Think that bird design is original do you?
Tattoos are pretty mainstream these days. An estimated one in three adults now have an inking of some sort and the demand is said to be ever-increasing.
But it would seem the growing popularity of the tattoo has not brought with it a taste for variety. At least according to a rather hilarious Reddit thread of disgruntled tattoo artists, who took to the site last week to share the designs they would happily never be asked to do again. Here are some of the best.
1) Live, Laugh, Love? (Make. It. Stop.)
HouseofLeopold: 'Any combination of the following words: dream, laugh, hope, love, live, dance. it's like "build your own inspirational quote." yes, so inspiring on your foot. live laugh love, hope dream love, dance dream love, laugh love live... etc.'
2) Feathery friends
'Owls are everywhere' wrote one Reddit user, while another called andilla13 added that he was fed up with the hipster trend for 'birds 'n words'
3) Spiritual quotes (man)
Cunninglinguistician: 'Generic 'deep phrases' (or incorrectly translated/ gibberish writing) in Asian scripts because anything from Asia is automatically mystical and wise. Saw a photo of an arm tattoo saying '火鸡三明治' once that I really hope was fake. Also getting random Hindu/ Buddhist symbols without having any idea what they're called or what they mean because they want people to know they're 'spiritual'.'
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4) Incorrect Chinese ('you are a turtle')
Bananaslugholly: 'I agree with the Asian scripts. We have the same thing in Asia, where people tattoo a nonsense combination of English words on themselves. I've personally seen a girl with 'life is lemon' on her lower back. I've also overheard an American guy bragging about the Chinese character on his arm, he thinks it means brave, it means turtle.'
5) Infinity symbols
Darthinksmith_87: 'Infinity symbols that have names that are hidden within a feather, then the feather turns into birds, then the birds turn into dandelion seeds. All of that the size of a quarter in white ink on the bottom of your foot and you best make sure it's done like a watercolor tattoo.'
6) Something they found on Pinterest (which is mostly infinity symbols)
Simcodemayo: 'Oh, boy! Where do I begin? Have you ever seen Pinterest? Well, it's the worst thing ever invented according to my fellow tattoo artists and me... It makes people think their infinity symbol is original but it f**king isn't... We tattoo at least 10 each week... With feathers, with names, with birds, with dates...'
7) Anything on the ribcage
Ladycoleopterist: 'I'm sick of rib tattoos because it's super stretchy and a good 20% of people I tattoo there will shake and twitch through the whole thing. Girls of Pinterest, make calf tattoos the next big thing! I will never tire of infinity symbols, however. Easy, and the most money for my time!'
8) Anything that follows a trend
GunsGermsAndSteel: 'It used to be a trend would last a year or two. Barbed wire armbands lasted a couple years, then gave way to tribal, etc- but the more prevalent the Internet became, the faster the trends moved- down to months or even weeks. Who remembers the Semi-Colon Tattoo Craze of 2015? Yeah me either, because I blinked and almost missed it.'
