I recently came across this Reddit thread asking, “Tattoo artists, what pieces are you tired of doing?” and the submissions were fascinating. Here’s what they said:
1.
“My tattoo artist told me he is no longer doing matching M’s on each buttock, spelling out MOM when someone is bent over. The jokes have been played out.”
2.
“I worked as a receptionist in a tattoo studio in Scotland, and holy shit, people just want pocket watches and roses…and infinity symbols. We once had someone ask for the ‘squashed sideways 8’ that all of her friends had.”
“From my tattoo artist friend: pocket watches surrounded by roses.”
3.
“My artist is really good at linework flowers. 10/10. That’s why I went to him; it’s exactly what I wanted. Turns out he’s trying to step away from that and ideally do more creative things, but ‘it’s [his] bread and butter.'”
4.
“My artist said he was sick of longitude and latitude coordinates of their hometowns.”
5.
“Nautical sleeves. I’m from an island, and fuck, is it brutal trying to make it ‘unique’ when every fifth person has one. Anchors, compasses, maps, etc. Feathers and pocketwatches are close seconds.”
6.
“Not me, but my sister. It’s not a specific thing, but she hates it when people want tattoos with too many ideas in them. And by that I mean, for example, a Lord of the Rings character holding a lightsaber while fighting a dementor on a velociraptor with a banner that says ‘clever girl.’ Or, like, Minnie Mouse holding a football team’s logo in front of her while also being within a pink cancer ribbon, but wanting the image to be too small. Small enough that it wouldn’t even look good with the amount of detail it would require.”
7.
“Fucking crowns. OMG, do I fucking hate crowns…with that being said…I did one tonight.”
9.
“I worked as a shop manager for a little bit. My boss/the head artist was getting super burnt out on big cats (specifically lions) wearing crowns. In about a month, he’d done five realistic lions (and a panther) wearing crowns on dudes who wanted to feel like kings. I had to start politely turning them down when people called to inquire about them. I’d say, ‘Sorry, Ian’s not really interested in doing more big cats this month.'”
11.
“Tattoo artist from Alabama here. I am not religious at all, but I think I’ve ascribed the entire Bible to human flesh at this point.”
12.
“I hate doing the snake coming out of the eye of a skull, and why does the guy who wants this tattoo always have a perfectly groomed goatee?”
13.
“I have a couple of chemistry tattoos, and my artist made a comment about girls getting dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin with the word happiness. Seemed like he might have done a few too many…”
14.
“I asked my tattoo artist buddy. He said, ‘If I have to do another goddamn Latin paragraph on someone’s ribs, I’m gonna crash out.’ Ironically, he was doing one on his GF at the time he told me…”
15.
“Shadow birds and infinity symbols with children’s names within them. Never again.”
16.
“The tattoo shop I go to back home in the Caribbean has a running tally of how many times they have to tattoo palm trees on people’s ankles.”
17.
“I went to a tattoo artist in NoCo once. He asked what I was thinking of doing. I said, ‘I want an outline of…’ and he just sighed and said, ‘Listen, dude, I’m sorry, but if I have to tattoo Pikes Peak one more time I’m gonna lose it.’ For the record, I was asking for a rat, and he apologized profusely, but I thought it was hilarious. I know three different Coloradans with Pikes Peak tattoos.”
18.
“I hate when couples get each other’s names tattooed on each other’s arms and crap because then, like two weeks later, the dude will come back for a cover-up because they broke up. It drives me up the wall.”
19.
“I used to be a tattoo artist. The number of infinity signs and other cardiogram lines with hearts in them I’ve done is wild. Same for skulls, flowers, butterflies, and other overdone stuff.”
20.
“I was with a friend who was getting a tattoo, and the artist mentioned he was sick of tattooing, ‘This Too Shall Pass.’ I made sure to pull down my sleeve after he said that. But, oh well, I got it as a reminder when it comes to my bad anxiety, so whatever.”
21.
“Other people’s tattoos. Bringing a reference is great. Bringing a photo of someone else’s tattoo already on them and saying you will not accept anything less than an exact copy is the worst.”
22.
“Tattooist from Scotland here. Infinity symbols are a main suspect, but one I straight up refuse to do now is that skull jaw on the top of the hand. You know, the one where you put your hand over your face, and it’s supposed to look like you have a skeleton jaw. The people that usually ask for it have no other tattoos.”
23.
“My husband’s dad was a tattoo artist, I believe in the ’90s, anyway, he HATES Tasmanian devil tattoos from Looney Tunes. He makes the most disgusted face and walks away from me if I mention them.”
24.
“When I got my tattoo of a juggling bear, I was making small talk with the tattoo artist. She said she was tired of doing nothing but tribal designs and dragons. She said the whole shop talked about my Bear juggling a club, a ball, and a machete, and that they were so thrilled by the originality that they were thinking about doing it for free.”
25.
“If I never have to tattoo the goddamn pine forest silhouettes or a realistic American flag again, it’ll be too soon. Be the kind of person that gets a cyborg wizard or something.”
26.
“My guy spent the entire time he was doing my last tat raging against the people coming in for Harry Potter tats. He’s got a big sign up on the entrance stating not to even ask.”
31.
“Tattooer from NYC here. I’ve probably done a ton of watercolor tattoos that I always reluctantly agree to after explaining it’ll look like shit in time.”
32.
“I’m super tired of doing logos. Why are people so obsessed with logos? I’ve always thought that was weird.”
33.
And lastly, “If I never have to do another fucking octopus, I would cry tears of joy.”
Responses have been edited for length/clarity.
Tattoo artists, what other designs are you TIRED of doing? Let us know in the comments. Or, if you prefer to remain anonymous, leave a submission in the form below.
