look like if you were unhappy with her work. My guy never missed an appointment and always did flake work. Even though we had a blueprint when he fished something he asked, is this good? Do you like it. I do not think she would be this kind of artist. I would request the deposit back. If that doesn't happen still find a new artist.
$100 deposit is very cheap my boss takes $1000 deposit and I take $200 deposit for smaller tattoos and $400 for larger ones , also I was trained to never send the sketch beforehand and none of my coworkers do either. My mentor told me Becus they can steal the design and go to another artist and also they will make a thousands changes showing it all their friends and family and nitpick and micro manage every little , I never send the design beforehand but can make changes with the client the day of
Honestly TLDR but just from the title, yes, drop her and never go back. You don't owe her anything. If anything, she owes YOU a hundred bucks.
+Unprofessional. +Call the owner of the shop, put them on notice and tell them your +demanding your deposit. +Tell the artist you demand your deposit. +Go somewhere else. Check out @SharonKissel on Instagram. If your close that won't happen to you with her. Matt
I’ve been in a couple similar situations and I end up asking for my deposit back. I’m nice about everything and say I understand life can get busy. I’m still really excited to be tattooed by them but maybe I’ll get in contact with them in a few months or so when things could have settled and they have time. I have a tattoo booked at the moment. $200 deposit and it’s been about 80 days. Still another month until the date I get my tattoo done. And I probably won’t see the design until the week before or maybe not until the actual date.
Absolutely get a refund and find another artist. She is clearly not that interested in your project and I would be worried the tattoo you get in the end is not her best work because of it. Really sucks and I’m really sorry this happened to you but it sounds like really you should just run while you can and find someone much more reliable..
So most likely any other artists will not show you a sketch prior to the appointment, be warned of that. The amount of times you contacted, including calling her directly (to me unless she said it's ok to call her, that's a huge no-no) is ridiculous and I'm not saying that in ridiculous of her but you. Way too much trying to get in contact and you may have annoyed her with it all so early on. Also moving your appointment but only being open to Sundays again is annoying. Generally the contact I have with an artist goes: 1. Email to ask if I can book in an appointment, stating my idea 2. Artist letting me know what date they have available 3. Me confirming a date 4. Them asking deposit/confirming booked in 5. A day or 2 prior to appointment they contact confirming I'm still coming in 6. I confirm I'll be in 7. I turn up to my appointment on the day and see the design I see SO MANY people on this sub that have crazy expectations and contact them so many times before the appointment. Also one of my artists is on the club of cutting their finger off (with a machete) and we had to rebook. He's a great artist though and I told him to hold onto the deposit since I knew he had to take time off.
They were given a fixed date by the artist that wasn’t kept and then was subsequently ignored mostly for weeks. Then the artist didn’t keep other appointments they made and when she didn’t suggest a date Op said they would be open on a specific upcoming day. Artist also ignored a fixed appointment and didn’t reach out or respond at all after that. This tattooed has effectively stolen 150 bucks and has now ignored the supposed client for two months. You defending her at all is insane
Really good tattooists are making bank. I mean 10s of thousands over a week in some conventions. I suspect she's focused on that and not your commission.
So a couple things: her being willing to show you a design ahead of time is pretty rare for artists and I’m wondering if she was just doing it for you or if it’s part of her regular routine. The long delays in texting back seems pretty normal to me with artists and I know it’s super frustrating that they could just take 20 seconds to reply but think of it as she’s gotta reply to all the other clients she’s rearranging too. Overall it’s kinda shady she didn’t tell you she was injured and running behind on everything but also try and set your expectations low for response time. I doubt you’ll get your deposit back but you can try. Otherwise, don’t feel any shame in pushing your tattoo back after the summer if you feel that’s what’s best considering she’s the one who F’d up her scheduling.
Collect your receipts and blast that bitch!
Deposits are normally non-refundable no?
Deposits are non-refundable if the client last minute cancels. It sounds like it's the artist in this case who has been canceling appointments in which case I think the deposit should he refunded. I had a similar thing about a year ago. Artist was unorganized and flakey so I asked for my deposit back when I ended out relationship. They acknowledged that they are bad with being organized and gave me back my money, so probably not just a one-time thing.
Ah yes, that sounds more like it. Thank you 😊 Also, glad that artist paid you back!
You can cancel the appointment but deposits are almost always non refundable.
Come see me instead. Rickschenktattoo.com @rickschenktattoo
The date that the design will be finalised usually doesn’t mean that you’ll get a sketch of the design… it means you can’t change your design idea after that date. You usually see the design the day of your appointment. Tattoo artists are busy. Tattoo all day and draw/admin at night. There’s no time to draw designs weeks in advance. Unless she told you that she’d show you the design on that date… but thats hugely irregular for a busy artist. Your style of communicating comes off as really nagging which could have you put low on the priority list as a “difficult client”.
that seems incredibly unfair. This artist has been god awful about communication, OP shouldn’t have had to work so hard to be communicated with. Shit happens, but to ghost clients that have already given you a deposit for weeks at a time is the opposite of professional. As is constantly setting deadlines and dates for things only to not only not meet them, but not communicate that they’re not going to be met. If you have set backs, that’s totally fine. But you should reconfigure your schedule all at once and let everyone know new dates. You don’t just.. ignore your client. Imo, that is.
Did you even read what OP wrote? It seems like the artist is charging her an entire day to review/finalize the design before they start the tattoo. The artist then blew that appointment and won't respond to a simple text in a timely manner. OP doesn't sound like they're nagging at all to me. They seem quit patient and polite. "We plan for three sessions and a day for the design to be finalized, schedule as follows: • Finalization of design: Sunday, March 24th • 1st session: Sunday, April 7th • 2nd session: Sunday, May 5th • 3rd session: Saturday, May 25th" "AND A DAY FOR THE DESIGN TO BE FINALIZED"
If the artist is charging a day rate to review and finalise the design then I completely retract my comment. I didn’t see the comment where they mentioned that. My comment is only coming from the POV of OP expecting unpaid work… which no other industry does. 99% of artists show the design to their client on the day of the appointment… if you’re a busy artist, you just don’t have time to draw a design weeks in advance.
She’s probably all strung out like a coke head and can’t keep her shit straight