Custom tattoo design for client reproduced without permission.

So…this was a shock.

The tattoo I did is on the left. I was really pissed at first but now that I’ve had some time to think about it and get used to the fact that nothing is sacred to people anymore, especially with the internet, I’m at peace with it. It’s up to us to educated our clients and also be the ones to give someone their own tattoo and not someone else’s. We must use this discretion since what we do as tattoo artists is permanent. This was not on a flash sheet, it’s an image I painted, put on my business cards, and tattooed on a good friend. It’s personal to me, and probably to them as well.

While I’m flattered (maybe?) that someone liked it enough to reproduce it (without permission or credit, and literally copying it almost exactly), it’s still disrespectful. I won’t name who did it because everybody makes mistakes, but I want to take this opportunity to try to let other people know that it can happen to them, and also to think about it before you just grab something and use it.

In this age of instant gratification, blogging, and reblogging, please credit your sources, or if you want to be even more decent, ask permission. It really goes a long way.

XO

O. Britz